I would like to see safari be able to dowload files and have tabs as an option. i would like to see the photo app have some kinda editing features. i would like an option to have a password for photos and email.
Tabs eat up RAM and screen real estate. What's wrong with Apple's solution of page switching? It may be painful on a 3G connection but on WiFi running to broadband it's almost as quick as clicking a tab. And if you're going to jump to another tab, you'll probably want to refresh it anyway.
For better or worse, you bought a home in a gated community. The iPad H/W and OS is designed to use the iTunes database as the gateway to the world defined by Apple and its content partners. I'm OK with this for the most part. It provides a snappy user experience without the worries of malware and the S/W to combat it. Design tradeoffs were carefully chosen to make the device what it is.
As for the photo app, I'm guessing that Apple a.) didn't want to step on app developers toes and b.) thought that app developers could probably address user needs better than any single app. There are countless apps for filtering, adding effects through layers, cropping, rotating, adjusting color, etc. Buy as much as you need, no more, no less.