Wishlist for OS 4.0

[Carniphage]

Predictions for OS 4 (written properly this time)

I looked at my last post and realised it did not make a ton of sense.

This is an attempt to tidy it up some.

Here's my prediction which would allow the iPhone to acquire the best features of Palm's Pre. Android and Maemo without breaking anything.
All of this is doable on the GS or better.

1) A general UI overhaul. Some new shiny Cocoa touch elements.

2) A widget-notification-based lock-screen. The user makes the screen by dragging together a bunch of notification widgets. More on widgets later.

3) Suspend to RAM apps. (multi-tasking lite.)
This is an easy way to get most of the benefit of multi-tasking without breaking any existing applications.

Instead of quitting when the home button is pressed, applications remain in memory in a frozen state. If you go back to an app that is frozen, it carries on from exactly where you left off.

This single change to the OS would make switching between all apps and games super fast with no loss of data. You could quit out of a game, take a call, send an email and then resume the game. This feature could be implemented totally within the OS, so old applications would benefit from this feature.

4) Background widgets. (This is true multi-tasking)
New applications would have the option of quitting and handing over data to special ultra-light mini-versions of themselves. (let's call them Widgets). Widgets would be allowed to run in background.

The user would pick which widgets would populate the notification screen. This would also limit how many widgets would run at the same time.

Widgets could display the latest emails, IM messages, the Weather and so on. Widgets would all be allowed to run in background, but the OS would make sure they don't negatively affect foreground programs or hog resources.

Double tapping a widget would launch its the parent application.

5) Improvements to built-in apps. Unified inbox in mail (please!) Including widgets for Mail, Weather, iPod etc.

That's the prediction. Hope it makes more sense this time.

C.

 

[venasque]

An actual integrated spell-check. Works in mail, SMS and allows developers to add it to their apps.

 

[Narzist]

3. Add lyrics to ipod app

This feauture has already been available since OS 2.0

 

[str1f3]

Would like to see with some slick animations:

-swipe up to access all push and SMS updates
-swipe down to access multitasking interface with Safari like pages switching

 

[TheSpaz]

This feauture has already been available since OS 2.0

Really? Tell me how you can add lyrics to songs from the iPhone? Seriously... I'm curious. I always thought you had to be on the computer to do that.

I think the iPod app should automatically download the lyrics for the currently playing song.

 

[rwilliams]

As others have said, many of the best changes that Apple could make to the iPhone OS have already been done extremely well by the jailbreaking community. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Apple would be smart to snatch up some of these jailbreak apps (Backgrounder, iBluetooth, Lockinfo, Winterboard) from their developers for a nice sum and then integrate them into the OS.

 

[TheSpaz]

As others have said, many of the best changes that Apple could make to the iPhone OS have already been done extremely well by the jailbreaking community. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Apple would be smart to snatch up some of these jailbreak apps (Backgrounder, iBluetooth, Lockinfo, Winterboard) from their developers for a nice sum and then integrate them into the OS.

I don't think they have to pay anyone to use the technology. Apple has true rights to their system and hackers are just hackers. Apple doesn't have to give them anything if they want to use their ideas.

 

[rwilliams]

I don't think they have to pay anyone to use the technology. Apple has true rights to their system and hackers are just hackers. Apple doesn't have to give them anything if they want to use their ideas.

Can they just take somebody else's program and integrate it without any form of payment? Using ideas and outright stealing someone else's intellectual property are two very different things.

 

[TheSpaz]

Can they just take somebody else's program and integrate it without any form of payment? Using ideas and outright stealing someone else's intellectual property are two very different things.

They're not supposed to be writing unofficial apps for the iPhone. Apple owns the intellectual property to the private API's so why would they have to pay the original developer? I'm not saying that Apple would use their code (because it's probably not good code since it was hacked together), but if Apple wanted to implement background processes or a lock-screen notification area, they wouldn't have to pay anyone outside of Apple to do it.

 

[rwilliams]

They're not supposed to be writing unofficial apps for the iPhone. Apple owns the intellectual property to the private API's so why would they have to pay the original developer? I'm not saying that Apple would use their code (because it's probably not good code since it was hacked together), but if Apple wanted to implement background processes or a lock-screen notification area, they wouldn't have to pay anyone outside of Apple to do it.

Thanks for the info on how this all works. I would imagine that Apple would rather put their own spin on such functions anyway.

 

[cmaier]

They're not supposed to be writing unofficial apps for the iPhone. Apple owns the intellectual property to the private API's so why would they have to pay the original developer? I'm not saying that Apple would use their code (because it's probably not good code since it was hacked together), but if Apple wanted to implement background processes or a lock-screen notification area, they wouldn't have to pay anyone outside of Apple to do it.

Apple can't use the jailbreaker app-writers' actual code without their permission. The fact that these developers aren't supposed to be doing what they are doing doesn't change the fact that code written by those hackers is the copyright of those hackers.

Depending on how closely they mimic the functionality and appearance of existing third-party apps, they may also be infringing copyright, though this is a more difficult issue.

Finally, if the app matches the appearance of someone else's app (whether it's a legal app or a jailbreak app), they may be infringing the other developer's tradedress/trademark rights.

 

[bbotte]

Here is a list of all of the features I would like to be add to the iPhone OS4.0 (Please post what else you would like to see...

1. Full Phone Call Multi-tasking

(Treat phone calls similar to how text messages are handled. On an incoming call, a notification pops up that shows the incoming caller and [Answer, Background Answer, Decline]
Background answer will allow you to talk but will put whatever you were working on before the call (pandora, GPS app, etc.) back in the foreground during the call. Double-click
the hard button to bring up the phone notification again to to hang up. Or go all the way back to the phone application. this
would keep battery issue to the minimum while fixing the primary issue people have with the lack of multi-tasking

Alternatively, allow 1 app to run in the background at any time.

2. Add Internet Radio functionality to Ipod App. (Pandora, AOL Radio, MLD at Bat...)
3. Add lyrics/social aspect to ipod app
4. Streamline ipod app (Look at Tunewiki as an example)
5. Add Categories app (a similar page to the search app, make it to the left of the search app) to ease application organization. Maybe the app would simply be category stacks....
6. Allow customization of lock screen: Allow most recent message, most recent email, current schedule appointments, etc. (Making it more like WinMo Today screen/ intelliscreen )
7. AVRCP bluetooth support ( I want forward and back on my headphones!)
8. External Flash app?

My iPhone has been displaying lyrics since my 1st gen. I have never Jail Broken my iPhone.

 

[TheSpaz]

My iPhone has been displaying lyrics since my 1st gen. I have never Jail Broken my iPhone.

You can DISPLAY lyrics on an iPod touch or iPhone but you cannot ADD lyrics to the iPod app FROM the iPhone. I'm pretty sure this is what they mean. Imagine if you could copy and paste lyrics from Safari into a song in iPod... or perhaps even having the iPod app automatically download the lyrics for you. I doubt the second one would ever happen though.