Friday Poll: MMS is iPhone-bound; now what?

CNET News Poll

Imagining the iPhone
Now that MMS is coming, what should the iPhone get next?

Four-way video conferencing
Visual e-mail
Native iChat-like app for AIM, Gchat, etc.
Digital witching rod
Text-to-speech, rendered in John Hodgman's voice
5.1 Surround Sound

View results

And next up is...

(Credit: CNET)

We gave a lot of ink (pixels?) on Thursday to AT&T's announcement that MMS would finally be coming to the iPhone after two and a half years. Some people are upset that AT&T didn't meet its "end of the summer" promise for the feature; others are just glad to have an actual target date, September 25.

MMS has always been seen as a missing piece in AT&T's offerings to iPhoners, but now that it's almost here, we have to wonder what's coming to the phone next. Vote in our poll, and if we missed anything, let us know in the comments section below.

[zooachtiv]

Seriously - who care about MMS? When the iPhone was first introduced i thought 'this sucks, no MMS'.

Email is a more elegant solution to MMS. Add to that everyone i know has an iPhone. In fact, last night at dinner (happy birthday mom.. again) EVERY table on the way out the door had someone with either an iPhone or iPod touch. Simply amazing!

[rjmjr72]

I care about MMS...the average user doesnt use email to send pics to a phone or even know how..MMS is still the easiest way to send a pic to another phone expecially a non smart phone...my 85 year old grandmother can get my pics once again after this update...MMS to some is viewed as outdated and unfortunit it will never prob go away due to its ease of delivering a pic or clip to another phone with out fiddling with learning a phones email address or logging into a email account from a phone..

[FS1982!]

Totally agree Zoo email is the way to go. Can't manage MMS as easily as email either. I'm looking forward to any news on tethering but have a feeling the price will deter me from jumping on board.

[jaguar717]

I too don't understand all the whining about MMS. But I also haven't accepted that awful idea that you can have an entire conversation in text messages that the rest of our generation seems to have.

A text is a post-it to me, and I've received probably a half dozen MMSs in the last two years. If I'm snapping a crappy cell phone picture, it's of a car part or electronic gizmo I want to reference, so I just email it to myself. I really don't care to sift through other people's crappy camera phone pictures on my phone--if it's something worth seeing, put them all in an email so I can have them grouped together and look at them on a real screen.

I hope the 4-way video conferencing on that list is one of the joke selections. If not the mac nerds have gotten worse than I thought. I'm all for functional new technology, but for every legitimate use there will be 100 losers gathering their iphone buddies to giggle about how cool it is instead of doing something in real life like real people.

Visual email, which I'm assuming means email that works like email, would be much more useful.

[jonathan_likes_cnet]

wow jaguar, I'm surprised a person like you reads Cnet, or even knows what the internet is. You should really accept that many people embrace new technology rather than judging the ones that do. Text Messaging and MMSing are great ways to communicate and often the ideal solution in certain situations.

Additionally, video conferencing isn't simply for "geeks." There are limitless scenarios that it would be great for, from simply calling and seeing your spouse's face during your lunch breaks or being able to see your daughter who's on a trip in a different state.

It would do you well to drop the judgmental attitude. People like, and find ways to use, technology. Just because you'd rather spend your time thinking "Kids and geeks these days wanting the stupidest things!" doesn't mean they actually are stupid things...just that you're traditional and close minded.

[jaguar717]

I think you'll find with time that there's a big difference between embracing technologies that improve your life and simply embracing technology for the sake of having something new and shiny. The former lets you get more done while simplifying your life, the latter means spending it fiddling with clutter and the latest must-have feature.

Real videoconferencing to hold cross-continent meetings is one thing. 4-way conferencing on a cell phone? Sorry, but viewing stamp-sized videos from other people's cell phone cameras just isn't that high on my priority list. 99% of its use will be as a cute gimmick for people to show their friends, so I'd rather see the resources spent elsewhere.

Like better battery life, a faster radio so the internet isn't laggy, or more processing speed so that apps open instantly.

[hightechfanboy]

The poll is just a dream list, if it took almost 2 years to get mms, imagine how long it will take to get all of that. Yeah the iphone has brougt some nice non-phone features but is taking longer to be a good phone first. But the ipod touch rocks as a media player.

[jakemochas]

until the iphone actually calls, i'll stick with my BB Bold... its ridiculous

[nate0511SrA]

My wife has an iPhone so I am glad they are getting MMS. I am sick of sending out all of the great pictures of my son to my friends phones and not being able to send it to my wife because that phone that I spent so much money on cant view it.

