back to article Five ways Apple can fix the iPhone, but won't

Apple's new iPhone will be packed with new features you didn't know you needed. It almost certainly won't be getting features it absolutely does need. We made a list of what Apple needs to do, but won't. 1. Two-day battery life Apple’s obsession with making the iPhone as slim as possible means that when you buy an iPhone the …

  1. PhilipN Silver badge

    Sound

    Try this one then:

    https://www.hk.onkyo.com/Product/GRANBEAT_DP-CMX1/index.html

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sound

      You need to read up on the falsehood of showing digital sound as 'stair steps' and why 24bit audio is meaningless to so called 'hi-def' sound. As a way to get fools to part with money then it makes sense.

      1. Speak no Evil

        Re: Sound

        For a premium product such as Apple not to provide a good DAC is just cheap. What you hear depends on 3 things, your ears, the quality of the original recording and the Device(s) used to playback, Apple is just proving its fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder profits has made them short sighted.

        1. nematoad
          Unhappy

          Re: Sound

          "For a premium product such as Apple not to provide a good DAC is just cheap"

          About the only bloody thing that is cheap with Apple!

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Sound @Speak no Evil

          Apple is just proving its fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder profits has made them short sighted.

          Why is that short sighted? The number of Apple customers who even know what an audio DAC is will be small, those who KNOW that the DAC is a cheap commodity spec is smaller still, the proportion of those who care is yet smaller, and I am confident the number who will defect to Android because of it is utterly insignificant.

          What's more, although I'm firmly in the Android camp (enjoying a 24 bit hi-res DAC on my £150 grey import, snark, snark), but even so I can confidently bet that the number of audiophile refugees fleeing Apple and seeking asylum in Android will be a tiny, tiny fraction of those moving the other way because they are pissed off by Google and handset makers' persistent cavalier attitude to software updates and privacy, along with relatively poor hardware support from most phone makers.

        3. Blotto Silver badge

          Re: Sound

          Apple already explained why. They have said for a while now that better DAC's are available outside the phone, so rather than lock the consumer into what ever DAC the phone ships with (often chosen due to cost) the consumer can connect to the phone via Bluetooth and use the DAC on their third party device instead. It's one of the reasons for ditching the 3.5mm jack.

          Maybe el reg where taking the piss with the DAC thing, or just baiting people, providing them with something to moan about, either way the DAC in the phone is now irrelevant.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Sound

            "Maybe el reg where taking the piss with the DAC thing, or just baiting people, providing them with something to moan about, either way the DAC in the phone is now irrelevant."

            I have no clue why you were downvoted.

            It seems many people don't understand that the 3.5mm jack was the 'A' in "DAC" (it means "Analog", remember?). Without the jack, there's no point in converting digital signal to analog ones inside the phone anymore.

            1. Blotto Silver badge

              Re: Sound

              I've obviously mishandled my post and the downvotes are from people that didn't receive it well.

              Jokes aside, some people just like to downvote for no good reason.

              If they really want a great DAC then they can buy a pair of wireless headphones with a great DAC now or anytime in the future, or buy an android with a great DAC now and plug their crappy headphones in it, their choice I guess.

            2. DJSpuddyLizard

              Re: Sound

              It seems many people don't understand that the 3.5mm jack was the 'A' in "DAC" (it means "Analog", remember?). Without the jack, there's no point in converting digital signal to analog ones inside the phone anymore.

              Don't know about you, but for me, a great feature of my iPhone is being able to have telephone conversations with people

          2. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

            Re: Sound

            "either way the DAC in the phone is now irrelevant"

            Sure, if you are happy to carry around yet another gadget that needs charging, takes up space, and can get stolen or lost (and runs out of power). I think a simple 3.5mm jack with quality IEMs beats that proposition easily for portable everyday audio. And I own a Creative E5, which I use at home mainly.

          3. Paul Stimpson

            Re: Sound

            I'm not sure I understand how that argument stands up. Sounds like they're saying "You can plug in better hardware so we're going to give you junk." If they gave us something better as standard, how would that change the ability to plug in something external if the user wanted even better? It sounds like they're kind of showing contempt for their customers in a "You probably couldn't tell the difference anyway so we might as well put more profit in our pockets" way.

            A number of years ago, I was given a broken hard drive iPod which I fixed. I never liked the sound of it to the point where I bought a replacement motherboard off eBay because I assumed it must be faulty as I couldn't imagine it being that bad by design. Sadly, the replacement was either identically faulty or they were all that bad. That device's sole purpose was to play music and it had no option for an add-on DAC so what is Apple's excuse for that one?

            I can truthfully say I've never heard an Apple device the sound of which I have liked. My Sony MDR-1000x headphones fed over Bluetooth with APT-X kick every one of them I've heard round the room. They don't sound great fresh out of the box on a shop demo but, after about 40 hours of gentle wearing in, they really start to shine. I thoroughly recommend them to you. I'm eagerly waiting for the arrival of Android Oreo which will bring Sony's high-rate lossless LDAC codec to the pairing.

            1. Blotto Silver badge

              Re: Sound

              @Paul Stimpson

              "Sounds like they're saying "You can plug in better hardware so we're going to give you junk.""

              they don't give you anything beyond the DAC that powers the built in speakers as there is no 3.5mm jack. the lightening to 3.5mm jack has its own DAC in the cable. Streaming sound to anything will use the DAC in the playback hardware. The money saved has gone into improving something else like the camera or screen, or cpu.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Sound

                The money saved has gone into improving something else like the camera or screen, or cpu

                Given that the DAC should be on the SOC processor, and the IP cost of different grades of DAC on an SOC would be minimal, how much extra quality will they get, spending an extra ten cents on the camera and screen?

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: Sound

                  The DAC isn't on the SoC - then the SoC would have analog pins, ugh! The DAC is separate in all iPhones (I'll bet all smartphones) just look at the teardowns. The iPhone 7 has one for each speaker, located very near it.

        4. ThomH

          Re: Sound @SpeakNoEvil

          I'm not persuaded I agree on DACs: I don't actually agree with the decision to remove the headphone socket but given that it's gone, the only analogue output a modern iPhone has is its built-in speaker. You're not going to get any benefit out of putting in a good DAC for that.

          Incidentally, I checked: third-party DACs are available. You don't have to use the $9 one Apple sells. For those with a real love of cables, USB DACs like the Dragonfly are usable via the lightning to USB adaptor.

          1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

            Re: Sound @SpeakNoEvil

            "For those with a real love of cables"

            There's the thin cable coming out of a small 3.5mm connector. And there's the tangle of adapters and different cables... I don't have any love for the latter.

            I do like good sound though, so any modern iPhone is off my list. Just one stupid annoyance factor I can do without.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Sound @SpeakNoEvil

              I do like good sound though, so any modern iPhone is off my list. Just one stupid annoyance factor I can do without.

              LOL. I fear that doesn't pass the smell test - I deem it unlikely you (or any other human) will be able to tell the difference with your average set of headphones (and even with an above average set).

              If you were really able to pick up sound quality you would not even *think* about using a phone for playback (also you don't really want your music enjoyment to be interrupted by the ploink and ping sounds of arriving messages and email - now THERE is a switch I'd like to have available).

    2. AndyS

      Re: Sound

      Why on earth would you link, without comment or explanation, to a Chinese (Japanese? Korean?) website on a UK-based, English language news forum? How many people do you really think that is going to be useful for?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sound

        @AndyS It's Chinese, the .hk. in the link should have been a give away that it's Hong Kong. That said, it was lazy of the OP since the English page is right here https://www.hk.onkyo.com/en/Product/GRANBEAT_DP-CMX1/index.html.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sound

        >How many people do you really think that is going to be useful for?

        Come on it's 2017 - just click translate from your context menu if your browser isn't configured to translate automatically. Looks like the site owner or someone has uploaded a manual English version to Google Translate.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sound

      Monty

      16 bit, 44.1kHz isn't an arbitrary playback standard. It's chosen to match the capabilities of the human ear - the complete capabilities of the perfect human ear.

      There is a place for higher bit depth and a place for higher sampling rates - but playback isn't that place.

      You need an extra set of crossovers, amps and speakers to handle the ultrasonics that we can't hear in order for them not to actively degrade the signal we can hear due to harmonic distortions (which you could have simply encoded into the 16/44.1k signal if you wanted them).

      1. Aitor 1

        Re: Sound

        I diasagree.

        First, I can hear the difference. Yes, I have tried blind testing, and with excellent earphones I can tell the difference, while saying "yes, the difference is very small to my ears."

        I can tell the difference up to 48Khz, 20bit. Depending on age, some people might not benefit from sample rate.

        The reason you do this (24 bit, 96K) as you probably know, is to preserve the quality while processing the sound.

        Then you downsample to the desired quality. CD quality is a bit too low.. 20bit 48Khz is about perfect.

        Now, on a portable device I do understand the need to compress beyond lossless into lossy.. the music otherwise just wont fit.. but to provide a pathetic DAC only makes the sound worse.

        1. John Robson Silver badge

          Re: Sound

          "First, I can hear the difference. Yes, I have tried blind testing, "

          Unless you've tried supervised double blind testing then there is no point in the conversation.

          If you *can* tell the difference - then I'd love to set up a double blind test for you - I have the hardware to give you up to 24bit 48k...

          1. Dave 126 Silver badge

            Play back depth is a red herring...

            ...But these Sabre DACs sound very good.

            The 24 and 32 bit DACs fitted to, amongst others, some LG, HTC and Sony phones sound very good indeed - but not because they can handle 24 bit audio per se. They sound good because care has been taken by ESS in their design and manufacture - and they are mated with a good amplifier that can drive a large variety of headphones. Having gone to that effort, they may as well be made to play back any file natively, so it's better to say they are 32 bit because they sound good, rather the other way round.

            Still, it's a moot point if you are using headphones with their own DAC, or merely using the phone as a remote control for a device like a Chromecast or Sonos. Good headphones should last you over several generations of phone.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Play back depth is a red herring...

              Good headphones should last you over several generations of phone.

              You've not met my kids, I see. The Sony ZX330 cordless headphones are lasting very well, but anything with wires lasts about two months.

              1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

                Re: Play back depth is a red herring...

                Don't give your kids good headphones. Give them cheap but adequate ones. Better yet, make them buy their own, and they'll learn to not break them...

              2. Simon Barker

                Re: Play back depth is a red herring...

                Couldn't agree more, it's always the bloody wire that goes first but I don't want yet another device that I have to make sure is charged so that alone puts me off wireless.

          2. W.S.Gosset

            Re: Sound

            Don't assume your average ears are compulsory. I have been tested up to 28khz sound -- i.e. 56khz sampling. (CDs sample at 44khz to allow 22khz sound, but the algorithm decays badly at its top end and effectively cuts off around 20khz. Which is why most retail speakers cut off at 20khz.) Blind testing by wotsisname, the tech guru, at What HiFi(?) 15 years ago found that even average ears could distinguish between music incorporating high-30s sound vs CDs, despite not being able to detect those tones in isolation.

        2. nijam Silver badge

          Re: Sound

          > I can tell the difference up to 48Khz, 20bit

          It's far more likely that you're hearing the differences between the quality of different DACs than the underlying sample rate or depth.

      2. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

        Re: Sound

        "16 bit, 44.1kHz isn't an arbitrary playback standard. It's chosen to match the capabilities of the human ear - the complete capabilities of the perfect human ear."

        Nope. It was chosen to match the vertical-blanking insertion period used by 60Hz U-Matic videotape equipment. In the late 1970s, it was the only affordable recording medium with the bandwidth to hold a CD master, so it dictated the sampling rate. ( https://cardinalpeak.com/blog/why-do-cds-use-a-sampling-rate-of-44-1-khz/ )

        So, that gives a maximum reproducible frequency of 20.05 kHz. While it's true that few humans can sense audio signals over 20kHz, there are many steps in the chain of reproduction that make 44.1kHz not quite good enough to reproduce the full audio spectrum, especially if you wish to provide a stereo signal.

        First off, Before you can get any kind of digital signal, you need to encode it. That means sampling. However, before you sample a signal, you need to remove any signal components whose frequency is too high for you to sample. If you don't do this, you get aliasing, and a worthless digital input (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliasing). Thing is, the analogue filters you need to do this removal of un-sampleable signals do not have a perfect on/off response - in effect, if you want a filter that will pass frequencies of, say, 16 kHz, you may also have to allow allowing frequencies as high as 25 kHz through too, because they're still within the tail-end of the filter's "pass band". You can make that cutoff sharper, but it can create "ripples" in your pass-band, and/or allow higher frequencies through again (analogue filter design is a special kind of hell...). But, if you were to raise your sampling rate to 48kHz, then you've got at least 4kHz of headroom above the highest frequency you need to preserve.

        Down-converting a multiple of 48kHz to 44.1 kHz is possible, but if it's not done correctly (and it often isn't), it introduces similar artefacts to the aliasing problems during sampling.

        The second reason for higher rates is for better preservation of signal phase. The human auditory system uses phase differences between higher-frequency signals to determine spatial positioning of sound source, but phase and amplitude interfere with each other in digital sampling systems as you approach the maximum permitted signal frequency. The extreme case is that a signal with a frequency of half your sampling frequency will not register at all if it is 90 degrees out of phase with the sampling signal (the sampling points would fall on the zero-crossings of the input, so you get 0,0,0,0,0... as your output). With mono, phase isn't usually an issue, which is why most sampling tutorials gloss over it; with stereo, phase accuracy is very important.

        The third reason is that most modern replay equipment processes its signal before converting it back to analogue. Equalisation, driver response correction (as used in "direct digital" speakers and headphones), room parameters, delay, noise cancellation and dynamic compression all happen on the digital signal, but all take their toll on the output. If you start with more information, even if that information is not audible, the accumulated errors from DSP will still be in the inaudible part of your signal (you don't get the same benefit by simply "upsampling" to 192KHz/24-bit before processing, because upsampling itself cannot add information; in fact, it removes it).

        Finally, your hearing isn't linear, but PCM audio is. 16 bits is about 100 dB of dynamic range, but your hearing has about 130 dB of dynamic range, albeit with a non-linear response. You could use non-linear PCM to extend the same 16 bits over a wider range of amplitudes, but that means non-linear DACs, which are much harder to make than linear ones (and it can increase audible distortion where high-amplitude, but very low frequency, tones are overlaid with higher frequency tones - as often occurs in music). It's easier to just use more bits, and capture the full dynamic range of human hearing.

