Looks like Apple has vastly improved the time it takes a photo to save to the camera roll in the 3.1 OS that just came out with iTunes 9. It’s still not as fast as the built-in camera app, and there’s still no geo-tagging, but it’s a step in the right direction.
I thought about revisiting my old iPhone wishlist, and making the necessary updates, but decided to just start fresh as it was getting a little cluttered with all the updates I’ve made so far for the better (Thanks, Apple and 3-party devs!), and my priorities have changed a little over the last year.
The 2.1 and 2.2 firmware updates went a long way to correct a lot of the crashes I used to see on my iPhone. And 3.0 with Copy & Paste (which was actually not that high on my list) helped greatly, too, though mainly for its “Select All” feature that I use all the time, and the wider support for landscape mode in most of the built-in apps.
I think there have been improvements with Mail, Notes, and syncing, but I’ve long since abandoned any attempts to do so through Apple’s apps, and have instead decided to use Simplenote for all my note taking and syncing needs, and it works great.
The YouTube app’s been updated with support for existing accounts, the Flixster app has finally come into its own after its most recent update, and although there’s no way to “scrobble” my songs as I listen to them live (and in fact, the Last.fm app has even been *removed* from the iTunes Canada app store) I at least finally have batch scrobbling working upon sync.
Really, the list is getting awfully short now, and what’s left mainly all revolves around one topic: photos.
Taking photos on the iPhone is actually still a really crappy experience. Keep in mind I only have a 3G, and not one of those new-fangled 3GS’s, so I don’t have tap-to-focus nor the increased pixels. But with all the hardware improvements, not much has changed with the actual picture taking experience. You’re still basically left with two options: 1) use the plain-jane, no bells & whistles, built-in camera, which takes pictures really, really fast, or 2) use 3rd-party apps, with their wondrous assortment of features, but which are cut-off at the knees by a lack-luster API which saves photos to the camera roll really, really slowly, and without any geo-tagging.
So here’s my new iPhone Wishlist:
- Fix the crappy photo APIs! The built-in Camera app can save photos *with geo-tags* to the camera roll *really quickly*. 3rd-party devs can do neither? Seems kinda fishy to me.
- Email photos at full res. Or at least give me an option. Bury it in the settings if you’re afraid of noobs filling up people’s inboxes. I’m a big boy now. I’d like to email the photos I took!
- Be able to get info on photos (time, date, size, resolution, location, etc…)
- Safari URL autocomplete makes use of URLs in adressbook/contacts.
- Add, edit, and delete contact groups directly on the phone without having to do it in Address Book first and then sync
And that’s it! Short and simple.
I always say I’m not a big fan of the Rolling Stones (I didn’t go to either of their concerts here in Regina back in 2006). I don’t have any of their songs in my iTunes library, but I’m finding out that I apparently do like a lot of their music. My favourite is that theme song to “Tour of Duty”, but that Windows 95 one is good, too. I also like that one that Azazel keeps singing in the movie “Fallen”, and that Apple ad with all the different coloured iMacs. And who could forget that one that’s always at the end of all those episodes of “House”.