Apple are pretty clockwork with the upgrades to their tech. Normally they will release their phone, tablet, mp3 player or whatever else to rapturous applause the first time it comes out, and then each year they will upgrade it incrementally with a new number or an ‘S’. The iPhone became the iPhone 3G, became the iPhone 2, became the iPhone 3, became the iPhone 3s, became the iPhone 4, became the 4s… and it’s fairly reliable and predictable in terms of where it’s going to go next.

This is good news in some ways because it means you know what you’re getting, it’s easy to upgrade, and there is always good backwards compatibility. Apple don’t forget their older users either and are still always releasing updates to the firmware and new apps for their bygone devices.

There is a downside to this system too though. Of course one downside is that you need to upgrade fairly regularly or risk being left behind with a device that is ‘the same but worse’ than the top model. At the same time it also means that each update only does so much to improve the system, and you don’t get all that much more with a 4S than you do with a 4.

So if Apple were to completely revamp the iPhone, or to bring out – gasp – an alternative smartphone, what would it ideally look like?

Large Screen

An iPhone With A Much Larger Screen

First of all I don’t think I’m alone in yearning for an iPhone with a larger screen. This is something that would give the device more use as a media playback device and make it much more comfortable for browsing. The larger Samsungs have proven highly successful with consumers, and as the iPad is so popular too, something in between seems logical and highly temping.

Replaceable Batteries

A iPhone With Replaceable Batteries

iPhone reportedly never go wrong which is part of the reason I presume that Apple opted not to make the batteries replaceable. However sometimes they *do* go wrong and doing a reset by removing the back cover would definitely be preferable to simply waiting for the thing to run out of power. More to the point though it would be nice to have the option of having a reserve battery, or even a third party model with more sustainable power. Maybe one day…

More Hardware Support

Better Hardware Support in iPhone

And while they’re at it they could also add a USB or a micro USB on there so that you a) didn’t have to fork out for Apple’s proprietary leads, and b) could link up to more computers. I’m not going to go into the openness of the OS, or the fact that you can’t use the phone as a storage device because that wouldn’t be an iPhone then, but little hardware charges like a micro SD slot would greatly improve the usability of the phone.

Hardware Keyboard

iPhone With A Physical Keyboard

What little market share that Blackberry hangs onto it manages because it is the ‘executive’ option. It looks serious and is capable of more productivity because it has an actual keyboard. Imagine then an iPhone with a Nokia style retractable keyboard – and this would also be a huge bonus for gamers.

Infrared

InfraRed feature In iPhone

I miss IR because I used to use it to change the channel on TV in pubs on my old XDA exec. It’s a bit of nonsense sure, but I still think this technology is relevant and I’d love it to make a comeback. While products like RedEye have solved this problem, I don’t like the protruding dongle on my beautiful iPhone.

Projector

Projector in iPhone

This may well be the future of phones and would mean that you only really needed one device for everything. And if Apple want to stay on the cusp then this would seem like a logical way to go. It shouldn’t be technically challenging because we already have access to cameras and camcorders with projectors.

As an iPhone user, what would you like to see in next iteration of the most popular Smartphone? Share your wishlist with us in comments.

While you need to wait for Apple to make some hardware changes for the next addition a good iphone 3g jailbreak software will give you access to many more apps and games on your iPhone. My name is Robbie Crowe and you can thank for this advice later

Written by Robbie Crowe. Edited By Aritra Roy.