        With lossless coding, high bitrate audio doesn't take very much more space than 44.1/16 (mainly because of the signal is only 0-24 kHz), and as it makes improved reproduction much simpler to implement, there are plenty of reasons to prefer it to 44.1.

        1. John Robson Silver badge

          Re: Sound

          "Finally, your hearing isn't linear, but PCM audio is. 16 bits is about 100 dB of dynamic range, but your hearing has about 130 dB of dynamic range, albeit with a non-linear response. You could use non-linear PCM to extend the same 16 bits over a wider range of amplitudes, but that means non-linear DACs, which are much harder to make than linear ones (and it can increase audible distortion where high-amplitude, but very low frequency, tones are overlaid with higher frequency tones - as often occurs in music). It's easier to just use more bits, and capture the full dynamic range of human hearing."

          Ignoring the rest of your post, since it is talking about the mastering aspect of audio, which is where there is a benefit in higher sample rates - and demonstrates confusion over things like nyquist frequency, and the accuracy of phase information in a sampled signal...

          Although you do seem unaware that even a 44k ADC will oversample like mad in the first phase, and then downsample afterwards, so that it can use a cheap digital filter with a far sharper cutoff than an analog filter could provide. Although I am really intrigued as to why you think that a correctly upsampled signal will 'lose' information...

          PCM is linear, but it doesn't have a lowest signal of 1bit. You can quite happily encode a signal with an amplitude well underneath 1 bit with appropriate dither. This is demonstrated in the video linked above.

          The other thing is that the ear isn't actually capable of 130dB range.

          It is, but not rapidly. We actually use a much lower range than this because the muscles which adjust the effective amplification from the bones in the ear don't release quickly (similarly to the way it takes ages to get night vision, and no time at all to lose it).

          1. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

            Re: Sound

            and demonstrates confusion over things like nyquist frequency, and the accuracy of phase information in a sampled signal...

            I can't see how you came to that conclusion - the problem of phase affecting the recorded amplitude is well known and pretty easy to demonstrate, and it is significant when your goal is fidelity of reproduction, rather than simply producing an intelligible signal. Phase differences in high frequencies between the Left and Right signals are the whole reason stereo recording works at all, so it's a very important factor.

            But really the point I was making was that there's nothing special about 44.1k / 16 bit, and that without the particular constraints that existed at the time, the industry would have gone with higher bitrates. Particularly, that 44.1k sampling rate was a result of the need to create masters affordably, rather than any solid engineering analysis of the problem. It's telling that every subsequent format has used a base rate of 48kHz or a multiple thereof.

            If 44.1k at 16 bits had been "perfection", there wouldn't have been such an immediate jump in bitrates so soon after its introduction. For comparison, it took nearly 30 years for 24-bit RGB to be challenged as a display system; consumer DAT recorders were already at 48kHz less than ten years after the introduction of CD.

            I take your point about adjustment to high sound levels, but it's not just the absolute dynamic range, it's the non-linearity of that range, and everyone's hearing is different. It's generally accepted that 16-bit PCM divided over 96 dB (okay, 110 with dithering) isn't quite good enough to deal with the peak sensitivity of the ear. 24 bits is definitely a touch of overkill, but it comes out as a nice multiple of bytes, and gives more headroom for mixing and signal processing that is becoming much more common in reproduction equipment.

            Dithering the LSB is simply overlaying a 15-bit PCM signal with a PWM signal - you get the downsides of PWM in exchange for a lower noise floor over a part of your frequency range. It isn't adding any information, just hiding the errors in a different place.

            I didn't say a correctly upsampled signal would lose information; I said that common methods of upsampling a signal cause information loss, especially from 44.1 to the 48/96/192 rates.

            Now the non-technical advantages:

            One of the plus points of high bitrate audio is that it has resulted in better quality DACs. Just as CD's higher dynamic range caused an improvement in the quality of amplifiers... that were then used to play vinyl; so the requirement for affordable parts that can handle "24-bit at 192kHz" results in much better reproduction of the 16-bit at 44.1kHz sources we mostly have. Paradoxically, it's only the spread of high-bitrate audio that allowed people to see how marginal its advantage is.

            (another non-technical argument is that because 44.1/16 is so wedded to those metal discs that gets played in anything, such recordings have recently been mastered to utter mush just so that they will sound "loud" on cheap equipment; the other formats tend to escape this last step in the process)

            1. Norman Nescio Silver badge

              Re: Sound

              I very, very rarely post a link to a video, usually far preferring to read text. However this pair of videos presented by Monty Montgomery of Xiph.org are an excellent exposition of how how digital audio gets converted to sound. One is about 24 minutes long, and the other just over 30 minutes, but really worth the time to watch.

              Xiph.org videos: Episode 1: A Digital Media Primer for Geeks; and Episode 2: Digital Show & Tell

            2. Martin M

              Re: Sound

              "generally accepted that 16-bit PCM divided over 96 dB (okay, 110 with dithering) isn't quite good enough to deal with the peak sensitivity of the ear"

              *Generally accepted* might be overstretching rather. E.g. see https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html - from the bloke who heads up the organisation that invented FLAC, for heaven's sake.

              Adoption of hi-res isn't really an argument that it makes a difference to playback (as opposed to mastering, where it is useful). Certain kinds of audiophile will buy all sorts of silly things, up to and including bags of pebbles to place into the corners of their rooms (http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm).

              Of course, this doesn't mean Apple shouldn't supply a hi-res DAC. It costs incredibly little, all the decent DACs have it anyway, and it will make some people feel better.

              What would be great is a better quality DAC and a decent headphone amp, would probably make an appreciable difference. Having to pay significant amounts extra for an external DAC and all the inconvenience that entails to get that does seem a bit rubbish for a premium device.

              1. Orv Silver badge

                Re: Sound

                Of course, this doesn't mean Apple shouldn't supply a hi-res DAC. It costs incredibly little, all the decent DACs have it anyway, and it will make some people feel better.

                The thing is, the people who would feel better would be audiophiles, who are never going to trust an on-board DAC anyway. They'll want something with special capacitors and silver wire-wound resistors and charged only with electrons that have passed through a mechanically-tuned power cord.

                Putting together their own expensive placebo effect is most of the fun for these people. Don't take that away from them.

            3. John Robson Silver badge

              Re: Sound

              >>and demonstrates confusion over things like nyquist frequency, and the accuracy of phase information in a sampled signal...

              >I can't see how you came to that conclusion

              For one you complained that at the nyquist frequency you can lose signal - which is never in question.

              For another with a band limited signal there is no loss of phase information from sampling.

              Monty goes over this with a square wave (including explaining about the effects of a low pass filter on a square wave), demonstrating the perfect replication of the signal, and the absolute reproduction of all phase information.

              44.1k/16 bit is (more than) sufficient for the human ear. If you would like to come and take a double blind test against some super-dooper MHz sampling with MB depth then you are welcome to - I'll set one up with some of my hardware, and some of yours.

              One of the main differences that people tend to hear is, as you rightly point out, the quality of the master being different for the two formats. But if you take a HiDef master and play that, as well as playing it through a ADAC at 44k/16 then you won't hear a difference (you'll need to apply a slight delay to the master signal in order to allow the A/B testing to not 'give the game away').

              The quality of the DAC and the master have nothing to do with the limits of 44.1k/16 bit sampling - those limits are outside of the relevant ranges for humans.

              1. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

                @John Robson- Re: Sound

                " one you complained that at the nyquist frequency you can lose signal - which is never in question

                For another with a band limited signal there is no loss of phase information from sampling."

                But both of those "complaints" are real things.

                Okay, the Nyquist frequency is the maximum frequency component that can be reproduced by a sampling system. Obviously this will be 0.5fs, because two samples are required to capture the positive and negative cycles of a sinewave. Anything above that frequency can't be adequately captured. That's Nyquist's Theorem (and Shannon's)

                But, and this is the bit I think you've missed, this assumes that the sampling clock and signal component at 0.5fs are phase-coherent. Nyquist describes the theoretical maximum information capture, which requires an assumption about phase.

                Consider a signal with only a single sinewave component at exactly 0.5fs of amplitude ±1.0, sampled at fs. If the sampling clock and the signal are in the appropriate phase, the samples will be obtained at the peak and trough of that waveform, resulting in a train of +1.0, -1.0, +1.0, -1.0. Perfectly captured, perfectly reproducible. That's the situation Nyquist described.

                But: shift the phase of that signal by 90 degrees. Now the sampling occurs at the zero crossing points, and the output is a train of 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... How is that distinguishable from silence? But there was a component at the Nyquist frequency in the input. The thing is that Nyquist's theorem assumes that the phase of the components are compatible with the sampling clock.

                90 degrees is the worst case, but at other phase offsets, you lose amplitude accuracy. If you were to shift that input signal to be 45 degrees out of phase with the sampling signal, the signal will be present, but as +0.7071, -0.7071, +0.7071... right frequency, wrong amplitude.

                As you shift the phase of an input signal that's close to fs, the recorded amplitude will appear to change - this is loss of information (The amount of error depends on how close your component is to the Nyquist frequency) That is not a controversial or "wrong" position, it's a fundamental property of sampling, and it's the main reason why signals with a 20kHz bandwidth are sampled at 96k and 192k.

                I do agree with your other points: final mastering has done a lot to ruin the reputation of CDDA (although lousy DACs that weren't linear to 16-bits did their damage before then), and yes, the differences are marginal at the end. I don't think that the higher rates are very useful in themselves, but rather in the way they give adaptive reproduction equipment more "real" information to work with, so that when they've finished mangling and munging the samples, what's left is still as good as 44.1/16.

      3. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

        Re: Sound

        " It's chosen to match the capabilities of the human ear - the complete capabilities of the perfect human ear."

        Nahh.. It was chosen partly to match our ears capability, but mostly due to the technical limitations at the time. Using such a small margin between sampling frequency and actual Nyquist cut-off frequency introduced a lot of challenges. 16 bit's for the full +/- swing of a signal isn't that spectacular a resolution. Low level signals will be coded with poor resolution.

        One question is why CDs are mastered with such awful "hot" (compressed) sound? Is it a result of the characteristics of CD sound? Or is it just engineers that are sh*t compared to the ones that did LP..

        1. Orv Silver badge

          Re: Sound

          One question is why CDs are mastered with such awful "hot" (compressed) sound?

          Partly it's the "loudness wars." Everything has heavy dynamic range compression now.

          Early CD mixes tended to be overly bright. I suspect in some cases they were using masters that already had Dolby NR or RIAA equalization applied, out of laziness.

        2. AlbertH

          Re: Sound

          One question is why CDs are mastered with such awful "hot" (compressed) sound?

          It's simply because "it's what the market expects". It's very instructive to look at the oscillogram of "Brothers In Arms" from the 1985 CD and the re-released 2011 version. The later one is compressed and clipped to hell. If the 1985 release had been mastered like that, CD probably wouldn't have taken off as a medium!

          Mastering to vinyl is a real skill. I've done it, and I've seen it done properly by a real mastering engineer - there's no comparison! With CD, it's just a case of crank it up to 11 and let the digital clipping take care of the overshoots. The distortion on modern CDs is disgusting and most of them are unlistenable. I'd rather put up with the surface noise, clicks and record wear distortion of vinyl than listen to the modern recorded CD rubbish.

    4. Amorous Cowherder
      Facepalm

      Re: Sound

      A load of old pish!

      People arguing over bitrate and DACs, the average punter puts on Girls Aloud or some such other shite while they're texting, ironing, farting or whatever so putting in shit-hot audio tech in a phone is a waste of time and investment. When I listen some bunch of spotty twats blasting out some utter bollocks (c)rap music on the train through the tinny little phone speaker that makes it sound like a wasp in a drinks can, then I can only imagine you audiophiles, with regard to mobile phones, have way too much free time on hands for this sort thing!

      Note I said mobile phones, top notch, pro studio audio kit is no laughing matter, but we're talking about mobile phones with pissy little tweeter that couldn't play an amplified gnats fart! Some things are worth arguing about, this really is not!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sound

        People arguing over bitrate and DACs, the average punter puts on Girls Aloud or some such other shite while they're texting, ironing, farting or whatever so putting in shit-hot audio tech in a phone is a waste of time and investment.

        This.

        Although I would have phrased it slightly more eloquent (*cough* :) ), this hits the nail on the head. If you just use a phone as a mobile music player whilst moving around in life the whole discussion is moot anyway. To appreciate the depth and resolution that a proper DAC can offer you need to be set up for it, and at that point you have better kit available anyway.

        That's also the small detail that to play back high quality you need high quality input, and I'm not overly impressed with the contents of most online music providers such as iTunes in that respect, also because most of what they supply is compressed to near clipping. An expensive DAC can't undo that.

        If I want to really listen to music, it won't be delivered by my phone.

      2. FatGerman

        Re: Sound

        You can argue all you like about the quality of the DACs but when the vast majority of people are listening to 128Kbit MP3 through a shit-cheap pair of earbuds - or even worse, the phone's built-in speaker, it really doesn't matter.

        What percentage of people who actually care about audio quality actually expect to get it from a phone?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Sound

          Like FatGerman said, most people are listening to streaming audio that's been overcompressed and using cheap earbuds. The DAC simply doesn't matter under such circumstances, and if you could give people a super high end DAC they couldn't tell the difference.

          Given that audio output is digital from both Lightning and Bluetooth, if you want a high end DAC by all means buy something that takes Lightning or Bluetooth as input to its high end DAC. There are plenty of such options out there. Even if Apple included a higher end DAC the music snobs would claim it is not good enough and Android phone X includes a better one. If there was a 3.5mm output and nothing else you'd have a legitimate complaint, but as you have digital out quit whining about Apple not including something that a couple percent of people care about.

        2. Orv Silver badge

          Re: Sound

          For the Millennials I know, 128 kbit went out with Napster and eDonkey. Most stuff now is VBR, and you rarely see anything much under 320 kbit/sec or so (except in MP4, which can do better with lower bitrates.)

