iPhones, iPads to be FULL OF FACEBOOK and NOT GOOGLE If you're harboring any doubts about bad blood bubbling between Apple and Google, Cupertino's iOS headman Scott Forstall dispelled them on Monday when introducing the next version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 6. "They released a dairy product, 4.0, about the same time that we released iOS 5," Macworld quotes* …
"Siri will also enable automotive use in what Apple calls an "Eyes Free" mode, being summond by a steering-wheel button; Apple is working with BMW, General Motors, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda to add this capability to their vehicles."
Is that jagwah??
Seen the details of iOS 6 while not radical there are some interesting features and minor tweaks. It also appears to be more wall and less reliant on third parties (maps).
Didn't see NFC? Maybe that will be for the new phone.
Sadly not a radical change and the Samsung looks the better featured system.
However it will be how flawless it works, that will be the key.
" But I think Lada are relaunching, which satisfies the requirement for massive dickheads to always drive German cars."
Lada are Russian, not German. Maybe you were thinking of Trabant? They're long gone thank God, although God's earthly ambassador Bono probably has a few old Zooropa stage props in his shed
I thought it was a decent enough show. Thought they'd announce some partial upgrade for the iMacs at least. It was nice to see the 650M added to the MBP as well. The 555M in my current laptop is a great card. I don't game heavily on my laptop, but for the few I do play, like Skyrim, it handles them brilliantly.
Still a couple of things that bug me about iOS6 though.
Doesn't seem to be any mention of opening up an API for Notification Centre for third party widgets.
I'd also like a simple extension of the restriction feature so that I can passcode lock certain apps. I know developers can do this individually for their own app, but it would be useful for the stock apps and the ones that don't.
And, the new Maps. As a 4 user, I'd rather stick with what I've got now, which works perfectly for me, then end up with a gimped solution with a half feature set because they've decided to throw dildos at each other. Bye bye Street View I guess, which I found incredibly useful from my phone.
But, I'm at least thankful they're unifying caller ID between phone number and Apple ID when using iMessage/FaceTime.
Of course there are more versions of Android than iOS out there in the market. The Android ecosystem is much more diverse than the iPhone's, with many manufacturers serving many different global markets with very diverse feature requirements and price points. "Fragmentation" isn't a problem for consumers -- only for a company like Apple trying to control the entire "experience".
I have always bought specific Apple products when they best suited specific needs, but I'm really getting tired of fanbois' continual feigned surprise at discovering that consumers around the world generally seem to be more interested in buying a phone that does what they need at a price they consider reasonable than in buying into Apple's increasingly disturbing view of what mobile computing should look like and who should control it.
Of course fragmentation is a problem for consumers. Any customisation of Android is invariably a degradation (particularly when done by phone carriers) and the prospect of normal people ever upgrading and improving their phone's software is often remote at best.
When you add in the fact that most developers would be hesitant in using Google's latest API's and new functionality with the vast amount of legacy software still in use, you can only come to the conclusion that the slow upgrade rate is an anchor that holds back the platform's progression and improvement.
Ice Cream Sandwich was meant to be the grand unifier for Android according to Google at its launch (in itself an admission of a problem). At that it has simply failed.
Sorry, ordinary consumers buy a phone and use it without any notion of what version of Android it's running, or even notice very much when software upgrades are pushed to their phone. Ordinary users running 2-year-old Droids don't care that they're only on v2.2, they only notice that new apps are a bit slow compared to their mate's new phone, and the phone is getting banged up enough that it's time for an upgrade. Ordinary users simply do not "upgrade and improve their phone's software", even if it's possible and easy.
iPhones upgrade themselves pretty much automatically when you plug them in to iTunes - or, actually, just straight over-the-air nowadays, so it takes zero effort to do. The OS upgrade path for Android can be a more laborious process and there's always the worry that half your apps will break.
The point about your droid not being as fast as your mate's new one, and it's looking decidedly tatty, is a good one. No matter how many apps I install my 4 runs the same now as when it was new (19 months ago) and it still looks like a brand new phone. If you put it next to mate's brand new 4S you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Native apps (like iCal or the phonebook) fire up at the same speed too.
Sometimes they go wrong though. at which point, instead of fighting tooth and nail with your operator or insurance company, you just drop in at any Apple reseller and get handed a new one.
No-brainer for me I'm afraid, despite Apple's other obvious drawbacks.
Don't most iThing owners use IThingTunes ?
Doesn't that push/enforce updates on the devices as and when?
