Does Apple's iOS 7 make you physically SICK? Try swallowing version 7.1 Apple has released its first major update for iOS 7 — version 7.1, natch — which brings "improvements and bug fixes" to iDevices, including better Touch ID fingerprint recognition, the option to further reduce the on-screen animations that sickened some users, and a boost to performance on the iPhone 4. Details of Apple's iOS …
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You don't need to wait if you subscribe to Apple's Product Security mailing list.
Details at lists.apple.com
These notifications often arrive in my inbox before the App Store lists the update as being available (though an App Store Refresh - Command-R sometimes does the trick).
*Cough* Apple started banning non-approved cables after people were seriously injured or had house fires thanks to dodgy charging cables. Are you saying that was a bad idea? Try Amazon Basics cables. They're Apple-approved, and cheaper than Apple's versions.
As for the details, they're at: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6162 .
So we're accusing Apple of breaking third-party Lightning cables without any evidence that they have, comparing them to Microsoft despite that not really being something Microsoft would do, then recommending Amazon cables as still working even though we still have no evidence that others have stopped working or, therefore, that Amazon cables still do?
I have both. Android on the phones, iOS on the tablet. It is hard to make a direct comparison because a tablet's use is not going to be the same as a phone's use. However, with experience in both I would suggest that the above response "different" is the correct one. There are numerous things I like about iOS and numerous things that bug the hell out of me. It's the same for Android, only the things are different.
One thing that is undeniably nice is the stream of updates. The Android system is badly messed up in this respect, which is why my current phone is running 2.3.7. If Sony have made a newer version available, Orange haven't bothered to pick up on it. So I'm stuck with an oldie. Sure, it is easier for Apple given it's their OS on their hardware, but this is an end-user comparison. My iPad Mini is up to date, my phone isn't.
Yes, there's worth-while comfort and convenience in Apple's walled garden, although the slightly dated-looking little iPhones, the inflexibility and the lack of configurable keyboards with far better predictive text (like SwiftKey and Swype) are a cross to bear for some. I can type proper English e-mails faster on my phone with these than I can on the keyboard of my desktop machine!
As for updates, my Nexus 5 phone regularly updates (now running Android 4.4.2) and updating apps is a breeze. My Android pad runs Cyanogenmod and I could update it to nightlies - if I ever got that keen. I don't think you should compare older Android devices with recent Apple ones, as both systems are changing rapidly.
Yes, but only in one sense. Apple doesn't let the carrier screw with the OS - err, I mean "customise" it. And (OK, two senses) updates are not dependant on the carrier releasing a customised version for their phone.
Personally I'm philosophically attracted to the Android ecosystem (and had one for a while) but I'm practically more attracted to the iOS walled garden. I got fed up with O2 being a version behind at least on my Galaxy compared with Samsung. Yes, I know I could have jailbroken it, but why should I need the hassle. I'm 53 you know ...
"I can type proper English e-mails faster on my phone with these than I can on the keyboard of my desktop machine!"
Either you're a horrible typist or everything you type is so predictable that you might as well not bother. The world record for typing speed with Swype is 58 WPM. Anybody in technology should be able to type faster on a real keyboard without thinking twice.
Really, this infatuation with Android keyboard customizability baffles me. First of all, why are you typing so much on your PHONE? What's so urgent that it can't wait until you get to a computer with a real keyboard? And second, I have yet to meet anybody who can type faster on their fancy custom Android keyboard than I can on my iPhone, and a fair number of people have tried...
"I have yet to meet anybody who can type faster on their fancy custom Android keyboard than I can on my iPhone, and a fair number of people have tried"
I have yet to see anybody who can type faster on any touch screen phone that I can on my old Sony Ericsson P1i's physical keyboard. Unfortunately the phone manufacturers don't make anything with a keyboard like that any more.
If the old Android version bugs you (not surprising as Gingerbread is ancient), why not give cyanogenmod a try? I was reluctant to move away from the comfort of the stock network-provided ROM but my phone is well out of warranty and I had a feeling all the network/manufacturer/Google crapware wasn't helping performance or battery life. Installed 10.2 using the ridiculously easy installer and I'm loving it so far.
