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iOS 8 reviewed

arstechnica.com

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Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#41

Post by daxelrod »

rweir wrote: post #17
untog wrote: post #10

It's ironic - the addition of extensions, custom keyboards and the like was possibly going to be enough to bring me back to iOS from Android - I always preferred the hardware, just wanted a little more flexibility from my software. But now Apple has totally ditched the 4" hardware factor - the main reason I liked the hardware so much. To me, Apple has lost an edge by doing that.

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 to a web browser to look something up, and when you switch back the thing you were writing disappears.)

The user adoption rate of new OSes is ridiculously high. This means you will have maybe 3-6 months after the new OS comes out before apps no longer support the old one.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#42

Post by yalogin »

untog wrote: post #20
rweir wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They're old models, though - and they won't get updates. So I could go through the process of switching from Android to iOS for... one phone generation. Doesn't seem quite so worth it then. EDIT: by updates I mean hardware updates. The 4" form factor is still alive in terms of devices you can buy, but it's dead in terms of development.

Why do you assume that there won't be a 4" model going forward? Do you know how many of those devices they sold? Its dead in terms of development is unwarranted exaggeration at the least.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#43

Post by iaskwhy »

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 have been trying the Mercury Browser lately because some pages just don't load anymore on my iPhone 4. Give it a try.[1]

[1] https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mercury-web-browser/id331012...

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#44

Post by untog »

yalogin wrote: post #42
untog wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're old models, though - and they won't get updates. So I could go through the process of switching from Android to iOS for... one phone generation. Doesn't seem quite so worth it then. EDIT: by updates I mean hardware updates. The 4" form factor is still alive in terms of devices you can buy, but it's dead in terms of development.

Why do you assume that there won't be a 4" model going forward? Do you know how many of those devices they sold? Its dead in terms of development is unwarranted exaggeration at the least.

I assume there won't be a 4" device because they didn't announce one. I'd love to find out that I'm wrong.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#45

Post by acdha »

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 don't use an ad blocker but I also don't have Flash installed. That last step was transformative a few years back when Flash was even slower and unreliable on OS X but it's still a surprising win even now.

The main difference I see now is that people with ad blockers talk about frequenting sites which have tons of ads, which doesn't send a message to the owner and probably actually exacerbates the problem since they'll toss bigger, more intrusive ads in ads the clicks-per-visitor rate drops. If I hit a site like that, I'll just leave and go somewhere else which respects its visitors more, particularly if they're savvy enough to follow the lead of sites like ArsTechnica which allow subscribers to disable ads.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#46

Post by giovannibajo1 »

untog wrote: post #20
rweir wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They're old models, though - and they won't get updates. So I could go through the process of switching from Android to iOS for... one phone generation. Doesn't seem quite so worth it then. EDIT: by updates I mean hardware updates. The 4" form factor is still alive in terms of devices you can buy, but it's dead in terms of development.

The fact that Apple still sells iPhone 5S at 32Gb in addition to 16Gb means that there might still be hope for 4" fans.

If you're about to switch ecosystem and hate anything but 4", I'd get the 5S, it's still a fantastic phone with a top-class processor, top-class camera, awesome screen, good battery, and whatnot. It'll still be updated for 2-3 years software-wise, so it's more than enough for an ecosystem jump; after all, in 3 years, you might want to jump again somewhere else for different reasons.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#47

Post by interpol_p »

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…

It's kind of like when you stop watching TV for years — encountering a TV commercial is a horribly memorable and distracting event. You also develop a hypersensitivity to ads on the web after blocking them for a long time.

If you are used to them and can block them out you're probably mentally doing the same job as an ad blocker.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#48

Post by EpicEng »

Sephiroth87 wrote: post #14
subdane wrote: post #5

Maybe I'm just a corner case, but the "Spotlight, multitasking" section didn't address whether Apple has changed the refresh settings when multitasking between apps. Not a day goes by that I don't switch between open apps (say, Mail and Safari) only to watch the browser content disappear under my fingers while it decides to hit the network and refresh the screen with the same content. This is especially frustrating w…

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.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#49

Post by giovannibajo1 »

untog wrote: post #7
chton wrote: post #4

To pick on just one point of this massive article: The quick actions on notifications are going to be very useful. I hope other OSs implement them too (I'm a WP user myself). They're unobtrusive, and they can make the entire phone feel more natural. They also enable new kinds of quick interaction: imagine an 'OK' button on a text message that lets the sender know you've seen it, without the need to send a message say…

Android has had them for some time, and as you say, they are fantastic. When implemented. It's a weakness of Android that few developers take advantage of all the features - I suspect a lot of apps are made iOS-first, so if a feature isn't available in iOS, it isn't implemented on Android. I hope that iOS gaining this feature will mean it is used a lot more on Android, too.

Yes, though they are more limited in Android: they are just buttons that can jump to the app (= launch a specific intent). On the contrary, the new iOS notifications can have a real interaction; e.g.: you can answer to a message within the notification itself and never switch context.

Re: iOS 8 reviewed

#50

Post by tacoman »

chton wrote: post #4

To pick on just one point of this massive article: The quick actions on notifications are going to be very useful. I hope other OSs implement them too (I'm a WP user myself). They're unobtrusive, and they can make the entire phone feel more natural. They also enable new kinds of quick interaction: imagine an 'OK' button on a text message that lets the sender know you've seen it, without the need to send a message say…

Blackberry 10 has this feature also for BBM and SMS. It's great.
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