What do you want to see in the new iPhone? (6th Gen)

Same size screen. Same resolution.
Same size Home Button. Same placement, same functionality, same physicality.
Same camera. If they can do a better front camera, more power to them.
Longer-lasting battery.
LTE.
Die-shrunk A5X.
Thunderbolt pins.

That's about it. Doesn't need to be thinner, but if they can make the casing thinner to make more room for internals at the same physical size, that'd be great.

I would love to see a larger screen with 720p resolution not necessary as a replacement to the current size but maybe as an additional model since there are still some among you that like smaller phones. The size and weight is fine the way it is. I would always like to see a miniSD card slot added but it looks like that will never happen so I guess I'm on board with a 128GB model. Though iCloud is always an option for me as I have an unlimited data plan but defiantly not for the US iPhone owners though.

I think most have a data cap of some ridiculous low number like 5GB a month. That's barely enough to cover a normal iPhone users surfing/email/VOIP usage let alone even thinking about streaming video or music from their iCloud account. Being as conservative as possible I could maybe get away with 10GB of data a month but I would have to seriously alter my surfing habits.

Trying something different here:

Fit comfortably in my front pants pocket.
Have premium feel, touch, and look.
Stays cool to the touch.
Be able to survive 4 ft drops on concrete and prevent scratches and discoloring from typical usage.
Be able to use with one hand while walking, driving, etc.
Be able to use it all day and not have to worry about it shutting down late at night.
Be able to charge quickly.
Be able to read, watch, use easily and comfortably in broad daylight and total darkness.
Have awesome sound from the speakers and headsets while playing games, listening to music, phone calls.
Have water resistance to 6 feet (typical swimming pool depths).
Be able to store a large music and video collection, with a fast way to move them in and out of the device quickly.
Be able to take fast, great, in-focus pictures in poorly lit situations.
Be able to take video that are in-focus and that aren't jittery.
Be able to email large pictures and videos to other folks.
Be able to play a lot of fun games.
Be able to write and enter text comfortably and easily.
Be able enter and manage all my information comfortably, easily and securely.

Most of the problems for smartphones seemed solved. Hmm...

For me my iPhone does pretty good. So honestly I may milk this one for another year. I'm so wrapped up in my iPad the usage level of the iPhone has actually dropped significantly. In any event here are some wild a$$ guesses.

1. A larger screen is a given. The key being that it doesn't blow the iPhone up hugely. Such a screen just gives the user a larger content area.
2. The processor is an interesting question. A5X isn't going in there without a process shrink and a dialing down of the clock speed. The problem is every body and their brother is having problems with sub 28nm processes. I honestly believe that we could see yet another chip from Apple. So maybe a clock rate boost but maintaining the same number of cores.
   [*}More storage is always welcomed.
   [*}The latest Qualcom goodness.
3. More sensors, including ambient air temperature and pressure sensitivity of the touch screen.
4. An updated connector that supports USB3 & Thunderbolt. Speed is always an issue.
   [*}A reorientation of the camera so that the length of the iPhone handles the optical elements. This to give the camera a real zoom capability and maybe hardware stabilization. This would mean use of the camera would be somewhat like handling a Twin Lend Reflex of old, but it could give the iPhone an incredible camera while keeping the phones size handy. As it is the optical system could use an upgrade before we get more mega pixels.
5. Opening up of the dock connector to allow developers to build hardware without Apple getting involved. These devices are incredibly handy but the lack of unrestricted access to the port means that trying to retask old devices is a bit more difficult than it needs to be. Further if you are a small hardware developer the buy in is a little steep.
6. A built in laser pointer. Why not the iPhone has everything else.

I have more even less realistic ideas. However many of the above will come sooner or later.

Not edge to edge screen but I think it should be larger. The trouble with using a larger screen while keeping the same size of device is you have to sharpen the curvature of the corners for aesthetics so it gets closer to a Samsung Galaxy. It's not necessarily a bad thing but the Galaxy has a different appearance. The curvature of the iPhone corners have a nicer appearance IMO.

I like the idea of using a metal back simply due to the texture when holding it and impact resistance. It will be easier to scratch (compare cutlery to glassware) but it would be lighter and mobile products get scratched regardless. I've seen plenty of iPhones scratched front and back, whether its glass or metal.

I definitely want to see the home button changed to capacitive but I suspect it won't be. The more they have gestures for Siri and multi-tasking, the more I think it shouldn't be a mechanical button. I don't think it should be turned into a context-sensitive button though. The same gestures should do the same things no matter what app you use.