@karlh
That would be very easy to do. But it would be a mistake, and Apple well know it. For many people, a (fairly) pointless and frequent keyboard layout change would be an irritating distraction. I believe people have tried it on jailbroken devices and rapidly come to the conclusion that it's not a great feature.
I somehow seem to struggle by with my proper physical keyboard and its shift key.
"It's interesting that you compare a physical keyboard. It certainly does sound like a remnant of skeumorphic design."
Hardly. Having the keyboard change around between upper and lower case is bad UI design for two reasons. First, it's needlessly distracting to have a bunch of stuff changing/flashing/blinking if it's not helping the user accomplish the task at hand. (And really, does the keyboard changing actually give you any sort of benefit? Are you really that unaware of whether the next letter you'll type will be in caps or not?) Second, psychologically speaking, it's more cognitive load to be visually familiar with the upper AND lower case keyboards. To be honest, that probably isn't a huge issue, but at the same time, why should it potentially be an issue at all?
This is the sort of stuff you learn in the first few weeks of any UI design class. If Android's stock keyboard does change letters between upper/lower case then I find that startling and depressing. Google has a reputation for hiring people with top qualifications who should really know better.
"Having the keyboard change around between upper and lower case is bad UI design for two reasons ... This is the sort of stuff you learn in the first few weeks of any UI design class."
Quick check of the on-screen keyboard in Windows 8, and the keys change from lower to upper case displayed, when you engage caps lock, or shift.
Have you got a reference to any UI design class guidelines saying this is bad UI design?
I've found some references saying it isn't. Interested to know where you're getting the idea it is, when so many on-screen keyboards work this way, and have done for as long as I can remember using this kind of thing.
"Have you got a reference to any UI design class guidelines saying this is bad UI design?"
No, just the ones I mentioned. I'm afraid I took all my UI design classes long before the current generation of touchscreen soft keyboards so none of my textbooks would address this case specifically. But I don't see why general principles wouldn't apply. And I would suggest that "Windows 8 does it" is not necessarily the best justification for a UI design decision.
"I'm afraid I took all my UI design classes long before the current generation of touchscreen soft keyboards so none of my textbooks would address this case specifically."
I see. So you are taking a UI design principle that you know is outdated and are trying to apply it to a modern UI because it supports what may be the only on-screen keyboard UI element that behaves in this manner?
Next you'll be telling me that underlining incorrectly spelled words is a known terrible UI decision (...because somebody will have to come along later with an eraser and rub out all the underlines).
You might call it a dancing keyboard. I call it a logical keyboard. Android has no trouble in reflecting the state of Caps in the keys themselves. I find it rather disconcerting that the iOS keyboard just stays stuck looking the same.
If this might come as a shock to some, why not - gasp - make it a configurable option?
Sorry, we'll have to disagree on that. Android's forever-switching keyboard is a gimmick. I think I prefer animated GIFs on websites to that.
Apple don't generally add configuration options of any kind unless there's a very good reason to do so.
If you are disconcerted by not having your beloved 'sensible' keyboard, you'll probably fall over dizzy if you use a regular physical keyboard like I'm typing on now.
Nah. I know plenty of people who subscribe to various email lists for work where emails are sent out by automated processes several times per day. They can check these emails (or usually just read the subjects) to see that everything is going okay, but more commonly don't, and let the emails pile up. Do that for a few months or years and you can very easily have tens of thousands of unread emails.
Just because the Mail app says you have 10k unread emails doesn't mean it has downloaded them all to the device. Local storage is not necessarily being wasted.
"The reason for this is that there is no way to delete all your emails en masse which in this day and age is ridiculous."
It would be nice if there was an obvious way to archive (onto a PC) all of your sent mail and delete it from the iPad. Is this hiding somewhere in iTunes?
As to the message selection, it seems strange that "Mark all" doesn't have a "Select all" option...
"It would be nice if there was an obvious way to archive (onto a PC) all of your sent mail and delete it from the iPad. Is this hiding somewhere in iTunes?"
Don't know what email service you're using, but if you send an email via GMail then it gets saved ("archived") in your Sent folder. By default iOS only keeps the most recent 50 (?) emails in any given folder so there's absolutely no need to delete anything.
"By default iOS only keeps the most recent 50 (?) emails in any given folder so there's absolutely no need to delete anything."
