iOS7

iOS6

iOS7

iOS7 has landed. You can visit Apple's page to find out what's new... not anything that other phones weren't already offering you I suspect...

I wasn't going to bother as when my contract is up in 2 months I'm jumping ship to Samsung and their Android system. Then, this morning, one of my Scottish colleagues rang me with the "You're and Apple girl, will (something or other I'd written instructions for) still work with iOS7. So I added another 800MB to over over the ASDL cap download woes and updated.

Does't it look pretty? Spot the non-Apple apps (Twitter here) who haven't updated their logos to match the new style. 

It is easier to use (once you get the hang of everything being different) and zoomy and accessible... and so very Android (but not as customisable) and not original.

I'm busy at work, so I've only had a moment to look at it - but so far I've fallen out with the Control Centre, the Notifications Centre, the Camera (Instagram anyone) and the Photos. Wait until it hits the iPad which has many more Apple products!

The iOS6 experience

Just prior to the (?anticipated) release of Apple's new iPhone 5 it was time for the rest of the iOS-verse to get a system upgrade to iOS6.

I'd forgotten that it was happening, and the first I knew was when the Better-half mentioned something from the internet at the same time the iPad (happy in its WiFi-verse) asked me if I wanted to update the software. So I did. The phone refused to play WiFi so got plugged into iTunes and left to get on with it whilst I went off to work.

When I arrived at the office I opened up my iPad to check my task-list etc. No WiFi. Never mind I thought, the router is having a bad day - or maybe the update wiped the network settings. Re-booted the router 'unable to join' - tried the local Openzone 'unable to join'. I couldn't check the phone as it was left at home, so a quick straw-poll of colleagues (both with iPhones) one has WiFi one doesn't. Did anyone do the iOS6 update. Person with WiFi "no", person with WiFi "yes". Final test, colleague with Nokia phone. He has WiFi. Has iOS6 broken our WiFi. A cursory Google search confirms many angry people with no WiFi, and no working solutions.

At lunch I speak to the lovely Apple Support (they really are very good). Turns out that there have been troubles but they are mostly fixed; but to get things working again I will need to uninstall and reinstall the update on the iPad using iTunes (because wirelessly sometimes bits get lost!).

When I get home I do this. Do I want to back-up iTunes asks... yes I answer. iTunes then does it's thing and reinstalls the new system - helpfully wiping every app off my iPad and ignoring the whole 'yes I want to back-up' bit. Several hours of pain (after the Better-half and Twitter friends pointed out I could at least find my apps under 'purchased' in the iStore). Happily once reinstalled the back-up bit did seem to have worked and nothing was lost.

So after all that - is iOS6 worth it? Here are a few highlights (and lowlights).

1) Apple hates Google (part 1) We knew it was in the pipeline and now it has happened. Google maps have been dumped in favour of a proprietary (and frankly rubbish) solution. The good people at Mashable have collected some of the best examples. These are funny - but bottom line it isn't fit for purpose. I looked up my own address and it put my house at the wrong end of the street. You can still get Google Maps (in fact they positively encourage you) so I've put a link back on my home screen.

Melting buildings in London

Google Maps: add me!

Apple Maps or Google Maps?!|

2) Apple hates Google (part 2)

Can't keep YouTube down!

The YouTube App has also gone (because you know who owns YouTube) - quietly and without much notice, vanished. Again you can but a link back on your own page. I don't really need it - just because I can!

3) Photostream gets a facelift

Now there is more to Albums

Now Photostream has its own tab and you can make and share photostreams online. This is a godsend for the many people with PCs who don't seem to be able to get their photostreams to work any more (despite restarting all the involved devices, uninstalling the iCloud, etc.).










4) Panoramic photos

Choose from 'options' to start

Lets face it, for a cellphone and a tablet Apple have given their products pretty good cameras. Now you can take a panoramic shot. OK so my camera does the same thing with a better quality, but if I forget my camera and need to take a group shot...