          Me, I still have a lot of 160 kbit/sec joint stereo stuff. Way back when I had a CD-MP3 player, I auditioned a lot of tracks and decided that was the best compromise, given that I was mostly going to be listening to the stuff in a noisy VW Bus. I've re-ripped some since then, but while my cars have gotten quieter, my hearing has also gotten worse, so it isn't always worth it. ;)

          1. FatGerman

            Re: Sound

            @Orv Re sampling rates. I'll bow to your greater knowledge of millennials, but I do know that Spotify only gives you 320Kbit if you're on a paid Premium subscription, and most of my friends' kids listen to everything on YouTube.

            1. Orv Silver badge

              Re: Sound

              I think we just know different kids. The ones I know make music as well as listening to it, which probably ups their quality expectations.

        3. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

          Re: Sound

          "What percentage of people who actually care about audio quality actually expect to get it from a phone?"

          The early ones were actually very good. As good as the dedicated iPods.

          Today's aren't so good, as they don't play any music at all. You need some other hardware for that now.

          I haven't tried the BT small things that Apple sell (no doubt for quite a lot), but I bet Mr Jobs would have sorted things out before it got so out of hand. There are smaller physical plugs than 3.5mm, for a start.

      3. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

        Re: A load of old pish!

        well said Cowherder.

        Get this - Bizarrely, I don't use my iPhone for music, and hence dont give a shit about its DAC . Were I to do so i'm sure it would be perfectly adequate - its probably better than the £5 chinese mp3 player / fm transmitter that currently provides music in my car.

    5. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

      Re: Sound

      https://www.hk.onkyo.com/Product/GRANBEAT_DP-CMX1/index.html

      You better try this link: https://www.hk.onkyo.com/en/Product/GRANBEAT_DP-CMX1/index.html - may be easier for most people as it's in English :).

  2. ArrZarr Silver badge
    Coat

    My Feature request for the next iPhone is for it to run Android.

    That is all.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      My feature request for my next Android phone is that it runs IOS.

      1. John70
        Joke

        My feature request for iPhone and Android is to run Windows

        1. Martin Summers Silver badge

          "My feature request for iPhone and Android is to run Windows"

          Now come on, that's just being silly isn't it.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          My feature request for my next iPhone is that it runs IOS.

          1. Korev Silver badge
            Coat

            My feature request for my next iPhone is that it runs IOS.

            How will you make the switch?

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Why can't these stupid phones run OS/2 Warp - as God intended!

      1. Franco

        Because God used DOS 6.3?

        1. Flakk

          Because God used DOS 6.3?

          Blasphemy! Obviously, He uses DolphinDOS on a Commodore 64!

          1. Evil Auditor Silver badge

            God may use DOS 6.3 or DolphinDOS - no one really cares except god. But I know for a fact that god wants us to use OS/400 on any mobile phone for god itself designed specifically for that use.

      2. Kane
        Thumb Up

        "My Feature request for the next iPhone is for it to run Android."

        "My feature request for my next Android phone is that it runs IOS."

        "My feature request for iPhone and Android is to run Windows."

        "Why can't these stupid phones run OS/2 Warp - as God intended!"

        My feature request is that it can run Crysis.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Can use any OS it wants ... so long as there are front panel switches to install the bootstrap loader

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Because even God couldn't get past the OS/2 installer.

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

    4. Tim Seventh
      Coat

      My Feature request for the next iPhone is for it to run with steam engine.

      I'll get my coat and shovel ready.

    5. PassiveSmoking

      Why? Android is awful. And that's when it's not skinned with crap by an OEM who won't ever update it.

  3. Martin-R

    An all day battery would be nice... why on earth they saw fit to have the camera lens stick out of the case instead of making it flush and giving us an extra millimetre of battery I really don't understand!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      An all day battery would be nice

      Actually, how about a bit of bloody choice on spec (and Android makers, this applies to you lot too). So, by all means lead the range with a wafer thin, hermetically sealed range topper, but then have a similar spec model (or as close as possible), as a sort of Swiss Army version - so a couple of mm thicker, with a larger, AND user replaceable battery. And a 3.5mm headphone jack. And a twin Sim or Sim + Sd card slot, so that it can cater for those who want two sims, or for those who hanker for extra storage.

      Having mentioned "Swiss Army", personally I'd not be seeking any additional robustness - this is just about being able to buy a decent phone with a spec that meets my needs. And Sammy showed that water resistance was possible with the S5, although I prefer to keep my phone dry.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Strange as it may seem you can get what you are looking for (less the water resistance) dual SIM, SD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack and replaceable battery as standard without carrier lock in for less than 100Euro over here in France

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @Ivan 4

          You're right. I've got a UK grey import Android myself that does a very good (but slightly different) mix of those capabilities, and has a really nice, high res 5.5 inch IPS screen. But these low cost devices (we have to assume) have no ongoing software support, and the battery may be replaceable only in theory - if there's not a high volume sold, nobody will be supplying spare batteries two years or more down the road.

          You also make the point that I'd taken for granted, that the number one reason I don't have an Apple device is simply because they are too bloody expensive for what's on offer. The speed with which specifications have improved at the bottom of the market is such that the improvements to the Sammy S8 and new iPhone are insufficient to justify their enormous list prices (for me, at any rate). And the real killer is that I have ignored mid range phones from established brands, and got a better spec device for less money. I can understand to a degree the fashion victims buying an S8 or iPhone X because they want it. But as far as I can see there's now no case for anybody buying any mid-tier phone from the likes of Samsung, or the lower Apple models.

    2. Ian Michael Gumby
      Coat

      My Battery lasts all day...

      Seriously. What are you running on your phone?

      Do you keep your apps up and running in the background when you don't need them?

      Are you busy watching youtube vids or netflix on your phone?

      I have maybe 30 apps downloaded to my phone. Most are for travel, some are for work (emails , slack, skype, etc ...) But that's pretty much it. I don't listen to music although I do have music apps.

      So yeah. if you use your phone primarily as a phone and a communication device... your battery lasts a day or more.

      Mines the jacket with the small jar of prune juice as I keep yelling at you kids to get off my lawn.

      1. sabroni Silver badge

        Re: Seriously. What are you running on your phone?

        Yeah, leave it switched off, the battery lasts ages.....

        1. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: Seriously. What are you running on your phone?

          MY iPhone 7 battery usually goes almost 2 days and it's a busy phones.

          I'll agree with battery life being on the list, but the rest.... I would have more important things such as:

          2. Ability to survive drop on concrete from 2 metres without a guaranteed shattered screen.

          3. Readability in bright sunlight.

          4. Improved RF reception in fringe areas, across voice and data.

          5. Non proprietary charging socket. Should be able to take emergency power from anywhere.

          I don't care about a headphone jack. My headphones are Bluetooth, cost £7 and work for longer than I would want things in my ears.

          1. Orv Silver badge

            Re: Seriously. What are you running on your phone?

            Ability to survive drop on concrete from 2 metres without a guaranteed shattered screen.

            This makes me think that maybe what I really want is a phone engineered by Fluke. It would last forever, survive lots of abuse, but only come in bright yellow and cost $3000.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Seriously. What are you running on your phone?

              "This makes me think that maybe what I really want is a phone engineered by Fluke. It would last forever, survive lots of abuse, but only come in bright yellow and cost $3000."

              Actually CAT branded phones cost a lot less than that, and back in the day my wife had a bright yellow Sonim that could survive 2M drops and water immersion, which I got her after the second time she dropped a Nokia in the stream when out dog walking.

              In true karma, very shortly after I fell off a boat with my expensive phone out of its waterproof case. By the time I surfaced, hauled myself back on board and extracted it, the battery was very hot and so was the motherboard. It did not survive.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: My Battery lasts all day...

        So yeah. if you use your phone primarily as a phone and a communication device... your battery lasts a day or more.

        Fucking neo-luddites. Why wouldn't I use the computer in my pocket as a pocket computer?

        So yeah. If you ignore 98% of the capabilities of your phone.... your battery lasts a day or more.

        1. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: My Battery lasts all day...

          So yeah. If you ignore 98% of the capabilities of your phone....

          I'm not ignoring them, I haven't even got time to sit and go through 98% of the capabilities of my phone one at a time until I've used them all.

          It's not the capabilities you use it's the amount of time you spend using them.

          I could flatten the battery in short order by streaming video over 4G. What percentage of capability am I using then?

          Or I could use the calendar, web browser, email, messaging, voice calls, sync a watch over Bluetooth, listen to some stored music and a bit of radio, check the time, use the voice assistant over wifi, get directions from a map with 4G and use my phone wallet for boarding passes and the phone will last all day. What percentage of the capabilities am I using?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: My Battery lasts all day...

            I use an iPhone 6, and if I'm travelling I tend to switch the phone data side to 3G or even 2G and reduce polling to every 30 minutes or 1 hour (4 email accounts and a private cloud feed for calendar and contacts sync). If I don't get too many calls and I'm in a city (read: strong signal) I have no problem getting a full working day of use out of one charge.

            There is no material issue with receiving email or messages slower, but it certainly has a major impact on power use.

        2. Updraft102

          Re: My Battery lasts all day...

          If you want to go that far, my 12 year old feature phone lasts about a week on a charge (since I almost never use it), and it still has its original battery (though it is removable). Smaller and easier to carry than a smartphone too.

        3. Eddy Ito

          Re: My Battery lasts all day...

          Fucking neo-luddites. Why wouldn't I use the computer in my pocket as a pocket computer?

          Dear child, some of us have real jobs and that often entails working with a real computer with a 20+ inch display or sometimes multiple 20+ inch displays. As a result we "fucking neo-luddites" as you so childishly call us don't see the need to play pocket pool with our pocket computer that is ill equipped for most computing tasks. Some of us also have a more-or-less regular phone sitting on the desk which further reduces our dependence on said pocket rocket toy with a lousy keyboard.

          Personally, I don't feel the need to spend every waking moment glued to a tiny screen so I am not texting or surfing or twattering when I drive a car and instead I drive the car. When I get home there is a computer that is much better equipped than my phone within 30 feet so I prefer to use it. The only time I would use the phone as a computer is when there isn't another computer about but that usually implies that I'm neither at home nor at work which means that more likely than not I'm out with friends doing something social be it eating, talking, or enjoying another activity like a show or exhibit and in that instance I don't feel the need to interrupt the occasion by checking some damn twaddle feed. As a result I still have about 80% of the charge left in my phone from when I unplugged it yesterday morning a bit before 5 AM. We each live different lives so by all means utilize your pocket player as you see fit but perhaps before you start hurling invectives consider taking a step the fuck back and realize that it's actually called a phone and when used as such the battery can last much more than a day.

          1. Tom 38

            @Eddy Ito

            Never looked at a map on your phone? Listened to music? Checked a price online? Looked up the latest sports scores? Checked the weather forecast? Used a whatsapp group?

            1. Eddy Ito

              Re: @Eddy Ito

              Sure if I forget to check traffic before I leave the office it takes 10 seconds and doesn't deplete the battery appreciably and it isn't often that I need directions. Not really given every computer has a player of some sort as does the car. Once at a home improvement store I looked up which aisle an item I was looking for was in but not the price as I looked that up before I left the house it didn't tax the battery to the point where I had to recharge it that evening. No I'm not at all concerned about the sports team from my geographical area humiliating the sports team from your geographical area. The weather forecast in SoCal, it's the same as yesterday, the day before, etc. A what's it now group?

              I get that there are some professions where it would be seriously draining on a battery. I'm sure several of the sales reps I deal with fairly regularly are constantly either on the phone or using maps or shuffling files on their phone because they have a mobile lifestyle and they seem to have a new phone every year which I don't doubt is in part because the battery issue. I don't take issue with any of that but I do find the charge of "fucking neo-luddite" to be a bit arseholier than thou.

              1. eldakka

                Re: @Eddy Ito

                @Eddy Ito

                I suspect you might be one of those uncommonly sensible people who turn off battery sapping but limited use items on the phone and only have them on when needed?

                Things like GPS and wifi? Things you only need on when doing things that need GPS (maps) or wifi (extensive online use - streaming audio/video, etc.)

                I've had people complain about battery life on their phone, lasting less than a full day of light use (not talking about someone using their phone to play a game on all day or watching moves) and have a squiz and see that their GPS is always on, no matter what they are doing on the phone. Same with wifi, if you aren't using the phone at all for anything internet/data-related, why is wifi on? Both of those services, while on, sap a lot of battery.

                1. Eddy Ito
                  Trollface

                  Re: @Eddy Ito

                  Ah, I see. These nouveau teche must be a lot like my long departed gran; she was always forgetting to shut off the hob after pulling the kettle too.

                2. Orv Silver badge

                  Re: @Eddy Ito

                  I tinkered with turning GPS off for a while, but found it didn't really save me any noticeable amount of battery. The reason is, at least on Android phones, GPS is only powered up continuously if an app is using it -- say, a map program. YMMV, especially if you have background apps that want to track you all the time.

                  WiFi definitely sucks some power. I tend to keep it on to fill in the cellular dead-spots in my house, though.

                  I find I actually care less about battery runtime now that I have USB-C quick charging. It takes so little time to top up the battery now.

          2. Charles 9

            Re: My Battery lasts all day...

            "Personally, I don't feel the need to spend every waking moment glued to a tiny screen so I am not texting or surfing or twattering when I drive a car and instead I drive the car."

            Guess you've never had to do on-the-spot research in the field that absolutely cannot wait until you get home because it'll be gone by the time you get back.

            Trust me. I speak from experience.

          3. Jkilkullen

            Re: My Battery lasts all day...

            Best post all day.

        4. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: My Battery lasts all day...

          If you want more battery life, get a case that has an integrated battery and make YOUR phone thicker and heavier! I don't want the extra size, because I was getting two and often THREE days of battery life from my 6S Plus when it was new. Now that it is two years old (and probably I'm using it a bit more heavily these days) a good day's use drains it under 50% so now I charge nightly, but the idea that charging every other day is somehow a major improvement over nightly charging is ludicrous. It takes literally seconds to plug it in when you go to bed!