I think that means apple upgrades the devices rather than 'most users'. For Android it's the carrier's decision, oftentimes, to deploy an update as they have to rebrand it, e.g. Vodafone needs lots of Red bootscreen crap and voda-specific apps, etc. In the event an update comes available it's still the user's choice to apply it, also.
"Don't most iThing owners use IThingTunes ?"
Ah, there are ZERO other options. Apple has successfully played consumers in to believing that Apples controlled/restricted environment (aka Prison) is the option they need. Who cares if you don't use FB...Apple is telling you that you DO need to join the sheep herd.
Reality is that most general consumers are dopes and have zero clue about what options are out there. They just follow Apples lead and gleefully accept what Apple thinks they should have and how to hold the phone :->.
Hey if the "drink the cool-aid" app comes out...then we'll be rid of quite a few blind followers.
I don't believe that is necessarily true, although I'm sure there are blind followers of either OS that swears the other is terrible. I'm in the have both camp. I wasn't thrilled by my android phones, so gave up and got an iPhone 4S which I really like, I could jailbreak it but have no intention of doing so generally because I really don't feel I need to. On the other hand I have an Asus Transformer and love it. I have fiddled about with an iPad and am not overly keen on it. The TF is a great little performer, which I rooted and installed a custom rom & kernel on, in order to overclock it to make it really snappy.
So not everyone who buys into Apple are being played, are dopes, sheep/sheeple, have zero clue or just gleefully accept Apple as their master. Some people just want a decent smartphone that does exactly what they need with the minimum of fuss. While many find Android suits that purpose for them, I and many others don't. While many people find Apples iPad suits their purposes perfectly, I and many others don't and have an android tablet.
"The graph suggests Apple users DO upgrade their phones."
More likely their phones are mostly upgraded for them when they sync to itunes to update their music and photos. itunes will prompt, they'll blindly click through the options and hey preto they are upgraded !
Also Android users generally do not expect an upgrade... the general man in the street hear that iphones get upgraded but are perfectly accepting that every other phone out there stays with the software it was purchased with.
That's being the state of play since the early days and hasn't changed much. Especially since new software is something many manufacturers use to to flog us new phones.
"perfectly accepting that every other phone out there stays with the software it was purchased with"
Not true. With a pc, you can run a 10 year old OS and have a week-old browser, email client, calendar, office suite, etc. It's the same with Android - the main apps get updated on top of the OS and you can use non-stock versions of core apps if you like, setting them to be the default app to handle their given tasks. Being on a 2 year old version of the OS means nothing; your apps can still use the ICS themes and activity bar even!
Amusingly those graphs show that Android is about the same or possibly more homogenous than iOS from a developer's point of view, with a large majority of the userbase on the almost identical (for developers) 2.2-2.3 versions.
And with Apple about to introduce yet another screen resolution, and the orphaning of the iPad 1 by iOS6, it's only going to get worse for Apple fragmentation.
"Of course there are more versions of Android than iOS out there in the market. The Android ecosystem is much more diverse than the iPhone's, with many manufacturers serving many different global markets with very diverse feature requirements and price points. "Fragmentation" isn't a problem for consumers -- only for a company like Apple trying to control the entire "experience"."
But couldn't it also be said that there are many more versions of Android out there because handsets just get 'left behind' by manufacturers/operators? ie 18 month old phone and no more upgrades. This is one of the reasons I've avoided Android sets so far.
Of course fragmentation is an issue. Hardware fragmentation means as a consumer I can't know for sure if an app will work smoothly on my particular device, and as a freelance developer I cannot realistically test on more than a fraction of the target devices.
OS fragmentation means I have to either put in a lot more work making per-OS versions, or cater to lowest common denominator.
It's exactly the same problem which has troubled the PC games industry since the year dot, compared to those making console games. More variability in target systems means more bugs, more work and more support requests.
"It's exactly the same problem which has troubled the PC games industry since the year dot, compared to those making console games. More variability in target systems means more bugs, more work and more support requests."
And yet... There seems to be a rather thriving PC gaming industry the last time I checked.
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iOS may have 650,000 apps versus 270,000 or so for Android. However, a big chunk of iOS apps are pointless fart apps, whereas most Android apps have a real purpose. It really doesn't matter if one OS has half a million + or or not; once there is between 50,000 to 100,000 apps then just about every need is covered in some way or other (excluding games). iOS and Android both have well designed app and their fair share of very badly designed apps. My point is, once there are 100,000+ apps, then there is an established developer support, enough to sustain a platform. Even Windows Phone now has 100,000+ apps and I think that's enough to keep Windows Phone in the game. None of the 3 main contenders provide an exclusive function or feature.