Water resistance would be nice and I would say a tactile screen too.

I'd like better sync features. If my iPhone is in my pocket at work, I'd like to be able to simply connect to it via wifi-direct and drop a movie, audio track, photo or document onto it. Maybe even copy/paste a note from my desktop to use as a reminder. I don't want to rely on any server tech or sync up, I just want to drop files straight on as well as send files the other way.

I want to see them take out the cell parts and make them optional. Effectively make mini iPads (i.e iPod Touches) with cell-phone add-ons. They seem to like the subsidies though.


Thunderbolt doesn't compete with USB. The 'U' in USB stands for universal. Thunderbolt is a proprietary Intel technology. Thunderbolt on an iOS device likely wouldn't transmit data any faster due to the write speed of the iOS device memory and it would increase the cost of the cables.

I'm sorry to say this, but this look hideous. The corner radius is too sharp and stressful in the eyes. The 2007-2008 MBPs, prior to the first unibody models, had small corner radii too, and let me tell you, I look longingly at the corner radii of the unibody ones. There's something innately beautiful about them. They did the same good work on the corner radius for the iPhone 4/4S and it's magical there too.

I do like the look of the aluminum back though. The shrinkage of the iPad radio signal passthrough wasn't done well, but it's just a photochop afterall. The volume rocker and mute, orientation lock switch is just a tiny bit small.


Brushed aluminum hides scratches 10000 times better than glass. From that perspective it will definitely be better. Presuming it doesn't shatter, glass won't have dents though.

Wait, what?! I have a first-gen iPod touch, and even though I have absolutely babied it, there are lines all over the back. I have absolutely no idea how they got there; I only use it in my good speaker system, so it moves from that to laying on a piece of paper on my desk when I need to give it new music.

My iPhone, on the other hand, has had keys forcibly and purposefully run over its screen (by me) to prove its scratch resistance. It looks like it did the day out of the box four and three quarters years ago.

Edit: Oh, wait, brushed aluminum. Like a DeLorean or modern iMac. Never mind.

I think sharp corners do tend to look more business-like. Squared-off corners are quite utilitarian and not friendly in appearance. You can see that with Dell displays vs Apple displays. Increasing the screen size makes it trickier to maintain the corner curvature as you don't really want to end up with a giant phone so you have to shrink the bezel but if you do that, it looks very oddly shaped.

They can play around with the ratios of course and reach a good enough compromise. Here, for example is the iPhone with a 4" screen with the standard corner curvature:



Some of the bezel is reduced so that it's only 7% wider than the current iPhone. The home button is the same size. I think it would actually be ok to maintain the circular shape of the home button. I considered a lozenge shape before but I think the circular shape is iconic. The reason for a lozenge is that it can be shrunk vertically to get the height down without making the button area too small but if they use a capacitive button, it doesn't really matter because they aren't cutting the glass so it wouldn't weaken it at the bottom.

The main reason for squashing it is to keep the same height:



They'd just make the white square the capacitive part to avoid accidental input. A lozenge does allow gestures such as swipe left to go home etc. but it's not as simple as a circle.


I really didn't like the original iMac design. Although the edge-to-edge screen was a fairly minor adjustment, I think it made a huge difference. For a mobile phone, I don't think it would be a good design - the Blackberry Porche does something like this. Apple would obviously do a better job but I think the entire front should remain as glass.

I personally feel that the iPad design is the best design for mobile devices but Apple has to make these decisions taking into account of manufacturing capability.

I can't get over how you guys tweak over the appearance of the iPhone. Mind you a device that sits in your pocket 99% of the time, most likely wrapped in an ugly case too. IPhone is more like a tool than jewelry.

Think about it, if you went out to hire a carpenter and you had a choice between one guy with scratch free, unmarked tools and one that had an assortment of well used tools who would you hire? Would it be the guy making a living with those tools or the guy ready to pose for the next tool catalog picture?

Presumably, the guy with the assortment of well used tools has better designed tools, better looking tools than the guy with scratch free, unmarked tools. The carpenter who knows what he's doing will also know what the good quality tools are through many years of experience.

We are talking about making a well designed tool here.

The one with the bigger iPhone. The design of the phone is very important - Apple wouldn't have been nearly as successful if the iPhone wasn't built with consideration of both the technical and aesthetic design.