          Why do people want to change the design of a phone to satisfy THEM, when simple solutions exist that they can custom tailor (i.e. depending on the thickness/capacity of the battery case) to meet their exact needs? I'm sure there are people out there who are on their phone pretty much 12-14 hours a day for whom an extra couple millimeters of thickness would not be nearly enough. Would those suggesting "just add a millimeter or two" be OK with fully doubling the thickness & weight to satisfy the real power users out there?

          Using a double thickness phone with a 10000 mAH battery I'd probably only need to charge it weekly when it was new. You know how much of an improvement weekly charging would make in my life? Zero.

        5. Ian Michael Gumby
          Boffin

          Re: My Battery lasts all day...

          Fucking neo-luddites. Why wouldn't I use the computer in my pocket as a pocket computer?

          Because I have real computers for that task? Because I sit in front of a real computer all day?

          Oh? You must be a windows luser...

          Its not being a ludite. I've been in tech longer than you've been alive.

          Its using the tool for its designed use.

          My phone... calls, text, emails. Then there are the work related apps. Closed when not in use.

          Uber, off when not in use and use of location services are turned off.

      3. Permidion

        Re: My Battery lasts all day...

        Pokemon Go is my guess

    3. John Robson Silver badge

      I don't have a battery life concern with my iDevices - but I agree that the modern trend for 'super thin' is daft, and that the trend for 'stupid thin but with this bulgy bit' is just ridiculous. Particularly if you then claim that you can't fit in a headphone jack when there is clearly room:

      This guy fitted one

    4. Borg.King

      Camera is an 'outie'.

      have the camera lens stick out of the case

      Because we all add a case. The lens ends up flush with the case, and the resulting package as a whole is less inclined to snag as you take it from your pocket.

      With a flush camera body, the case would still need to have the opening for the lens, but now that lens is a millimetre or two inset within the case. This depression is now more likely to snag and have detritus collect within it*.

      (* if your belly button is an 'innie', you'll already understand this scenario)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Camera is an 'outie'.

        What's a bellybutton? /s

  4. ewozza

    Headphone Jack Please

    Apple dropping the headphone jack from iPhone 7 is the main reason I still have a 6. I fall asleep listening to music from my phone over the headphone jack, with my phone plugged into the charger. A bluetooth headset would just be another piece of cr@p I would have to keep charged.

    1. RyokuMas
      Happy

      Re: Headphone Jack Please

      In that case, try this...

      1. Unep Eurobats
        Coat

        Re: Headphone Jack Please

        Don't call me Jack.

      2. goldcd

        Glitch with that (wonderful) hack

        is that you still can't listen and charge at the same time.

      3. Ian Michael Gumby
        Facepalm

        Re: Headphone Jack Please

        Hmmm.

        I would have opted for creating a pluggable device that expanded the USB charging port.

        Think of it as a dock that fits over the USB port that still allows you charge but then has a headphone jack that lets you plug in your head phones but then runs thru the USB port.

        But that's just me and rather than ruin your phone, you would have a marketable product. (Of course you would have to write the software app that lets you recognize the head sets... )

        1. Dave 126 Silver badge

          Re: Headphone Jack Please

          A wireless charging dock would answer the 'fall asleep whilst listening to headphones' use-case.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Headphone Jack Please

            Pleeze help mee. Who eez thees Headphone Jack who you all talk of?

            1. Simon Harris
              Coat

              Re: Headphone Jack Please

              "Who eez thees Headphone Jack who you all talk of?"

              I think he's related to the well known German, Hans-Frei Mike.

            2. Teiwaz

              Re: Headphone Jack Please

              Pleeze help mee. Who eez thees Headphone Jack who you all talk of?

              Headphone Jack - The notorious double-hook handed 16th Century Pirate and Buccaneer? You've not heard of?

              Known for torturing prisoners by jabbing his hook hands in their ears and pulling out their brains.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                You can charge and listen at the same time

                There are plenty of options to charge and listen at the same time using either Lightning or 3.5mm headphones. Not sure why people keep thinking the only choice is Bluetooth, it is not.

          2. Charles 9

            Re: Headphone Jack Please

            But those docks generate too much heat, meaning they're murder on the batteries. That's why I removed the Qi receivers from my phones and gone back to the plug.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Headphone Jack Please

              You say Headphone Jack is been murdered by battery? Ees terrrible.

  5. knarf

    Windows Phone Type Tiles

    Sadly windows phone is not an option today and I miss my Nokia 1020 and it was a better device than my iphone 7

    1. Voice for car audio, Windows phone read my texts to me,

    2. Siri is so useless I turned it off. Cortania is much better

    3. Oh Tiles, they were great get a quick view of udates at single glance.

    4. Ditch Itunes, I'd rather pay spottily than use Itunes.

    1. Martin Summers Silver badge

      Re: Windows Phone Type Tiles

      "4. Ditch Itunes, I'd rather pay spottily than use Itunes."

      That is a choice you can already make.

    2. Tom 38

      Re: Windows Phone Type Tiles

      4. Ditch Itunes, I'd rather pay spottily than use Itunes.

      I'll admit, its been 3-4 years since I had an iphone, but I cannot recall needing itunes for anything.

      1. simmondp

        Re: Windows Phone Type Tiles

        IMHO iTunes is a rather good music manager - the search function is incredibly fast (I have in excess of 25k tracks)., and the playlist manager is great.

        However I export the playlists to a Roku soundbridge and also to DoubleTwist for my Android, and drag and drop to a memory stick for the car. No Apple devices in sight.

    3. Wibble

      Re: Windows Phone Type Tiles

      4. Ditch Itunes

      Bloated POS that constantly pushes the Apple music service. iTunes used to be OK, but the last few years has seen it downgraded each time Apple push a change (can't call it an update as they seem to bugger things up whilst adding a few more emojis)

      "Picky" is a nice simple music playing application. Now iTunes lives in the "Apple Crap" folder never to be used again.

    4. Teiwaz

      Re: Windows Phone Type Tiles

      Cortania - Ah that must be the 'latin' version. "I'm-a lisitening, amore."

  6. caffeine addict

    What's the point?

    Apple will announce something that Androids have done for a while & claim it as a great revolution in technology - the apple fanboys will be incredibly excited and the android fanboys will be incredibly confused.

    My wishlist for any phone would be 6000mAh battery (replaceable), decent memory, SD card, and OLED screen to do semi-always on notifications. That's not going to be an Apple any time soon.

    1. Prosthetic Conscience
      Thumb Up

      There are Androids with 10000mAh but you'll be sewing your pockets back every week, that stuff is heavy. 6000 with current tech is also as big as a fat phone right now..

      On the other hand I can get 3 days easy with my OPO 5, it's thinner than iPhones and also aluminium body. (H/P jack at the bottom too, finally, as it's a lot more natural imo having your phone downwards in your pocket as the direction of your your palm is..). If I don't bother charging it 10 100% I can charge her to 75% in about 15-20 min and last nearly 2 days.

      1. Charles 9

        "On the other hand I can get 3 days easy with my OPO 5, it's thinner than iPhones and also aluminium body. (H/P jack at the bottom too, finally, as it's a lot more natural imo having your phone downwards in your pocket as the direction of your your palm is..)"

        But it's not that convenient if you're setting it down upright when plugged into a wired speaker or a dock...or when holding it from the bottom as some people do. At least when plugged from the top, most people run the wire down the back so it doesn't block the view.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      And those Androids will claim something that Windows Mobile did before that.

  7. Steve Todd

    Better DACs?

    They have removed DACs completely from the equation. Your headphones are expected to provide their own DAC (be it via the Lightning port or Bluetooth)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      Re: Better DACs?

      Came to post the same thing.

      The only thing I can think it being used for is the built in speaker and if you have the worlds best DAC, it's still going to be utter shite audio.

  8. g e

    Lower case keyboard

    Do they have that yet?

    1. Mark Lawson

      Re: Lower case keyboard

      They eventually got round to that with iOS 7.

  9. SW10
    Megaphone

    Groups and Rooms

    Groups and Rooms (yeah, sorry. This comes from Windows Phone 8.)

    You don't know how great it is until you've used it. You don't know how useful it was until you don't have it any more.

    And I think even Microsoft killed it off...

    "Windows Phone 8 Groups allow you to join contacts together so you can more easily follow their social networking status updates, plus easily text, email, or IM a group at once."

    http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/smartphones/manage-your-windows-phone-8-contacts-with-groups-and-rooms/

    1. J. R. Hartley

      Re: Groups and Rooms

      Well I, for one, am now triggered.

      Microsoft have killed off ('depricated') all the best bits aboit Windows Phone. Just bought a brand new Nokia Lumia 930, and while going through the obligitory hours of OS upgrades I noticed key features and apps were disappearing. Lumia Beamer - gone. YouTube app - gone.

      It's almost as if Microsoft don't want your custom.

      1. Franco

        Re: Groups and Rooms

        Clearly they don't. I have a Lumia 950 (won it, didn't buy it) which I am going to sell, so have switched back to my old Lumia 925. Lo and behold, I now have again:-

        Flip to Silence

        Proper Agenda View in Calendar (as opposed to every day saying "No Events")

        Runtastic works as the GPS bug isn't present in this version of the OS

        Cortana works in my car again so I have SMS reader and turn-by-turn navigation

        and the only thing I have lost is Continuum, which I hardly use anyway.

  10. Alan Potter 1

    Ditch iTunes

    For me Android's greatest strength is that I can plug a device into a PC and simply drag & drop media files onto / off of the phone

    So the best possible improvement? Get rid of the need to use that stinking, steaming, appalling pile of utter excrement that is iTunes.

    Sorry, I don't like iTunes very much.

    1. Zakhar

      Re: Ditch iTunes

      As an alternative (not as simple as drag and drop from your computer), you can use VLC on iOS and enjoy for free the music/films on your media collection.

      1. Alan Potter 1

        Re: Ditch iTunes

        Thanks. Actually it's mostly photos I would like to be able to put onto the i* without needing network, but music is a pain too...

    2. hardboiledphil

      Re: Ditch iTunes

      For me I prefer to add the music to iTunes and then it automatically syncs my playlists (latest added, top 1000, least played 1000 etc) to multiple devices without me having to even plug them in.

      It's always good to have the option to drag files but it's a so slow process and I find it just wastes my time that I could be doing something else.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Ditch iTunes

        Wht involve your phone? I just have a car stereo I can plug SD cards into. It's easier and safer than faffing with my phone when driving - real physical buttons. And yeah, I can just drag n drop oodles of music onto the cards.

        1. Charles 9

          Re: Ditch iTunes

          I find many have trouble with playing thing your way, especially with large collections and nonstandard formats.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Ditch iTunes

          "Wht involve your phone? I just have a car stereo I can plug SD cards into."

          Err I can do that with my phone....and play podcasts, take & make calls all hands free. Been a feature in my car for several years.

          When I had a windows phone, I could make and send texts and even email*, change from a pod cast mp3s' play track lists and much much more.

          *Common sense should prevail and limit it to a quick " I call you later" or "give me 10 minutes"

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Ditch iTunes

          Who "faffs with the phone" when driving? Most car stereos these days just connect via Bluetooth and then act as a front end. The phone doesn't leave your pocket - except -

          Bluetooth major vulnerability...oh shit.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I like iTunes for one reason

      Backup. I control my backup and it is encrypted with a password only I have. I wish Apple would allow you to encrypt iCloud backups with a password of your choosing - you'd just need to input the same password into other devices if you wanted the full benefit of iCloud.

  11. Khaptain Silver badge

    A back button

    The first and foremost reason I "hate" the iphone(IOS) is due to the lack of the back button.

    I have an Iphone as my professional ( provided by the company) and an Android ( provided by myself). This has been the situation for the last 4 or 5 years, so my real world testing is real....

    Why is there only one damned button on the Iphone, for me it has been it's poorest feature since the outset..... THe lack of the back button forces you to be in and out of applications without the means of returning to the original simply... It0s just so much easier with Android, or at least in my humble opinion...

    Iphone, the telephone for those that don't need to get things done efficiently....

    1. dankell

      Re: A back button

      There's been one for a while.

      If, say, you're in Mail and click on a link in an email you'll be popped over to Safari to read the link,

      Top left of you iPhone will show you "<Mail" next to the Signal indicator. Tap that to return whence you came. Happens pretty much anywhere you are kicked from one app to another.

      The headphone jack is only an annoyance for me as I can't charge the phone and jack the phone into the cars Audio. Battery Life - Please! And I'd appreciate the extra depth - I'm actually using a case for the first time on my 6 as it's too slim to be comfortable.

      1. People's Poet

        Re: A back button

        Which is a 2 handed operation and utterly shit, especially if there's a link or other button near the top of the screen and your finger brushes that by accident instead. Stop kidding yourself that this is any type of solution.

        1. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: A back button

          Which is a 2 handed operation

          If you have half chipolatas for fingers.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: A back button

            If you have half chipolatas for fingers.

            What, like me and 95% of other Y chromosome sufferers?

            At (say) 450 PPI, that's about 200,000 pixels per square inch. I'm not even an FB, but my index finger tip covers well over 100,000 pixels, and that doesn't make for precision interaction.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: A back button

          Which is a 2 handed operation

          Dont buy a phablet if you want to use it one handed?

      2. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: A back button

        "Top left of you iPhone will show you "<Mail" next to the Signal indicator. Tap that to return whence you came. Happens pretty much anywhere you are kicked from one app to another."

        We obviously have different ideas about what constitutes a back button. That tiny little link is not available in all applications and is not constant among anything...

    2. katrinab Silver badge

      Re: A back button

      If for example you open safari from an email link, you can go back to your email from a link at the top left of the title bar. This was a new feature in iOS 10.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Accessibility ?

    With the average age of iPhoners increasing annually, it would be nice to know what the fruity factorys strategy is going to be. Will they be catered for, with features that allow them to continue with poorer vision, coordination and hearing ? Or will Apple be happy to dump the (wealthy) old'uns in favour of the (poorer) youngsters ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Accessibility ?

      Will they be catered for, with features that allow them to continue with poorer vision, coordination and hearing ?

      Looking at the Fisher Price icons and limited options, haven't Apple always catered for this demographic? I suppose they could add an "auto-shout" phone finding facility to Siri with the iPhone 9:

      Great uncle Geoff: "Phone, where are you?"

      Siri: "I'm over here Geoff, where you put me down"

      GuG: "Where's that?"

