[sjs]

So true. I still like my iPhone (jailbroken, sbsettings ftw) but I complained about this exact same thing long ago around 2003 when I had one of those badass HTC phone-PDAs[1] with Windows CE. Quick 1-2 tap access to that stuff is a must for me, and some of my less geeky friends. It's a pretty glaring omission to an otherwise excellent OS.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Blue_Angel

I don't have good ideas about where that UI might be though. Sliding across the status bar like sbsettings? Another pane like the new music controls? On the search page? There's got to be an elegant way to do it.