Top 5 features we want to see in iPhone OS 4.0

Apple is set to reveal the latest iPhone operating system to the world tomorrow. But what's an impending press conference without a little soothsaying, a handful of predictions, and a few greedy requests?

There's no denying that despite being close to celebrating its third birthday the iPhone still feels like a space communications device from the future, but that's not to say other devices aren't catching up. The Android Operating System is giving Apple a run for its money and Windows Phone 7 is looking pretty dapper ahead of its winter release.

So what can Steve Jobs pull out of his turtle-necked sleeve to spruce up the iPhone and convince us that we shouldn't ditch the iDevice in favour of greener pastures?

Here are our gluttonous feature requests for the iPhone's 4.0 operating system.

Okay, this is the big kahuna. We all know that sinking feeling you get when you're checking your RSS feeds and the iPhone makes that familiar little bling noise. It's a new email, and there's no way to check it without ditching your favourite RSS reader and loading up the mail app.

It might be good for your system memory, it won't drain your battery so fast and it doesn't confuse iPhone using grannies, but your productivity is hit everytime you're forced to close an app. Wouldn't it be easier to just switch windows?

A jailbroken iPhone can do this (that's a statement you might hear a few more times in this article), without destroying your iPhone's memory or ruining the sleek interface. Simply tap the home button twice to fly between your open apps. Plus, currently running programs have a neat icon on the homescreen.

Likelihood of implementation: If the rumours hold true it will be the star of the show, complete with a Mac OSX Expose-style interface.

You can put a link to your favourite website on your iPhone's home screen to save you loading up Safari and navigating through your bookmarks.

So why not put a friend or family member from your contacts menu onto the dashboard? If you're at the beck and call of your wife, you like pestering your children, or you just want to leave tearful messages on your ex boyfriend's voicemail all day long, it would be nice to slap their face on the home screen.

Tapping their big grinning mug could pop open a context menu, allowing you to email them, phone them or send them a text message.

Likelihood of implementation: It's another rumoured feature, which certainly bumps it up on the probability scale.

After looking at the iPad, with its beautiful high resolution photography sitting behind all your apps, going back to the iPhone is a little grim. The big black void of a desktop might be a cool wallpaper for goths and emos, but some of us prefer a little colour in our life.

How about the ability to spruce up our three year-old home screen with a photo or at least a new colour, hey Apple? All the cool jailbroken kids are doing it, and their Optimus Prime home screen is making us totally jealous.

Likelihood of implementation: With the iPad looking so spiffy with its photographic backdrops, at least Apple isn't above a little customisation.

Okay, maybe I'm in the minority here, but I never use the search screen on the iPhone. It hangs off the end of the home screen like an unsightly wart and, unless you've crammed your device with every app on iTunes, what are you even searching for?

Imagine being able to flick over to see the weather, check your Facebook wall, or post to Twitter. A little extra functionality would go a long way, especially if Apple stubbornly avoids multitasking.

Likelihood of implementation: Despite loading Mac OSX up with little tools and widgets, Apple seems to be against them in the portable space. Chances are, you're going to be stuck to using every app in a self contained experience.

The iPhone isn't the best way to read books, we'll give you that, but why limit portable reading to the iPad?

As much as almost everyone on the Pocket Gamer team is fawning over the beautiful glossy tablet, its 10-inch frame isn't going to win any portability competitions when the iPhone's taking part.

It'd just be nice to be able to take your book collection with you, no matter what device you're on. You could even save bookmarks in the cloud, and download your current pages to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, if you need to swap devices.

Likelihood of implementation: With apps like Kindle, Stanza and Classics already on the iPhone, there's got to be someone out there who likes reading on a three and a half inch display. 'When there's money, there's a way' - I believe that's the secret Apple slogan.

There's still more, of course. We'd quite like to dump our apps into folders and a operating system-wide spell checker would make life a whole lot easier. A unified inbox would save time, too, as would pop-up push notifications that give you the sender and subject line when you receive an email.

We'll see exactly what Apple is cramming into iPhone 4.0, tomorrow.