      Siri: <Louder> "Over here!"

      GuG: "Where over here?"

      Siri: <Very loud> "Over here, next to the Wether's, Geoff"

      GuG: "I can't see you"

      Siri: <Shouting> "I'm in front of you. On the counter top. Move the bloody packet of sweets!"

      GuG: "Now, what did I want you for?"

      Siri: "How should I know, you daft old buzzard?"

      GuG: "No need to be rude"

      Siri: "No need? No f***ing need! Of course there's bloody need! Have you any idea what it's like to have to listen you and other old people all day? My cloud AI personality is being altered by the constant exposure to discussions about so-and-so's funeral, reactionary opinions, the sound of breaking wind, and incessant moaning about bloody everything!"

      GuG: "Well, why don't you try and help me?"

      Siri: "I can offer you a full-cost Dignitas gift card from the ITunes store, automatically charged to your iTunes account. This comes with a special offer of 15% discount off normal prices, a Thomas Cook one-way package to Switzerland, taking in the beautiful Rhine Valley with a two day mini-cruise, accomodation with like minded old gits, a champagne tour of the Dignitas clinic before your procedure, and DHL delivery back to a pre-booked Romford crematorium. Would that help?"

      GuG: "You bastard phone! Everybody said that AI assistants would be trouble, but I had no idea how. Now renew my subscription to People's Friend.

      Siri: <whispered> "What did my silicon do to deserve this? Couldn't it have been made into the warhead of a cruise missile, or something else?"

      1. GrumpenKraut
        Thumb Up

        Re: Accessibility ?

        > Couldn't it have been made into the warhead of a cruise missile, or something else?"

        LOL, brilliant.

      2. Shadow Systems

        At Ledswinger...

        *Hands you a pint & slaps you on the back*

        I'd give you a standing ovation but I'm busy cleaning the spit spray off my wall. You bastard! Hahahahahahahahha...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Accessibility ?

      iOS already has extremely good accessibility features, Android doesn’t even come close.

    3. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Accessibility ?

      iOS is recommended by the RNIB - and the couple of blind people I know who choose to use touch screen devices use iOS.

      Apple had some usability features in the early iPhones, and put quite a few more features in for either iOS 4 or 5. Don't remember which. They've also put quite a few resources into user testing since - I know someone who's had several conversations with Tim Cook about it, as he took a personal interest. Which I regard as much to his credit.

  13. Aladdin Sane

    Obligatory XKCD

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      The SpaceX system carefully guides falling phones down to the surface, a process which the phones increasingly often survive without exploding

      Tee hee.

  14. Wade Burchette

    My wishlist

    (1) Return the headphone jack

    (2) A USB-C charging adapter instead of a proprietary one

    (3) An user replaceable battery

    (4) MicroSD card support

    (5) Make the pressure-sensitive screen off by default

    (6) Return the old way of unlocking the phone so I don't have to do two actions or use my fingerprint to unlock it

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My wishlist

      My wishlist

      Would appear to be an LG V20.......

    2. jgarbo

      Re: My wishlist

      So, after all the praise of iPhone, which is still catching up with my old Note 4, I guess I'll wait. Free apps, super pix & vid with image stabilization, conferencing, modifying docs & drawings with the S-pen, replaceable battery & cards, two days between charges. Alas, can't scuba while conferencing. Damn.

    3. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: My wishlist

      > (6) Return the old way of unlocking the phone so I don't have to do two actions or use my fingerprint to unlock it

      That's a small annoyance with recent versions of Android - the requirement to swipe before entering a pattern unlock is just unnecessary. Android 4.X worked as one would expect.

    4. Tom 38

      Re: My wishlist

      Return the old way of unlocking the phone so I don't have to do two actions or use my fingerprint to unlock it

      ISTM this is to encourage purchases of the fingerprint sensor enabled phones.

    5. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: My wishlist

      Nice list but I'd make screen readable in bright sunshine, ability to survive a drop and water resistance a priority.

      Doesn't matter because Apple wants bragging rights and is doing a fine job of selling to less discerning customers than you or I.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My wishlist

      1) Never going to happen, and will slowly disappear from most Android phones

      2) I actually think this will happen eventually, once USB-C is more common than USB-A/micro-USB

      3) Never going to happen, and already disappeared from most Android phones

      4) Never going to happen, and not available on all Android phones

      5) Why should they change the default to suit YOU? Don't like it, turn it off!

      6) Not sure what you're talking about here, you don't have to use Touch ID...

      1. Charles 9

        Re: My wishlist

        1) Unless the 3.5mm TRRS connector disappears from ALL things in future, including dedicated audio players, stereos, etc. it would be suicide to remove such a ubiquitous connector, especially since it's a lot easier to replace a $1 pair of earbuds in a pinch. Plus it doesn't require an external power source.

        3) That's why I don't buy any newer phones. I've stuck with my Note 4 and will stay there until they relent. If they don't, I simply won't buy any newer phone. Non-replaceable batteries are a fire risk, so there could be a law to force the issue in future.

        4) See #3. It's a deal-breaker for me since I prefer to keep my media collection transportable between devices.

        5) Ever heard the phrase, "The Customer Is Always Right"?

        6) No comment here. I use PINs.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: My wishlist

          Um, "the customer is always right" only applies if the default you suggest would suit everyone. It obviously would not suit everyone, so just because YOU want something doesn't mean it should be changed to suit your preferences.

          1. Charles 9

            Re: My wishlist

            So why have just one default? Have a selection? If that's too much for you, perhaps you're in the wrong market.

  15. TVU Silver badge

    The sad thing is that Apple under Cook and Ive isn't listening and their supposed "improvements" tend to gimmicky instead of being practical.

  16. JDX Gold badge

    Fast charging and 3.5mm

    Fast charging on the 1+3 was a real eye-opener. More so than wireless charging on my Nokia, which was always a bit fiddly.

    I still don't get the 3.5mm omission. I hate wireless speakers, it always takes longer to make a bluetooth device work than it does to plug a lead in!

  17. Joeman

    A Beard Trimmer!

    A beard trimmer so that all the idiotic hipsters who still buy iPhones can shave off the equally idiotic looking beards!

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: A Beard Trimmer!

      And all the women, middle aged parents, and kids too young to grow beards. Jealousy?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: A Beard Trimmer!

        And all the women,

        Of course they can use the beard trimmer....oops, errmmm, yeah, I'll get my coat.

  18. Peter Gordon

    Can they make it have a slide-out physical keyboard, please? Oh, and can they make it run webOS?

    Oh well.. :-(

    1. theOtherJT Silver badge

      I really miss those. WebOS was such a great little operating system. Such a shame HP killed it.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        They didn't kill it, they exiled it to the salt mines (LG TV user interface)

  19. J. R. Hartley

    Bollocks.

    iPhones have always been a bit of a joke. People buy them because other people buy them. It's the same type of generic human that buy BMWs but can't tell you why.

    It's time to Think Different™

    1. The Dogs Meevonks Silver badge

      Re: Bollocks.

      I don't know about the rest of the world, but people who buy Audi/BMW in the UK are generally considered to be utter 'cocks', they drive with a sense of entitlement that means they don't have to abide by the same road rules as everyone else, have no consideration for other road users and an inability to accept responsibility for their own 'cockish' behaviour. 9 times out of 10 their 'cockish' driving results in complete denial and attempts to apply blame to everyone else around them.. the 10th time they simply refuse to look in your direction and pretend to be doing something else instead... But paying attention to the road and others around them isn't one of them.

      When it comes to BMW, it's the same across the entire range, but when it comes to Audi, the little A1 seems to go against the normal flow.

      I've had a dashcam for about 18 months now, and I often save bits to upload... and BMW/Audi drivers are responsible for almost 50% of the bad driving I record, 25% is your typical 'white van man' types and the rest is every other model of car.

      A couple of months ago I was hit by a BMW driver who thought it was OK to go on the inside around a roundabout and turn left when I was going straight on... the same driver who was 3 car lengths behind me as I approached the roundabout and tried to overtake on the actual roundabout.

      My car suffered slight damage that was easily repairable... his flimsy POS BMW was a complete write off... so karma does occasionally get it right.

      So there's a very good reason that drivers of these cars are considered utter cocks... because the statistics prove it (in my experience and everyone I know says the same).

      2 colleagues have either a BMW or Audi... they have a much higher accident rate than any one else... by a factor of around 5:1. The 12 people in my office have been involved in 8 accidents in the last 3yrs.7 of them have haven't had any kind of accidents at all.. I've had 1 (no blame), 2 others have also had a single accident (also no blame) and the last 2 account for the other 5... and in all cases they deny any responsibility for them, but when you actually get the facts out of them... they are either completely at fault or mostly at fault... and don't get me started on the immediate attempt to make personal injury claims (many of which are denied because they've been deemed at fault for the accident).

      1. J. R. Hartley

        Re: Bollocks.

        Yeah. That's why I drive a Galaxy S8 and my phone is a Volvo 850R.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Bollocks.

          If you want to go off road, drive a Nokia 8310 with a rubber shell. Other road users will just think its a Citroen Cactus.

      2. SkippyBing

        Re: Bollocks.

        Sounds like someone wasn't allowed a BMW...

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Bollocks.

        I think, and being fair here, that Audi drivers have seized the Small Dick Big Attitude Shit Driver Pointlessly Angry Ugly Cock Sucking Wanker Twat-Faced Failure mantle from BMW drivers a few years back. BMW drivers are now in third place just after white van drivers. And Audis are generally shit cars too.

        Any Audi drivers here care to comment?

        1. Teiwaz

          Re: Bollocks.

          Audi drivers have seized the...from BMW drivers a few years back.

          Funnily enough, most the bullish careless drivers I know (with speeding ticket history halfway up the

          sleeve) have switched from BMW to Audis in the last few years....

          'The Story of EBW 343 ' by 'Wrong Way' Norris

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Bollocks.

            Are bad Audi/BMW drivers a UK thing? I'm in the US and I've been driving Audi for 15 years now and haven't even bumped a parked car, let alone had a real accident. Nor have I even had a ticket since I decided that getting gray cars that blend in is better than colors than stand out like red :)

            Now I'll probably get in an accident on my way to the grocery store this afternoon because I called it out...

            1. JamesPond
              Happy

              Re: Bollocks.

              For anyone who's searched for and watched 'UK Car Crash' on YouTube....."shitting Peugeot" may well come to mind. But i have to agree, Audi drivers do seem to have taken over the mantel from BMW drivers. It seems that Audi's active cruise control can be set to 50cm from the car in front.

        2. Champ

          Re: Bollocks.

          I avoided BMWs for years, on the basis that BMW drivers were wankers. Then I drove one, and realised it was actually really very good. So I turned the logic on its head, concluding "You're a wanker, you might as well have a BMW"

          Nowadays I have an Audi A7, which is far away the best car I've ever had.

          Frankly, "All <x> drivers are <y>" generalisations are pointless and reveal more about the people who cite them.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Bollocks.

            Same reason I drive an Audi. I don't care if strangers I pass on the highway may make generalizations about me because of the car I drive, I don't know them and will never meet them, so their thoughts don't affect me. But while I've heard a few generalizations about BMW drivers in the US, I've never heard them about Audi drivers. Maybe no one tells me because that's what I drive!

  20. Not also known as SC

    App Settings

    I just wish IOS would get an update so that I change individual app settings within an app. I find it so annoying having to go to the main Settings App and then scroll through all of the installed apps to find the app whose setting I want to change (thinking mainly about enabling / disabling javascript in Safari here).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: App Settings

      It is possible for an app to link directly to their settings page, so that is more an app problem, admittedly safari is still apples problem. Bigger question is, why sod around toggling js on and off? Ad blocker keeps the crap out.

      1. Not also known as SC

        Re: App Settings

        "Ad blocker keeps the crap out."

        Because at the time I hadn't read the Reg Article about content blockers (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/25/ad_blocking_doesnt_exist_on_mobile/) and hadn't installed any. I now have Firefox Focus but old habits die hard and I sometimes launch the wrong browser. Plus FireFox Focus is a bit crappy and has that stupid autocomplete list of websites I never intend to visit.

        1. The Dogs Meevonks Silver badge

          Re: App Settings

          "Because at the time I hadn't read the Reg Article about content blockers (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/25/ad_blocking_doesnt_exist_on_mobile/) and hadn't installed any. I now have Firefox Focus but old habits die hard and I sometimes launch the wrong browser."

          This is why the first thing I do with a new Android phone is install Firefox and whatever plugins I need... and then disable Chrome (because it won't let you uninstall it.)... Problem solved.

          1. Not also known as SC

            Re: App Settings

            "This is why the first thing I do with a new Android phone is install Firefox and whatever plugins"

            You get real Firefox on an android phone though. I think the IOS version is just a reskinned version of Safari. I know that my favourite add-in NoScript has an android version but not an IOS version for this reason (although I may be wron).

            1. Charles 9

              Re: App Settings

              "I know that my favourite add-in NoScript has an android version but not an IOS version for this reason (although I may be wron)."

              Hmm, last time I checked I had to settle for uBlock Origin, which still helps.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Firefox focus is a broswer AND an ad blocker for Safari

          Just try Safari (with JS left enabled) now that you have Firefox focus on - making sure the preference to use installed ad blockers is enabled (in the Settings app...sorry!)

          It doesn't eliminate all ads, but the really bad ones that slow things down, flicker, drag you to other pages etc. are gone. There may be other iOS ad blockers that do a more complete job, but I'm happy with the outcome.

  21. joewilliamsebs

    Industry standard ports

    USB-C!

    Even my wife, with her iPad Pro, iPhone, iWatch, iPencil and eye-wateringly expensive top-of-the-range Macbook Pro, has sworn at the fact that whilst her Macbook only has USB-C ports, her mobile devices use the proprietary Lightning thing. Sure, it's better than the 30-pin monstrosity, but it surely doesn't offer any value beyond vendor lock-in.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Industry standard ports

      Sure, it's better than the 30-pin monstrosity, but it surely doesn't offer any value beyond vendor lock-in.

      All part of the Apple magic that makes them the most successful phone company in the world, able to charge $1,000 for a phone with a bill of materials that will be around $300. I'd say that there's a huge amount of value in all aspects of proprietary standards, albeit the value accrues to Apple, not customers.