I got the feeling their point was that they are releasing new major versions more frequently than Android - "They released a dairy product, 4.0, about the same time that we released iOS 5." If one can assume that a major version increase includes significantly improved features (which is debatable, I'll grant you), Apple are saying that since the versions were Android 4 and iOS 5, Apple are now up to iOS 6 and the ball is in Android's court to play catch up. They're bragging about their rate of progress, not the size of their tackle.
IIRC Android 1.0 came out later than iOS1 or whatever they were called at the time. If Android has always been about a major revision behind from the beginning, then it could be argued that both are still evolving at about the same rate: Apple's only advantage has been a head start. Further, you can't just count the numbers in the major revisions but you have to look at what's underneath.
Hmm, some of those call handling options sound very similar to Profiles on older Nokia handsets
I seem to remember an app on my E61 that would do pretty much everything described in terms of call handling/messaging etc and was location aware (granted via cell mast id rather than GPS but at least it didn't nag you to switch on wifi to improve accuracy ).
Was very useful as it would switch profiles when you got into the office or back home or any other location you setup.
Of course if Apple provided the relevant API access then 3rd party devs could have done the same some time ago.
I think Apple might be having much the same thoughts about WM8 and many other commentators namely that it is irrelevant.
The question then is...
Are google & apple going to get their noses severely put out of joint by the 10 of millions of WM8 phones that are gonig to be sold in the next 12-15 months.
somehow I don't think so. I think WM8 may get 10% of the market (thus filling the sector vacated by BB)
Windows PHONE 8. although the numbers don't look any more significant when you call it the right thing. I'd really like it to be relevant to Apple, but it's not at the moment. There is a nod to it in the article, in that FB integration has been in it from the start (a lot of other stuff hasn't - I KNOW), but there is the balance of the device.
I expect Redmond to keep mum about WP8 for a few more months - or does anyone know when we're likely to hear if they have anything to wow us with soon? E312 tells us we'll get a zune rebrand.
"In addition, the Maps app is vector-based, making zooming and rotation smooth and seamless – and making Google Maps look oh-so last decade – and supporting a 3D Flyover mode with real-time rendering of buildings in select locations."
Google Maps on Android have been vector based for some time (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/17/google_maps/). It looks like Apple (quite reasonable) got upset with being offered an inferior service.
I'm really not sure about this integration with Facebook. Facebook usage is going to gradually shrink as they hack off more and more users to the point that having such integration in your phone is going to be as silly as sharing to BeBo or MySpace or Friends Reunited.
It would have been better if they'd had a "Social Networking" button (or equivalent) and then used plug-ins for the site of your choice. That would have future-proofed against sites tanking after their IPO, although I guess they don't want too much interoperability with G+.....
That button you mention is already in Android. It uses "intents" so that any app can be set up as a handler of various sharing methods or other actions. So sharing a URL to twitter, facebook, pinterest, friends reunited etc is nothing new to Android users, but we can choose which ones are in the list by installing only the apps we want. In addition, Facebook calendar events are already imported into my calendar and recent status updates appear in my contacts list. Well done for "innovating", apple!
Perhaps the reason so many Android users are on an older version is because it works and does exactly what people want without needing to throw the whole thing away each year when the next release comes out with a pointless feature which doesn't work properly outside the US and which renders the older hardware obsolete requiring the whole piece of kit to be replaced?
Not so much to do with being in the US or not - more pot luck based on your combination of country, device and carrier (if network-locked). With Android, you never really know when, or even IF, you'll get OS updates. Unlike Apple's controlled managed ecosystem, Android has so many parties with competing interests.
Once Google release a new version, the handset companies then mess around with it to make it better/worse, then they have to work on the 'customised' builds for the carriers - that's assuming your carrier cares about supporting your existing phone. More often than not, the carrier would prefer you to buy a new phone and lock you into another 12 18 24 month contract.
The difficulty rejecting calls from the lock screen has always bugged me as the screen only has the option to accept a call, if you press the power button once it silences it but does not reject it, if you press it twice, then it rejects it. How intuitive is that. So much better than pressing a hang up button like every other phone I have owned. And yes I do have an iPhone.
Back sometime last millenium I had an old Panasonic that could do pretty much everything that these changes give you. Except that phone would allow you to do a partial lock which meant you could make calls to people in your contacts list anytime but needed to enter a code to dial a new number - great for a phone for the kids.
