All things iPad (and, more generally, Apple)

[Stuart]

Someone should invent one that doesn't have to be facing the right way up when you try to insert it.

You mean like this one?

[D3PART3D]

Exactly like that one! Which forward-thinking company came up with that I wonder?

[Anakha56]

Ok, please tell me why the convenience of placing an item on a surface sucks when compared to having to fiddle with a connector.

Well, it doesn't stop charging if you pick it up for starters, there is less bulk to deal with. Funny thing with hand held gadgets, the need to be in your hand most of the time... But I totally agree on connectors being fiddly. Someone should invent one that doesn't have to be facing the right way up when you try to insert it.

Yeah there is one other problem with wireless charging and that is the heat build up. Lithium Ion batteries hate heat and wireless charging brings in extra heat for the phone to deal with.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/arti ... hout_wires

Lost energy turns into heat and a wireless charger can get quite warm during charge. Any temperature increase to the battery causes undue stress, and batteries charged on wireless devices may not last as long on a mat as on the regular plug-in charger. It should be noted that the heat buildup only occurs during charging; the Qi wireless charger will cool down when the battery is fully charged.

So just bear that in mind. One reason why I am weary of wireless charging.

Ummm D3 I wouldnt go so far as calling Apple "forward-thinking" when one considers the quagmire of lawsuits they have started up and in turn have found themselves in. If they were forward thinking they would have, oh I don't know, thought of their own unique ideas instead of ripping off countless other products and then claiming it to be their own invention. I will say though that cable has made a world of difference to me with my iPad...

[StarBound]

I believe the other reason towards the wireless charging would be that if you bump it your device might not charge. Not good when your looking at the 1-2 days of battery time we get from our phones these days.

[ryanrich]

Just checking out beta 3 which dropped last night. Looking more and more elegant as they come out, really starting to like this new OS, I think the finished product is gonna be pretty slick!

Not TOO much was added, but different font, certain animations, and of course much faster and less buggy.

[GreyWolf]

So many debates, so little time...

1. NFC: Stuart, the push for adoption has to come from somewhere.
2. iOS7 design: @Departed and @Stuart. Its not just 4 links. If you had bothered to visit the links you would have seen that the articles are all quite different. Some are opinions of the author, and some (like the tumblr page) are aggregators of designers opinions (of which there are a lot). And again, you have failed to post any links that show designers praising iOS7.
3. Wireless charging. Thank you for the heads up on the heat and other issues. Those are definitely of concern. However, maybe I am being thick, but I cannot believe that placing a phone on a surface is less convenient or fiddly than plugging in a cable . You can say what you want about the new connector, but I am sure you don't get it in 1st time, every time. To say nothing of the constant wear and tear on the parts that are used to keep the connector in place.

[StarBound]

I'm looking forward to iOS7s new functionality but that colour needs to change. And I prefer rounded edges. Windows 95 was so 18 years ago.

[Anakha56]

@GW wireless charging is convenient and in time will become the norm but this cable for me is what is needed more. It is so nice to pick up the cable and plug it in without having to check which angle you are going for. In fact I have nearly killed numerous device ports because I have gotten so used to this cable.

In other news this forward thinking, always innovating company has come up with a new feature that no other manufacturer has done yet! Oh wait... Samsung has done it... :/ Granted it is a rumour but still its fun to poke the bear...

http://bgr.com/2013/07/09/iphone-5s-cam ... +Report%29

Apple’s iPhone 5S to reportedly swipe Galaxy S4′s 120fps slow-motion video feature
By Dan Graziano on Jul 9, 2013 at 4:15 PM

Apple is expected to debut a new iPhone in September that will likely look similar to Apple’s current-generation smartphone and be equipped with improved internal hardware such as a faster processor and better camera. According to 9to5Mac, the iPhone 5S may also include a new camera feature known as “Mogul” mode. The feature, which was spotted in the iOS 7 beta, reportedly enables the iPhone to capture crisp and clean videos at 120 frames-per-second and will also allow for a slow-motion option. Interestingly enough, the iPhone’s closets competitor, the Galaxy S4, already has a slow-motion feature and the ability to record video at 120 frames-per-second.

[Stuart]

1. NFC: Stuart, the push for adoption has to come from somewhere.

True. But Apple has historically only adopted things when it has been obvious that it is here to stay. How long did it take for them to add HDMI to MacBooks. My point is simply that iPhone users are not at this point pining for the NFC technology that every other smart phone user is greatly benefiting from on a daily basis. But that IS the way is was painted by many reviewers of the iPhone 5. "Where is NFC? This phone sucks."

And again, you have failed to post any links that show designers praising iOS7.

This isn't about positive reviews versus negative reviews. Your statement was that "everyone" hates it. You want a positive review?

Just checking out beta 3 which dropped last night. Looking more and more elegant as they come out, really starting to like this new OS, I think the finished product is gonna be pretty slick!

Not TOO much was added, but different font, certain animations, and of course much faster and less buggy.

You can say what you want about the new connector, but I am sure you don't get it in 1st time, every time.