Steady hand required!

5) Passbook

Passbook

The choices, the choices!

I'm not seeing the joy in this one. Firstly the horse has come before the cart. The App is there,the storefront is there... but there is nothing to put in it. I also have a sneaking suspicion that it will be a while before it usefully hits the UK (happy to be proved wrong though!).











6) Extra bits and pieces

Do not disturb!

There are some pretty cool new features to play with. I like 'Do Not Disturb' which will silence incoming calls on schedule without turning the sound on the phone off (I always forget to turn it back on again!). It works too as I had it on last night (I have a friend who often pocket dials me, so this will be invaluable).

Well you can't all be VIPs now.

VIP mail is another good one. This syncs across devices, so having told the iPhone the iPad has the same settings. You can mark email addresses as 'VIP' and they are copied to a different inbox with a different notification sound. Now I know when the Better-half mails me!

What's the time in...

A few standards from the iPhone have appeared on the iPad. A clock (or was that always there and I never noticed, it wasn't in an App group which makes me think it is new). Set up a few world clocks... I like to know the time in our overseas offices and on the coasts of America (for baseball/NFL purposes).

The Weather

Torturing Siri

Siri has come to the iPad. I get to torture Siri all over again... because it was so much fun the first time round. To quote 'My Fair Lady' - limit yourself to the weather and everybody's health.

Good to share

Generally the sharing interfaces are improved and easier to use - superb for Social Network Butterflies like me.

iOS6 - we'll get there in the end!

Of course, for the full low down, as Siri told me when I asked "What's new in iOS6" you can always go and ask Apple.

The Magic of Apps (1)

When I first got my I phone 3G (2 years ago) I spent a great deal of time downloading apps, not using them and ultimately deleting them. I ended up with a core (a still ridiculous 60 or so) which I kept. 

A month and a half ago I got my iPhone 4S. I spent a great deal of time downloading apps (again). The advances in technology (through the iPhone 3GS and 4) means that the phone and the apps work together in a way they didn't before. I deleted a lot of the new ones; but I also re-discovered some old ones which work better than ever before with the latest operating system.

A while ago I was taken with two amazing bright 'stars' in the early evening sky. My 'Planets' app told me that these weren't in fact stars but the planets Jupiter and Venus. It could even turn in the direction I was looking!

So now every so often I turn my eyes skywards once the sun has gone down and see what is in the sky. The app tellls me the constellations; of course if I want the names of the individual stars then I'll need another app!

Technobabble

Christmas - a time for holiday cheer and families and rubbish TV. Also, for me, a time for technology. There isn't a year goes by when somebody doesn't buy me something technological or I don't buy something for myself.

I have more technology in my life than you can swing a stick at. Some years ago the Better-half and I realised that sharing a computer just wasn't feasible... so I got my laptop. As soon as my phone contract was up I got a smart phone (my much loved, and sometimes maligned iPhone).

Over the last decade I've had a succession of digital cameras. From a webcam upwards... I think the early ones took photos less than 1 megapixel; we're now up with 12 or 14. I have a compact camera, a DSLR, a very temperamental video camera and the camera on my iPhone (oh, and the webcam built into the laptop).

But, you can never have enough technology. This year my brother got me the 'Catcorder'. It's an HD pocket video recorder... perfect for recording those Kitten-cat moments. It's also water-proof and shock-proof. It means I can kick the temperamental video camera to the kerb (or more likely sell it on eBay). It also takes photos.

To make digital life easier I'd been wanting (for some time) the Eye-fi card. Once set up this card communicates from your digital device over the wireless network to your computer and a number of nominated websites (in my case Flickr). Once you've got and Eye-fi card and associated account you can also use it on your iPhone (yes, there's an App for that). This means that you can send the pictures from your phone to your computer too. 

For the camera this means that I don't have to keep taking the memory card in and out (and sometimes forgetting to put it back into the camera) and from my phone without having to email them to myself or find the the cable.

Technology rules!

