iPhones, iPads to be FULL OF FACEBOOK and NOT GOOGLE If you're harboring any doubts about bad blood bubbling between Apple and Google, Cupertino's iOS headman Scott Forstall dispelled them on Monday when introducing the next version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 6. "They released a dairy product, 4.0, about the same time that we released iOS 5," Macworld quotes* …
Hmm, some of those call handling options sound very similar to Profiles on older Nokia handsets
I seem to remember an app on my E61 that would do pretty much everything described in terms of call handling/messaging etc and was location aware (granted via cell mast id rather than GPS but at least it didn't nag you to switch on wifi to improve accuracy ).
Was very useful as it would switch profiles when you got into the office or back home or any other location you setup.
Of course if Apple provided the relevant API access then 3rd party devs could have done the same some time ago.
I think Apple might be having much the same thoughts about WM8 and many other commentators namely that it is irrelevant.
The question then is...
Are google & apple going to get their noses severely put out of joint by the 10 of millions of WM8 phones that are gonig to be sold in the next 12-15 months.
somehow I don't think so. I think WM8 may get 10% of the market (thus filling the sector vacated by BB)
Windows PHONE 8. although the numbers don't look any more significant when you call it the right thing. I'd really like it to be relevant to Apple, but it's not at the moment. There is a nod to it in the article, in that FB integration has been in it from the start (a lot of other stuff hasn't - I KNOW), but there is the balance of the device.
I expect Redmond to keep mum about WP8 for a few more months - or does anyone know when we're likely to hear if they have anything to wow us with soon? E312 tells us we'll get a zune rebrand.
"In addition, the Maps app is vector-based, making zooming and rotation smooth and seamless – and making Google Maps look oh-so last decade – and supporting a 3D Flyover mode with real-time rendering of buildings in select locations."
Google Maps on Android have been vector based for some time (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/17/google_maps/). It looks like Apple (quite reasonable) got upset with being offered an inferior service.
I'm really not sure about this integration with Facebook. Facebook usage is going to gradually shrink as they hack off more and more users to the point that having such integration in your phone is going to be as silly as sharing to BeBo or MySpace or Friends Reunited.
It would have been better if they'd had a "Social Networking" button (or equivalent) and then used plug-ins for the site of your choice. That would have future-proofed against sites tanking after their IPO, although I guess they don't want too much interoperability with G+.....
That button you mention is already in Android. It uses "intents" so that any app can be set up as a handler of various sharing methods or other actions. So sharing a URL to twitter, facebook, pinterest, friends reunited etc is nothing new to Android users, but we can choose which ones are in the list by installing only the apps we want. In addition, Facebook calendar events are already imported into my calendar and recent status updates appear in my contacts list. Well done for "innovating", apple!
Perhaps the reason so many Android users are on an older version is because it works and does exactly what people want without needing to throw the whole thing away each year when the next release comes out with a pointless feature which doesn't work properly outside the US and which renders the older hardware obsolete requiring the whole piece of kit to be replaced?
Not so much to do with being in the US or not - more pot luck based on your combination of country, device and carrier (if network-locked). With Android, you never really know when, or even IF, you'll get OS updates. Unlike Apple's controlled managed ecosystem, Android has so many parties with competing interests.
Once Google release a new version, the handset companies then mess around with it to make it better/worse, then they have to work on the 'customised' builds for the carriers - that's assuming your carrier cares about supporting your existing phone. More often than not, the carrier would prefer you to buy a new phone and lock you into another 12 18 24 month contract.
The difficulty rejecting calls from the lock screen has always bugged me as the screen only has the option to accept a call, if you press the power button once it silences it but does not reject it, if you press it twice, then it rejects it. How intuitive is that. So much better than pressing a hang up button like every other phone I have owned. And yes I do have an iPhone.
Back sometime last millenium I had an old Panasonic that could do pretty much everything that these changes give you. Except that phone would allow you to do a partial lock which meant you could make calls to people in your contacts list anytime but needed to enter a code to dial a new number - great for a phone for the kids.
This iOS6 seems to be more of a iOS5.1, what major things does it change? A new maps app, so exciting.
The core mapping and navigation software has been supplied to Apple by TomTom. [ http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120611006133/en/Apple-License-TomTom’s-Content ].
TomTom's mapping data, in turn, comes from TeleAtlas. Who also provide Google with mapping for large chunks of the globe, so this is partly a case of cutting out the middleman.
The 3D fly-by function is from Swedish company C3 Technologies, acquired by Apple several months ago. If you want to see this technology in action, have a look at http://maps.nokia.com/3d ... just be prepared to waste half a day -- especially if you live in one of the cities with full 3D mapping.
I've only ever heard of Apple complaining about this, and they don't even develop for Android. Dare I say they're spreading FUD?
