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Clearly they can allow it. It's not complicated. Landscape typing, copy & paste took forever, too. So what's the reason for excluding fairly obvious features from the OS for so long, only to add them later...much...later?

Edit: Yes, wallpapers finally got added and themes still haven't.

1. Processing power: Not saying previous iPhone's couldn't handle them, it just wouldn't be as smooth, which iPhone is know for being. (Kinda like an older Android phone running Gingerbread)
2. To keep the OS updates interesting every year.
 
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I'm thinking marketing. Everywhere you go you now hear the tri-tone, and they use it in pretty much every tv show or movie, even if they don't have an iPhone.

That's my favorite. When a TV show has a regular flip phone or blackberry, and you hear the tri-tone SMS message... lol.

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1. Processing power: Not saying previous iPhone's couldn't handle them, it just wouldn't be as smooth, which iPhone is know for being. (Kinda like an older Android phone running Gingerbread)
2. To keep the OS updates interesting every year.

I think it is mainly the 1st reason you mentioned. Apple's biggest focus is having a smooth functioning phone with great battery life. I jailbroke my 3GS, and have cydia apps like LockInfo on my phone, and while it's not a huge degradation in terms of battery life, it definitely hurts it a little bit. And I have some other random cydia apps, and the combination of having a ton of various ones definitely hurts the overall performance of the device as well.

The iPhone 4 can handle a lot of those features much better than the 3GS, but I think Apple really tries hard to keep the current and one-generation-old models running smoothly and with great battery life. So once the iPhone 5 comes out, with iOS5, their two primary focuses will be on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, both of which will have the processing power and battery power to handle these new features.

Custom text alerts doesn't really fit into the category of performance and battery life degradation, but it likely would ever so slightly affect performance on the older models like the 3GS; as it's just one more process the phone has to do when it receives a text message before it alerts the user.

I mean it's not exactly difficult to produce a lot of these features in a short time. They can just hire new manpower to program, and they could easily hire a bunch of jailbreak developers that have added these features already, and thus already know what to do.
 
The worst thing that could happen to the iPhone would be themes. Part of the thing that makes an iPhone an iPhone is it's look.

The only way this should ever be allowed is if they are made by Apple and Apple only. Or else you start getting crappy sports themes made by idiots who can't use photoshop to save their life and it look like a 3rd grader made it.

I'm glad you think so. I heard Apple's gonna stop by your house soon and put up pictures of fruit in place of all your family photos, and get rid of any "theme" you have in your house with its own.

Why do you people insult people like me and say we shouldn't be allowed to use our iPhone in a manner consistent with what the carriers would allow that YOU personally dislike?
 
So they can introduce it now as a new feature and everyone will lose their minds over of how revolutionary it is :rolleyes:

Pretty much, they keep all these great features as a bonus feature for the next iOS major upgrade. I bet hundreds of features were omitted for iOS 5, and will be in iOS 6.
 
I'm glad you think so. I heard Apple's gonna stop by your house soon and put up pictures of fruit in place of all your family photos, and get rid of any "theme" you have in your house with its own.

Why do you people insult people like me and say we shouldn't be allowed to use our iPhone in a manner consistent with what the carriers would allow that YOU personally dislike?

^^ calm down buddy

i suppose they don't want an iPhone making fart noises when recieving messages.
too much customization allows for people of bad taste to maybe ruin the user experience.

that's why we don't have custom springboard themes, etc.
that's why we didn't have wallpapers for ages

I think this guy has it right. Regardless of whether or not i agree with it, it's classic Apple.
 
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I'm thinking marketing. Everywhere you go you now hear the tri-tone, and they use it in pretty much every tv show or movie, even if they don't have an iPhone.

This, for sure.
It's bloody annoying when you're sitting in the train and tri-tone goes off - at least 5 people look at their phone. :eek:
 
The reason = sonic advertising

Ha. So true. I always thought a really good advertisement for an Android phone would be to have the "Ding Ding" go off in a crowded room and have most of them check their pockets/purse/phone while just one guy doesn't look.
 
