While the release of the next Apple iPhone model may not be until June/July 2010, there are already many rumors abound talking about possible leaks of specifications and the like. We would like to run down our list of features that we'd like to see on the next iPhone model, all of which we hope will make the iPhone even better than it already is today and improve on some of its shortcomings.

There are many different things that one might want to wish was a feature on the iPhone, like a built-in projector, but things like that are simply not practical for the everyday consumer yet. However, features like an OLED screen and a camera with a flash are features that are already desired and would propel the iPhone further ahead.

Better Camera & Flash

Currently, the iPhone 3GS (the latest model) features as 3 megapixel digital camera, which is lacking behind other iPhone competitors out there. One such phone is the Motorola Droid, which features a 5 megapixel digital camera. The Droid also has an LED flash built-in, which really aids in taking pictures and video in darker settings. Look for yourself at a photo set on Flickr showing a comparison of several pictures taken with both the iPhone 3GS and Droid side-by-side. While not all of the photos taken by the Droid are better than the iPhone, many more are and particularly pictures taken in dark settings are like night and day, literally.

If the iPhone 2010 (which is what we will call it in this article) would have a 5 megapixel camera, or even better, it would squash the debate over other phones having a better camera than the iPhone for good. It would be a win-win situation for Apple and allow them to regain more ground. Including a flash would again be crucial, because without some external source of light, albeit small, would provide enormous gain in quality for dark shooting conditions.

OLED Screen

Currently, the iPhone 3GS's screen features a resolution of 480x320 pixels at 163ppi. It's also a conventional LCD display, while some newer phones, like the newly announced Nexus One by Google, has an OLED display, which provides a slightly better picture while using less battery power.

The rumors that have been circulating recently do list an OLED screen as being included on the iPhone 2010 model, so maybe our wishes are being granted as we speak.

Dual-Core Processing Power

While the iPhone 3GS did dramatically boost performance over the iPod Touch and iPhone 3G by including a 600MHz CPU, we still feel like we want more computing power. Some talk about the upcoming 2010 model is that it will include an ARM9 dual-core CPU running at 2GHz. Now this is total speculation, but we think that 2GHz is still way too fast for this year's model. Perhaps bumping up the CPU in the new model to 1GHz and maybe making it dual-core would give us the speed we want from a mobile device. Doing this would definitely put the iPhone ahead of any other smart phones out there in terms of computing power and it would most definitely boost performance.

This speed boost could also pave the way for multi-tasking on the iPhone, which would allow you to have multiple applications running at the same time, which is currently not allowed on the iPhone 3GS.

Removable Battery

This has been on the iPhone wishlist since the release of the first iPhone model a few years ago and Apple has yet to listen. While this would require a complete redesign of the iPhone's internal & external design (which wouldn't be horrible either), we believe there are many consumers out there that would benefit from this. Just a comparison: how many other smartphones out there do not have a removable battery? None.

Some may not see this as a necessary, but the more avid users and business users I know would appreciate the ability to swap out a battery mid-day. Business people can easily run through the 5 hour rated talk time in a day and be left without the juice to get them through the day. For comparison, the Motorola Droid has a rated talk time of 6.4 hours. People who use their iPhone for gaming also probably share this wish as frequent gaming on the iPhone 3GS can run down a battery in no time.

While we must give credit to Apple for vastly improving battery life with the 3GS, there is still more to do in this category.

Adobe Flash Support

How many times have you been unable to view a Website or a video online because the iPhone doesn't support Adobe Flash? It has happened to me many times and it's more than frustrating. Adobe has admitted that they are willing to support Flash on the iPhone, but Apple isn't allowing it. So this one is all Apple and I hope they make it right with the upcoming iPhone 4.0 software (more on this later).

Some Other Features, Rumors and Speculation

There are many other features that we've heard request and rumored recently. One of these is a front-facing camera for video chatting. While a neat idea at first, after a lot of thinking, I don't think this is needed at all. Now this just be myself, personally, but I can't think of a time that I could've used a front-facing camera for a live video chat. It may be a nice feature in thought, but it's more of a novelty if you ask me.

Another huge wish from consumers in the United States is an iPhone for Verizon Wireless, which is again another desire that I don't see happening in the near future. The present and past iPhone's have been GSM only and sold exclusively through AT&T in the U.S. GSM is the more evolutionary of two cellular technologies and is used throughout the world from the vast majority of cellular providers. CDMA, the technology used by Verizon (and mostly only here in the U.S.) is somewhat limited in use. For instance, you cannot talk on the phone and receive/send data simultaneously on CDMA, which means, unlike GSM (and AT&T), you cannot be on the phone and surf the Web. Unlike the above video chatting, I have done this frequently and would feel confined if I couldn't do it.

Also, in recent testing in several major U.S. cities, AT&T's 3G HSPA high-speed network was much faster than Verizon's high-speed network (and all others) in all cities tested, sometimes by 200% when it came to upload speeds. In download speed testing, AT&T beat out Verizon in 7 out of 12 cities and Verizon beat AT&T in 5 out of 12. AT&T beat Verizon by a fairly large margin in the major cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. AT&T's national average was also slightly faster than Verizon's national average. In my own use in the Detroit and Metropolitan Detroit area, AT&T's data network is extremely reliable and is very fast too, much faster than competing networks.

Verizon's upcoming LTE 4G network is in the works and will include GSM technology, which will make it more appealing to Apple and consumers as well. However, LTE 4G won't be available mainstream for 2-3 years and it wouldn't make sense for Apple to design an iPhone for Verizon's current CDMA network and then redesign it again for their future LTE 4G network. In my opinion, you won't see a Verizon iPhone model in 2010, but maybe in 2011 or 2012.

Recently talked about is wireless syncing, which would allow you to wirelessly sync your iPod Touch & iPhone with your computer's iTunes software through your home's wireless network. This has already been implemented on a few other devices out there and would definitely be a nice thing to have on the iPhone 2010.

Sometime that I would like to have is a built-in high-definition FM radio that I can listen to as an alternative to music on the device. The Zune HD, which came out this past year, has an HD FM radio built-in and is one of the selling points that Microsoft is using to get people to buy it over an iPod Touch. It was also recently discovered that both the latest iPhone and iPod Touch models do have an FM receiver built-in as part of the Bluetooth & Wi-Fi chipset, but it isn't enabled or accessible by any software.

iPhone 4.0 OS

The iPhone OS encompasses both the iPhone and iPod Touch as being the software that powers these two devices. Currently, the iPhone OS is at version 3.1.2 and when OS 3.0 was released, it enabled copy-and-paste and a further update allowed for MMS messaging as well. It has been speculated that version 4 of the iPhone OS software will be available when the much-awaited Apple Tablet is announced in late January 2010. It can be reasoned that the new tablet will be powered by the iPhone software as opposed to a full-copy of Mac OS X for simplicity sake and lightweight specs.

It would be nice if the iPhone 4.0 software also improved some things for the iPhone as well, like improving the unlock screen by showing more stats instead of just basic barebones information about missed texts or calls. Perhaps the ability to change the app icon background instead of just having the color black.

Whatever the truth may be, Apple will definitely have a few tricks up its sleeves when they announce the new iPhone 2010 model and iPhone 4.0 software. Whether they announce the new model on January 27th, the day of WWDC 2010, or in June when they usually do, we hope it will have some of these features expressed above.

What do want the next model of the Apple iPhone to have? Tell us your own wishlist and what you say about ours in the comments section on this page.