Also, Google update core apps for older versions of Android anyway, where as Apple roll them into a whole new version of their OS. For example, a device with Android 2.2 will get the latest version of Google Maps, where as a Iphone older than the 3GS wont get the latest version of Apple's "new" mapping system.
Furthermore, Apple is to a degree hiding it's own "fragmentation". Yes, the 3GS gets IOS 6, but it doesn't get the same feature set as the 4, or 4S. (Siri, anyone? It was working fine on the 3GS till Apple pulled it...)
Sorry, but I really can't see Apple being able to achieve even 10% of what Google Maps is.
Sure they own PlaceBase and C3, nut neither of these have the resources to map every single street in every single country around the world.
Whilst they may get similar 3D maps of major US cities (as Google are doing), they won't get ANYWHERE near the global mapping data of Google, which over global satellite maps, 3D maps, streetview and turn by turn navigation.
Prepare for a downgrade Apple owners.
That marketing.apple.com re-supply that pie chart this time next year so we can see how many devices they 'obsoleted' from ios6.
Apparently all ipad1's for a start, and I'm willing to bet only the 4s phone onwards gets #6 which is maybe why they released that incremental 'meh' version of the 4, to obsolete the rest this year with a new ios to hopefully force the shiny pavlovian massive to get the V5 phone so they could spout hyperbole.
I can see a lot of things in iOS 6 that I think I will really like... but seeing this "eyes free" thing does make me a little mad.
I've very much had this with my Nokia bluetooth hands free car kit for many years, it worked perfectly through iOS 4, the display telling me a whole load of things about the status of the network and my calls.
Then comes iOS5 and suddenly half of that no longer works. Patiently waiting for the first patches made no difference and despite the many comments on the Apple Communities forum there is still no fix. My local Apple store fobbed me off telling me "it must be the Nokia, get them to upgrade it"... which they can't because it's not made to be able to do that! Sending feedback via their website has made no difference either.
So, come on Apple, you have made some brilliant devices and have some fantastic ideas but how about listening to your customers and fixing what's broken?
Can't see the UK versions being much better than diabolical though, especially live traffic and all that. Siri is worse than useless here still if you want to find anything local and I don't see that changing either.
Or is there some reason why UK & Europe maps should be useable?
What I would like to see is the option to "buy" Google Maps. Like, a paid-for version. I don't care how many gigabytes it would take to put all that lovely satellite imagery and vector mappage onto an SD card, I'd just like the option to use Maps without an Internet connection!
Right now, the offline caching is a bit so-so. Only the vectors are pre-cached (so no satellite view), and you have to cache each journey as you plan it. Want to change plans halfway through the journey? Well, you need a network connection. In the middle of the M6 with a wifi-only device is not the best place for that.
Oh well, I guess there's always CoPilot.
This OS release is another iPhone 4s. Lacks innovation and essentially its just catching up with android 2.3. Was it really worth a 6!!! 5.2 maybe?
Honestly i was disappointed by this i thought they where going to fix the dated OS interface with something new and fresh. Had an iPad 3 for a bit but hated it, the OS was worthless.
In face everything Apple has announced has been poor so far. The new Mac Pros look good, but that retina display is going to need some punch to push that many pixels no hight end games im afraid.
Apple will be fine though the blind Fan boys are already lapping up the waste coming out of Apple heralding it to be the greatest innovation man has ever seen.
On another note i hope car manufacturers have the sense to use NFC or something for the in car stuff. Limiting yourself to one phone with a Apple only connection seems like a poor move.
>According to Apple, most iOS devices are up-to-date. Android, not so much<
I call FUD. Unless you include working iphones (original, 2, 3 etc) - and for ios6 you can now include the original ipad and iphone 4, compared to the fact that ICS was never designed to work on the older tech android phones like HTC Wildfire which are still widely in use. (NOTE: Wrote this before reading the comments).
>Facebook integration<
Thank the gods, because Zuckerbergs ios app (for ipad at least) is beyond useless, you still can't share other peoples posts, and you have to go on the website just to ensure what you posted in the app 'took'.
>and what appear to be vastly improved Chinese-language capabilities<
Our new BFF, and who are in no way guilty of human rights violation that would ensure the leaders burned in hell (if such existed), after death - let's just hope karma proves true.
>Safari Updates...
Jeez, finally a full screen option (via tap no less), well done Apple, only taken you three years to do this - still no touch options to navigate (like swipe right quickly to go back a page), maybe ios7, eh?
"making Google Maps look oh-so last decade"
They've got ALOT of work to do to make the iPhone not look so oh-so-last-century, with its naff glass and steel (dodgy pre2000 kitchens look and feel)
No wonder they are developing iOS6. After all iOS5< was just rubbish. Apple do seem to have some good ideas but not many, and not many NEW (i.e. not someone else's regurgitated) ideas.
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