Apple, Hear Our Cry
Oh, wow, this thread exists already! I was going to start a new one. Here's my original post anyway.
Some of these may be geared toward the iPod Touch. I apologize in advance to iPhone users.
I acknowledge that Apple must draw a line between limiting options and complete customization in many parts of its apps and do the best I can to respect what I believe they have made this line to be.
MUSIC/IPOD APPLICATION
PLAYLISTS
Support for Smart Playlists - If I change the rating to four stars on my iPod, I expect it to leave my '5 Stars' playlist.
Support for Folders - Who else got excited when they saw folders in the Remote app? We have them on our computers for a reason... so why not on the iPod, too?
Extended Editing - I want a button at the top-left of the 'Playlists' tab that says "Edit." I want the ability to delete playlists ('On-the-Go' and 'Purchased' for instance), as well as ability to rename AT LEAST the On-The-Go's.
FUNCTIONALITY
Coverflow - On iTunes, if you search for an artist/genre under Coverflow view, your Coverflow is limited to the albums subject to the terms of that search. That is... you're in Coverflow view, you type in 'Green Day,' and you only see 5 albums or whatever. I propose that - when under a certain genre or artist in list view on your iPod - you see only those albums when you turn your iPod horizontally. Doesn't that just make obvious sense? When a song is selected, though, it'd remain the way it is, making it easy to look at other albums from the same artist... that brings me to my next point.
Links - While Apple's tabs at the bottom are great, there's no fluid way of moving between them. Consider a hypothetical: you're listening to your 90's playlist, and "Dreams" by The Cranberries starts playing. You draw up a nostalgia for The Cranberries and want to hear more. How do you get to their other songs? Turning your iPod horizontally and choosing from the adjacent albums is easier than hitting the 'Artists' tab, I think, but there's a better way: making the artist name in the 'Now Playing' screen a link to that artist's menu under the 'Artists' tab. The same could easily go for albums, considering that the song name wedged between them wouldn't be a link (just for consistency, and in case you prefer list view to the flipped album cover). Now, this could go one step further: giving the user the ability to toggle between making those links to the artist/album on their iPod or the iTunes app. But the links on the app... obvious again, no?
Scrolling Text - Alright, so most of us have had other iPods, and so most of you know that even the most primitive of those suckers supports scrolling text for long song names and Podcast names. At the same time, I know that it'd be weird to be scrolling through your songs and see stuff moving so... I propose the following: when you stop scrolling, the text moves. How hard is that?
GENERAL
Alarms in Clocks App (Re-Ordering) - Throughout the interface, it's clear that hitting edit makes possible one of three functions: deleting the item (hit the red circle thing), editing the item (tap its name), or re-ordering the item (drag the little bars on the right). Why no re-ordering for alarms? Why no editing for world clocks (as opposed to delete and add)? Just make all three possible at all times, Apple.
Remote App - Let's say that you have your double-tap of the home screen button set to opening the Music App. Why not have it control the Remote App when you're using it? Maybe it only works when the "Stay Connected" button is set to 'On.'
E-mail notification - I noticed this with the new update, that a sound is made to notify you of new mail. I love it, Apple, but I'd like to be able to customize the sound, however primitive the other choices may be on my iPod Touch. Also, can we get some notification on the standby ('slide to unlock') screen, just in case I'm away from my iPod? I know iPhone users have it.
Videos App - Can we get some tabs for sorting for those of us that have lots of Videos? Every other media app has lists, so... can we get those there, too?
Safari - I'd like to be able to change the orientation of the screen when a keyboard's displayed, since that's when I'd like to make use of the larger keyboard.
Calendar App - One of the intuitive things to do when you have an iPhone is to see what happens in an app when you turn the thing horizontally. I'd like to see this applied to the Calendar app to feature a weeks view or one for multiple months. Makes sense, right?
Photos - Support for folders for albums created in iPhoto, too.
FOR THE FUTURE
PORTING - Can we get some more Apple-made widgets (I'll willingly fork over cash for these) from the Dashboard? Stuff like the Unit Converter, Flight Tracker, Dictionary (!!! The only one on the app store is $30 !!!), Translation, etc. Shouldn't these be obvious additions to the 'stock' apps on your iPhone? It's just so clear.
UI CUSTOMIZATION - Does Apple allow developers to change UI elements like on jailbroken iPhones? Things like the background for the home screen, alternate icons for apps, etc. Somehow, I don't think so, but I'd like to see it happen.
TO THIRD PARTY DEV'S - This should be a separate thread, but I'd pay for a package-tracking widget. That'd be really cool. Maybe the person that made 'Delivery Status' should get on top of this.
SYNCING - I think that it's inevitable that we're going to have to have some sort of syncing capability between our desktop widgets/apps and the ones on our iPhones. For instance, yesterday, I read a thread where this guy asked when we're going to have support for Notes synchronization. That just needs another option in the Applications tab in iTunes. It's already happening with Calendar, OmniFocus, and with Mail... if I'm not mistaken. Obviously, you may want different weather or stocks on your iPhone, but we should have the ability to toggle that on iTunes.
