11 Apps That Should’ve Shipped With The iPhone

Ever since the iPhone shipped early July I’ve twiddled my thumbs hoping Apple would update the OS with something new. While the iTunes store and Pseudo GPS are great, my appetite is still not satisfied and thus follows the list of 11 items should’ve launched with the iPhone.

1. MMS

Dear Apple,

I like sending pictures to other people’s cell phones, they tend to receive a lot of picture messages and send it to me as well. Do you know how much of a bitch it is to bust out the sticky note and pen, ink down the obscure ID information because copy & paste is nonexistent? Evidently not and I feel your pain, receiving a message at 2 AM in the morning of your friend running across his ex-girlfriend’s lawn in boxers is the epitome of funny in almost every idiotic regard.

P.S. Mail doesn’t cut it Apple, you should’ve had integrated support from the start.

2. Pages

Microsoft packs a heavily slimmed down version of MS Office for Windows Mobile allowing users to read, edit and create Documents with basic formatting elements. The iPhone has something comparable but doesn’t hold up, the included Sticky Notes App only creates and reads in one format all done on the device itself. I was disappointed when Apple was heavily promoting that the iPhone was running “Desktop Class Apps” when the only text editor is considerably worse than the pathetic version shipping on a Mac.

3. Inkwell

Out of all the features I am hoping Apple would’ve included on the iPhone, Inkwell should’ve been the most prominent feature on the iPhone. If you look beyond the obvious in that it can convert your handwriting into something legible and more into using the finger as a stylus replacement for drawing and gestures then you run into a winner. Who knows if we’ll ever see Inkwell in any form but it’ll be missed until its implemented in something other than Asian languages.

4. iChat

Users have complained about the evident lack of an IM client on the iPhone, it almost seems like Apple wants to push SMS on us and while web based Apps have become widespread, it still doesn’t excuse the fact that Apple slacked off by not including iChat. But then again, it’d encroach on AT&T selling higher priced text messaging plans.

5. Dashboard

The next best thing to the lack of an SDK would’ve been Dashboard. Apple approves of Web Apps being the norm on the iPhone running through Safari and Widgets do just that. They’re nothing more than bundles of HTML and CSS wrapped together allowing it to play nice with Safari. In addition, thousands of Widgets are readily available in a wide variety of categories.

6. Dictionary

There are times when the always on Internet connection can be a good thing allowing to quickly look up information without resorting to local Apps. Oddly enough I find times where I really need to fucking define a word and I have no access to the Internet.

7. Video Recorder

Despite all that Apple has done to pass of the camera in some mystical sort of way as being superior to run of the mill bargain bin novelties, one thing obviously left out was video recording capabilities. The real kicker being all of this could be included in a simple Software revision judging from 3rd party Apps that add video recording, it looks highly embarrassing on Apple’s part. Ironic since the iPhone makes a damn good video sharing/playback device and it lacks one of the key components to create content which is available on almost any cell phone in one way or another.

8. Music Quiz

I know the iPhone isn’t going to carry your whole music library but I lament the days I gave up my iPod for the sole fact it had Music Quiz. Long times would I spend getting closer with my music on as deep a level as I can get without the use of LSD. Not only did I get more points than numerical digits known to man but oddly enough I can identify 90% of my Library within the first 20 seconds. The subtraction of such an app from the iPhone is puzzling, it could’ve been made into some BS Widget but nope, Apple wants you to waste away on the Internet over guessing what shitty remix is blasting your ears.

9. iTunes

The iTunes Wi-Fi store is awesome in every way possible, I can search for new bands to pirate and jam away (kidding for the later) but there comes the time when not being able to micromanage every little aspect of music really starts to gnaw away at me. I want some simple managing tools to be able to delete what songs I want on the fly, edit song and artist info even Album art if I can. But what the rest of us yearn harder than a French revolutionist yearns for bread is Wi-Fi Podcast updating. My iPhone is constantly tethered to an active Wi-Fi connection and I am pretty sure a lot of iPod Touches do the same now and then. It subtracts the middle man of using a computer to manage all of this and seems the right direction for Apple to go considering you can buy songs without using a computer.

10. Dual Pane Mail

Back in the early planning stages of the iPhone and its eventual debut, the development team had the brilliant idea of including a dual pane browsing mode relieving you of the annoyance of having to switch back and forth to read messages within close browsing proximity. Somewhere along the way a product manager or two apparently castrated the whole notion of easy mail browsing in favor of something that would fit the launch window. A year and a half later Apple still leaves us hanging on a feature that should’ve been in since the get go.

11. A Fucking Game

Yes, I said it, I mentioned an Apple product and that other thing besides Photoshop that people use their computers for. It seems like common sense considering Apple wants to rub in your face every damn feature besides the one thing it was designed to do, making calls, I’m sure a little visual gameplay wouldn’t hurt to soothe the rabid bashers who portray games on a Mac as a world without Starbucks. Corporate propaganda aside, Apple decided to neglect the full visual capabilities that the iPhones aside from you can scroll really friggin’ fast through your albums.

Even the iPod comes with an actual game albeit sucky but hey, if fun can be derived from it then it’s not all bad. But the iPhone lacks even a simple Backgammon rip off or Tetris knockoff, the closest you ever get to fun is spying on your drunken neighbor through Google Earth. So please Apple, we’re not asking for Doom, hell just even developing something in house would probably satisfy us.