Published on
July 1, 2010 in
Apple.
There’s been a whole lot of anger about the reception issues on the new iPhone 4 lately and I can’t help but be reminded of the old joke about the man who goes to see his doctor:
Man: Doctor, it hurt’s when I do this!
Doctor: Well don’t do that then!
Seriously, if holding the phone a certain way does affect performance then I don’t see it being a huge problem to be asked to hold the phone in a slightly different way – and a solution that, frankly, I’d hope most intelligent people could work out for themselves. Others disagree that this is a satisfactory suggestion.
Apple are not the kind of company that releases a product without a lot of thought being put into it (cf. Microsoft Kin). If there was a serious issue then the product would be held back while the situation was fully resolved, as has happened before.
The issue apparently stems from an FCC regulation about the amount of radiation that should be directed at your head.
Next week will all but certainly see the introduction of the fourth generation of Apple’s iPhone. There has been an uncharecteristic spate of leaks that have pointed us towards the upcoming new features of the new product, the main one being a forward-facing camera.
I’m not sure about elsewhere in the world but video calling was the big thing that carriers hoped would justify the massive investments they paid in license fees for the nascent 3G technology a decade ago1. There was just one problem: hardly anybody wanted to make those video calls.
If there is one company that can (and does) change attitudes by implementing things differently – and usually a whole lot better – than everybody else it’s Apple. Maybe the bigger screen will help, maybe the famous Steve Jobs reality distortion field will come into play or maybe iChat integration will be the game changer.
1 As an aside, don’t old BBC News website items look really strange? Every iteration seems to upset users but they’ve all been invariably for the better.
Published on
March 17, 2010 in
Apple.
There’s talk afoot of the next iteration of the iPhone and it’s operating system and multitasking is getting a lot of mentions once again. Frankly, I can’t say that it’s personally something that I’m overly bothered about but maybe that’s because I’ve not experienced what benefit it can offer.
However, two very simple things that are on my wishlist are:
- An icon in the status bar that indicates if the ringer is turned off.
- A feature that I’m sure I had enabled on my Palm Pilot in the 90s: assigning the home button double click action to toggle between the last two used applications.
I didn’t have quite the same reaction as Hitler but yes, I was disappointed. Living up to the amount of hype generated would have been nigh on impossible but I still think Apple have a case to answer to defend against the trade descriptions act: despite what they say, this device is neither magical or revolutionary. The iPhone was magical and revolutionary when it was first demonstrated – unlike anything we’d seen before. This iPad device however . . .
Continue reading ‘The iPad’
I updated my iPhone to the latest software version (v2.2) the other week. Others have been impressed by the Google Street View, directions for walking routes and public transport, location actions (share, add to contact and bookmark) and one button return to your favourite apps but the best thing about this update for me are the podcast related updates.
Yes, that was “updates” – plural. Not only can you download podcasts over wifi but there has also been a subtle change to the listing order: newer ones are at the bottom of the list instead of the list being ordered by date descending. Now this might not make a lot of sense straight away but if you have missed several episodes then you can play them all in order, one after the other.
Unlike others, I am not clamouring for cut and paste. MMS and a fully functional SMS are at the top of my list of missing features.
The new functionality that is included in the version 2.0 software release fixes a couple of the few things that annoyed me with the iPhone. I installed it last night after people with too much time on their hands found the software on Apple’s servers thanks to examining a bunch of XML files. I was in two minds as to whether or not to go ahead or wait for the official release from Apple but I was starting to adjust my body clock and needed something to do. I did have problems and was kicking myself for being impatient but after a few restarts of software and reboots of hardware I managed to restore my iPhone and update the software successfully.
Continue reading ‘iPhone software 2.0′
Is it really though? Those of you who know me well enough would probably be expecting me to rush out and buy the iPhone 3G as soon as I set foot back on British soil. There’s no denying that I’m an Apple fan boy but I’m also not stupid. The next generation of the iPhone doesn’t represent enough of a change over the original version that I already own. Sure it has GPS navigational capabilities but I tend to know where I am most of the time anyway. The obvious upgrade is the 3G bit – it’s obviously a big enough revelation to even be included in the product name instead of it being simply iPhone v2 or something.
I have never found the EDGE (2G) speeds to be all that crippling to be honest. Besides, like most people with an iPhone, I use the wifi connection a lot. I’m usually at home, in the office or within range of a wifi hotspot from The Cloud or the newly announced partnership with BT Openzone.
That’s the new stuff on the hardware front far as I can tell apart from a crappier back to allow the GPS signal to be of any use. No new camera (optic or sensor), speaker, microphone or chipset. There will need to be something pretty awesome to make me upgrade to the next version too – whenever that may come be pass.
This was the best response I heard given yesterday to the question posed by one of the many bemused passers-by that looked at the queue forming for the opening of the first Apple Store in the southern hemisphere with a mixture of derision and pity: “Why are you lining up for a computer shop?”
Continue reading ‘“Because Microsoft just aren’t worth it”’
Recently there was some amount of ill feeling directed toward Apple after they started installing their Safari Internet browser with their iTunes software update. (I also just noticed that “up to date” is no longer hyphenated in OS X 10.5 Leopard Software Update but that’s a discussion for another day.)
While this in itself is bad enough behaviour for any software company, it is not the main annoyance I have with their practices. I like to keep things organised how I like them. Like my “Start Menu” for instance.
Every single frickin’ time that I update iTunes (and Quicktime) Apple deems it acceptable for them to place a couple of shortcuts in my Start Menu, Quick Launch area and on my Desktop which I then have to delete.
When the University of California at Irvine built their campus, they just planted grass. Then they waited a year and paved over where people had made paths in the grass. I first heard this in an interview with Larry Wall about 10 years ago but it may well be apocryphal.
I’m seeing parallels with what could be going on with Apple’s iPhone development plans. Release a basic device and wait for the crowds to clamour for what they feel is missing from the device. Pay attention to those that shout the loudest (case in point: the recent enterprise features) but make sure that you set some of the most popular requests to one side for introduction in the release of your second generation model.
Compare and contrast to the usual practice of bundling a metric ass-load of rarely-used crapware that serves mainly to clog up the menus on other phones. Video editing and ringtone composition on a mobile phone have been nothing more than gimmicks.
