While I can’t take credit for the idea (wish I had thought of it), I have never heard anyone mention it before as it relates to the iPhone. I was reading a post on engadget.com about a new phone (I don’t even remember which one it was), but it had a feature that would be KILLER on the 3g version of the iPhone.
Here goes: Most of us that travel with iPhones also travel with laptops. One feature that we hope for on the 3g iPhone is to be able to use it as a wireless modem (tethering/DUN) via Bluetooth. However, what would even be sweeter is having the iPhone itself become a Wi-Fi access point. Having a 3g iPhone means that we’ll have the potential for significantly faster data access than what we now see over EDGE. Since the iPhone already has Wi-Fi built-in, why not just tap a button, set a password and have it broadcast a Wi-Fi access signal that you could tap into with your laptop and surf?
Of course there’s the whole battery life thing and I have no idea if the Wi-Fi radio uses more power than the Bluetooth radio, but it would be pretty sweet nonetheless. It would also allow multiple devices to share the 3g internet connection simultaneously whereas Bluetooth would not.
Either way, the next version of the iPhone should definitely have either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi internet sharing for your laptop! Steve would probably argue that the iPhone is so good that you shouldn’t need to connect to the internet from your laptop and maybe with all the new corporate support (MS Exchange support, VPN access, etc.) that’s coming in iPhone 2.0 he’s right. I can’t wait til June to find out!
You may remember that I have a running list of features that I would like to see come to the iPhone (some of which have either been addressed in recent updates or have been announced for the 2.0 software update due in June) and all of which could be implemented via software updates or 3rd parties. So while were on the subject of the 3g iPhone, here are my:
Top 10 iPhone 2.0.1 Feature Requests
- Flash Player! – We can’t keep pretending that we don’t need this! With a faster iPhone, there’s no excuse
- Video Recording – No reason not to have this either
- MMS Messaging – Can we send some picts and video directly to our buddies without using email?
- Cut/Copy/Paste – Duh!
- Contact Search – I’m sure I’m not the only one with hundreds of contacts
- Note Syncing – No reason not to have this
- Audio Recording – Taking notes/Voice recorder would be a very popular feature
- Email Anything – The ability to email anything that’s on the device, ie: contacts, voicemail messages, maps, etc.
- Voice Dialing – Lesser phones have this basic feature
- Consolidated Email Box (option) – I have 5 email accounts on my iPhone – my screen is starting to wear out in the spot that I have to keep hitting the Back button on.
Wait can’t the iPhone be used on Alltel or Verizon?
There’s actually an app that does exactly this for windows mobile (and I don’t know about symbian). And….even better… you can do this with your iphone (ahh the goodies of jailbreaking):
http://cre.ations.net/blog/post/tether-your-iphone
It does NOT make the iPhone act as a router but it will enough to (wich let’s be honest, it’s the point of all this) thether your edge connection to your laptop.
Or maybe you already knew about this and what you really want is setting up as a router and using it for two or more devices (that wuold kill the battery tough).
One big irritant for me is the recent call screen. You can’t erase one number.. you have to erase all or none. How hard would that be to fix… drives me nuts!
i used to have a blackberry pearl b4 i got the iphone and i was able to us it as wireless connection through my laptop. Of course it was EDGE so it was very slow, but its better then nothing. An iphone with 3g would be great for this…although wouldn’t your bill be HUGE!
I second your list! After watching the entire presentation by Steve Jobs. Seeing all of the developers with their games and new programs for doctors…etc., all I could think was: “all that, and I still can’t text a photo”…sad.
Currently I use Sprint’s Rev A service with a Novatel Ovation USB dongle – combined with a small battery operated Cradlepoint router – to create my own wifi hotspot wherever Sprint service is active – it’s great, plus provides fast wifi for the iphone when I’m in an EDGE only area.
I really want a true GPS added. With real maps. So when I go skiing I can track where I’ve been and make calls to friends with my location.