The first iPhone debuted in 2007. The operating system was groundbreaking at launch. Updates each year have brought exciting new features including push notifications and more options for apps to integrate with the phone.

But now, five years after the debut of iOS, I see a need for a major overhaul of the operating system.

Here’s my wish list, inspired by a MacRumor discussion. * Shows my most-wanted improvements.

*Better looks: iOS looked cool and flashy at launch, but I’m growing tired of the light blue and pinstripes

*Push notification management / Manager bar: A bar at the top of the screen that you can drag down (like in the Android OS) that lets you change various Settings (rather than putting this at the bottom in the multi-tasking bar) such as Brightness, Volume and Orientation lock. This bar would include a history of notifications. Touching a notification would take you to the related action in an app. Option to hide all notifications.

*Faster processing: The various animations between functions all add up to a frustrating experience – particularly if you start paying close attention. Why do I need to see the homescreen zoom in every time I open the phone?

*Dynamically-updated app icons: One of the coolest apps out there is Calvetica. But, the app is forced to show today’s date by using the badge counter. Sure, it works – but wouldn’t it be better if the icon could actually change every day? This is inspired, in part, by the latest Windows Mobile system that lets you quickly glance at your screen and see what you need to know – rather than forcing users to spend time going into each app to understand why a badge counter showed up (or worse, no badge at all and you have to manually check to see what is new).

*Dashboard: I’d like the option to use and customize a dashboard. Something that quickly shows me what I need to know – without the need of opening the apps. I’d like for this to be the lock screen and maybe it could scroll vertically or horizontally to allow for whatever I want to see, including the time, date, my next three upcoming calendar appointments, the latest 3 mail message subject lines, weather, to-do items, missed calls, etc.

One central scanner: An Apple-made app that can scan barcodes and QR codes. Sure there are free apps out there, but it would be great if the camera app added this as an option and then you could be sent to the applicable app – be it a calorie counter, Safari, Twitter or something else. I’d be ridiculously excited if there was also a text scanner that could convert images into text that could be pasted into any app.

*Wireless sync: I’d love to be able to sync to my phone to my Mac without a cord.

Custom SMS tones: For a good laugh check out the alert section in Settings. Apple added sounds beyond the traditional six, but they all make me laugh. Come on – please find a way to be able to add or create custom alert sounds without rooting.

*App and screen manager: Allow for side-scrolling within a folder so you can add more than 12 apps per folder (less repeating of folder genres). Allow users to choose an image to use as the icon for folders (rather than showing mini-images of the apps within the folder). Let users also modify the icons of any app.

*Automatically push application updates: Have application updates for my apps get pushed to my device and alert me via the app icon and on my dashboard.

Documents manager: Could function similar to the Camera Roll that is embedded in the Camera app. Would be particularly useful for iPads. Could offer auto-backup to iDisk or your choice (Dropbox, SugarSync).

*Voice command mode: Make it easy for users to operate the phone via voice. Improve the voice recognition. Allow apps to integrate with this. Would be a great opportunity for Apple to market the new operating system as making it easier for people to be safe drivers while still using the phone. Let users use the manager bar (idea below) to turn the phone into “Drive” mode to make everything voice-activated. Automatically turn off the voice-activation mode while talking on the phone (so you don’t say “off” on a phone call and the phone turns off).

Improved keyboard: Look at making a Swype competitor – the No. 1 thing I wish I had on my iPhone.

Live wallpapers: Wallpapers that change throughout the day with more available for sale from the iTunes App Store.

Allow FaceTime over 3G/4G: This is on the carriers but it should still happen if they want FaceTiming to be the next big thing and if they want to remain competitive over Android devices.

*Allow app downloads and installs in the background: I cannot stand downloading an app or an app update, getting forced to “watch” the download and then I have to navigate back to look at other apps or app updates.

Kill all background apps: Option in Settings to kill all apps currently running in the background.

*Improve Game Center: Require all “Game Center” apps to include achievements and/or leaderboards, improve the load time (so, in part, that people can use Game Center as an easy game launcher). Add a Game Center tab in the iTunes App Store so you can see only Game Center-enabled apps by category and rating and downloads and most recent.

Better mail app: Option to “star” or bookmark e-mails. If you are offline and cannot send a message add it to a queue of actions to perform once back online. Option to create and use an HTML-based signature. Option to add content such as photos from within the Mail app rather than only from the Camera Roll.

Better calendar app: Option to choose the color per calendar type. Improved “day” view that looks like an agenda for faster viewing, turn phone horizontal to see a week-agenda-view of your calendar (like in Calvetica).

