As we sit here looking down the gullet of what is widely believed to be the pending announcement of the new 3G iPhone I have a few hopes for the device and AT&T. I’ve used my iPhone for a long time now and have become used to its pros and the quirks of the design.

The first thing I hope the new iPhone brings (thought admittedly it probably won’t) is an updated on-screen keyboard. Everyone that picks my phone up always says the same thing-- the keyboard sucks. My reply is always, meh, you get used to it. I found over time that I need to press a bit above and to the right of where I actually think the letters are for best accuracy so wish number one is a better and more accurate onscreen keyboard. The keyboard is the single weakest link in the current iPhone. Also I wish the keyboard would rotate for landscape use, every little bit of extra space would help.

Wish number two for me isn’t GPS, I just don’t use it that much, nor is it 3G, those of us in rural areas can’t even get 3G yet. Rather my second wish is something I simply couldn’t believe was left out of the original iPhone to begin with—voice activated dialing. My old Razr was easier to dial while driving than the iPhone. I could simply hold down number 2 and call my wife. With the iPhone I have to open the phone, find the name in favorites and press the name all the while trying to avoid farmer Dan and his monthly trip to the big city. It would be great to have voice activated dialing on the new iPhone.

My third wish for the new iPhone really has to do with AT&T. We have all heard the rumors that European providers are going to be offering all sorts of incentives to get current iPhone users to upgrade. I won’t be so naive as to believe AT&T will offer current iPhone users a free upgrade to the new phone like rumors say some European providers will. However AT&T, it would be grand if you don’t hassle me about upgrading my device and if you would even allow current iPhone users to get the rumored handset discounts on upgrade that would be great. I’d even opt for a longer contract to get the discount personally. I suspect AT&T won’t do this and will simply tell current iPhone users to pay full price. Still, we can dream.