Apple iPhone iOS5 beta

Author: Striker

Jul 23

A while ago, I decided I would beta test iOS5. It’s been an interesting ride, so far.

 

Beta 1:

Pretty-much exactly what I expected. A basic preview of what’s to be expected in iOS5, rife with bugs and program crashes.

The view in to location based reminders was awesome, pity it didn’t work yet. I set about 8 location based reminders, I think one of them worked, the third time I got to the place.

Notifications quickly became my new favourite feature. Having them stack up on the lock screen is very handy.

 

Beta 2:

Again, exactly what I expected. Bug fixes, increased stability, still lots of bugs.

Reminders started working a lot more often, at least 50% of the time now.

More polish on the notifications. Now as it comes in, it lights up the screen, and shows only the current notification. Pressing the home button shows you all those you have missed.

 

Beta 3:

I don’t know about anyone else’s experience, but after a chat with WauloK I discovered that I wasn’t alone in my hatred of this release. Everything seemed to become so unstable. Programs that used to run now won’t. Facebook app keeps telling me there’s no internet connection. Twitter app crashes every time I try to look at my profile, or at other random intervals.

The one feature I was not aware had been activated was software update.

I’d become so accustomed to having to back up, synchronize, then smash my head against the keyboard repeatedly while I mess around downloading the new beta, installing it, rebooting, losing all my app placements, replacing them, re-synchronising, ARGH!

Software update wouldn’t work on 3g, I’m not sure why. WauloK reported that his worked fine. When I got home I rebooted the phone, and went in to software update. It was already downloading the new update, and the install went flawlessly.

 

Beta 4:

So, is it more stable? Barely.

IPB still won’t let me in to the settings.

Facebook is still less stable than Charlie Sheen on a good day.

Twitter is the only win so far. While I haven’t yet had the chance to use it for any amount of time, I can at least go in to my profile.

We’ll see where this goes from now.

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Considering switching to Telstra

Author: Striker

May 2

I always said that with my next phone, I’d switch to Telstra because, let’s face it, the 3 network is shit if you’re in capital cities or large population areas, and simply doesn’t exist outside of them.

While the flag-fall is an extra couple of cents, in my opinion, it’s worth it for the better network.

Both companies charge 90c/minute for calls. The subtle difference is that Telstra charges 90c/minute or part thereof. 3 charges 45c/30sec.
I’m curious about how much of a difference this is going to make to my final bill, and how many millions of dollars Telstra must make from those un-used seconds.

Still, it’s not going to hamper my switching.
Because I’m bringing my own phone, plan costs go from $79/month to $69/month (the same as I’m paying with 3). Monthly allowance goes from $650(3) to $800(Telstra).

Text messages within Australia become free (acceptable usage of ~3000/month applies), and monthly data doubles from 1gb to 2gb.

If I need more, I can always go to the $99/month plan ($79 when you bring your own phone), and get $1200 in calls, unlimited* text messaging and 2.5gb of data.

When did Telstra start being competitive?

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iOS4 – Do I, or don’t I?

Author: Striker

Jun 23

Since the release of iOS4 for the iPhone, all I’ve heard from people is that their stuff crashes.

Jason is having all sorts of issues with iOS4. Ranging from all the photos in his library being speckled, to his iPod app crashing.

The fact that over 60 security vulnerabilities have been fixed is great, but what’s the point, really?

Wallpapers:- I was already able to set the lock screen wallpaper, but the home screen is a new feature. Useful? Probably not for photos and the like, as the icons will cover up way too much of the photo. Perhaps some cool patterns?

Fast app switching:- Cute feature, but my 3GS already switches pretty quickly. The fact that these apps will be ‘running in the background’ bothers me greatly, because as anyone that talks to me about my iPhone knows, I’m such a heavy user that I get maybe 4-5 hours out of the battery life.

Save state:- In my opinion this is one of the most brilliant features. With a low tolerance for annoying things, almost bordering on OCD, one of the things I hate most is in the Facebook app. Every time I go to timeline, it shows me everything, and I manually have to switch to status updates only. Really people, I couldn’t care less about your farmville updates. You piss me off.