This iOS6 seems to be more of a iOS5.1, what major things does it change? A new maps app, so exciting.
The core mapping and navigation software has been supplied to Apple by TomTom. [ http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120611006133/en/Apple-License-TomTom’s-Content ].
TomTom's mapping data, in turn, comes from TeleAtlas. Who also provide Google with mapping for large chunks of the globe, so this is partly a case of cutting out the middleman.
The 3D fly-by function is from Swedish company C3 Technologies, acquired by Apple several months ago. If you want to see this technology in action, have a look at http://maps.nokia.com/3d ... just be prepared to waste half a day -- especially if you live in one of the cities with full 3D mapping.
I've only ever heard of Apple complaining about this, and they don't even develop for Android. Dare I say they're spreading FUD?
Also, Google update core apps for older versions of Android anyway, where as Apple roll them into a whole new version of their OS. For example, a device with Android 2.2 will get the latest version of Google Maps, where as a Iphone older than the 3GS wont get the latest version of Apple's "new" mapping system.
Furthermore, Apple is to a degree hiding it's own "fragmentation". Yes, the 3GS gets IOS 6, but it doesn't get the same feature set as the 4, or 4S. (Siri, anyone? It was working fine on the 3GS till Apple pulled it...)
Sorry, but I really can't see Apple being able to achieve even 10% of what Google Maps is.
Sure they own PlaceBase and C3, nut neither of these have the resources to map every single street in every single country around the world.
Whilst they may get similar 3D maps of major US cities (as Google are doing), they won't get ANYWHERE near the global mapping data of Google, which over global satellite maps, 3D maps, streetview and turn by turn navigation.
Prepare for a downgrade Apple owners.
That marketing.apple.com re-supply that pie chart this time next year so we can see how many devices they 'obsoleted' from ios6.
Apparently all ipad1's for a start, and I'm willing to bet only the 4s phone onwards gets #6 which is maybe why they released that incremental 'meh' version of the 4, to obsolete the rest this year with a new ios to hopefully force the shiny pavlovian massive to get the V5 phone so they could spout hyperbole.
I can see a lot of things in iOS 6 that I think I will really like... but seeing this "eyes free" thing does make me a little mad.
I've very much had this with my Nokia bluetooth hands free car kit for many years, it worked perfectly through iOS 4, the display telling me a whole load of things about the status of the network and my calls.
Then comes iOS5 and suddenly half of that no longer works. Patiently waiting for the first patches made no difference and despite the many comments on the Apple Communities forum there is still no fix. My local Apple store fobbed me off telling me "it must be the Nokia, get them to upgrade it"... which they can't because it's not made to be able to do that! Sending feedback via their website has made no difference either.
So, come on Apple, you have made some brilliant devices and have some fantastic ideas but how about listening to your customers and fixing what's broken?
Can't see the UK versions being much better than diabolical though, especially live traffic and all that. Siri is worse than useless here still if you want to find anything local and I don't see that changing either.
Or is there some reason why UK & Europe maps should be useable?
What I would like to see is the option to "buy" Google Maps. Like, a paid-for version. I don't care how many gigabytes it would take to put all that lovely satellite imagery and vector mappage onto an SD card, I'd just like the option to use Maps without an Internet connection!
Right now, the offline caching is a bit so-so. Only the vectors are pre-cached (so no satellite view), and you have to cache each journey as you plan it. Want to change plans halfway through the journey? Well, you need a network connection. In the middle of the M6 with a wifi-only device is not the best place for that.
Oh well, I guess there's always CoPilot.
This OS release is another iPhone 4s. Lacks innovation and essentially its just catching up with android 2.3. Was it really worth a 6!!! 5.2 maybe?
Honestly i was disappointed by this i thought they where going to fix the dated OS interface with something new and fresh. Had an iPad 3 for a bit but hated it, the OS was worthless.
In face everything Apple has announced has been poor so far. The new Mac Pros look good, but that retina display is going to need some punch to push that many pixels no hight end games im afraid.
Apple will be fine though the blind Fan boys are already lapping up the waste coming out of Apple heralding it to be the greatest innovation man has ever seen.
On another note i hope car manufacturers have the sense to use NFC or something for the in car stuff. Limiting yourself to one phone with a Apple only connection seems like a poor move.