Actually, so far, yes. Even in the dark.

[GreyWolf]

True. But Apple has historically only adopted things when it has been obvious that it is here to stay. How long did it take for them to add HDMI to MacBooks. My point is simply that iPhone users are not at this point pining for the NFC technology that every other smart phone user is greatly benefiting from on a daily basis. But that IS the way is was painted by many reviewers of the iPhone 5. "Where is NFC? This phone sucks."

Fair enough, and I wholeheartedly agree about not implementing technologies before they are ready ( a crime that all manufacturers, including Apple, are guilty of). But our debate is on weather Apple has lost its innovation mojo (at least thats where it started), and I still maintain that Apple has not done anything truly innovative since the retina display on the iPhone 4, and they don't even seem to be trying anymore.

This isn't about positive reviews versus negative reviews. Your statement was that "everyone" hates it. You want a positive review?

Sure it is. I said that everyone but die hard fans have criticised iOS7, and to back it up, I posted links. And thank you for posting this:

Just checking out beta 3 which dropped last night. Looking more and more elegant as they come out, really starting to like this new OS, I think the finished product is gonna be pretty slick! Not TOO much was added, but different font, certain animations, and of course much faster and less buggy.

Which confirms my claim.

Actually, so far, yes. Even in the dark.

Well ok then. I stand corrected and will therefore adjust my earlier claim and say that Apple have not done anything innovative except change their connector since the iPhone 4 retina display. iOS7 remains a collection of ideas harvested from the competition.

[Stuart]

I still maintain that Apple has not done anything truly innovative since the retina display on the iPhone 4, and they don't even seem to be trying anymore.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. They seem to have deluded themselves into thinking that they are still innovative, but they're not. What they do, in my opinion, is take what others have done and, more often than not, make it better. I'm not talking about their apps (Maps, Podcasting, Safari, etc.) which are often pretty woeful, but the general feel of their OS, even when borrowing heavily from others, is far more polished than competitors. And that's why I still have an iPhone after extensively trying Windows Phone 8 and Android.

[GreyWolf]

I agree wholeheartedly with this.

So why are we debating?

the general feel of their OS, even when borrowing heavily from others, is far more polished than competitors.

I hate to admit it ( I really, really do), but this is 100% true. Only in the past 6-12 months have Android phones become comparable to iOS in terms of slickness.

[Stuart]

Only in the past 6-12 months have Android phones become comparable to iOS in terms of slickness.

And they still have some ways to go. There are a number of things about Android that I wish would be implemented into iOS, but at least iOS does what it does well, whereas the same can't always be said for Android. In fact, for the first time after returning to iOS from Android recently, I have considered jailbreaking my device. As soon as iOS 7 is out and a jailbreak is available I may try it.

[Anakha56]

Apple guilty of price of fixing in e-books.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013 ... ges-words/

How Apple led an e-book price conspiracy—in the judge’s words
And why publishers accepted less money from Apple than from Amazon.

Earlier today, Apple lost a major case when District Judge Denise Cote ruled that the company led a conspiracy to raise e-book prices above those charged by Amazon. Cote's 160-page ruling, released this morning, offered some intricate detail on just how that conspiracy worked.

Cote described how Apple struck agreements with each of the five publisher defendants—who settled the case before trial—in order to push e-book rates higher than Amazon's. The negotiations happened in the seven weeks leading up to the January 27, 2010 announcement of the iPad.

Publishers told Apple they were unhappy with Amazon's standard price of $9.99. Although they received the full wholesale value of each book sold by Amazon, publishers didn't want $9.99 to catch on as the new default price for e-books, especially since this was so much lower than hardcovers. One strategy they used to keep revenues up was to delay the release of e-book versions of new books, but Apple told publishers it opposed this tactic in its then-forthcoming e-books store. HarperCollins wanted to flat-out charge as much as $18 or $20 for e-books, but Apple Senior VP Eddy Cue also made it clear that this was unrealistic. Apple was more amenable, however, when HarperCollins suggested using an "agency model" instead of the wholesale model used by Amazon.

With a wholesale model, Apple would purchase e-books and resell them at a price of its choosing, whereas with an agency model "a publisher sets the retail price and the retailer sells the e-book as its agent." Apple would become the agent selling the books, taking a 30 percent commission on each sale, just as it does with its App Store.

But Apple did not want to open an e-book store at all unless it was profitable, Cote wrote, and in order to make it work, the company had to deal with Amazon. Apple had even considered proposing a partnership with Amazon, "with iTunes acting as 'an e-book reseller exclusive to Amazon and Amazon becom[ing] an audio/video iTunes reseller exclusive to Apple,'" Cote wrote.

"Apple realized, however, that in handing over pricing decisions to the Publishers, it needed to restrain their desire to raise e-book prices sky high," Cote wrote. "It decided to require retail prices to be restrained by pricing tiers with caps. While Apple was willing to raise e-book prices by as much as 50 percent over Amazon’s $9.99, it did not want to be embarrassed by what it considered unrealistically high prices."