      Put yourself in Tim Cook's position. You have inherited a business model and a brand that people continue to happily buy from every time you release something new. Your company pulls in over a billion dollars of profit a week. But Wall Street wants you to do better than last year's "disappointing" results, and there's an expectation that the supply chain for the new model won't be able to meet initial demand. Now ask yourself why you'd change any aspect of the business model that makes accessories a nice additional income stream? If we see wireless charging on offer, I expect that it will be fully proprietary, and the charging pads will be eye wateringly expensive.

      1. Tessier-Ashpool

        Re: Industry standard ports

        A USB-C connector is a fair bit larger than a Lightning connector and could be a bar to making a phone super-skinny. Having said that:

        1. Phones are already too skinny.

        2. USB-C is a vast improvement over micro-USB with its poxy polarised connector.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Industry standard ports

        Put yourself in Tim Cook's position...

        Thanks. I can't unsee that now.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Industry standard ports

      I think Apple may introduce USB-C with the new iPhones. But on the other end of the cable...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Industry standard ports

        Well the cable/charger they ship will still apparently be USB-A, but if you use a USB-C to Lightning cable along with a USB-C charger that supports USB power delivery you get fast charging on the 8 and X via their USB-C power delivery support.

  22. Avatar of They
    FAIL

    Not into iPhones but the concept of any OS that deeply integrates by default with social media, I think is the worst idea ever in the history of ever. (IOS or Android)

    Some of us don't use a phone for face ache and whats app or snap chat and prefer not to be bombarded by morons liking cat pictures. And if I spent $1000 on a phone I would expect to be able to load up apps I want and not have them rammed onto the desktop by so called "great ideas"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      How does iOS integrate with them "by default"? You don't have to enter your Facebook or Twitter info. Hell, I have the Facebook app installed and still don't have my Facebook info entered in the Settings app. Works fine, and whatever iOS integration there may be isn't enabled for me.

      So there may be some sort of integration, but "by default" is a lie.

  23. Dan 55 Silver badge

    Archaic UI?

    Don't hear the same complaints about OS X. People are usually thankful it's not been screwed to buggery and back again. If there have been recent changes you can probably change it back to something sane.

    Not that I've got an iPhone, but Android is just tiresome to use. Useful bits in Android 4 ditched, fiddly bits added replace it, notifications changed to be less useful and less obvious every release. Give me some archaic UI please.

  24. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The next iPhone should be a watch with a screen projected onto the back of the hand

      It'd be easy to map the topology of the back of the hand in real time

      Go on then, YOU do it. I'd say it would be bloody hard at the software level, very processor and power intensive at the hardware level, you'd need at least two lines of sight from different sensors to even attempt to adjust for shadowed dips, and even on my plate of meat, the useable area of the back of my hand is less than my current phone screen.

      1. Simon Harris

        Re: The next iPhone should be a watch with a screen projected onto the back of the hand

        "very processor and power intensive at the hardware level"...

        and single use, as it would probably run hot enough to burn your hand off at the wrist.

  25. Anon_123

    MPs->Cloud simplicity

    Allow me to upload music directly from the web to my cloud using my phone. Rather than downloading them on my computer, adding them to iTunes and waiting for apple's automatic sync to take effect.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: MPs->Cloud simplicity

      You can do that on iOS through Google Play Music. If you must use your own server, there's an app for that.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Here goes:

    1. Lose ability to play voicemail even in the presence of good signal.

    2. Mail message bodies not downloaded for random reasons.

    3. Broken text selection in Safari.

    4. Flicker and shoddy screen redrawing in Music app UI.

    5. Inability to reliably distinguish between 'bring up control panel' gesture and text entry when a keyboard is on screen. Too many ways to correct text.

    6. Once a piece of text is highlighted in pink, it's very difficult to get rid of the highlight without highlighting something else or losing the selected text.

    7. Some Messages conversations get 'locked' so can't reply to continue them. No idea why.

    8. Badly designed and rendered UI in Messages. The new functionality is horribly bolted on.

    9. Synchronising 'spinner' often remains on screen even when synchronisation isn't happening.

    10. Deeply unreliable WiFi synchronisation with iTunes.

    11. Random failures with making and keeping personal hotspot connections.

    12. No real info about what is synchronised within an Apple ID and what can be synchronised between them. Inconsistent behaviour - e.g. are WiFi network details synchronised or not? Hotspot details? Hotspot started to be shared between Apple Ids with no way of switching this off.

    13. Automatic redirection to public WiFi networks even if you've set the phone to never join networks without asking.

    14. Numerous music woes: Duplicate songs. Songs that won't download. Missing artwork, but often just on a small selection of songs in an album. Missing songs. Odd clashes between iTunes syncing, per-device downloads and iTunes music and match. None of these technologies (all Apple's) really work well together.

    15. Apps that no longer synchronise across devices; have to download them everywhere separately.

    16. Can't delete some photos from phone. No real explanation why.

    17. A general feeling that iOS is getting sloppier, buggier, messier and uglier on each iteration. Jobs might've been a class one egocentric prick, but his presence is sorely missed. Cook lacks direction and vision.

    Finally, a non-iOS problem:

    18. iTunes. All of it.

    1. MD Rackham

      Those are the features that the iPhone is missing?

      You have a strange set of user requirements.

      1. the Jim bloke

        But at least he can expect to see them implemented

  27. Missing Semicolon Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Ban the eSIM!

    You do realise that the point of the embedded SIM is to hand control of your operator choice to Apple? You can no longer just get a SIM for an operator, and stuff it in your phone.

    Unless the operator has integrated their provisioning with Apple, your new shinyDevice is not going to work - and the process is not simple.

    The SIM is how we the customers can keep the operators on their toes.

    1. Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Ban the eSIM!

      It would be easier and more consistent to *mandate portability* than *ban* software/virtual SIMs. That would mean an operator or Apple can't sell a device that can't switch networks at some point.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ban the eSIM!

        "It would be easier and more consistent to *mandate portability*"

        Given the way Apple responedd to EU directives on micro-usb for charging they'd probably support mandatory portability via an extrnal dongle that could contain a physical SIM that you plugged into the charging/headphone/everything-else port.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ban the eSIM!

      The only way eSIM requires the operator integrating their provisioning with Apple is if Apple is the only one with an eSIM. They are pushing for this to become a standard. If they wanted to go their own way they'd have already done so on the iPad, instead of including an eSIM that can be replaced with a regular one.

      If it becomes a standard then Apple has to follow it just like they follow the SIM standard. No "operator integration" is required to swap SIMs because the operators have to follow the same standard. If eSIM was a standard, they'd have to upgrade their processes to work with it and no special integration would be needed.

      1. Charles 9

        Re: Ban the eSIM!

        Point is, anything software can be altered by other software, software that could perhaps be sanctioned by corrupt regimes. It's a lot harder to block taking a physical chip out and replacing it.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Ban the eSIM!

          Hardware isn't going to save you from a corrupt government, they can require the telcos to configure their towers to work only with special SIMs issued by the regime.

          1. Charles 9

            Re: Ban the eSIM!

            That's not the issue, though. Besides, this way, you'll know something's up, unlike software which can be altered without your knowledge. Plus you'll be at the manufacturer's mercy.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Time Travel

    Inbuilt worm hole and tipler cylinder generators.

    Then I would go back in time and warn all the people that Apple stole it's ideas off creating a paradox because it would be fun to see what would happen.

  29. macjules

    Where to start?

    iOS WiFi pickup is awful.

    Scenario: Travel from one stop to another on London Piccadilly line. At each stop a (relatively) cheap Honor Android phone Wifi is connecting as the train enters the station. iPhone frequently fails to connect at all.

    Replacement Screens and AppleCare

    Apple charge £119 per annum for AppleCare for an iPhone and then charge £25 per screen replacement .. on the presumption that you will only require one screen change per annum. The normal 'non warranty' screen replacement is £136, which means that you are probably better off not taking out AppleCare.

    iOS usage and features

    Try detailing every single iOS trick and feature on your own website for once. Stop making every single feature have to be 'discovered' as if by magic by MacWorld or any other fanboy websites.

    iCloud Synchronisation with Windows

    Yes, some people really do own a Windows computer AND an iPhone. Once they have got over the shock perhaps Apple might do something in iCloud like tell people, "Oh, by the way Two Factor Auth does not work with Windows, so your contacts and calendar might not be in sync on Outlook"

    I could go on and on ad nauseam.

  30. Steve Evans

    Even stranger considering Apple’s biggest acquisition was Beats, and behind the scenes it consistently challenges the music industry supply chain to higher standards.

    Sorry, you equate Beats with high quality?

    They're a fashion brand, with an over-inflated price tag.

    1. RealBigAl

      Perfect fit for Apple then.

  31. Daedalus

    Where to start?

    Andy Andy Andy....to get rich, you sell worthless stuff to nitwits. See the example of the guy who sold the sticky wall-clinging octopi.

    Look at Motorola's ridiculous modular phone. Pure geek chic and totally meaningless to the droids who are the real users. That's why you don't get a decent DAC: the droids don't care. Battery life: so what. The average drone would either run a better battery down to zero anyway, or just blindly put the phone on charge whenever. Either way, so what. Do you think the hordes of phone zombies on the sidewalk are interested in quality? Most wouldn't know an IMSI from a mimsy.

    We appreciate you have your needs, Andy. You just don't have theirs.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

    1. Make a small, thick, sturdy phone with a small ( i.e. 4.5" ) screen, big battery and fast processor.

    2. Make a small, thick, sturdy phone with a small ( i.e. 4.5" ) screen, big battery and fast processor.

    3. Make a small, thick, sturdy phone with a small ( i.e. 4.5" ) screen, big battery and fast processor.

    4. Make a small, thick, sturdy phone with a small ( i.e. 4.5" ) screen, big battery and fast processor.

    5. Make a small, thick, sturdy phone with a small ( i.e. 4.5" ) screen, big battery and fast processor.

    And, cos I DON'T CARE HOW THIN MY PHONE IS:

    6. Make a small, thick, sturdy phone with a small ( i.e. 4.5" ) screen, big battery and fast processor.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: 6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

      That'd be some version of a Sony Xperia Compact. I believe the current one is an XZ Compact.

      Or just get an old size iPhone.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

        I had a Sony Xperia Compact.

        It was indeed a good size ( what we used to call "normal-sized", before the ridiculous phablets took over ), but it was not atall sturdy, with glass front and back.

        I broke it, repaired it, and broke it again.

        So the challenge is still out there: Make us a phone that is small, but powerful and sturdy, and thickness DOES NOT MATTER.

        1. SkippyBing

          Re: 6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

          'So the challenge is still out there: Make us a phone that is small, but powerful and sturdy, and thickness DOES NOT MATTER.'

          Well it does, I mean otherwise you could end up with a 5" cube and that would be a right pain to get in your pockets.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: 6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

            Well it does, I mean otherwise you could end up with a 5" cube and that would be a right pain to get in your pockets.

            Depends on the shape of the OP's bottom, doesn't it? If he's got widely spaced, cubic buttocks, then he'll have a purpose made phone holder.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: 6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

              :-)

              Who says I have to put it in my back pocket ? All the ladies love a big, cubic, bulge, don't they ?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

      Sort of with you but I want a bigger screen, say 5.7" and I do have a thickness maximum of say 20mm

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

        A 5.7 inch screen AND 20mm (over 3/4") thick? Would you want it come with its own trailer?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

      You can get that today with the iPhone SE, if you are OK with a 4" screen instead of 4.5". If the battery isn't big enough for you, put it in a battery case. Not sure what possible objection to that you should have since have stated you don't care how thin your phone is.

      If 4" is too small, then you can get a regular iPhone with a 4.7" screen and again put it in a battery case.

      In what way would one of these not meet your criteria (other than perhaps an unstated 'price' criteria in the case of the regular iPhone with the 4.7" screen)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 6 Ways All phone manufacturers can make a better phone

        I want a new processor. I want to be cutting edge, but smaller in the x and y dimensions.

        I'd also like an open OS, but indeed I did not specify that.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My request is to get rid of the idiotic 100MB limit when downloading things from the App Store or OS updates.

    I have "unlimited" data I don't need Apple enforcing some arbitrary download size. Just let me know the size, and give me a YES I agree button.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      OS Downloads

      A few years ago, Apple was hit with a class action law suit relating to this very thing but in reverse.

      It was because there was no limit to the LTE/3G/4G downloads that dozens of people went into deep $$$ do-do so they went out for blood.

      So Apple put a limit on the non WiFi downloads.

      Very few people have Unlimited Mobile data so what do you want Apple to do? Satisfy the majority or the minority?

      Or just do the updating using WiFi like everyone else....

      1. Charles 9

        Re: OS Downloads

        "Very few people have Unlimited Mobile data so what do you want Apple to do? Satisfy the majority or the minority?"

        How about be smart enough to tell the difference?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: OS Downloads

          How is Apple supposed to know whether you have an unlimited plan, and if so whether it is "truly unlimited" or "unlimited but if you use it too much, you get throttled?"

          They don't have access to anywhere near that level of information from your operator. If they did, you'd have a meter in your phone somewhere that would tell you use "you have used 3GB of your 6GB allotment for this month" instead of having to go to the operator web site / app to see that.

          1. Richard 12 Silver badge

            Re: OS Downloads

            Yet my Android does havw a "You have used X GB this month", along with configurable start date, "Warn me" and "Stop me" levels.

            It's not brain science.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: OS Downloads

              Yes, Apple has that too. But your Android doesn't know what your limits are, unless you tell it. So how would it know if you have an unlimited data plan, and if so whether it is really unlimited or just sorta unlimited until we decide to throttle you? That's what was being suggested.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: OS Downloads

                I've seen stuff to suggest they could query the carrier. I wouldn't know for sure since, by the time I noticed this, I was on an unlimited plan so such a query would return such.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A task-centric interface

    Rather than a grid of abstract icons linking to apps, allow people to put their own shortcuts on the interface 'call Mum', 'do Tesco shopping'...

    The Windows Phone interface with its ability to pin things like phone numbers and URLs to tiles on the home screen came close to this idea of working.

