So as long as we’re revolutionizing the whole phone thing, here’s a suggestion from out in left field. I frequently switch back and forth from ring to silent; I often wear an iPod as I walk, I prefer to have my phone vibrate when it’s in my pocket. But when I’m at home, I usually leave it on a desk, where ringing would be more noticeable. And sometimes I forget to switch to the right mode—hey, I’m only an incredibly advanced cyborg like everybody else.
Wouldn’t it be great if the iPhone was smart enough to realize when it was in my pocket and when it was on the desk? I used to wish for this feature in my old phone, but it occurs to me that the iPhone has something my old phone lacked: three spiffy sensors that measure ambient light, proximity, and orientation. Surely there must be some way of using all that information to have it figure out where it is: measure the light for inside a pocket, for example? Or the orientation vertically as opposed to horizontally? I imagine some combination of the three would be most efficient.
I don’t think this feature should be mandatory; maybe just have a switch in the Settings that lets you turn on “Location-based ring modes” or some such (I’m sure Apple can come up with something catchier). It may be a little detail, but that’s just the kind of elegance that Apple does best.
If such a feature exists in a future version or software update, it will probably use the hidden 4th sensor: the dock connector. And when AT&T realizes that they sell VOIP service and that business phones are often a glorified form of VOIP, then dock sensing could allow automatic changeover between a desktop phone and the iPhone. I dare to dream...
This is the sort of thing I would not expect from Apple because it is highly individualized. How often do you change your desktop appearance?
Great idea, but one more thing that has to be fiddled with when swtiching user modes. I know, it's intended to =prevent= that, but here's the fly in the ointment:
Yesterday evening I took my iPhone for a brisk ride in my Audi A3. The phone was mounted in the Belkin iPod holder I use and was connected through my DICE stereo interface. As I turned onto a highway ramp and accelerated (this car corners great!) I noticed that the cover flow view switched from portrait to landscape.
That makes the iPhone an amateur version of the sophisticated g-force meters car mags use to test cornering grip! It also would change the ring behavior in your scenario [grin].
-dan