Everyone "knows" the sound of an iPhone now. Marimba and Tri-tone has saturated the public conciousness the same way "the Nokia ringtone" has.
 
Pretty much, they keep all these great features as a bonus feature for the next iOS major upgrade. I bet hundreds of features were omitted for iOS 5, and will be in iOS 6.
Apple's competitors have many of iOS5's features for years. More subtle notification system, WiFi sync, OTA updates, NFC, 4-inch screen, and volume buttons as a camera button. iMessages copied RIM's BBM. Android already had dual core and 8MP/1080p cameras. Cloud services have been around for years too.

In a way, Android are like the guinea pigs with features still in BETA phase. Then Apple copies them and polishes it up by improving it. Where they haven't caught up is with the JB dev community. The new lockscreen is still a joke compared to Intelliscreen or LockInfo.

I think iOS is always like a year or two behind Android when it comes to features and hardware. But all companies can be guilty of "holding back" to have something new for next year. Nokia did this as well back in their heyday.
 
This, for sure.
It's bloody annoying when you're sitting in the train and tri-tone goes off - at least 5 people look at their phone. :eek:

Funny! But that's why I changed mine from the default for both the ringer and notifications. But when I'm on the bus/train use the mute switch and let it shake-and-bake to notify me.
 
I guess since you don't want something, nobody else should have the option?

If Apple put every setting and feature that everyone wanted, you would be rifling through dozens of pages of settings like Android. I've known many Android owners who would spend ridiculous amounts of time looking for settings...no thanks.
 
I'm glad you think so. I heard Apple's gonna stop by your house soon and put up pictures of fruit in place of all your family photos, and get rid of any "theme" you have in your house with its own.

Why do you people insult people like me and say we shouldn't be allowed to use our iPhone in a manner consistent with what the carriers would allow that YOU personally dislike?

That's why there is a free market buddy, you have the choice to not buy an iPhone, that's how it's supposed to work. If iPhone sales start to slump too much, maybe they will change their ways, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
 
Yep its much better being in a group of 5 people all with iphones and you here the tri tone and all 5 people pull out their iphone to see if they are the ones that got a text message.

Right. That's why I created Ringtones Uncensored and I'm excited about the new uses with iOS 5... Like "Pardon me, Todd, but you have a Text Message from Steve Jobs!" in a British Voice!
 
Apple's competitors have many of iOS5's features for years. More subtle notification system, WiFi sync, OTA updates, NFC, 4-inch screen, and volume buttons as a camera button. iMessages copied RIM's BBM. Android already had dual core and 8MP/1080p cameras. Cloud services have been around for years too.

In a way, Android are like the guinea pigs with features still in BETA phase. Then Apple copies them and polishes it up by improving it. Where they haven't caught up is with the JB dev community. The new lockscreen is still a joke compared to Intelliscreen or LockInfo.

I think iOS is always like a year or two behind Android when it comes to features and hardware. But all companies can be guilty of "holding back" to have something new for next year. Nokia did this as well back in their heyday.

I gotta agree here. Apple isn't so great at innovating as it is great at finding ways to implement new tech to make it more accessible and/or more usable by the masses. They are great at taking new tech and finding ways the masses might actually use it and polishing it up to make it work smoothly.

I mean that's not a bad thing. They may not be the one with the idea but they do have the idea of how to best implement a new feature. That in itself is very important because many new tech has come and gone because no one really knew what to do with it. Some one has to be the one to actually say, "Here's what we can do with it, here's how to make it more usable by everyone, and here is how it is going to be useful."
 
I think they took a while because;

1. It wasn't a priority for them (even without copy/paste, mms, landscape, etc, millions of people were buying iPhones as fast as they were being made).

2. As has been stated already, you hear that tritone everywhere now. In public, in movies, all over. And I think that's exactly the way Apple wanted it.