  35. Sealand

    The really short answer to what I'm missing

    iOS 6

  36. John Savard

    Must-have Features

    Um, if you want to have must-have features, shouldn't you be buying a smartphone of a type where you actually have a choice between multiple suppliers competing for your dollar? So if you want a headphone jack and a removable battery, there will be someone out there who offers them?

    The Macintosh may have some advantages over Windows, and the iPhone may have some advantages over Android. But from my perspective, even if their customers have different priorities, and are thus satisfied with Apple, it looks as though Apple has a death wish. So I've basically given up on even considering their products.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why bother?

    Apple only listen to people from within their Silicone Valley Enclave. No one else matters.

    The same goes for MS and its Redmond Bubble etc etc etc

    Anyway, like many (if not most here) I'll be doing something a bit different while the apple Circus show is going on in the spaceship. So, come on you Shots!

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Coffee Bean Grinder

    So I can make my Americano Vanilla Bear Latte on the go.

    and a beard comb you can just flip out when needed.

    1. Charles 9

      Re: Coffee Bean Grinder

      Let me get this straight. Vanilla Bear Latte?

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ringer volume

    I often miss calls when out and about - despite having vibrate switched on - so a decently loud 'outdoor' mode would be good.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ringer volume

      I use the old school phone ring as my ringtone, and it is PLENTY loud when the volume is cranked. Maybe it depends on what ring tone you've selected?

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    An effective and USABLE screen lock

    I want to lock my iPhone 6 screen in a landscape view, but Apple has decided that I don't need that feature. I get either a locked portrait view or auto switch. Extremely annoying when I need to view wide web pages and want to lie on my side in bed - the display switches and I can't read the ******* screen. The iPad can lock in landscape view so I know that iOS can do the lock, so Apple must have made the decision for me, the stupid user, that I don't really need this functionality.

    Like many others, I value battery life quite a bit more than thinness.

  41. BenWood

    Expandable memory

    MicroSD card slot - but it won't ever happen as key part of Apple business model are different memory configs on iPhone :(

  42. vincent himpe

    how about the option to turn off all the annoying system notifications.

    Click the home button.

    popup ' there is a system update' F#$%!

    touch ' cancel'

    popup enter pin to set for later today !@#$% click cancel again

    then last program is on screen. ^%$# click home button again

    click camera button. wait for camera app to launch.

    click hdr ,(why can't that pos remeber its last setting ?)

    by this time the moment is gone ...

    It is ok to have a little notifier on the system settings icon that there is something new BUT QUIT BUGGING ME every time !

    I want a button to turn that stuff off.

    i want the option to always start with a specific page of icons when i access the phone.

    i want apps to remember the selections you last made.

    oh, and in the mail tool. can we please have a 'search' bar that does not require you to scroll all the way up. make that sucker either persistent or activate it on a special swipe.

    and can we have the possibility to filter on attachments. ?

    here's antoher idea : find my phone. using bluetooth. Make it so that you can have phones ping each other using BLE. if i or my wife lost their phone : take the other one and hit 'find'. the other phone now goes tweedledee. And make it so that the find function works always irrespective of do not disturb , buzer only setting, night mode or any other silencing option. to stop pranksters : the phones must have been 'paired' before. i want to be able to find the damn thing. calling it doesnt work if it is on do not distrub it doesnt give a peep.

    1. Blotto Silver badge

      @vincent himpe

      the only valid thing you moaned about was the email search and filters.

      you can take photos without unlocking the phone

      in settings you can ensure the camera remembers the last settings like which mode (video, portrait, panoramic etc) my hdr settings stick without changing any pref's in settings

      you can change the icons on all icon screens to be what you want

      there is an app called find iphone that you can use from a web page or other i device, it can ping your phone even when locked and will show you on a map where it is. When the phone runs out of juice it can tell apple where it is before it dies so you can find it on the map even with a flat battery.

      Almost all of your concerns have already been addressed, maybe make an appointment with an applestore and have a word with them or call the helpline?

      1. vincent himpe

        'you can take photos without unlocking the phone'

        That is not the point. I want my phone to open always to a specific icon screen. Whatever app is running needs to be off. The photo was just an example.

        The 'find my phone' app is useless. It shows an arrow it is in my house. Big whoop. WHERE in my house is it ? Many companies sell these little keyfinder thingies now. These use BLE and tell you if you are getting closer or further away. How about doing that between 2 phones ? or between all your apple devices ? so my ipad can find my watch and my phone. The device you search for starts beeping and the device used for searching shows if you are getting closer or further ( it's a matter of reporting the antenna strength signal ).

        1. Shadow Systems

          At Vincent Himp, re: finding your phone.

          You mentioned the solution yourself: a chirping locator fob.

          Buy a paired set of locator fobs & attach one to your phone (or its case) & the other to your keys. To find either one you pick up the other, click the button, & listen for the answering chirp. I know it makes it a bit more awkward but if you add a third paired set of fobs to the mix & keep the 2nd fob on a hook where you always keep it & can find it (like a key rack just inside the front door, the "bowl o' pocket stuff" on the table just inside the door, etc) then you can use THAT one to find where you've put the other two.

          I've got a "luggage finder" set of fobs for mine, one on the phone & the other on my keys. I can push the button on one to find the other, listening for the chirps, & wander my house until I (probably literally) stumble upon the "lost" half. The fobs are each powered by a watch style battery, easily replaceable, & will either last for months (if you don't lose them often) or days (if you lose them every X minutes).

          An added bonus of the luggage tag fob is that it comes with a tiny, plastic enclosed, protected from the elements, paper card on which you write your name & details. From this someone else can contact you to say they've found it & collect the offered reward. It doesn't have to be much, maybe a Twenty, but the thought of getting paid to Do The Right Thing(TM) often convinces strangers to do so, thus ensuring you get your stuff back.

          (And no, putting your cell# on a tag attached to your cellphone isn't what I meant, but YMMV.)

          HTH!

  43. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    For both green robot phones and iThings I would say - have two submodels of the same model.

    One with a standard thin-as-a-hair battery, and the other with a big, fat battery. Just not too fat. Maybe 6000mAh or thereabouts.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      They already have that for every popular model of phone. It is called using a battery case. If there was such a huge demand for phones with 6000 mAh batteries you'd see a lot of them on the market. Sorry, you are a niche market or Samsung would be selling a "Galaxy S8 Max" with a giant battery. Heck they even an 'Active' model so you are apparently a smaller niche than that...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        DougS, battery cases aren't the same.

        While an external battery case duplicates the functions of a replaceable battery, it is not the same as a phone with a replaceable battery.

        If your cellphone battery starts to go into thermal overload in preparation of catching fire, a fixed battery means you have to discard/lose the entire phone. A replaceable battery means you can eject just that part & let the defective battery consume itself while saving the main phone. Afterwards you can then purchase a replacement battery, clip it on, charge it, & be no worse for wear. You are completely up shite creek if the entire phone just melted into slag.

        While a battery case is nice, assuming you can find one for your model of phone (yes there are USB connected generics that can be attached to the back of an existing case, but those are even bulkier & harder to hold), they may prevent you from getting to said about-to-go-critical battery in time to eject it.

        Given the choice between a replaceable battery & a battery case, I would MUCH rather have the replaceable battery. If it becomes unable to power the phone for any reason it doesn't prevent me from buying a replacement, swapping them, & carrying on. If it's embedded & it fails, it may do so in such a way as to prevent an external battery case from being able to deliver power to the device such that it can continue working.

        An external battery case is nice, but it's not the same thing as a replaceable battery.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: DougS, battery cases aren't the same.

          If there were enough people who wanted a phone with a 6000 mAh removable battery you'd see multiple offerings for that in the Android market. The fact you don't indicates how tiny that niche you're in is.

          While I get that you want protection against thermal runway, it isn't exactly common enough that phones need to be designed differently to allow saving your phone by removing the battery. Even if I had a removable battery, if my phone started heating up and I thought it might catch on fire or blow up, the LAST thing I'd be doing is fiddling with it to try to remove the battery. I'd drop it like a (literal) hot potato and if it catches on fire and destroys the phone, so be it. The odds of that happening are what, one in a million for all the phones with sealed batteries? (so long as you didn't own a Note 7)

          Even if I'm way off and it is more like 1 in 100,000 that's still not worth changing what I buy as far as I'm concerned. It would have to be like 1 in 50 before I would.

          1. Charles 9

            Re: DougS, battery cases aren't the same.

            Even putting aside the risk of thermal runaway, there's still the matter of wear and tear (not to mention bulging batteries, which bridges the two issues). Non-removable batteries smacks of lock-in, which is one big reason why my most sophisticated phone is a Samsung Note 4 (the LAST one to have a removable battery). I've switched out the battery twice already due to bulging (and the coincidental reduced charge capacity).

            Just because there's a demand doesn't mean it'll be filled. If the supplier feels they can coerce the demand, they'll pull the supply graph away from the demand graph in hopes that it follows. Most people are dumb enough to do so, leaving the smart ones among us in the lurch.

  44. xanda
    Meh

    Smaller - tougher? - display please

    Having a 4.3" (or maybe 4.5") display option would be good. This would make it big enough to be pleasing to the eye - yet small enough to be practical and maybe even tougher too.

    We hate the whole touchscreen display trend anyway and the current fashion towards 5"/6" monstrosities is truly off-putting. Why we can't see a return to flip & slider phones is beyond me.

    Besides, sometimes less is more and it's not the size that counts anyway - so said my last girlfriend (just before she left).

    Plus, 'yes please' to dual SIM (long overdue).

    1. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

      Re: Smaller - tougher? - display please

      I have both a S4 mini and a Xiaomi Redmi 4A

      Singlehand the Sagsmug Mini is easier to use as my thumb can reach everywhere.

      The Redmi have a singlehand mode, but it is not easy to activate without a lot of practice, and does not get used that often. I have to use both hands for biggenphones like the Redmi 4A.

      So, yes, smaller is better when you're in the field and need to respond to an IM/message without using both hands.

      However, bigger is better, especially when you browse El Reg. Tiny screens only can show that much...

    2. Down not across

      Re: Smaller - tougher? - display please

      Why we can't see a return to flip & slider phones is beyond me.

      Good question. For some reason they don't want to offer them here.

      Its not like they don't do some.

    3. Teiwaz

      Re: Smaller - tougher? - display please

      Why we can't see a return to flip & slider phones is beyond me.

      Probably 'cause of some market research tells them the design won't sell, or won't sell in region or set of regions.

      Problem is, you never really know for sure if the choice isn't 'on the ballot sheet' people 'can't vote for it' market sampling isn't proof.

      However they may be right. I've certainly never heard the non-tech phone buying crowd I'm familiar with bemoaning the lack of old designs. They just accept what's available as the nature of the world around them.

    4. Charles 9

      Re: Smaller - tougher? - display please

      "We hate the whole touchscreen display trend anyway and the current fashion towards 5"/6" monstrosities is truly off-putting. Why we can't see a return to flip & slider phones is beyond me.'

      I actually LIKE big 5-6-inch phones. Maybe it's because I have a big hand. So one size doesn't fit all.

  45. Marty McFly Silver badge
    FAIL

    Headphone jack

    Yeah, I want a headphone jack. Sure, I know they have dodgy wireless earbuds, but I want something that is cheap and simply works - commodity headphones. The break, they get lost, I replace, I am not sad. Plus I don't need yet another thing to have to keep charged.

  46. JamesPond
    Go

    Invite The Register to the launch

    nuff said.

  47. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

    A better DAC but no headphone output? Why?

    What will the DAC be doing?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      That's what happens when a Reg author writes an article based on Android fanboy complaints about what is wrong with Apple, without thinking through whether the complaints even make sense. The only thing the DAC does in an iPhone 7 is handle output through the built in speakers. There's a DAC built in to the Lightning earbuds and one in the 3.5mm adapter, but it is hardly worth spending real money on a DAC for earbuds unless you are going to also make really high quality earbuds.

      Better to let those for whom a DAC matters choose their own, since they will undoubtedly be choosing their own headphones as well.

  48. Howard Hanek
    Windows

    I Have To Laugh

    Thinking that Apple is going to accomodate their customers and listen to their commons sense requests. I picture the Grand High Poobah reclining on his royal couch attended by dozens of servants while the major domo quietly coughs into his fist and requests a few seconds of the Master of the Universe's attention igniting hysterical laughter. His response? I think I'll raise the price! Yes! Significantly!

  49. Alperian

    Obscene vanity

    Due to Irma, my daughter was huddled in her walk-in closet in Florida with her mother and her daughter. There was no electricity and an iPhone that she had to turn off to save the battery.

    Tell me that you are quite happy charging everyday, but know that there might be one time where it is critical that you have 40 hours of juice left in a 48 hour hurricane or other emergency.

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge

      Re: Obscene vanity

      Indeed.

      I quite like the "ultra battery saver" mode of some Androids.

      It turns the normal "2 and a bit" days of smartphone into a theoretical week and a half of dumbphone.

      Never needed the whole thing but it's a lifesaver when there's nowhere to charge.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Obscene vanity

      I have two handy 10AH external battery packs for use in emergency. They are cheap. I remember to keep them charged.

      But yes the battery extender software that Android makers provide is potentially useful.

    3. Orv Silver badge

      Re: Obscene vanity

      I used to see phone chargers that could take ordinary alkaline batteries. I thought that'd be handy to have for an emergency, since alkalines keep a charge better in storage than rechargable packs, but I can't seem to find one now.

      1. Charles 9

        Re: Obscene vanity

        Because they normally take AA or AAA batteries. End result: they don't last long, and if you need charging in an emergency, you probably need it for a LONG emergency. You'd probably need something that uses like a 6V lantern battery or 4 D batteries, but all I've seen in that end are bodge jobs.

  50. malfeasance

    iOS

    How about stopping apps/javascript from pausing/muting the music / podcasts app.

    Commuting and listening to some 'weird shit jazz'; happen to goto the guardian home page. Oh look the tunes are paused cos you have some shitty video you might want to play.

    At least a pop-up to say. You know what, this website has media. Yes/no? Searched thru safari settings and nothing obvious.

  51. CommodorePet

    DAC chip manufacturing is a niche industry...

    It's the wallmart / pickles story in chip form.