Better camera app: Separate the camera roll from the camera so that you can still have lots of photos and the camera takes much less time to load. In the Camera Roll app automatically add links to all the user’s photo manipulation and manager apps. From the Camera app automatically add links to all the user’s photo-taking apps.

Better iPod app: iTunes Cloud. Access to all your music without downloading the music to your device. Should include the option to star certain music as available Offline. Ability to delete, rename and add news songs form your iPhone and it automatically syncs back to your iTunes. Built-in AM/FM tuner (especially good for emergencies when you need to tap into the public service emergency stations).

Better Phone and Messaging apps: Option to add photos for your favorites for faster visual recognition and dialing. Auto-response option when in “drive” mode.

Better YouTube app: Option in Setting so that videos can play within Safari on the page rather than always opening the YouTube app. Options to like or dislike videos. Ability to comment. A tab of recommended videos for the specific user.

Better Safari app: Option for apps to connect with Safari by adding extensions/plugins such as bookmarking services, enable Flash, etc.

Option to hide or remove pre-loaded apps: Not everyone owns Stocks. Letting users hide or remove the stock apps means someone could only have their own apps of choice and not have a folder of unwanted apps.

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My top 2:

• Netflix!
• Plants Vs. Zombies

My other favorites:

• Fruit Ninja HD
• Angry Birds HD
• Doodle Blast HD
• Harbor Master
• Dizzypad HD
• Godfinger
• Pac-Man
• Scrabble
• Sneezies HD
• Skrambler X
• Words with Friends HD
• Zen Bound 2

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theAppleBlog: The iPhone has a number of advantages over its smartphone competitors, but one thing it hasn’t had that users have been clamoring for is true multitasking. Push notifications were intended as a workaround designed to give users the ability to stay up-to-date with multiple apps without having to actually run them at the same time.

TechCrunch: Apple has set the standard that once every year they will release a new version of the iPhone. It stands to reason that this year will be no different, with a new model likely coming sometime this summer. But arguably just as important as Apple’s hardware refresh is the accompanying software refresh that comes with it as well. And that’s why it shouldn’t be surprising at all that whispers of iPhone OS 4.0 are starting to grow.

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Sure I’ve used a slew of apps, but who am I to be the best source of the best mobile apps? What would be best is if any one could add to one central list the best apps. And, let’s do this for journalists specifically (though others are free to use this list as well).

Thanks for joining in this fun mobile journalism project!

Used a smartphone for a while?

Pick a form and fill it out for an app other journalists should use. Explain why. If you have lots of apps to suggest, fill out the form several times – once for each app.

Did you just buy a smartphone?

Pick a results page and browse to find cool apps you should check out.

ANDROID

Form: http://bit.ly/journappsandroidform

Results: http://bit.ly/journappsandroidresults

BLACKBERRY

Form: http://bit.ly/journappsblackberryresults

Results: http://bit.ly/journappsblackberryresults

IPHONE

Form: http://bit.ly/journappsiphoneform

Results: http://bit.ly/journappsiphoneresults

PALM

Form: http://bit.ly/journappspalmform

Results: http://bit.ly/journappspalmresults

WINDOWS

Form: http://bit.ly/journappswindowsform

Results: http://bit.ly/journappswindowsresults

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Such a significant investment ($750 million to be exact) is a significant sign that mobile is the present, not just the future.

In a letter about the acquisition by AdMob Founder Omar Hamoui, he writes that “until now, it has always felt like those of us involved in this space played second fiddle to our online brethren. I believe that time is over.”

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Yes, the app is simple enough that users can edit photos quickly. The app has replaced my other photo editing apps – but I’m still using ToyCamera for most of my photo purposes.

What I like:

Simple, but effective photo editing options.

I love, love, love the ability to tint my photos – a very cool way to take a simple photo and really make it pop as though it was taken with a color flash.

What I don’t like:

Overall – I really don’t like that Photoshop for iPhone tries to be an all-in-one. Why should Photoshop try to be what it is not? Photoshop for the desktop is used for editing images. The app tries to also be a place for taking photos (but offers nothing beyond the normal camera) and for sharing photos (why go up against all the other sharing apps).

And, just a simple thing, but why does Adobe offer a different icon for the mobile Photoshop – I miss the opportunity to have a beautiful, aqua-styled icon like the feather icon used for desktop app.