>According to Apple, most iOS devices are up-to-date. Android, not so much<
I call FUD. Unless you include working iphones (original, 2, 3 etc) - and for ios6 you can now include the original ipad and iphone 4, compared to the fact that ICS was never designed to work on the older tech android phones like HTC Wildfire which are still widely in use. (NOTE: Wrote this before reading the comments).
>Facebook integration<
Thank the gods, because Zuckerbergs ios app (for ipad at least) is beyond useless, you still can't share other peoples posts, and you have to go on the website just to ensure what you posted in the app 'took'.
>and what appear to be vastly improved Chinese-language capabilities<
Our new BFF, and who are in no way guilty of human rights violation that would ensure the leaders burned in hell (if such existed), after death - let's just hope karma proves true.
>Safari Updates...
Jeez, finally a full screen option (via tap no less), well done Apple, only taken you three years to do this - still no touch options to navigate (like swipe right quickly to go back a page), maybe ios7, eh?
"making Google Maps look oh-so last decade"
They've got ALOT of work to do to make the iPhone not look so oh-so-last-century, with its naff glass and steel (dodgy pre2000 kitchens look and feel)
No wonder they are developing iOS6. After all iOS5< was just rubbish. Apple do seem to have some good ideas but not many, and not many NEW (i.e. not someone else's regurgitated) ideas.
...Stuff that standard voicemail/handsets has been offering for the past 15 years. Sheesh.
My operator even lets me listen in to people leaving messages on my voicemail and pick up, whilst they are leaving a message, after screening who it is/what they want.
C'mon Apple. INNOVATE!
Maybe I missed something, but which mobile operators/handsets allow you to listen to a voicemail message while it's being left and then decide to take the call anyway?
There's an awkward problem here; your landline phone handles the voicemail itself, whereas the mobiles have to do it in the network because the phone is more likely to be off the network.
Technically there's no reason why the phone (any phone) couldn't do this, but you would then need some good integration at the network end to avoid ending up with both "online" and "offline" messages to listen to - ok, that's not the end of the world, but it's something I would find a massive pain in a fairly short amount of time.
Ultimately, you have three problems:
1) Persuading network operators to spend money on their end.
2) Making the whole thing standard so you don't have to match handsets to systems.
3) Persuading a reasonable number of handset/OS manufacturers to support the standard & make it work.
Seems like a huge amount of work for minimal gain, but if you're drowning in cash feel free to create all of this; I can't see anyone else bothering.
I don't think I've ever seen a more meaningless set of statistics than the "Installed base" figures supplied by Apple. My Galaxy Ace, which I got in Feb and is currently available for free on Vodafone for £15 a month, runs fine on Android 2.3. As it's a bottom of mid range phone I wouldn't expect it to run v4 of Android. The cheapest new iPhone I could have got is the iPhone 4, available at £36 a month on Vodafone, and I'd be pretty p*ssed off if it didn't support the latest version of iOS.
Look at the market and these figures tell you only one thing:- companies offer cheap mobiles that run older versions of Android and expensive mobiles that run the new version of Android. You might as well say that the average Jaguar owner has a bigger engine in their car than the average Ford owner.
It would be great if they redid Siri's voice so she actually sounds like a woman instead of a neutered hermaphrodite. I will not be using any of that Facebook sharing nonsense and have no need of adding anyone's Facebook info to my Address book. I do not need any more Facebook integration than I have no. All FB notifications are turned off and shall remain that way indefinitely.
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Apple is only managing to avoid fragmentation by making its users believe they must have the latest hardware. Once Apple has released a ew more device updates it will be pretty fragmented too and will probably stop supporting older devices to force upgrades of hardware so that it can continue claim to have the least fragmentation.
In case you haven't noticed, they stopped supporting older devices quite a while ago, but as they're supporting devices up to three years old, I'm not sure how far back you would expect them to go anyway.
I have no idea how many pre-3GS devices are still out there being used, but how many HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1 phones are still being used today? (They would be around the same age as the next oldest iPhone, the 3G.)
Any news on ICS availability for the original Droid (about the same age as the 3GS)?
Don't forget, these announcements are from a DEVELOPER conference, fragmentation is likely to be a significant headache for quite a few of them and Apple's ability to move 80% of their user base onto the latest OS in such a short space of time is not to be scoffed at; most other vendors dream of being able to do that (esp. Microsoft).
But of course you are correct, the iOS space is already getting quite fragmented with it's one release of OS and four screen resolutions you need to target to hit 80% of the users.
It's barely any better than the Android space where you have a choice of 12 screen resolutions from the current HTC range alone. Not.
For some developers this will be no problem, but for others it will be a nightmare.
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