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As CNET reported last week, Apple is not only aware of the battery problems associated with iOS 5, but has already pushed out a second beta of iOS 5.0.1–which promises to fix them.
My take: why stop there? Apple’s already prepping an update, so why not address some of iOS 5’s other quirks, annoyances, and omissions? Here are five I’m secretly hoping will get fixed in 5.0.1:
1. A snooze option for reminders. The new Reminders app? Awesome. Long overdue. Love it. But it’s missing one crucial feature: a snooze option. The only way to make Reminders remind you of something a second time is to manually open the task and update the Remind Me setting. How about one-tap options like “5 minutes,” “half an hour,” and “later” (with a snooze time of my choosing)?
2. A smarter Notification Center. Notification Center may be the single worst-implemented feature in iOS history. How is that you can set an app’s Alert Style to None, and yet still end up seeing notifications? What the heck is Badge App Icon? And why don’t I ever see Twitter notifications, even though all its notification settings are turned on? I’m no novice user, but I find this whole thing confusing as heck.
3. A smarter Newsstand icon. I don’t really use Newsstand on my iPhone. Thus, I’d like to stick it in my Junk folder along with other unwanted built-in apps (cough, Game Center, cough). But for whatever reason, Newsstand can’t be foldered. Should be an easy fix. How about it, Apple? (Oh, also, what if I want my favorite newspaper or magazine to bust out of Newsstand and have its own icon again? Talk about needing a jailbreak.)
4. The “mute” bug. As CNET’s Erick Mack reported yesterday, there appears to be an iPhone 4S bug that mutes outgoing calls. My wife encountered this on her very first call from her new 4S, and it was alarming, to say the least.
5. Lost photos after installing iOS 5. Some users, including my own mother, have reported a totally wiped out Camera Roll following the OS upgrade. That’s inexcusable, IMHO, and iOS 5.0.1 should include whatever fix is necessary to bring these lost photos back. (I’m investigating a DIY fix and will devote a future post to it if it works.)
OK, so I know none of these issues will be tackled in iOS 5.0.1. Apple is no doubt rushing this release out the door to stem the tide of bad iPhone-battery press. But here’s hoping at least some of my requested fixes make it into iOS 5.0.2, 5.1, or whatever.
What would you like Apple to fix in future iOS updates? Air your grievances in the comments.
