Thicker or Thinner

Yesterday, someone was showing me his new iPhone 3G, perhaps in a slightly futile attempt to make me jealous. He was talking about how it felt in his hand and how he liked that it was thinner. I reminded him that it was thinner “at the edges,” but thicker in the middle. His is still cooler.

But that got me thinking. If Apple designers added the thickness all the way around, what improvements could have been made?

• Battery life – 20% more time using the phone on 3G or GPS would be good. Perhaps Apple wouldn’t advise you to turn off all of its new features in order to get the most out of the battery.
• Camera – an upgraded camera would certainly be appreciated, a little higher resolution and a little better optics would make a huge difference to many people. It still wouldn’t be an SLR, so people will complain anyway.
• Antennas – there are at least four antennas inside the iPhone, so a little extra space would have allowed for slightly larger antennas to improve reception for 3G, WiFi, EDGE, Bluetooth, etc. And better reception helps everything.

What else can you think of that would be a welcome addition?

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