iPhone 5: Top 10 Most Wanted Features

Apple fans are eagerly awaiting for Apple's next-gen iPhone, which may be either called as iPhone 4S or iPhone 5.

Over the last few months several iPhone 5 features were discussed by tech websites and in the blogosphere. Some rumors were supported by image leaks, sources from manufacturing partners while other features were thought based on what competitors offer.

Whatever may be the name, people's craze for the device has never come down and expectations soar with each version.

Cupertino, California-based Apple too knows this and is expected to incorporate some breath-taking features to make its iPhone 4 successor standout from the competition-mainly Android devices.

With the announcement of iCloud, revamped iOS, new features and thousands of apps could really make iPhone 5 worth to watch.

Here are the top 10 features in the wish list that could really make iPhone 5 a real game changer in its space and tougher for Android devices to compete with.

Worldphone:

Apple should release iPhone 5 a 'worldphone' - both GSM and CDMA compatible. It is conjectured that the phone will have a SIM-less design with 3-4 antennas.

Another rumor suggested that the iPhone 5 will feature a SIM card slot for other countries except US. This will allow users to insert any SIM card in iPhone when traveling abroad.

Better Camera:

Apple has really improved the camera department on its iPhone 4 by fitting a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash.

It would do a world of good if Apple's iPhone 5 sports an 8 megapixel camera. It has been reported that OmniVision has received an order from Apple for the supply of 8 MP camera sensors. DigiTimes has reported that OmniVision will supply about 90 percent of image sensors for the Apple iPhone 5.

A5 Chip

There is also near unanimity in gadget circles that Apple will bring its A5 chip on to the iPhone 5. The A5 processor is the same chip that Apple rolled out to power its iPad 2.

The A5 contains a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU and a dual-core PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. Apple lists the A5 to be clocked at 1 GHz on the iPad 2's technical specifications page, though it can dynamically adjust its frequency to save battery life.

Apple claims that the CPU is twice as powerful and the GPU up to nine times as powerful as its predecessor, the Apple A4. The A5 package contains 512 MB of low-power DDR2 RAM clocked at 1066 MHz.

Better Battery Backup

There are expectations that the upcoming iPhone should improve on its battery metrics to handle its sophisticated features.

iPhone 4 offers talktime of up to 7 hours on 3G; up to 14 hours on 2G (GSM model only) and standby time of up to 300 hours.

On internet usage, the device offers up to 6 hours on 3G and up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi.

4G Compatibility

iPhone 5 should be compatible with 4G. May be Apple waiting for major carriers to deploy their 4G network fully in all areas. AT&T reportedly have a 4G network up and running in 2011, whereas Sprint has already rolled out its next-gen network. Verizon has also deployed its 4G network.

Better Display

Rumors are abuzz that Apple may increase its screen size to compete with Android smartphones, probably going for a 4-inch screen. iPhone 4 has a 3.5-inch screen.

However, Apple should not compromise on the weight of the phone or its battery life.

More Carriers

Apple should release iPhone to more carriers in the U.S.

When iPhone 4 was launched at AT&T, it faced several complaints of dropped calls and network outage, especially in New York and San Francisco. However, when Verizon began carrying iPhone, there are not many issues with the network.

If both AT&T and Verizon simultaneously, there are possibilities that It's also possible that the migration of some AT&T iPhone customers to Verizon will free some of the AT&T's network.

There were also reports that the next iPhone may also come to Sprint.

Flash Support

We don't know, whether this will happen or not. If, Apple supports Adobe Flash in its devices, it would be a great marketing advantage for iPhone. Steve Jobs has often accused Flash of draining battery life and crashing of Apple devices.

As a result, Apple has been supporting HTML5, which is designed to make it easy to include and handle multimedia and graphical content on the web without having to resort to proprietary plugins and APIs.

More Memory

Apple could boost the memory size of iPhone 5 to 64 GB, similar to iPad 2. Currently, iPhone 4 comes with storage capacity of 16GB and 32GB

Also, Apple may put in a memory card slot for users who need additional memory.

NFC Support

Last but not the least, Apple should fit a near-field communication (NFC) chip in iPhone 5. Near field communication, or NFC, allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and connections with a touch. A smartphone or tablet with an NFC chip could make a credit card payment or serve as keycard or ID card.

NFC devices can read NFC tags on a museum or retail display to get more information or an audio or video presentation. NFC can share a contact, photo, song, application, or video or pair Bluetooth devices.