...

Follow the link for further reading.

[Anakha56]

Apple should be protecting us from pr0n according to this lawyer...

http://abovethelaw.com/2013/07/lawyer-a ... addiction/

Lawyer: Apple Should Protect Me From My Porn Addiction
By JOE PATRICE
Earlier this week, I wrote about a lawyer in Florida suing Apple for millions because he couldn’t be bothered to figure out how iTunes works. Little did I know that this wasn’t the craziest law suit brought by a lawyer against Apple.

A tipster pointed us to a 50-page complaint filed in federal court last month seeking damages and injunctive relief against Apple for making devices that can display porn, or as the rest of us call it, the Internet.

...

You have to read the whole thing, its a awesome read . Although side point... Since Apple police their app store so strictly why not police their installed browsers? It would be a innovating move on Apples part...

[GreyWolf]

Except it wont be as hard as you might think. Aren't websites first cached on Apple servers somewhere, before being fed to your iOS device?

[StarBound]

I see google maps is now updated for ipads. Finally!

[Stuart]

I see google maps is now updated for ipads. Finally!

I laughed when I read the "What's New" as it updated this morning on my iPhone. It said something about internal maps for shopping centres and walking directions. Needing Google Maps to navigate a shopping centre? First world problems.

[Hman]

Well, if you were uhmerican you would indeed need this feature.

[StarBound]

I see google maps is now updated for ipads. Finally!

I laughed when I read the "What's New" as it updated this morning on my iPhone. It said something about internal maps for shopping centres and walking directions. Needing Google Maps to navigate a shopping centre? First world problems.

Actually its a nice feature since asking for directions absolutely suck and the malls does not provide proper map layouts. But if the mall cant even map themselves how do you expect google to do it? ...oh wait, its google! It almost does life for you anyway

[GreyWolf]

So! The new 5C and 5S are out. No real surprises, seeing as everyone knew what was coming.

My thoughts on 5S:
1. That new processor sounds amazing, but iOS is so butter smooth already, will you notice the difference?
2. Finger print scanner -> this is a great idea. More phones should have this.
3. Warm/cold flash -> a bit of a gimmick if you ask me.
4. It looks EXACTLY like the 5, this leads me to a theory: Apple people tend to be early adopters ie. people who like to have the latest thing, and they like other people to know they have the latest thing. The easiest way to do this is by getting the gold (NOT champagne) version of the 5S. I cringe at the thought of SWAGanisats, YOLOing around, blinding everyone with their BLING new toys.
5. Nothing else really stands out, its just improvements over the previous model

My thoughts on the 5C
1. Its the previous model with a bigger battery and plastic case.
2. Not cheap at all.

[Stuart]

I must say, it seemed to be a very low-key event this year. Perhaps that's just my perception. I didn't actually watch it, but the reporting wasn't exactly very exciting.

The new processor does indeed seem impressive, though I for one probably won't notice the difference. The thought of not having to enter your password every time you do something in the App Store or iTunes is nice, though that still needs to come to the iPad and Macs. They can't really implement the same solution for the iPad, because you don't always have your finger close to the home button like you do in the phone, so I'm keen to see what happens in the future in that regard.

I'm not so sure about your early adopter theory. I'd think that Android users would be more guilty of that. In our church recently a guy who works for Samsung put those little NFC pads up on the doors so Android users can walk in, open the necessary app, scan their phones, which will then silence it and open their Bible app. All these Android guys are saying how cool this is, while I can manually silence my phone and open my Bible app in half the time it takes them to do so.

Following last night's event, I fully expect Android fanbois I know to tell me how lame it is that Apple didn't adopt 5G Wi-Fi.

If anything, Apple is a slow adopter of new technology, which pretty much means that Apple users don't have much grounds to boast of being early adopters.

[GreyWolf]

Android users can walk in, open the necessary app, scan their phones, which will then silence it and open their Bible app. All these Android guys are saying how cool this is, while I can manually silence my phone and open my Bible app in half the time it takes them to do so.

I would agree with you that the situation you described is taking a complicated route for a simple task (swipe down (open notifications) , click mute, swipe up(close notifications), click bible ap) is not something that needs to e made more efficient. However, I have used NFC on a number of occasions now to transfer images from my phone to another. (open required image, put phones together, tap image, done)

Apple users don't have much grounds to boast of being early adopters.

Allow me to point you to the lines and lines of people waiting in ques at Apple stores for days before an new Apple product is launched.

[Stuart]

Allow me to point you to the lines and lines of people waiting in ques at Apple stores for days before an new Apple product is launched.

Ah, I see what you mean by "early adopters." Point taken.

[D3PART3D]

I was hoping for a half-price 5C, but oh well...

Apple seems to be intent on using that processor to some benefit. If you look at the new stuff they're doing with the camera, they are trying to get around the camera hardware limitations by using some post processing tricks. Interesting.

This morning I installed iOS7. I don't like the flat icons, they took away the battery charging graphic on the lock screen and that sucks. Otherwise it seems very nice so far.