I know some form of chunky undo (as opposed to the current char-by-char undo) is on the to-do list (yaay) and and I had a thought about it:
Might it makes sense to offer both, in an attempt to get the best of both worlds? For instance one could type cmd-Z to get chunky undo, then cmd-option-Z to get char-by-char. Basically this lets one make big jumps to get to approximately the right spot, then inch along to get to the precise spot.
An undo history could be even faster to navigate, but that sounds like a much more complicated programming problem. I've seen a history in at least one CAD program, but never a text editor.
-- Russell