Where would I be without my gadgets?

Ever since my dad got a computer for his home office and I saw 'War Games' when I was a kid I have been fascinated with gadgets and technology.

Because my Dad had his own company he was quite up with gadgetry for the day - I think my Mum still has the bright orange fax machine somewhere... he had a pager when they were the thing to have, and then a car phone when they were the thing to have... and finally one of those bricks that masqueraded as mobile phones, back in the day.

As for the computer. Well the first 'computer' was an Atari... a keyboard you plugged in the TV with a slot for games and a joystick. That was followed by a machine with no hard drive or floppy drives - everything had to be saved to cassette tape - the beginning and the end of my programming language - Basic. The first desktop PC we had (and 'Amstrad compatible') didn't even run Windows... but something that looked very like Windows 3.1 called 'Gem'. There were so few files on it that I knew what each one did and I have files several times the size of the entire hard drive. As for the internet? Not at home, not back then.

Fast forward a quarter of a century. I'm sitting in bed with my laptop; my iPhone and Kindle next to me. Pretty much everything I need to amuse myself and several connections to the outside world - all within arms length!

From my desktop I can easily get all the information I want. From baseball scores, to weather... Rainmeter with the Omnio UI puts it all at my fingertips.

The area showing the 'world clock' is actually one of seven tabs - which include RSS feeds and an application launcher - pretty handy... and photos from Flickr.

If I haven't got as far as the laptop then there is, of course, the iPhone. Although my old 3G is looking a bit past it now and I'm quite tempted on the next upgrade to go with an Android rather than the iPhone 4 (or maybe it will be the iPhone 5 by then). My iPhone pretty much runs my life. It keeps track of things I'm supposed to be doing, reading and remembering. It collects email and sometimes even takes and makes phone-calls!

It has a disgraceful amount of Apps that I hardly ever use, kept around on the basis that they might be useful... and ever since the upgrade to iOS4 which means that they can sit in little groups together rather than clutter up acreage of screen space. I'm particularly fond of things like Dropbox, Evernote, Sugarsync and Memonic which work seamlessly on either phone or web. 

The great thing about the iPhone is that I don't even need to sit up in bed to use it. Were it not for the fact that I have an iPhone and a laptop I would so have some sort of tablet device (iPad or other).

Last but not least is my Kindle. All the books you can read in something rather smaller than a paperback. I have a rule that I do not spend more than £5 on a book - and a lot of them were less than £2 or even free.

I have found the Kindle invaluable for books that I might not have otherwise read... and catching up on the classics I meant to read!

Nat's currently-reading book montage

Nat's favorite books »

Playing games

In my house (unless you want to get down one of the board games or chess sets) there are four ways to play games.

First (my favourite) the Xbox 360 - I currently own over 30 games - ranging from RPG (Assassins Creed and Fable) to quasi-platform games; Spyro, Sonic and the Lego games - and a few more besides. I can easily spend a whole day attached to the Xbox. I am limited only by when my hands seize up!

Second (the most inadvertently time-sapping) internet games. There are dozens of games sites which do nothing but serve you games; the ones I use most are probably King.com, Kongregate and Shockwave. I discovered these when I was laid up in bed with an MS relapse and couldn't do much but lie there with my laptop for company. Just be warned - a lot of these games are addictive! 

Then there are the games that Facebook serves you up - Farmville is probably the most famous. Once upon a time just a side-line for those with some time on their hands these have now become big business for companies. There is so much you can do for free but nearly every iteration of these games has some in game currency which translates to actual money IRL (in real life).

At first it was a few items here and there, but profit is profit. Those hardest hit are probably those who play most; those with little money and a lot of time - the retired, the long-term sick, the unemployed and the stay at home parents. There hasn't been enough of a backlash against these companies who have forgotten who got them where they are.

Third are the Smartphones. There is an iPhone and and Android in this house. Waiting for a late train or sitting in a cafe waiting for a friend it is an easy way to pass five or ten minutes. I favour strategy games, and Shredder has been teaching me (kind of) to play chess.

