30 Things the iPhone Could Do That You Haven't Thought of Yet

posted 10 Jan 2007, 1AM | 33 Comments

iphone.jpgSo, like the rest of the geek and semi-geek worlds, I'm completely enamored with Apple's new iPhone. As a would-be interface designer, I'm blown away. If you haven't seen Apple's demos or photos of the unit, I recommend you take a look. With video iPod functionality, OSX as its platform, multi-touch sensing screen, an accelerometer, proximity sensor, full web browser, 2 megapixel camera, rich-text email, widgets, Google Maps, WiFi, Bluetooth, new voicemail tech and a remarkable UI all included, the sky's the limit.

Here's a list of 30 theoretical iPhone uses you may not have considered. Have other suggestions? Add a comment.

  1. Connect to your home network.
  2. Shoot, upload, tag, and organize Flickr photos, all from the unit itself.
  3. Play Nintendo DS homebrew games.
  4. Run a ported version of any existing OSX dashboard widget.
  5. Download songs directly from the iTunes Store.
  6. Shoot, edit (iMovie Pocket, anyone?) and upload video directly to YouTube.
  7. Multi-touch puzzle games. Just imagine.
  8. Update its software without user assistance
  9. Share songs with a friend, Zune squirt-style (shudder)
  10. Run a sexy partly line (circa-1987) to earn you literally dozens of dollars, thanks to its "merge calls" function.
  11. Act as a portable 8gb Bluetooth / USB hard drive
  12. Help you plot your day about town with a version of Gmap Pedometer.
  13. Ping home to see what's waiting to be watched on your Apple TV.
  14. Act as a steering wheel for a racing game shown on its own screen.
  15. Make Skype calls that auto-transfer to WiFi when a network is detected.
  16. Let you SSH or FTP into a server from anywhere.
  17. Bring you to tears when it falls and skids face-down across a parking lot.
  18. Broadcast what you're listening to, in real time.
  19. Run advanced image editing software (rotate, zoom, and crop with your fingers!)
  20. Connect to a Bluetooth keyboard for easier input
  21. Allow instant messaging with any existing chat client on any platform.
  22. Stream internet radio direct to your headphones.
  23. Record meetings, memos, or rock concerts.
  24. Let you copy a passage from an eBook and post it to your blog.
  25. Wake you in the morning by reading your email or news headlines out loud.
  26. Automatically enter standby mode when set on a flat, level surface.
  27. Let you monitor a babysitter spy cam during your dinner date.
  28. Run Microsoft Office.
  29. Accept voice commands: "iPhone, play Gnarls Barkley".
  30. Pause the home video you're watching only when your mom calls.

Sure, it's pricey at $499, but life's better just knowing that I'll eventually own one. Plus, my AAPL stock is up 10 percent, for now ;)

Update: Of course, much of this list will be impossible if the iPhone doesn't run an open OS that people can develop for.


There are 33 Comments.

1

10 Jan 07 at 04:10PM sixfoot6 said:

Andy suggests: "Show Upcoming.org events near you, and where your friends are." Good idea! I wonder when future models will have full GPS?

2

10 Jan 07 at 05:54PM alison said:

i don't understand #17.

3

10 Jan 07 at 06:16PM sixfoot6 said:

Number 17 was a joke, perhaps poorly-phrased. Ever drop a cell phone or iPod on a hard surface? I hate that sound and that feeling.

4

10 Jan 07 at 11:05PM kathryn said:

I thought about #6 until I realized there was no video on the iPhone!

#10 might be difficult based upon how much your cellular provider charges for conference calls.

5

11 Jan 07 at 05:39AM unit101 said:

In regards to #29 I thought of the same thing. There's already a foundation for it in OS X. I wonder if Apple included it in the iPhone version of the OS. Would be great for hands free calling, and even typing. You could have a software on your desktop you can train like iListen, and then transfer your voice profile over to the iPhone.

The funny thing is a lot of these ideas would be completely doable if Apple allows for 3rd party apps, which as of now it doesn't seem so. Of course we don't know the details about the processor, but judging from the graphic intensive UI it could probably handle a lot.

Would be nice if Apple actually saw this list...

