The iPhone 4 & What's Missing

The new Retina high-resolution screen, multitasking, 5MP digital camera, HD video recording, new modern design and multitasking set the iPhone 4 apart from previous models. However, even with all the seemingly hypnotizing new features, the iPhone 4 is still lacking many key features that the competition has monopolized. After seeing the new iPhone 4, there are few features that have been left out, but there still are minor disappointments that we hope to see in coming models.

Higher Resolution Camera

When the HTC EVO and similar phones were announced on Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon with an 8MP digital camera, many of us potential consumers were hoping that the iPhone would be sporting a high-resolution 8MP camera. The 5MP camera on the iPhone seems a bit outdated compared to the Android competition, however, it still takes decent quality pictures and has HD video recording. Although the camera is not on par with other high-end smartphones, it is not too shabby either. The video editing directly on the phone is a cool feature that allows you to send edited videos without ever using a computer.

4G

Bloggers, customers and competitors have pointed out the fact that the iPhone 4 does not have 4G. I would agree with them if AT&T was currently running a 4G network, but the simple fact is that they are not. 4G drains battery life faster than 3G and 2G EDGE networks and is not readily available yet. The lack of 4G is a mixed bag because the technology has not evolved enough to become consumer friendly yet, however, some iPhone users want their phones to compete with the EVO and similar phones.

Physical Keyboard

Apple decided not to include a physical keyboard on the new iPhone because it would take away from the styling and look. A physical keyboard makes internet surfing and sending messages much faster than on virtual keyboard. Although we would have liked to see a slim and stylish physical keyboard, the virtual keyboard is still one of the easiest to use on a smartphone.

Removable Battery

Executives, frequent travelers and heavy internet users need more than the 7 hours of battery life on the 3G network when on the go. Removable batteries would have answered this problem; however, the new iPhone only has a single battery that cannot be user replaced.

Flash Support

Steve Jobs recently announced on the Apple website the reasons he does not support Flash on the Apple mobile devices. The primary reasons for this are battery life and software security. The only problem with lack of Flash support is that many websites use Flash for video and music applications, which cannot be accessed by the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.

Service Provider

Say what you want about AT&T regarding reliability and expensive plans, but the main factor that was overlooked by Apple is the new AT&T data plans. The new data plans no longer allow for unlimited data, but rather opt for 200MB ($15) or 2GB ($25). The reasoning behind this was to allow more entry-level users access to data plans, but for users who watch videos or listen to streaming music on their smartphone will be vastly limited by this change, unless grandfathered in under a previous plan. To put this in perspective, 3-4 hours of streaming internet video is 2GB worth of data, which is your entire monthly plan if you opt for the 2GB, and a mere 20 minutes on the 200MB.

Sources:

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=30854

http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Personal experience