Personal, private, POP3 mailbox. Sent folder held on iPad.
Currently 0 unread messages.
Open private mail, "Sent" folder. Tap "Edit", then "Mark all", then "Mark as unread".
152 unread messages.
You were saying?
Great to see a bunch of common sense, "I told you so" fixes in 7.1.
As somebody who has been involved in the design and development of several projects, I can say with confidence how this one went.
Designers: hey, let's make all the backgrounds painfully white with SUPER thin fonts!
Developers and everybody else: that's stupid
Designers: no, it'll be great, trust us, everybody will get used to it and like it
Management: do whatever the designers say, they have a vision
Developers: fine, but we'll just have to change it back in 6 months
(6 months later)
Developers: okay, everybody hated it and we changed it all back, thanks for wasting our time, and plus, we told you so
Designers and management: well, it's kind of your fault for doing it wrong in the first place, right?
Aaaaaaand repeat...
"Well, that would be your own fault for not sorting out the email in which you told them that, and clicking "reply all" to send the followup."
Yup, if there's one thing managers love, it's being reminded that they're wrong by their underlings, especially when "reply all" is used... where do you work?
Finally, now that is a big improvement and hopefully something will carry through to the older iPads as well.
While a lot of people praise Apple for updating their own OS on their own Devices much faster than the often no-updates from of a Carrier updating their ghastly hacks on top of a Device Manufacturer's hacks on top of a common OS provided by another party... they do have a habit of stitching up the older devices. In marketing terms, it's the user's fault for not upgrading of course, and is therefore a prompt (stick) to upgrade for the new features in a new device (carrot).
It became a little bit less nasty, lately. They used to stop supporting older devices pretty fast until now, but a few days ago I was very surprised to see an update for Skype in the App Store, when I opened it with my old 3G model, running IOS4. I thought I try out what happens and it actually offered me the last available version for my flavour of IOS for installation. Quite a big surprise! I checked out some other apps that are now "unavailable for your version of IOS", and unfortunately there was no change. I suppose it is up to the developer to support this feature.
Still - better than the outright ignorance of older devices they showed before.
"I suppose it is up to the developer to support this feature."
About halfway through last year Apple started allowing people to download older versions of apps if they were using older versions of iOS. This works by default. Developers can prevent it from happening, which they would want to do if the older versions of their apps are e.g. no longer compatible with their servers. But I agree that it is nice that Apple allows this now.
There is only one of the recent iOS changes that makes me physically ill ... and that's the *%^$* spinning wheel for dates and times in the Calendar app! I don't want to play Wheel of Fortune when trying to set the date and times and I do not appreciate that a simple flick of the finger can screw up several minutes worth of settings. Arrrrrgggghhhhh! If you can't dump the stoooopid wheel, at least make it a different color from the rest of the settings. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to scroll down to set the alarms, etc., only to realize that I just screwed up the time setting (again and again). And, no, I don't have sausage fingers.
In fact, I think Apple should dump the entire Calendar app and start fresh. And, if they can't do that, please go back to the "old" Calendar ... the one before they f*(ked up the buttons and icons.
And, one last rant ... may I please be allowed to change the "default" alert time? Sorry, but the default of 9AM just doesn't work for me!
Yunno, I smell a shaved rat with that story. The family has said there is nothing on the iPad that they want and that 'Apple have not allowed them to use it'.
Beats me why they don't simply do what anybody selling an iPad does and just wipe the bugger!
But it wouldn't be an anti-Apple story then, would it?
Nope - if they could wipe it (which I don't think they can if they can't get into it) that wouldn't actually help anyway, since when they tried to activate it again Apple's servers would recognise the device ID and insist on the mother's username and password anyway. That's the extra security that apple put in with IOS 7 designed to really clamp down on theft - and in fairness it's a good feature as long as you don't unwillingly end up on the wrong side of it, as this family have.
Well, they've done SOMETHING to improve it. Last night I left the house at 7 PM with my phone charged to 100%. I used it occasionally all night and this morning and now it's ~11 AM and it's still showing 98%. (?!) Before the update I would have expected it to be around 80% or possibly less. So I wasn't having the horrible problems some people were seeing but they did improve it.
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