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Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall

engadget.com

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Re: Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall

#11
EDIT: who would downvote this? (I'm saying that iOS 5 is nice, but it's mostly just adding features that directly copy its competitor Android, and not even all of them. Android had been copying in 2009-2010, but now it's Apple. A lot of people, even devs, don't realize that Droid has had all these features for months. I hadn't.)

I have an iPhone 4, I've had iPhones for 4 years. I love the iPhone.

I tried a Nexus S with the newest Android recently. Using it, I learned that Android is, frankly, today, ahead of iOS on the phone side.

Android's notification system is better. It's so much better, that Apple directly copied it. Android's hardware back button works, it works well, and it frees up more screen real estate for useful content. Android's home button is more consistent. Its apps are more powerful, google talk video works great. Its wireless seamless binary-only updates are revolutionary.

Apple has fallen behind, and will only catch up with iOS 5 in the Fall. Of course, I fully expect Google to innovate further and be even farther ahead in 2012.

The coolest thing by far, and this is something that Apple won't have in the foreseeable near future, is voice recognition. Google's voice commands work suspiciously well. I find it far easier to press a button and say "text John Appleseed: Hey, let's go to the movies tomorrow at 3" than to navigate menus and type it in. Google's tech recognizes words and phrases I wouldn't expect it to.

Apple still has more apps, but that won't last for too much longer.

I have an iPad 2, and I love it, but my next phone will be a Droid.

Re: Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall

#13
post #11

EDIT: who would downvote this? (I'm saying that iOS 5 is nice, but it's mostly just adding features that directly copy its competitor Android, and not even all of them. Android had been copying in 2009-2010, but now it's Apple. A lot of people, even devs, don't realize that Droid has had all these features for months. I hadn't.) I have an iPhone 4, I've had iPhones for 4 years. I love the iPhone. I tried a Nexus S wi…

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Re: Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall

#15
post #3

I wonder what the fallout from folks like Instapaper and Tap Tap Tap will be. It seems kind of shady for Apple to say Tap Tap Tap's Camera+ couldn't have volume button as a shutter (because it was a UX rule violation), then six months later implement that feature right into iOS.

Marco (Instapaper) has said a number of times on his 5 by 5 podcast that he thinks Reading List either wont affect him much, or it will be a net positive (in terms of sales for him). I think he's correct in believing that Reading List will be a good gateway drug for the people who have never heard of Instapaper but will soon get hooked on the idea and potentially look for a more powerful version of the same tool. Wha…

I don't think he realized that Reading List was going to be on iOS too. Here's his exact response during the keynote: https://twitter.com/#!/marcoarment/status/77796293510037504

Re: Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall

#16
post #3

I wonder what the fallout from folks like Instapaper and Tap Tap Tap will be. It seems kind of shady for Apple to say Tap Tap Tap's Camera+ couldn't have volume button as a shutter (because it was a UX rule violation), then six months later implement that feature right into iOS.

Marco (Instapaper) has said a number of times on his 5 by 5 podcast that he thinks Reading List either wont affect him much, or it will be a net positive (in terms of sales for him). I think he's correct in believing that Reading List will be a good gateway drug for the people who have never heard of Instapaper but will soon get hooked on the idea and potentially look for a more powerful version of the same tool. Wha…

It seems Marco's views have shifted somewhat after seeing the demo: https://twitter.com/#!/marcoarment/status/77796293510037504

I think Instapaper will still be very successful. He may need to raise the price & focus on a smaller "Pro" user-base, though.

Re: Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall

#17
I am going to make this comment and it might be unpopular but it is definitely not meant to be a slag against iOS. I am noticing that a lot of the new iOS features are "missing features" from other mobile OSs... and since I'm really only familiar with iOS and Android so I can only compare those but a short list:

- centralized notification tray - OTA activation - OTA synching - OTA updates - optimized updates - reminders that sync with your calendar - hardware camera buttons - data sych to the cloud (though iCloud is much more complete than Google account sync) - iMessage is being compared to BBM

This is a great for iOS and quite overdue. But at the risk of offending the Apple fans, am I the only one who feels that this update to iOS contains a lot of things that are just to maintain feature parity with other systems vs. outright innovation? Just seemed that much of the features list for iOS this year had a different feel from years past. Maybe it's just me.

Re: Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall

#18
post #17

I am going to make this comment and it might be unpopular but it is definitely not meant to be a slag against iOS. I am noticing that a lot of the new iOS features are "missing features" from other mobile OSs... and since I'm really only familiar with iOS and Android so I can only compare those but a short list: - centralized notification tray - OTA activation - OTA synching - OTA updates - optimized updates - remind…

You are right, but this is exactly how Apple works. Start with very few features and polish to a pristine sheen. Then add new features and proclaim the world is changing.

It certainly has been working for them, and generally, isn't that the type of product development advice anyone in HN would give you? Start simple, polish and iterate.

Re: Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall

#19
post #11

EDIT: who would downvote this? (I'm saying that iOS 5 is nice, but it's mostly just adding features that directly copy its competitor Android, and not even all of them. Android had been copying in 2009-2010, but now it's Apple. A lot of people, even devs, don't realize that Droid has had all these features for months. I hadn't.) I have an iPhone 4, I've had iPhones for 4 years. I love the iPhone. I tried a Nexus S wi…

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