By Hal Motley

I have been working with version 4.0 for a while now and I have to say it is certainly an improvement from 3.1.3; in this blog I will discuss a little about the features of iPhone OS 4 and improvements for what probably be number 5.

To start a list of new features I noticed in number 4:

*Background behind apps (Can be different from other background where clock and date is displayed)

*Improved E-mail and Notes app (Easier to sort out different inboxs and the source of notes)

*Calculator app icon has changed

*App foldering introduced (Putting several apps into the space of 1 app)

*New iBooks app (Sort of like Amazon's Kindle, but as an Apple app)

And of course there is more you can read on Apple's website (http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/)

But this change while being great doesn't tick off some of my checks on the perfect OS, here are some suggestions for Apple from me and various other iPhone users.

For iPhone OS 5.0:

*App Navigation

At first I did not think of this but thanks to Chris Randbrick's blog I have thought about how tedious it is scrolling through pages and pages of apps (especially if you have lots of apps and a 32GB iPhone to hold them) So what about an app switcher similar to Exposé on Mac OS X which should be placed in the Top 4. (The horizontal dock that transfers 4 single apps between pages)

*Custom Message Tone

There is a method to change the default tone to a custom one. But to be fair it would be a hell of a lot easier if I could select a custom tone like a custom ringtone.

*Number Blocklist or Blacklist

It felt great for a jailbreaker to know that they can block annoying spam calls (and trust me I get a lot) using the iBlacklist app from Cydia. But I don't jailbreak as that ruins my warranty, I have however saved these spam callers as contact and assigned a different ringtone but that is temporary. Please make an app whether part of firmware or not that allows phone number blocking.

Also BlackBerry have a call blocking application called Call Blocker Professional which can be customised to block individual numbers or an entire area code. Come on Apple at least allow these developers to make one on the revolutionary iPhone!!!

*Set seconds on the timer in Clock app

On the timer section of the clock app the lowest time selectable in 1 minute. But what if i want 30 seconds or something. I personally would see at least someone benefit from a seconds feature on this app.

* Add a convert to fraction button on calculator

What's 33.33333333333333... as a fraction? It's 1/3, but that's general knowledge. I would like it if as part of the calculator app that they squeeze in a convert fraction decimal button.

* iChat app

iChat looks pretty cool on an Apple Mac, so why not optimize it and create an app for the iPhone and iPod touch. So people can chat between devices as well as AIM, free of charge.

Also with Facetime that's even more reason to programme an iChat app.