In conclusion:

Adobe’s app should be an extension of itself. Why go up against photo-taking apps? Why go up against photo sharing apps? That’s more to worry about. Adobe should focus on what it does best – elegant and complex, yet simple to use image editing.

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And that’s just one bit of interesting stuff I discovered in this recent Pew report “Social Isolation and New Technology.”

Here’s an excerpt on mobile versus traditional communication:

• Traditional media: The average person sees each member of their core network 210 days of the year, talks to them using a landline telephone on 125 days, and sends each core network member an average of 8 letters or cards.
• ICTs: If they have a mobile phone, the average person talks to each core network member by mobile phone on 195 days. Email users send messages to each core tie on 72 days of the year. If a person uses text messaging (SMS), on average they send text messages to each core network member on 125 days. Those who use instant messaging contact core ties by IM on 55 days of the year. Of those who use social networking services (SNS), SNS are used to message each core tie an average of 39 days each year.

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While companies like Apple have not included social links into address books – Facebook (in its v3.0 app for iPhone) makes it quite easy to call your fellow friends, follow their tweets and see other social activities (which will only develop further given Facebook’s recent acquisition of Friendfeed).

iTunes 9 arrived this week and did not offer as many social features as people were guessing would arrive. While Apple’s address book remains social-less, Palm Pre has a pretty social rolodex.

And, here’s some recent research about social + address books + cell phones:

• Thomas Hussen, a researcher at Forrester, writes more questions than information as he discusses social address books and the connection of those friend lists to mobile phones.

He writes, “It is not clear yet who is best positioned to tap into consumers’ social address books but it is quite clear mobile phones offer a great potential as they are not only communication devices but increasingly consumption and creation tools.”

• Now we have VisionMobile contributor Florent Stroppa also tackling mobile social books.

His premise: “For years, mobile network operators have invested billions of dollars in networks, subsidized phones and targeted marketing campaigns. Yet they have neglected one of the most used applications on the mobile phone: the address book.”

• And, in related social address book news here’s a Wall St. Journal article about Yahoo! adding social features to its e-mail.
• Don’t forget, Google Wave (an attempt at creating a new mode of social connecting and messaging) comes out later this month.

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Why build an app built on news information?

Fluent Mobile has developed proprietary algorithms for organizing, aggregating, and delivering dynamic mobile content.  We chose to initially apply our technology to the news space for several reasons, but one of the key factors is the high volume of users that are already reading news over mobile devices.  A recent Comscore survey found that more than 22 million people in the U.S. access news each day using a mobile device. The same survey found that more than 60 million people in the U.S. access news over mobile on a monthly basis.  Furthermore, the penetration of news over mobile is even larger on “higher-end” mobile devices. Another survey found that nearly 85% of iPhone users read news on their phone.  Fluent Mobile believes that the number of mobile news readers is very likely to significantly increase as well.

How do you feel this app fits in with the future of media?

The numbers above actually speak to an important and exciting shift in how people get their news. We are in the middle of the transition from paper to desktop to mobile.  The transition from paper to desktop has already happened, and we are in the middle of the second step right now.  Fluent News is helping to define that transition. Specifically, Fluent News is the first and only iPhone application to aggregate exclusively made-for-mobile content from the most trusted news sources across the Web into a single, easy-to-read and up-to-the-minute mobile newspaper.

What do you think about the future of newspapers? Of media organizations? Of media?

It is both an exciting and scary time for the newspapers and media organizations.  People are increasingly expecting ubiquitous access to all information, and the dynamic nature of news creates significant such demand in the news industry specifically.  However, this does not mean that people do not care about the quality of the content that they read.  There will always be a place for high quality, professionally sourced and verified content.  As long as media organizations can keep pace with the changes in how news is  delivered, there will be a central role for them.   We think of Fluent Mobile as a partner to the media organizations as they navigate this challenge in response to people’s changing demands and needs for a better mobile experience.

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Fluent News is made by Fluent Mobile and the Fluent’s founder and CEO, Michael Adler,  says it “is the first iPhone and iPod Touch application to aggregate exclusively made-for-mobile content from the most trusted news sources across the Web into a single, easy-to-read and up-to-the-minute mobile newspaper.”

Fluent News can also be accessed through other mobile devices at http://www.fluentnews.com. The iPhone app fetches information from multiple news sources, but here are some of the interesting features: article sharing (through Facebook, Twitter and e-mail), offline access, ability to compare coverage by multiple sources for the same story.

The Fluent News app is available free and click here to visit the app in Apple’s App Store. Click here to see a demo video on YouTube.

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