[medavis824]

Guess I am sort of out of it, but MMS really doesn't seem like anything special other than a way for AT&T to get more money out of me. For me regular old e-mail on the iPhone has worked fine.

[rjmjr72]

more money? mms will be included in your data package..

[bosamar]

rjmjr72 - MMS is NOT included in your data package ($30). MMS is a part of the separate Texting package.

200 for $5
1500 for $15
1 phone unlimited for $20
family unlimited for $30

[filipeguerra]

The iPhone needs real "iPhone Killers" so that Apple can feel threatened and hurry bringing more features to the iPhone and getting it a lot better.
Every phone has Bluetooth file transfer capabilities for almost a decade! pictures, music videos, the iPhone should had this feature since the first version.

[antonioj07]

new notification system (current sucks - stupid popups in the middle of the screen)
PIM data/etc on the lockscreen
limited multitasking (aproved apps only)
widgets (example, the weather icon should show current temperature instead of being static - have this on my jb iphone)
some kind of customization for springboard
flash

[TechnoMan475392]

You just described a Palm Pre.

No, really, you did.

[mjlachman]

Missing poll option: native USB Mass Storage support.

[live4speakers]

Use AirSharing. it's slower but works well!

[frozenjello]

I think Apple has a phobia about letting people copy files directly onto iPhone because even Bluetooth file transferring is disabled. Using the iPhone as a USB drive isn't that convenient because most people don't carry the iPhone USB cable with them all the time. Take a look at the Kingston "MRG2+SDC" line of flash cards. They are MicroSDHC cards with a thin (2.64mm) USB adapter, so you can have it in your wallet all the time. 8GB for $22 at NewEgg, free shipping.

[Someone-else]

That won't happen. How can Apple make money when people don't need iTunes?

[blackberryken]

MMS isn't a big deal until someone sends you a pic and you can't get it! I dropped the BB World Edition for that exact reason, no MMS. I think its crazy no MMS.

[J5Chicago]

A camera on the front of the device would be nice for video calls, iChat, Google Talk, AIM, but who are we kidding? Even if the iPhone built that in, it would take AT&Pee over 5 years to load that functionality into their crappy network.

[cwe024]

What exactly is 'visual email?' isn't it already visual? This poll is a joke. witching rod? text-to-speech? how about better speech to text, like vlingo incorporated into SMS and email. Widgets sound good, as does customization. Start adding functionality that's been in the jailbreak community for years now.

Top of my wish list now that MMS is out of the way is real Bluetooth. Transfer contacts between phones and pix between iphones and other phones. Now the iphone only works with audio devices.

[rjmjr72]

theres a blutooth app that allows this in the app store

[darkpoet25]

There is an app called Bump that allows this ********.

[freddflynn]

I agree with a number of things here.

I want REAL Bluetooth. Sure the 3GS has 2DAP Stereo Bluetooth and all that, but i can't even share a photo with another iPhone (because everyone is using a different app), so I definitely can't send it to my best mate's Sony Ericsson, can I? Not to mention, my old IR-enabled Pocket PC could do full photo, document, contact etc sharing, so why can't my 21st Century Bluetooth-equipped iPhone 3GS?

I will also say that there are a number of apps for this very purpose on the App Store, like Bump (for Contacts), Mover (for files), and Bluetooth Photo Share (for Photos), but it's almost impossible for me to want to send stuff to another person with an iPhone, let alone another person with an iPhone and all these apps, and exactly the same as the ones I'VE got, so they can really be a bit pointless.

[gagapapa]

Now what? Now everyone will find something new to complain about. When we want something really badly, we focus only on getting it, and only realize that we no longer desire it after we get it. That is what would happen with MMS. Not to mention it was desired to begin with only because it was missing, not that most people would have used it anyway. MMS and SMS with per message charges are ripoffs. It is like fax and telex [if anyone is old enough to know what that is] respectively in the Internet era.

[midwesthoosier]

Who actually pays MMS or SMS per use charges? I know that most of the people I know have a messaging feature included or added to their plans. If you are paying per use charges then you probably don't use messaging enough to care. As far as MMS, Sprint has had MMS included with standard text or SMS packages for a long time now. Ditch the iPHONE and get your hands on the new HTC HERO when it comes out. Might be buggy at first, but I'm willing to bet it will be a dynamite phone. It's the first Google Android phone for Sprint.

