Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

iOS 8 reviewed

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 199 posts

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#61

Post by wingerlang »

daxelrod wrote: post #41
rweir wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eh, totally ditched? the 5s and 5c remains available.

Apple's iPhone support cycle is such that there are significant downsides to getting a device from an older generation. For example: The iPhone 4S was released in October 2011. In October 2013, Apple released iOS 7. While iOS 7 supports the 4S, it increases RAM overhead to the point that switching from app A to app B kills app A the vast majority of the time. (This is terribly annoying when you're writing, you switch…

Really? iPhone 4S can't handle iOS7? I'm using an iPhone 4 on iOS7 without any problems whatsoever, and I'm a heavy user+developer.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#62

Post by archagon »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #11

I really wish I could block ads somehow on my iPad Air. I'm pretty invested in the Apple ecosystem and use an LTE iPad Air almost every day on public transit, and the inability to block ads really makes mobile Safari a shitty experience. I mean, I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on. That and being able to have two apps run side by s…

Fortunately, iOS8 (IIRC) allows apps to finally use the full power of the JS engine, so 3rd party browsers should be able to run as fast as Safari. If you don't mind switching, I'm sure there are 3rd party browsers that allow you to block ads.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#63

Post by blueprint »

sirn wrote: post #23
Someone1234 wrote: post #2

Credit where credit is due, the lack of customisable keyboards was a major gripe of mine when people asked me why I'd never buy an iOS device. A Swype-like keyboard (I actually use Google Keyboard's Swype mode, even though I own Swype) is a "must have" on my phone and has been for over three and a half years (since Swype beta was available on the original Galaxy Note). While there are definitely thumb typists who can…

My usage case is probably a very edge case, but my biggest complaint with Android 3rd party keyboard ecosystem is how hard and inconsistent is to switch between third party keyboards. I like SwiftKey, but I use about three languages daily and SwiftKey is not good enough for two other languages I use (Japanese, Thai), so I have to use other keyboard. Switching between multiple keyboards in Android is totally pain. Thi…

Apple's keyboard API requires that you implement a button for switching to the 'next' keyboard, in the same way that existing iOS keyboards have the button for switching.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#64

Post by archagon »

Someone1234 wrote: post #2

Credit where credit is due, the lack of customisable keyboards was a major gripe of mine when people asked me why I'd never buy an iOS device. A Swype-like keyboard (I actually use Google Keyboard's Swype mode, even though I own Swype) is a "must have" on my phone and has been for over three and a half years (since Swype beta was available on the original Galaxy Note). While there are definitely thumb typists who can…

I'm a little surprised that Apple included custom keyboards. They've always been an "our way or the highway" company, and custom keyboards seem like a very geek-specific feature, even if they are better to type on. Not that I'm complaining! I can finally build a couple of new apps that I wasn't able to before. :)

(If anyone is interested, I'm working on a clone of the existing Apple keyboard for use as a base for developing 3rd party keyboards: https://github.com/archagon/tasty-imitation-keyboard)

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#65

Post by mstolpm »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #11

I really wish I could block ads somehow on my iPad Air. I'm pretty invested in the Apple ecosystem and use an LTE iPad Air almost every day on public transit, and the inability to block ads really makes mobile Safari a shitty experience. I mean, I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on. That and being able to have two apps run side by s…

Two more options for ad blocking on iOS: Weblock is an app/service that works via Proxy configuration, so it blocks most in-app ads as well. For web browsing, iCabMobile is a web browser with build-in ad blocking. (There are others as well, iCabMobile is just the one I like most).

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#66

Post by beering »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #11

I really wish I could block ads somehow on my iPad Air. I'm pretty invested in the Apple ecosystem and use an LTE iPad Air almost every day on public transit, and the inability to block ads really makes mobile Safari a shitty experience. I mean, I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on. That and being able to have two apps run side by s…

You can set up a Privoxy server or a VPN through a server that blocks connections to known ad servers. There are publicly available blacklists of ad and other unwanted servers.

Takes some elbow grease, but the benefits of not loading ads should more than make up for the slowdown from going through a proxy.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#67

Post by barrkel »

untog wrote: post #15
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #11

I really wish I could block ads somehow on my iPad Air. I'm pretty invested in the Apple ecosystem and use an LTE iPad Air almost every day on public transit, and the inability to block ads really makes mobile Safari a shitty experience. I mean, I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on. That and being able to have two apps run side by s…

I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on I'd actually be interested to see an HN poll on this. I do not run an ad blocker and frankly I find most complaints about ads online to be totally overblown. Years ago there was a hellish amount of pop-ups, pop-overs and pop-unders, but these days I really don't have many problems, and I'm happy…

I can't read text on screens that have animations on them.

Well, I can, but it requires a noticeably higher level of focus not to be distracted by movement in my peripheral vision - noticeable enough to be unpleasant.

I just tried disabled my adblocker temporarily; Ars Technica itself has exactly the kind of animated ads that I can't stand.

It's not just ads, though. It's all animations. I use image.animation_mode=once in Firefox to disable looping gif animations, use Flashblock, and generally disable anything that auto-starts whenever possible. The only thing I want animated on my screen is the cursor.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#68

Post by zippergz »

untog wrote: post #15
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #11

I really wish I could block ads somehow on my iPad Air. I'm pretty invested in the Apple ecosystem and use an LTE iPad Air almost every day on public transit, and the inability to block ads really makes mobile Safari a shitty experience. I mean, I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on. That and being able to have two apps run side by s…

I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on I'd actually be interested to see an HN poll on this. I do not run an ad blocker and frankly I find most complaints about ads online to be totally overblown. Years ago there was a hellish amount of pop-ups, pop-overs and pop-unders, but these days I really don't have many problems, and I'm happy…

The only ad blocking I use or need is disabling Flash, and iOS comes with that out of the box.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#69

Post by robbyking »

Someone1234 wrote: post #2

Credit where credit is due, the lack of customisable keyboards was a major gripe of mine when people asked me why I'd never buy an iOS device. A Swype-like keyboard (I actually use Google Keyboard's Swype mode, even though I own Swype) is a "must have" on my phone and has been for over three and a half years (since Swype beta was available on the original Galaxy Note). While there are definitely thumb typists who can…

The lack of a Swype-style keyboard was for me the most difficult part of the transition from Android to iOS. After a few weeks I became comfortable with the iOS keyboard, but never really fluent.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#70

Post by sigzero »

EpicEng wrote: post #48
Sephiroth87 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That simply mean that the app was killed usually for memory reasons, you see the old content because the app shows you a screenshot that was taken before going in the background, and then starts again, thus refreshing

Who cares why it happens? I've gone back and forth between iOS and Android over the years and it never happens to me on my Android devices. Both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses obviously, but this used to piss me off to no end on iOS.

Did you file something with Apple? That is a genuine gripe.
Post reply on HN