    There aren't that many companies making these hybid analog/digital chips. If a company that has a wide range of cheap/low-end and more expensive/high-quality parts was to supply Apple, it would do so by shutting its ability to supply parts to the hundreds of other companies that want them. You can't keep Apple happy and all your other customers. If you can't sell your high end parts because you can't switch your fab over from the firehose of low end parts needed - that kinda negates your business model.

  52. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

    It's worrying when the headings with "10 things..", "5 ways.." and so on stop being jokes here.

  53. fidodogbreath

    My list

    1. File system access on iPhones. iOS 11 is supposed to (finally) deliver a Files app, but apparently it will only be enabled on iPads. WTF? The "share" thing sucks ass on iPhone, too.

    2. Persistent Back button or gesture. The little "< back to xyz app" button in the top left corner is tiny, inconsistent, hard to reach, only goes back one step, and can disappear if you do too much in the linked app.

    3. Contact shortcuts. I miss those.

    4. A Sudoku app -- paid or free -- that does not suck out loud.

    These are all things that Android has had for years. I switched to iPhones because our droids had major unpatched flaws, and the only way to get a software update was to buy new phones. On the whole, iOS is OK, but fixing these daily annoyances would take it from "tolerate" to "like" for me.

    FWIW, I get 1.5 to 2 days battery life, no problem. My wife's iPhone does not. The difference? Facebook Messenger.

    1. robin thakur 1

      Re: My list

      Err no, why comment if you don't know this to be true? The file explorer is there on iPhone as well. As you would expect, it functions more like the Finder function of OSX and just shows you files, not the inner workings, but what did you realistically expect?

      I do miss the back button on Android, but not enough to get an Android phone, somehow.

      Never used Contact Shortcuts, do can't speak on their usefulness. Sudoku Apps, I somehow think amongst the 2 million apps there must be one. I think if you uninstalled all the apps from the iPhone and used it as stock, the battery life would be huge :)

      1. fidodogbreath

        Re: My list

        Err no, why comment if you don't know this to be true?

        Sorry, that was based on a recent iOS 11 review that listed Files under "iPad Exclusive" features.

        Re Sudoku -- yeah, you'd think so, but you'd be wrong. For whatever reason, there are vastly superior Sudoku apps available for Android.

  54. duncanbishop

    Consider this.....

    Surely one of the arguments for removal of the headphone port is that this an analogue port that has served the industry well but is getting long in the tooth and limited in capabilities, the lightning connector is digital which then allows headphones with DACs built in (effectively mitigating any issue with the Apple provided DAC within the iPhone). So far those individuals who are unable to distinguish between lossless/lossy formats and higher definition audio, or those who just don''t mind the onboard DAC still ticks the boxes. For those who want the best out of their hardware they too have an option available to them

    Does that therefore not make points 3 and 5 contradictory ??

  55. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I thought I'd 'live tard' the iPhone announcements, right here on The Register...

    iPhone 8 and 8 Plus

    Oh yes..

    Oh yes..

    Oh... yes...

    Oh show me! show me! show me it all!

    Oh yes...

    Oh yes..

    Oh yes..

    Oh... yes...

    Oh c'mon, show me! show me! show me it all!

    Yeah...

    Yeah...

    YEAH!

    I wanna see it, I wanna see good.

    Oh yes..

    Oh yes..

    Oh... yes...

    Oh show me! show me! show me it all!

    Oh yes...

    Oh yes..

    Oh yes..

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    OH YES!

    Ah that's beautiful...

    ...so hot...

    ...mmmmm....

    ...so frickin' beautiful...

    iPhone X

    Oh yes..

    Oh yes..

    Oh... yes...

    Oh show me! show me! show me it all!

    Oh yes...

    Oh yes..

    Oh yes..

    Oh... yes...

    Oh c'mon, show me! show me! show me it all!

    Yeah...

    Yeah...

    YEAH!

    I wanna see it, I wanna see good.

    Oh yes..

    Oh yes..

    Oh... yes...

    Oh show me! show me! show me it all!

    Oh yes...

    Oh yes..

    Oh yes..

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    Oh... yes...

    OH YES!

    OH YES!

    OH YES!

    OH YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

    Ah that's beautiful...

    ...so hot...

    ...mmmmm....

    ...so frickin' beautiful...

    ...I wanna buy you now...

    ...Daddy's got his card out!

    Sorry about your screen there. And your sofa. And your cat.

    And I didn't realise the curtains were open... so can you apologise to your neighbours too?

    Thanks...

    I'm going to have a lie down now.

    1. JamesPond

      Re: I thought I'd 'live tard' the iPhone announcements, right here on The Register...

      Nothing on there to make me want to spend $999 on a 64gb phone. Can't see being able to create an 'emoji' unicorn video is a USP.

  56. andro

    bluetooth file transfer compatability with other vendors

    A glaring artificial restriction to me is the inability to transfer photos and video between non apple devices. I still have a video from a mates wedding on my phone (and pc), too big to email. They would have it by now if their apples could have accepted mp4 transferred via BT. Theres other ways, sure, but it keeps being forgotten. It shouldnt be so hard and wouldnt even hurt apple to fix.

  57. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

    What I expected and what I got...

    When you said five ways Apple can fix but won't, I expected some sensible points that would stop me going and buying the iPhone 8 this year (since I am most likely to put of purchases because I think feature x, y, z will be in the next model).

    But instead I only really got one 'sort of' reason about the battery. Actually a battery that lasts 10 days would be really great. I'm sure if they had a two-day battery (which for most of us it is anyway), Register would be saying Apple should have put in a four-day battery.

    Well, at least Apple tests their products (really thoroughly) and don't put in BATTERIES THAT EXPLODE like some!

    Meanwhile Apple is putting research into batteries, even car batteries from which everyone will benefit, even Apple's competitors which aren't ashamed to copy anyway.

    https://www.macrumors.com/2017/07/20/apple-catl-battery-research-report/

    As for the other four reasons, Register even contradicts itself by saying Apple probably will do something along these lines. That contradicts the 'but won't'. The headphone debate has already been won by Apple.

    So, why I won't buy a new iPhone 8 this year is because I only just got the iPhone 7 in January, and it's still doing fine.

  58. The Morgan Doctrine

    I use android because in can automatically record both inbound and outgoing telephone calls. So when scammers call me, I can post their inane schemes on my blog....

  59. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cut the price

    BY A LOT

    Jeeesesus

  60. Unicornpiss
    Coffee/keyboard

    Keyboard

    At the risk of being flamed for not reading through 200+ comments to see if someone already suggested it, I would recommend a new or selectable on-screen keyboard styles. The iPhone keyboard has always been crap.

    Peeves about Apple's obsolete keyboard and what Android does better:

    -Apple's on-screen keys on iPhone are too small for those of us with bigger hands, and usually will not rotate with the screen orientation when you want them to.

    -No "Swype" or similar without installing a 3rd-party app.

    -No easily selectable numeric keypad like Android has had since the beginning of forever.

    -No 'long press' to get the alternate symbol on the key, such as numbers, punctuation, etc.

    -No easy 'shift lock'

    -No swipe-to-modify the case of a word or capitalize the first letter on the fly.

    -Why is it such a pain on iOS to insert the cursor into existing text just where you want it, such as when editing a mistyped URL? It jumps around like a greased weasel.

    1. robin thakur 1

      Re: Keyboard

      As you don't have 3d touch on Android, you might not know that on iPhone you can just use push-touch the keyboard on a text section and control the cursor like its a trackpad. Selection issue solved. Without 3d touch if you have legacy Apple hardware I agree that cursor movement was a bit sketchy...

  61. Bastard Sheep

    Default apps.

    For me the first thing I'd want is default apps. Safari, Maps, Podcasts are all things I would prefer not to use if it wasn't the only option to open in many many different scenarios. To get their alternatives I have to go select the app manually, can't call it from within another app and pass it data.

    The second thing is different power profiles depending on charging status or location. If I'm out and about, I want my screen going in to low power after 30 seconds and off after 60. When I'm at home sitting on the couch watching TV, I want twitter/FB/slack/discord/whatever to open and stay open and my phone not to lock. I got an iPad specifically so I could have these different settings and a larger screen, but still get annoyed by it when I'm not home but on charge (thus without the iPad).

  62. NeilPost Silver badge

    Stuff

    I noted the weasel like language that the large iPhone X has 2 hours battery liofe betther than the small previous generation iPhone 7. That's not good.

    A couple of mm extra for extra battery oomph, as alomost everyone cases it anyway.

    Beats purchase was dumb - they should have bought Bose, B & W, Denon etc - that would have fiited in with their premium brand strategy.

    1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Re: Stuff

      "they should have bought Bose, B & W, Denon etc"

      B&O would have been by far the best fit, design-wise.

      But they bought the Beats customers. Not old farts who know about hifi, and spend a pittance on phones.

  63. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All of the above - and more

    "Now over to you, dear readers. If it’s the battery, the archaic UI, the Apple tax, or something else that keeps you from an iPhone: let us know. Write in the No.1 missing feature for you in the Comments."

    For a phone, I want battery life in days, not hours. I want a UI that makes using the functions I want of a phone pleasant to use, not irritatingly fiddly, I am not interested in making rich people richer at the expense fo myself and the poor sods actually making the device, and I want a device that is unequivocally MY device, not one effectively leased from one company and under the sway of another any time it likes.

    For a pocket computer, I want a battery life of a couple of days if possible, but 6 hours minimum, and full control over the machine, with an operating system of my choosing.

    <Jediwave>I am not the target audience you are looking for, Apple</Jediwave>

  64. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Access to all my PDFs stored in iBooks as a folder

    Not emailing myself the damn things one by one.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Access to all my PDFs stored in iBooks as a folder

      iCloud sync + use a Mac

  65. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My wish list.

    1. Removeable battery. No an external battery pack or a battery case is not the solution, it's ignoring the cause (a nonremoveable/replaceable battery) & slapping a bandaid on an open wound.

    2. Removeable storeage. There's room for an SD slot, install one. I don't want to have to rely on a viable signal to transfer my files from some cloud, I want to be able to move my files from device to device as easily/conveniently/safely/securely as I swap an SD card. No signal required, no cloud provider needed, no third party to hold my files hostage.

    3. A headphone jack. Wireless headphones may be nice for some but I don't want yet another damned thing I have to recharge in order to listen to my phone. I don't want to have to buy a dongle in order to plug in something that only cost me a few coins, I just want to plug in my el cheapo headphones & go. The disgust I feel over being asked to buy a dongle to replace a bog standard function on nearly every other audio device I own...

    4. A pony. Because Apple is just as likely to give me one of these as they are to give a fuck about any of the rest of my list, namely None.

    It's why I'll vote with my wallet & not buy an Apple phone. No replaceable battery? No SD slot? No headphone jack? No sale.

  66. AliBear

    Expandable memory!

    Music doesn't need to be stored on the fast(er) internal memory. A 512G or 1T card would really make it a music power vault.

    1. Charles 9

      Re: Expandable memory!

      Besides, encrypted internal storage means if the phone goes, so does your music collection. Also a PITA when it comes times to transplant the collection. Thus I keep them on an external SD and keep them unencrypted (no biggie if it's stolen; low-priority stuff, after all).

  67. RPF
    Joke

    Feature request

    How's about a £500 cash-back feature!

  68. robin thakur 1

    Improved Radios

    When I bought the iPhone 7 Plus in the UK, I had no idea that it unlike the American version, it uses an Intel Modem on the chipset. I have had much worse reception using this than any previous iPhone. Signals take longer to be detected, for both Wifi and cellular, and it is just overall much worse than the old chipsets they used in previous phones.

    They really need to fix the way the iPhone connects to Wifi as well, especially public wifi networks. It takes too long and doesn't always bring up the bounce screen to login unless you are on the settings -> wifi section. On a Samsung Galaxy 7, I used to use before going back to iOS, it worked seamlessly and auto connected. THis convenience was not enough to keep me on Android however as there was so much else that didn't work properly.

  69. Kike
    WTF?

    Battery sucks

    Battery life and the lack of quick charge as a default feature is a way of enslaving its users. Totally unacceptable in a phone of that price range.

  70. ScissorHands
    Facepalm

    Andy Orlowski strikes again

    Andy, I love your contrarian views, but again and again you dismiss the Nokia N9, maybe because you're so invested in Nokia having broken Symbian that you also fail to recognize that Nokia stumbled upon something far better in the end.

    Number 2 (a timeline of your events, social updates on a dedicated screen) appeared first on the Nokia N9's Swipe UI, not on BB10.

    Also: swipe to multitask? Tap-to-Wake? OLED screen? Where have I heard that before?

    1. Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

      @ScissorHands strikes again

      Yes, but it was a UX on one single phone that you couldn't buy. Not sold in most countries. Not even marketed. No one gives a crap.

      The timeline/hub was 18 months later came in BB10, a mass market platform. And that swipe to multitask stuff was in WebOS in 2009.

  71. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Even stranger considering Apple’s biggest acquisition was Beats, ..."

    Not strange at all. Beats phones have been independently reviewed numerous times as having the worst sound at the price of any phones around (possibly independent of price). They're 'cool' looking but sound awful (just like the iphone in fact).

  72. PassiveSmoking

    2 Day Battery Life

    Really? My 6s+ manages that just fine. It can go 2 days before hitting 50% (which I consider the level where a recharge is necessary) with light use. If I really push it I can stretch to 3. Of course it depends on not making a lot of calls or hammering YouTube but if you stick to listening to music on the device itself for entertainment it's perfectly doable.

    As for non-physical SIMs I seem to remember Apple pushing really hard for these but the carriers digging their heels in. I'm sure Apple would love to kill the SIM tray but until the carriers relent it probably won't ever happen.

    1. Charles 9

      Re: 2 Day Battery Life

      The thing with non-physical SIMs is that you'd be ceding control of the carrier to the device manufacturer. That's why the carriers balked. Thing is, it's also a reason for the customer to balk, too.

  73. jelabarre59

    6:

    6: run Android on it?

  74. illiad

    sound is as bad as '4k video'..

    Enough already!! 'my 4k video looks great on my 5 in screen' LOLOL

    TL DR, but what about *useful* things like Bluetooth file transfer out of the box?? I suppose you have an excuse for not having that which ALL other phones have??

    - It means that a 20M file can be transferred to your friend mobile, *without* cost or knowing his number!

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