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iOS 8 reviewed

arstechnica.com

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161–170 of 199 posts

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#161

Post by josteink »

foobarqux wrote: post #139
Igglyboo wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try uBlock, it is much faster than ABP and uses way less resources. Or do it the good old fashion way and use a HOSTS file with the added advantage that ads will be blocked on your entire computer and not just your browser.

Does uBlock block Youtube ads? I tried its precursor and I remember it wasn't working on YT.

I was actually completely unaware that Youtube had ads for a long, long time. I'm not sure I could move to a solution where I would be forced to watch them.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#162

Post by shurcooL »

kuhnster wrote: post #111

Has anyone considered if the iPhone is a good choice of you are a Gmail user? I have noticed that the Gmail app load time, on the iPhone, is unusably slow but it is one of the apps I need to use daily.

I use the Gmail app on my iOS device daily, it works great.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#163

Post by frik »

shurcooL wrote: post #104

> Mobile Safari also picks up support for WebGL, an API that has been supported in recent mobile versions of Chrome and Internet Explorer for a while now. For me, that's the feature of iOS 8 I'm most excited about. I'm really looking forward to do some hobby graphics/game development using Go and have that run on my iOS device.

WebGL support on iOS 8 is the best new feature for me.

It looks like there are still some limitations that Apple could fix: http://codeflow.org/entries/2014/jun/08/some-issues-with-app...

about 75% of all user already have a browser with WebGL support: http://webglstats.com/

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#164

Post by clarky07 »

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…

i have a 4s that i got in 2011 that works fine on iOS 8. frankly their support cycle is far better than with any other options. perhaps the year old phone won't last quite as long as the new phone, but it will probably last long enough to want a new phone. the 5s is a great phone and will be supported for at least the next 3+ years

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#165

Post by manacit »

dewey wrote: post #113
kuhnster wrote: post #111

Has anyone considered if the iPhone is a good choice of you are a Gmail user? I have noticed that the Gmail app load time, on the iPhone, is unusably slow but it is one of the apps I need to use daily.

Is there a specific reason you are using the Gmail app instead of the OS provided mail app?

Push notifications, I believe, don't happen in Mail.app?

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#166

Post by scott_karana »

mwcampbell wrote: post #119
scott_karana wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kinda strange, honestly: 2011's state-of-the-art Android phones (Galaxy S2) had 1GB RAM, and yet Apple is still stuck on that maximum, while Android has long moved on to 2GB on flagships. Kind of a shame :(

Perhaps Apple can afford to keep iiOS devices at 1 GB of RAM and thus save battery life because iOS uses automatic reference counting rather than garbage collection, so applications' memory high watermarks stay lower. I imagine that's what Drew Crawford would argue, anyway (see http://sealedabstract.com/rants/why-mobile-web-apps-are-slow... ).

Why would they save any notable battery life?

I was under the impression that RAM had only negligible differences in consumption per-module, and capacity per-module has increased dramatically.

Besides, the main source of power usage is the screen.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#167

Post by mwcampbell »

scott_karana wrote: post #166
mwcampbell wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps Apple can afford to keep iiOS devices at 1 GB of RAM and thus save battery life because iOS uses automatic reference counting rather than garbage collection, so applications' memory high watermarks stay lower. I imagine that's what Drew Crawford would argue, anyway (see http://sealedabstract.com/rants/why-mobile-web-apps-are-slow... ).

Why would they save any notable battery life? I was under the impression that RAM had only negligible differences in consumption per-module, and capacity per-module has increased dramatically. Besides, the main source of power usage is the screen.

Isn't RAM more of a factor for power consumption when in standby?

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#168

Post by k-mcgrady »

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've found that as Apple gradually made the keyboard smarter and more predictive my ability to thumb type has gotten worse. I've noticed myself hitting letters perfectly and Apple 'thinks' I meant the letter next to it instead. I've been using their iOS 8 keyboard for a while and honestly it's not great. It still has the above issues and the prediction row is n't very predictive. I'm looking forward to switching to Swype as I love it when I play with my Android device.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#169

Post by snowwrestler »

archagon wrote: post #64
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 dev…

I don't think Apple objects to geeky features in general--OS X ships with a pretty robust CLI and it doesn't get much geekier than that.

I think they just want to first make sure that the default user interface is totally solid and easy to use, and that the geeky stuff will not harm that. That way geeks can opt into power user stuff, but regular users don't even have to know it's there.

iOS has seen a steady progression of power-user functionality: SDK, cut/copy/paste, app switching, detailed notifications settings, cloud storage and syncing, etc. But if you go back to the original iPhone UI, the basics will still work that way in iOS 8.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#170

Post by jl6 »

Now that the iPhone has a big screen, there's only one feature it's missing before I'd be happy to trade in my Android: background camera upload syncing for Dropbox that doesn't cut out after 10 minutes.

Edit: would appreciate an explanation for the downvote. Does iOS already allow this and I missed it?

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