iPhone 5 wish-list

At 10 a.m. Pacific Time tomorrow, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook will host a meeting where some sort of new iPhone will be announced. The rumor mill has been churning out of control. Maybe the announcement will focus on an entirely new generation: The iPhone 5. Maybe it will simply mark a slight evolutionary shift forward: the iPhone 4S. Maybe Apple will bravely introduce a fully-interfaced mouth-to-rump machine that’s part human, part centipede, part Web browser, and part emailing device. Regardless, by tomorrow afternoon, we’ll all be disposing of our useless old iPhones and waiting in line for the new model. In the short time that we have left with the iPhone 4, though, let’s have a blue-sky chat: What do you most want to see out of the new iPhone model? Here’s our top five wishlist items — tell us your personal preferences in the comments!

1. Voice Recognition: Something of a Holy Grail for the tech industry. It’s famously difficult to create a system whereby a computer can register a human voice and follow directions without being incredibly slow and annoying. (Fellow Kinect users, can I get an Amen? “XBox, turn on! XBox! XBox!“) It would be a real game changer for the smartphone market if Apple has actually come up with a workable Voice Recog system. One possible hint: The official invitation for tomorrow’s event was, “Let’s Talk iPhone.” If the rumors are true, then using your iPhone just got much easier, and the entire world just got vastly more annoying.

2. An Improved Camera: The iPhone’s camera system has improved with every new generation, but it still feels a little bit like a cherry-on-top accessory. Remember: One of the big reasons why Facebook evolved so quickly was the website’s photo system (which was apparently created by a couple of overworked, underpaid dudes who are hopefully millionaires now.)

3. 4G, Whatever That Is: Last year, the International Telecommunication Union took the curious step of announcing that essentially everything on the market that claimed to run on 4G networks were actually not 4G. So what is 4G, anyways? Well, it’s the next generation of wireless networks: Like 3G, but harder, better, faster, etc. Here’s what we do know: If Apple claims that their new device runs on 4G, it’ll be the very definition of “Better Than The Other Guys.”

4. The Possibility That This iPhone Could Actually Still Function Properly for Longer Than One Year: Unfortunately, this is impossible according to the rules of the modern American marketplace.

5. Better Battery Life: Especially considering all the different things you can do with your iPhone — play games, watch high-quality digital video — it’s pretty striking to consider that we’ve all gotten used to the notion of having to constantly recharge the phone, especially once you’ve owned it for longer than two weeks. (See #4.) Better battery life, or even the step-back-to-step-forward possibility of a removable battery, could really help set the next iPhone apart.

Apple fans, what’s on your wishlist? Apple haters, are you excited to smugly rub your Droid phones in your Apple-loving friends’ fat faces?

Follow Darren on Twitter: @EWDarrenFranich

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