What I'm Looking For at the iPhone Announcement

Unless you don't follow the Apple brand very closely, or don't own a smartphone, you are probably aware that Apple is having their iPhone announcement event on Wednesday, the 12th. As with a lot of other pundits for Apple (and against), there is a lot of supposition going into this announcement. Let me outline what I would consider newsworthy:

• LTE: This should go without saying, as it's expected and has been for a long time. Apple will finally release an LTE phone. They have an LTE iPad, so the stretch shouldn't be that big a deal. I think it's safe to say that Apple will have LTE in their next gen iPhone. If they don't, then it will be a huge disappointment.
• Better VIdeo Recording Tech: The 4S had some incredible recording tech with their steady hand recording. I'm looking for much better recording in the new iPhone, and possibly a better camera.
• iPod Touch Refresh: The iPhone dominates the news, but I'm looking for a refresh on the iPod Touch. It's been a huge hit for a long time, but there hasn't been a lot of changes in the past couple of years. Perhaps this year the iPod Touch will get it's big remake... as the iPad Mini?
• Apple TV Grows Up: Wired had an article recently about the 8 apps that the Apple TV needs to win the set top box war. And I agree whole-heartedly on these. Sure, you have Netflix and now Hulu Plus, but given Amazon Instant Video, specific apps for all the big (and small) networks, and add iTunes U (and similar) to the mix, you have one killer device that doesn't have to be connected to your cable provider. I've mentioned before how I think the cable companies could get into the mix. But if they don't, what better way to get around them than work with the independent networks? I like the idea, at least.
• Apple TV Gaming: This is another thing that I've wanted to see for a long time. While I don't expect the Apple TV to take the place of your big workhorse consoles, I think light gaming as seen in the iOS store would be very doable on the Apple TV. It could be very social, using the Apple TV as a central screen for individuals on their iOS devices going head to head. That would be sweet!

So that, at least, is my list of things I would like to see. What am I not expecting to see?

• RFC Payments: Google has been championing RFC technology for a while now with Google Wallet, and trying to get more and more vendors to by into it. Personally, I don't trust it because it's so easy to capture and duplicate RFC signatures, making it less secure. I'm sure Google has ways around protecting your money, but it's still a concern. Apple has already got some great deals going with Square and other payment methods without using RFC, so I don't see them going to it in the near future. Still, I could be wrong, as this is all just supposition. ^_^
• Reasonable Data Rates: Not really a problem that Apple can solve, as this is completely up to the carrier, but I don't see reasonable data rates coming from the new iPhone, and I don't know how it would get fixed.. unless there was only one national carrier that had all the LTE spectrum currently available.. but we all know what happens when you have a monopoly.
• No Snide Comments from Haters: Maybe it's the presidential election, the years of whining from pundits on both sides of the Smartphone environment, or perhaps just hanging around people who are so sure of their opinions without any proof given, but I'm sick to death of haters attacking other haters. Heaven forbid I prefer an iPhone to a Galaxy, and vice versa! *sigh*

<\ul>

So that's my list of what I don't think will happen. Perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps not. We will see. But what about my list of unlikely features that I would really want?

• Waterproofing: Not that this has happened in my family, but some people do accidentally expose their iPhones (and other electronics) to water. There are lots of solutions to this problem, but apparently there is one that is a treatment to the internal surfaces of the components that can make the phone "waterproof". To what degree remains to be seen, but it would be nice to be able to take my iPhone to Sea World without worrying about where to sit, stand, or kneel. I'm sure it would make the iPhone the most valuable phone/camera at that point, and would be a feature very few other phones have.
• Built-in Projector: Forget having to cart around either an Apple TV or special adapters and cables.. why not just project straight from your iPhone or iPad? If this even was available it would most likely end up on the iPad, and would probably be so impractical to the majority of purchasers that it wouldn't make sense.. still, it would be awesome to just pull out your phone and run a full HD-quality presentation without anything else.
• Hand-held Scanner: Also not very practical, particularly since you can just take a photo of the object, but a high quality scan would be awesome. Not sure how it would be applied though...
• Laser Keyboard: It would be so awesome if, some how, a laser keyboard could be built into the iPhone, negating the need for an on-screen keyboard or a Bluetooth keyboard. Practical? I think so. Difficult? Definitely. Cost effective? It would mean fewer keyboard sales..
• Teleportation: Perhaps I've watched Phineas and Ferb with the boys, but a teleportation app that could automatically take you anywhere in the world? Awesome! Vacations would be a breeze, and I'm certain we would be off foreign oil very quickly. Of course, there's the whole quantum physics, computer processing necessary to make such a thing possible, and the facilities necessary to make it happen just don't exist. But if it did, awesome!

Anyway, that's my list. What are you looking forward to come September 12th? What don't you see coming? What would you like to see?