Save state will allow that particular view to be saved, as if I never exited the application. Now to hope that the facebook app gets updated with this ability.

Orientation lock:- Portrait mode only? That’s just slack, guys. How hard would it be to lock in whatever view you’re currently using?

Folders:- Good for hiding stuff I don’t use, and cant be bothered deleting.

Unified inbox:- I’m sure this is useful for some people, but I’m not really a fan of this feature.

Spell check:- with the ever-increasing number of people who simply couldn’t be bothered to learn the language they are speaking, or are simply too lazy to type properly, the additions to the way spell-check works will be a welcome change in my books (If you text me, or email me, take note. “Leet speak” makes you look like an under-educated douche-bag.

Time to download the update to my laptop. I’ll decide what to do with it later.

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Apple iPhone 4

Author: Striker

Jun 8

We’ve all known about the features of iOS4 (Who coined this, anyway? Doesn’t Cisco own the IOS name?

Limited multitasking ability may be great for some, but with my IM apps placing me in to “away” mode while I’m not in the application, I really don’t see the need for it.
Most satnav applications also have the ability to access the music library on the phone, so again, I’m not seeing the usefulness for me.
Don’t get me wrong, this has been one of the most whinged about “missing features” in the history of the iPhone, just for me personally, I don’t believe that I will find a use for it.

My double-push of the home button is well-suited to access my iPod controls – thankyou.

Sure, I have an iPhone 3GS, and the people with a 3G or earlier won’t share my point of view on this, but I can already exit an application, then enter a new one in a timely manner. Is the new “quick switching” going to do much for me? I don’t think so.
I digress, I seem to have started focusing on iOS4, not the iPhone itself.

New features:
- 5mega-pixel camera.
The camera upgrade is going to bring the iPhone one step closer to replacing the separate camera that you carry around in your other pocket. Five mega-pixels will be fairly decent, especially for anything that’s no more than a few meters away.

- Front facing camera.
Just what we all needed – easier access to myspace-angles for eleventy billion people.

- Video calling.
I had this a LONG time ago with “3″, when they first started out. The phone was big and bulky, but video calling (over the 3G network) worked.
After a few trials to see how it worked, I never used it again.
Now it’s making a comeback, but will only work over Wi-Fi? Seriously guys.

- HD video recording.
Again, another feature that I’m not going to use, but this time I can see how it would be useful to other people.n In my year with the iPhone 3GS, I’ve recorded one video, of my fish, just to see what video recording was like.

Wow.. This sounds like a whole hell of a lot of negativity so far.
I’m generally fairly enthused about Apple’s phone to end all phones, and reading above this point probably gives you the wrong idea about what I think of the new iPhone.

I’m keen to see this thing go to market, hell, I’m keen to buy one, but not for anything I’ve listed above.

I’m a heavy user of my 3GS, and the one thorn in my side is battery life.
Currently half my life is planned around the battery life of my iPhone. I have a charger beside my bed, a USB cable on my laptop for charging. I installed USB ports IN MY CAR, so that I could charge on the go.
Whenever I visit friends, shortly after the “Hi, how are you” is out of the way, the next question is “do you have an iPhone charger?”

The all glass front (and back) panels may hopefully help with the less-than-desirable reception these phones have, as will the quad-band.
Ok, so quad-band won’t actually help with reception, it will just mean greater 3G areas for those of us not on Telstra.

Apple’s A4 processor is also going to make this phone lightning quick. The step up to 1GHz is certainly going to please a lot of games developers.

LED flash. All I have to say on the matter is “It’s about bloody time”.

I’ve never been a fan of the volume button, or the mute switch on the 3GS, and without playing with the mute switch on the iPhone 4, I can’t really make comment there, but the volume buttons are just the way I’d like volume buttons to be. Separated.

What are your thoughts on Apple’s new iPhone 4?
If I happen to have some cash laying about, I’ll be buying the 32gb version. iPad can wait until the next hardware revision.

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