Lastly (and slightly forgotten these days) are the portable games consoles. I have had a succession of Nintendo offerings (from the Gameboy to the DS) and the better half has the Sony PSP. Somewhat superseded by the Smartphone they are the ultimate for lying on the sofa and doing nothing but gaming - the screens are larger than a phone and the games more involved.

So - now we know why things such as tidying my desk and sorting through junk mail never get done!

iPhone

I finally decided to update my iPhone to iOS4 this weekend. Several of my apps seem to no longer support iOS3 so I had no choice but to bite the bullet. The upgrade process took HOURS. I left it going over-night in the end... it would insist on backing up the phone which is what took all the time.

So now I have the shiny new upgraded system... no multitasking for 3G phones but there are other good things.

iOS4

iOS3

The look has been given an upgrade with the permanent dock now looking more like the images I have seen of the Apple computer desktops. There is also now a fantastic option to group like items together - which saves screen space.

There is also an annoying inclination to archive email messages instead of deleting them. This can be switched off under the email account preferences in Settings.

I think this is actually version 4.01 so maybe it was a good thing I gave it a few weeks for the bugs to be ironed out as I've not had any problems so far (touch wood).

My Top iPhone Apps

The first thing I wanted to do when I got my iPhone was fill it up with useful, life-enhancing, or just plain fun Apps. For about an hour I browsed the App Store seeing what was available, reading reviews and generally getting nowhere fast.

I did internet searches, I read blogs and articles... I think I spent about a day all told... although I did manage to fill six screens with Apps!

So, for what it's worth, here are my top Apps (this week, anyway).



Tube Status - invaluable if you are a London commuter. It tells you which bits of the Underground are (and aren't) working... and updates with a shake! Cost - free.

Tweetie 2 - for Twitter addicts... a beautiful clean and easy to use interface easy to use and read. Cost  - £1.79.

Metro UK - get your daily newspaper fix without getting newsprint fingers. You can download the edition to read offline in the Tube. Cost - free.

Gorilacam - this adds a lot of missing functionaity to the iPhone's very basic camera... including anti-shake and zoom. Cost - free.

ContactsPlus - gives a more comprehensive and photo based interfaced to the iPhone contacts directory. Cost - £0.59 (free 'lite' version available).

Pocket Informant - a calendar/organiser application. This synchs with Google Calendars (which you can in turn synch with Outlook) giving you a total solution. The interface is much improved on the iPhone's native calendar... more like a Blackberry. Cost - £5.99 (free 'lite' version available).

101Classics - get around to reading War and Peace at last (yes, really!) and a hundred other books. Cost - free.

Tap Tap Revenge 3 - I think it is like Guitar Hero (or similar) tap the screen when coloured blobs hit whilst music plays. Dangerously addictive. Cost - free.

Facebook - take the important parts of Facebook with you - easier to read than in the web browser. Cost - free.

Shazam - wonder what that song playing on the TV is? Shazam will tell you just like that. Was surprised to find out how well it works! Cost - free.

Constant Connectivity

One thing that characterises the 21st Century for me is the ability to be constantly connected... to just about anything and everything.

Two weeks ago my phone contract expired... and working in an office with several iPhones I decided that what I really needed was an iPhone.

I was seduced by all those tempting Apps.



In the last fortnight I have learned several things. First (and probably most important) you are never going to use most of the Apps you install - pay for a few you think you will get a lot of mileage out of... go for free ones on the rest, then you don't lose anything when you change your mind and uninstall them!

Second (and more alarming) there is never going to be enough time. The iPhone talks constantly to the internet - email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, SMS messages... the phone becomes like a new appendage!

When JFK was assassinated everyone remembered where they were when they heard the news... even a decade ago on 9/11 most people can tell you what they were doing at the time they heard. The constant exposure to information now means those type of global consciousness moments are probably a thing of the past.