iPhone 5: What we want to see

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Rumours of an impending Apple release are beginning to circulate once again, as tech-heads begin to whisper about a possible iPhone 5 release this summer.

iPhone 4 has barely had chance to gather even a spec of dust, so the coming of an inevitable sequel will be bitter-sweet for many. But as long as Apple keep making shiny flat products, we'll apparently keep buying them.

Now seems like as good a time as any to put forward a few of the features we want to see in Apple's next market dominating marvel. Some of them are more likely than others, all would increase our mobile gaming experience at least just a little bit.

Feel free to have a natter in the comments section below and discuss what you'd like to see in the iPhone 5 or, if you've already boycotted Apple products, what it'd take to change your mind.

IPHONE 3DS
From what we've seen from the Nintendo 3DS so far we're pretty convinced with this glasses-free 3D wizardry.

We don't know how well 3D would work on a device that requires you to rub your mucky fingers all over the screen but the ability to play something as good looking as Infinity Blade in full 3D on the bus would be a bit special.

We also like the idea of a 3D Angry Birds - still a side-on catapult game but adapted so that bits fly in all directions when you hit your target, taking full advantage of the added depth.

For us, while 3D doesn't improve graphics directly, it does make everything look more solid, rich and real. Adding it to Apple's already incredibly crisp HD Retina Display would make for some very nice visuals. Unlikely, but we can dream.

SHOW OFF
As games on the iPhone are getting more and more advanced, it won't be too long before they're deep enough for us to want to show off. There's not a whole load of app games out there at the moment offering the opportunity to show off skills that have a visual impact. You might be the duke of Drop7 but no-one wants to watch a video of you puzzle pwning.

Once we get to the point where we're playing higher-end FPS multiplayer games over iPhone (that's the dream), then we're going to need the means to construct killstreak show-reels.

The iPhone's already well connected to Youtube and taking still shots of what's on screen is already a feature Apple has provided, video seems like the next logical step.

ANOTHER G
Of course if we're going to be playing more demanding games, competing online and doing it all from a park bench then we're going to need all the Gs we can get. 3G won't cut it

The next step is the still only narrowly available 4G network, which in theory should be much faster. This would mean stable, quick connections outside of Wi-Fi hotspots so that you get a great online experience wherever you go.

There is one problem though: Like we said 4G is still only available in a few places and none of them include the words Britain in them. There are differing forecasts about when our humble island will become a part of the 4G experience but we definitely want to be able to utilise it when it does arrive.

Another potential spanner in the works could be the costs. Unless you've got an iPhone package with unlimited mobile data use, you probably use your 3G connection pretty sparingly. Playing games over a network that charges according to data use could make for some eye-watering bills if networks used pricing plans similar to 3G.

Perhaps we're just suckers for the latest, fastest tech but we'd still like to have the power of 4G as part of our general smart phone experience.

SUPER-SENSES
The iPhone 4 has a good handful of sensors so that it can pick-up on every little tilt, twist and turn you do. Thanks to gizmos like an accelerometer and gyroscope built into the current iPhone we're able to play FPS games using movement of the phone itself as an aiming mechanism. You look stupid in public when you're trying to shoot something high-up, granted, but it's pretty neat.

Combining the above sensors with a built-in compass allows us to actually drag the real world into gaming. Fable 3 Kingmaker is an example of a simple way of doing just that. Add the always nerdgasm inducing possibilities of Augmeneted Reality to a game and you've got something truly sci-fi.

More sensors would mean more potential gaming applications. Why not throw as much as we can get in there? Thermometers, heart-rate monitors, pressure sensors, whatever it's monitoring there are plenty of imaginative developers who will be able to come up with a creative use for it in a game.

The day we get a game that can actually sense when we're near ice-cream is the day we'll suggest that mankind has reached its full potential.

BIG SCREEN OPTIONS
We know, we know; as far as gaming is concerned the iPhone is supposed to be all about little bits of gaming on the move but, like we've already said, the iPhone's ability as a gaming device is growing fast and it may not be long before we're having much bigger, deeper experiences.

When you are sitting around at home then, you could come to find that your phone becomes your platform of choice every now and then and you might want to play your now massive awe-inspiring app games on a bigger screen.

With some sort of HDMI connection option (wireless would be our preference of course) we could do just that, using the phone itself as a controller. More options, more ways to play, is something we'll always press for.

Tom Pakinkis