-a front facing camera wasnt concieved until the iphone 4
I know you've already admitted to this being a mistake, but let me also point out that the iPhone 4 came out in June of last year, the DX came out in July.
I too think the DX should have come out with a ffc even though I may never have used it. I think it should have because the DX was considered by many to be Verizons 'Flagship' device of 2010. And if you ask me, a flagship device should have every available option encorporated into it so that it is as future proof as possible.
Which means the DX should have had a ffc, a 1.2 mhz processor, and a higher resolution screen. I didn't miss any of those things personally, but in order to be a true flagship, it really should have had all those things. So in keeping with this logic, the Samsung Charge does not qualify for this years 'Flagship' device either... being single core automatically takes it out of the running.
But when you look around it's hard to really find any one single device that has ALL of the newest tech packed into it. And I think the reason it's hard to find that device is because the most it seems people are willing to pay for their subsidized phone is between $200 and $250 bucks. So when each OEM has multiple devices out on each carrier, it really wouldn't benefit them to pack one of them with every option out there, because if they aren't going to be able to charge more money for it than their other devices that don't have every available option, what's the point?
For instance, Motorola is coming out with the Bionic (maybe) and the Droid X2. If the Bionic and Droid X2 both come out with all the available hardware to date on them, then what sets one apart from the other? And if they pack everything into the Bionic and leave dual core and the ffc and LTE off of the DX2, then not many people are going to opt for it over the Bionic when they're going to cost the same thing anyway.
So it seems to me what they do is give each device it's own mixture of the tech that people want in a device so that each one has something attractive to the consumer. And so that no one device completely overshadows another one. I don't know that this is the best approach though, because when the iPhone 5 drops, it will encorporate every new tech Apple can squeeze into it, we already know that.
Apple's approach of dropping one device per year means that they don't hold anything out of their phones (except flash), they put in everything they can. So if the i5 is a dual or quad core, with LTE, ffc, 8+ mgp 3D camera, 1080p video recorder, 3D screen and everything else, it's going to be a really enticing device compared to most Android devices which seem to include this or that tech, but not all of them.
But the thing Apple can't offer is different screen sizes, physical keyboard, and I really don't think they're going to include 3D capability... I'd be surprised if they do.
Sorry, not trying to make this another Android vs Apple thread at all. Just giving my opinion on how the two camps seem to differ in their philosophies.