6

11 Jan 07 at 07:45AM Adam Michela said:

I read #17 and felt like I got punched on the stomach. :(

That's going to suck.

7

11 Jan 07 at 08:17AM Jason said:

Nice list. I seriously hope it will run, if not microsoft office, then at least something that will let you view e-mail attachments. A version of Preview or something. That and if I can't watch youtube videos with its version of safari then I don't see much reason to buy it ;)

8

11 Jan 07 at 08:45AM alison said:

oh yeah, that happened to my pager in 1999. it fell right out of its fancy pocket-clip thingy and skidded underneath my car. bummer.

if that happened to my ipod, i would CRY.

9

11 Jan 07 at 09:08AM Eamon said:

For the record, the Treo 680 can do 1, 3, 8, 10, 11 (4Gb), 13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28 (well, open and edit Office documents, anyway), and 29 right now. Oh, and definitely 17.

10

11 Jan 07 at 09:47AM nick said:

how about collaborative/competitive multiplayer games with the phone as the interface a la wii?

11

11 Jan 07 at 10:37AM FARfetched said:

A mobile version of GarageBand would make it an instant podcast-from-anywhere studio.

I thought about #17 yesterday too… as briefly as possible before my mind skidded away from the horror on its own.

12

11 Jan 07 at 11:40AM Icelander said:

Why wouldn't you be able to develop apps for the iPhone? It's got a full-featured web browser! I imagine most of the stuff you talk about there could easily be done from inside Safari on the phone, and user-generated content would be easy to do as well.

I think a lot of people are forgetting that this is way more than just a phone with a chintzy WAP browser built in.

13

11 Jan 07 at 11:57AM lobster said:

I'm practically salivating over the iPhone, but as a semi-starving graduate student, it might be a long while before I can actually afford one.

14

11 Jan 07 at 11:59AM MojoJoJo said:

Imagine all the wonderful ringtones that will be out there if people are able to use a mobile version of Garage Band!

15

11 Jan 07 at 12:00PM gabrielamadeus said:

would it be possible to use skype to make calls and just pay for cingular's bare-bones service? Maybe not as convenient as a contacts list, but would be way cheaper in certain senarios.

16

11 Jan 07 at 12:31PM sixfoot6 said:

I think the Skype and the GarageBand (instant Podcasting!) ideas are some of the most promising.

Icelander, according to this brief summary of Gizmodo's interview with Apples VP of Applications, it seems like Apple may not be planning / allowing for 3rd party apps. So like the iPod, it would need to be 'hacked' to run 3rd party stuff.

17

11 Jan 07 at 12:49PM leonard said:

Icelander, things you wouldn't be able to do w your "full-featured web browser":

1. no access to network or file system
2. no access to the camera or file system
3. no ability to run/compile/load binaries
4. no ability to run/compile/load binaries
5. up to Apple (or no ability to run/compile/load binaries)
6. no access to the camera or file system
7. no binaries, access to multi-touch input API
8. no ability to run/compile/load binaries, no file/network access
9. no file/network access
10. um, no comment
11. if Apple supports BT transfer
12. this would work as a Web App
13. not able to run as background thread
14. no access to multi-touch input API
15. no access to network
16. no access to network or file system
17. yes
18. no access to network
19. no file access, access to multi-touch input api
20. no network access (bluetooth stack)
21. no background threading, net access, maybe you could run meebo and keep that running (no alerts though and you'd have to leave it open)
22. maybe through flash if it'll, but unlikely it'll run in bg
23. no access to sound api
24. nope!
25. no threading, events subsystem
26. no access to accelerometers, sensors
27. no access to camera
28. no binaries
29. no binaries, access to sound api
30. no access to events subsystem

To summarize, of the things Ryan's listed, you can drop the phone still (#17) or maybe do an substandard version of 2 or 3 of them.

If Apple doesn't open up the phone, most of the stuff everyone is excited about just won't happen. It's not even a smart phone, certainly not in the Nokie "multimedia computer" mold, it literally would be what Jobs said it is: a phone, a video ipod, and an internet (web browsing, email) device. That's not transformative, transcendant or leapfrog at all.