3. I think they are taking their time on the customization features to make each update seem all that much more desirable.

All that being said I think iOS 4 is solid and I am looking forward to iOS 5 soon.
 
Funny! But that's why I changed mine from the default for both the ringer and notifications. But when I'm on the bus/train use the mute switch and let it shake-and-bake to notify me.

My phone is always on vibrate, but I tend to forget that, and I still pull out my phone whenever I hear the tri-tone. :eek: I changed it to the chime one earlier today though. I tried putting a custom text tone with no luck.
 
The worst thing that could happen to the iPhone would be themes. Part of the thing that makes an iPhone an iPhone is it's look.

The only way this should ever be allowed is if they are made by Apple and Apple only. Or else you start getting crappy sports themes made by idiots who can't use photoshop to save their life and it look like a 3rd grader made it.

And let me guess, someone will put a gun to your head to install the theme?

Gotta love the people in this thread trying to show others what they should do or not on thier own devices. Brainwashing ftl.

You enjoy your simplicity and let others enjoy their complexity. Doesnt get any better than that. Jailbreaking is a fine example of that. At least MS is not stuck up and will allow official device unlocks for people who want it with a fee. Very smart of them to do that.

Communist attitude doesn't keep you at the top forever.
 
And let me guess, someone will put a gun to your head to install the theme?

Gotta love the people in this thread trying to show others what they should do or not on thier own devices. Brainwashing ftl.

You enjoy your simplicity and let others enjoy their complexity. Doesnt get any better than that. Jailbreaking is a fine example of that. At least MS is not stuck up and will allow official device unlocks for people who want it with a fee. Very smart of them to do that.

Communist attitude doesn't keep you at the top forever.

Dude go troll somewhere else. You know as well as anyone here that Apple does not like to allow customizability. It has nothing to do with brainwashing either, he's right. Look at 70% of themes available for devices, they're awful. Some design-impaired person meaning well creates a monstrosity and it make his device look bad. Apple want people to show off their phones and for others to be impressed, and keeping a concise theme is a big part of that.
 
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While Apple does occasionally innovate completely new technology their priority has always been to find new ways to do old things better. This formula has never let them down as a company and they stick with it. That said, when cut/copy/paste were originally released in iOS 3 it was clearly stated that while this may seem like a basic feature that should have been included in iOS 1, Apple wanted to take the time to figure out the best way to implement it.

It's funny how people will complain about the lack of customization and basic features and brag about Android and how it's always on the cutting edge with new features - but these are often the same people that are complaining because these features aren't completely polished, or their user experience is a little sloppy on another OS.

Apple places user experience as it's top priority but they also maintain a firm policy of "We know what's best for you better than you do" - and honestly, while there are some seemingly basic features that are excluded, when they do come out they truly are done right and are well polished only enhancing my experience, not complicating it or sacrificing something else in the process.

As with text tones specifically I'm tend to believe they like it to remain uncomplicated while getting some free advertisement everytime one of us get a text.
 
I think it wasn't added sooner simply because it never made the priority cut.

And the priority cut is too small and focused on some very odd areas because of poor people management on Apple's part - it's obvious the iOS team have been running behind ever since the iPad came out with trying to update an OS intended for one box for three different platforms (iPhone/Touch, Apple TV and the iPad) all with different needs and requiring much of the underlying rushed architecture to be rebuilt.

Add that to the odd situation where it seems like several of the Apple apps have been built by the OS engineers in their spare time (c.f. the Remote app, which was left in a barely working non-Retina state for ages as, allegedly, the one person who'd built it didn't leave behind much documentation and was too busy doing other things) and you end up with these issues slowing down development.

Android was ahead of the game on this until Gingerbread, where they rushed the thing out to support tablets and subsequently ended up with a complete frickin' mess of undocumented APIs that are now having to be unpicked, slowing development of the platform down significantly.

Phazer
 
Did anyone mention yet that iOS 5 will have customized SMS ringtones? If yes then why is this thread still going?
 
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