Aesthetics are often dismissed as unimportant but they never are. If someone asked you if you'd rather have Megan Fox or Dame Judi Dench sit on your face, you can say looks don't matter but you'd be lying.

When someone takes out an Android phone or Blackberry, contrary to Samsung's delusions, nobody really cares. It's not just marketing that does that, it's the end user experience. It doesn't matter if the phone sits in your pocket most of the time, when you take it out, it should feel like it's worth $500 because that's what you are paying for it.

Seriously, the one with the bigger iPhone. You must be pulling my leg here. If neither one had an iPhone then who would you choose.

As to aesthetics it is a minor roll in a phone. If you where around for the initial iPhone launch, the excitement was all about the technical achievement. In fact appearance wise it was rather bland.

In some cases you might be right but in the case of the iPhone you are buying a slab. The aesthetics comes in the firm of software that brings life to that slab.

As to your choices in woman I think you leave a lot to be desired in both directions. Claudia Black, http://www.claudiablackonline.com/, would be my choice any day of the week.

By the way if you have lived long enough you would realize there are guys out there with a kink for the like of Dench. As horrifying as it may seem to the more mainstream male, some have a thing for not breathing.

So are you saying you judge people by the phone they whip out? If you are that is kinda sad.

Yes the use experience is extremely important. But where does that experience comes from? I'd have to say in the case of iPhone it is all from the software. I see this all the time in new iPhone users, it is almost a fascination.

Well there is another issue, you aren't paying $500 dollars for it. Rather it is close to $2000 for a two year contract. Frankly I really question the iPhones worth in that regards sometimes. Especially right now sitting in front of my new iPad. If that iPhone just becomes another cell phone to me then there is really no sense in continuing to be bound to the contract and it's high cost when a much better value is had in the iPad.

In the end when I reach into my pocket for the iPhone I'm pulling out a tool. As such it's value is entirely dependent on what I can get out of it relative to other tools that offer up the same solutions. In this regards I'm not really sure the iPhone is worth it.

The one who could demonstrate they could do the best job. The better carpenter might be recognised by the worn tools as you suggested. The better phone would be recognised by the aesthetics that project a legacy of quality and reliability. That's why it's important they maintain the high aesthetic standards and iconic design.


Relative to what was available, it was still way ahead in terms of design.


Everyone judges everyone based on everything. The clothes they wear, the hairstyle, the car, the accent, the attractiveness. To a lesser extent the phone but I would think that someone who prefers a PC to a Mac has poor taste. Making extensive judgements on few pieces of information is bad but we all make small inferences from small details.


Part of it comes from the hardware design. The home button is an extremely well thought out idea. Computers overwhelm novice users. If you present them with a single escape mechanism, it's comforting. No matter what mess they get into, they just hit the home button and they start over from a familiar layout.

Compare that to the many Android phones and UIs with widget overlays, icons views, manufacturer UIs, software buttons in some phones, hardware on another. Back buttons, home buttons, menu buttons, uninstall menus buried deep down. It's usable but it's messier.


I feel the same way but in the opposite direction. To me the iPhone is more useful than the iPad because it serves a critical function of mobile communication. The iPad to me is an accessory that does nothing exclusively that an iPhone and desktop/laptop can't do so with both of those, an iPad is non-essential.

Not bad. This with an aluminum back would be fine. I like the 2007 iPhone with rounded sides better than the iPad corners though. A passthrough for radio signals still is an ugly problem to deal with.

I'm quite conflicted about the larger screen though. A larger screen, if they keep the same UI, will make the phone harder to use one handed, and will likely degrade its pocketability. Competitors have definitely decided the benefits outweigh the negatives.

Apple has to be really conflicted about it. Every single iPod, iPod touch and iPhone, a line of devices going back over 10 years are ~2.4 inches wide by 4.1 to 4.5 inches tall or so, with varying thicknesses. If they go to a >4" larger screen size, they'll be going away from this. There's so much institutional inertia for ~4.5 x ~2.4 inch sized devices.

A device that is say 5" x 2.8" will not only be a different device, it will be a brand new platform. It will be something completely different before. A 4.5" screen is 65% larger than a 3.5" screen. It would almost require a UI change, with specific UI mechanisms designed for it.


I'm still enamored with the thought of a 2:1 4.5" screen phone. This will fit inside the 4.5 x 2.4 inch iPhone planform area with the same bezels as seen on the side. But the question of what to do with home button functionality is left unanswered. There's no easy way. The UI would have have to be redesigned with an on-screen home-screen mechanism in mind.