18

11 Jan 07 at 12:59PM Jon Gales said:

Most of these things can be accomplished with a high-end smartphone today. Not that the iPhone isn't cool but since it won't have any third party support for at least a while this list will take a long time to be come reality (at least a year, probably two and maybe more--the iPod is still as closed a system as North Korea is).

I'm really excited to play with one, especially to see how the keyboard works. Ironically I will probably be able to type faster on a throw away $29.99 Nokia.

19

11 Jan 07 at 01:55PM Rory said:

How about: turn it off when you sit down on a plane. Not turn it back on until you land.

Is anyone else bummed that the best ipod available, especially for watching movies and tv shows, is not airplane friendly?

20

11 Jan 07 at 02:06PM Steve Lang said:

I don't mind waiting on Apple to implement some of these items on the list, as long as they do recognize the importance of many of these abilities (especially since a Treo can already most all of them.)

That's ultimately not what sets the iPhone apart- it's HOW it does them. It only has to achieve relative feature parity to be a huge success.

21

11 Jan 07 at 03:01PM Diego said:

Use the built-in camera as a reading aid for the visually impaired or the elderly.

22

11 Jan 07 at 03:06PM Charlie said:

Rory, no doubt it will have a flight mode like any other 'smart' phone.

23

11 Jan 07 at 04:14PM Mads said:

Set you back over $1500

The cheapest Cingular plan cost $40/month plus spending. That adds up to a $1459 (4GB) or $1559 (8GB) minimum price.

24

11 Jan 07 at 06:48PM Peter J. Pedersen said:

98. Be the Universal Remote for All Things Bluetooth.

99. Thanks to the accellerometer, accept 3-D gestures as part of the UI - including gameplay (how about a sound-only game called Swat The Fly?)

25

12 Jan 07 at 08:29AM Eric said:

How about LIVE STREAMING VIDEO podcasts of yourself online? (I don't know if anyone mentioned this yet or not)

If myself and my buddies could include our Korean friend who moved back to Seoul on our bar nights, live, that would ROCK!

26

12 Jan 07 at 09:22AM sixfoot6 said:

Mads is right about this thing being a potential wallet-buster. Maybe I'll need to be satisfied only using the data functions when the iPhone finds a WiFi network.

And Leonard, thanks for crushing our dreams. You pegged it:

"These are more like iPods than they are like computers. You don�t want your phone to be an open platform,� Jobs said. �You need it to work when you need it to work. Cingular doesn�t want to see their West Coast network go down because some application messed up.�

27

12 Jan 07 at 11:34AM simon said:

Haven't you guys noticed that this is a 2G phone? Teh interwebs at less than 14.4kbps!
Yes, upload your pictures you gonk, we'll wait in the bar until your finished.
PS don't forget to take your battery charger to work. you'll be needing it.

28

13 Jan 07 at 03:46AM Kent said:

Act as a steering wheel? You're kidding right? So when you've turned the wheel 45 degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees - the screen is also at that degree? Doesn't like much fun...

29

16 Jan 07 at 10:20AM steve-o said:

I bet that thing can give great head. My crappy Motorolla phone only gives hand jobs (and it doesn't even have the decensy to take off it's rings first).

30

16 Jan 07 at 01:16PM Tom said:

3 of these will be possible with the iPhone in 6 months time.

24 of these are possible with a Pocket PC smartphone right now.

31

20 Jan 07 at 08:23PM Boomfizzle said:

If you'll be able to download stuff directly from the iTunes music store, won't that mean Apple will have to allow iTunes to upload new mp3s from iPhone to your iTunes library? Are the days of crappy Ephpod programs almost over? Could it be?

32

13 Feb 07 at 12:58PM abbottsys said:

Could it call Steve and ask him where the SDK is ;-)

33

20 Mar 07 at 02:35AM guide on dvd to iphone said:

I really think apple will sell over the 10 million mobile devices within the year that they expect this

mobile phone has everything.

Comments are now closed for this entry. May spammers burn in firey brimstone.

↑ Top of comments ↑ Top of page ↑ Top of site

About this page.

Sixfoot6.com presents expermients in writing, design, photography, and hypertext. This weblog entry was posted by Ryan, the site's author.

You are viewing entries within the Current Weblog archive. Explore the full archive, which includes plenty of older & non-webloggy stuff.