[rjmjr72]

i will use MMS reguarly ..people that want it are the ones that used it on other phones..other MMS is in your data package there will be no more charges

i know the saying "depends on you what you like, personal preference", but objectively speaking, nokia seems to be sort of reclaiming the throne as the king of mobile... not that it'd been losing market share (perhaps 1-2% point), but nokia hasnt been able to catch-up with iphone and blackberry.... but guess what, they have done just that... we know nokia's got great camera with carl-zeiss lense, great mp3 player, stupendous 16-million color screen, now even better video player, much improved touch interface...... and here's the thing much better multi-tasking and nokia messaging - bb like push capability (only better it seems).. oh yeah, the always aspiring design...and coming your way "3D screen"...mms or video call these are standard features other phones have as you all know as well.... so like i said... objectively speaking is there any other phone better ? i'm a sony ericsson fan and i'm sad seeing nokia is making such a ferocious "come-back"....

[rubenrmzz]

Have you heard of Sony Ericsson Xperia X2

[solitare_pax]

Now what?

Now people have to find something _ELSE_ to complain about with the iPhone

Oh look - it lacks a real rotary dial! (but there is probably an app for that....)

[rjmjr72]

else? i have a laundry list of missing features that still havent been addressed..i cross this one off and wait for the rest to be added..

[Sgr76]

Lower bills?

Now that they added a feature that people have been waiting for, They need to lower those plan prices. I think this will create a 1 2 punch that will bring in a nice amount of customers.

If they wait until the iphone is no longer exclusive and then try to lower the plan prices to keep customers, people are going to turn their back on em.

Great idea. AT&T can't even handle the increased data strain they currently have due to iPhone customers. Isn't that the excuse they used for no MMS?

[jpalmer2007]

the reason the Iphone is exclusive to at&t is because a large chunk of that $30 data revenue goes directly to apple every month

[rubenrmzz]

I hope that when the iphone is sold through Verizon the cost would get lower.

[dfrisco]

@ jpalmer2007,

You are wrong. Apple gets money from AT&T for the subsidy pricing on the iPhone hardware. AT&T buys a certain amount of iPhones to offer their customers at a subsidy rate in order to get those customers to extend their contracts. The cell and data charges all go to AT&T for using the phone over their network.

The reason they are exclusive is because AT&T and Apple signed a contract together.

How old are you as you don't seem to know how exclusivity works...

[dc_th]

In Canada, Rogers has had MMS on iPhone since 3.0 came along.
It is not without fault and doesn't receive on non-iPhones.
It is a fun way to fill your monthly quota of allowable GBs.

[freddflynn]

I totally understand! Here in Australia, all the carriers have had MMS since the iPhone 3G arrived, pretty much. My (relatively) new iPhone 3GS worked with MMS out of the box!

[midwesthoosier]

Who actually pays MMS or SMS per use charges? I know that most of the people I know have a messaging feature included or added to their plans. If you are paying per use charges then you probably don't use messaging enough to care. As far as MMS, Sprint has had MMS included with standard text or SMS packages for a long time now. Ditch the iPHONE and get your hands on the new HTC HERO when it comes out. Might be buggy at first, but I'm willing to bet it will be a dynamite phone. It's the first Google Android phone for Sprint.

[Sgr76]

Sprint includes unlimited text with any data plan. ATT needs to stop with the nickels and dimes.

[choski76]

apple rules the tech user world of phones now. the 900 pound gorilla does what it wants the way it wants when it wants. there is no competing with apple for " cool" whether its a phone, music player, computer. we are subjects to the throne.

[mobilemavy]

what's interesting is, all of the other ATT phones have it, including Blackberry. They were not seen as a threat to the system. IPHONE required months of prep. What does that tell you?

[x181]

it tells you AT&T is a greedy, dirty company which needs to be broken apart by the government.

[jonathan_likes_cnet]

Tells you that the iPhone is very popular. Unlike other phones, iPhone users are using it's features all the time. Google reported something like 90% of mobile traffic was coming from iPhones quickly after release. AT&T obviously learned from that and realizes iPhone users will MMS more than everyone else combined.

[dieselboyR1]

About time for MMS! Now What about "Tethering"??? Show some luv! And get us on board with 4G.

[TechnoMan475392]

If the iPhone 4G really has 4G, the battery will last all of 10 minutes. Not being snarky, just honest.