the tablet war is heating up

[Janx]

Wasn't trying to negate your point, just providing some information on the likely "still modern" state of iOS devices.

History thus far shows that 2.5-3 years is the point at which the older devices start to have issues, not being able to update their OS and therefore run apps. Hasn't been much history yet, though, so who knows.

It's a very young industry, which tends to mean lots of advances that are more likely to obsolete older equipment more quickly. Nearly all of today's Windows apps will still run on XP, and many of them will still run on Win2k. That's a solid 10 year span. Windows 1 couldn't (generally) run Windows 2 apps, despite being only 2 years apart, and Windows 2 couldn't run Windows 3 apps despite only a 3 year span.

It makes sense, I think, because the most innovative ideas are likely to come early in a technology's life cycle.

As I extropolated on the iPhone, the 3g and older models can't run iOS4. When iOS3 came out, Apple had mandated that all apps needed to certify to run with iOS3. This causes a push-out effect of the older devices. Sure, the apps you have will still run. But no new updates or innovations. Hence, the user will be tempted to upgrade.

Furthermore, as with older iPhones, the battery lifespan was about 18 months average. My 3g was good for the 2.4 years I had it, but I could tell the battery wasn't lasting as long. I assume the newer models have batteries that live longer, but still, as an embedded component, it's a driver towards replacement.

Additionally, as FL mentioned, portable stuff wears out faster. Plus people are hard on things. People drop their phones, drive off with it on top the car, let their kids play with it, have little regard for "it's raining and you're wearing $200+ in electronics".

Conversely, PCs sit around on a desk all day. Unless you're a gamer loading in the newest graphics hogs, you'll probably be using mostly the same software as when you bought it. Excepting the browser and its plugins (and even then, do you know how many rigs I see where they've never upgraded/patched ANYTHING).

Another odd trait I see is the casualness with which some people hop from carrier to carrier, phone to phone. To me, investing in iOS hardware is akin to deciding on windows vs. linux. I've got my whole NAS archictecure setup to support it. Switching vendors would waste money on apps and music that have been purchased. Yet some folks are buying new phones every year. there's a cultural effect that some people are driven to keep buying the newer version.

 

[falcarrion]

The funny thing is that I can remember a time when people replaced cars every year.

 

[Alan Shutko]

As I extropolated on the iPhone, the 3g and older models can't run iOS4.

Just for nitpickiness, the 3G can run iOS4, but cannot run iOS 4.3 or higher, and cannot use some features in 4.0-2.

 

[Banshee16]

The funny thing is that I can remember a time when people replaced cars every year.

Wow.....I'm in the wrong career! Every year?

I'm still finishing payments for the car I bought at the end of 2006..

I've seen people replace a leased vehicle every 3 years but every year? That's a lot of $$$

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

This applies to the iPad as much as the iPhone, so I figure it's ok to respond.

First let me say that iOS sucks in many ways and I'm regularly irritated with it. That said, some responses that will likely help you with iOS:


It was auto-corrected, but it was also a typo, in that auto-correct suggestions only match the number characters you type and their positions. In this case you likely typed something like "janged" or "yanged" and, knowing that J/Y are close to H it suggested "hanged." If you'd typed "cjanged" or "cyanged" it would have suggested "changed." Auto-correction can still totally suck and often does, but I figure it's worth noting how the tech works.


Hmm. The built-in Calendar app does do that. I just added this event with a phone number in the Notes section and it's immediately hotlinked to placing a call. The same happens with calendar items I add in Gmail and Outlook:

A: Anything that looks like a phone number will be highlighted (along with email addresses, urls, and street addresses).

B: Tapping on it pops up a dialog that allows you to call the number tapped.


You might not, but no lesser security organization than Sophos considers their security to be comparable.


While it took until iOS 4 was released a year ago, in-page searching is definitely available in the built-in Mobile Safari app; you just need to know how to use it (it's somewhat obscure). I used it on the main ENWorld page for this example:

A: On any page click in the Google search field in the upper-right of the browser and type your search.

B: An "On this page" bar will appear right above the keyboard.

C: Swipe up on it and the keyboard will disappear and the in-page search options will be displayed (multi-word search and partial matches can provide additional options). Tap on the search term.

D: The page is again displayed with the first match highlighted.

E: Use the Next and Previous buttons in the newly-visible toolbar at the bottom of the browser to navigate from match to match.

---

Again, plenty of problems, and I agree with several of your complaints wholeheartedly, but I figured I'd provide some tips on the ones that are solvable/solved.

That's an excellent post. I've tried some of these, and can replicate some of the tricks, but not the others.

I typically book events in Google Apps, which are then populated to my phone.. If I do it that way, the phone number is not highlighted, and not clickable. If I book it through the phone itself, then it is. The fact that I rarely book events on my phone is, I guess, why it hasn't worked for me in the past.

I tried putting addresses in, but they don't work. Not clickable.

I also tried the inpage search, and haven't been able to get that to work. I can see a highlighted grey bar that says "On This Page" but it's neither clickable or swipeable. If I touch it, nothing happens. If I swipe it, nothing happens. If I keep it highlighted, and then click the search term, then it turns around and searches Google, and shows me the search results for that term, as if I'd done a search on Google.

For instance, I went to the website for a local computer store. I found on the page "Store Hours" by looking at the page. I then tried doing a search for "store hours", and saw the "On this page" bar. However, after swiping and touching, none of that worked. I then touched "Store Hours" in the suggested searches, and ended up getting a Google search results page showing "store hours" as it appears on the websites of a bunch of local retailers....none of whom were the one I had been on when I ran the search.

If it's just a matter of user skill/understanding of using the interface, fine.....but I'd still say it doesn't seem the most useable.

Is it also possible that iPhones associated with different providers may not function entirely the same, from one provider to another? Maybe the software is slightly different?

Banshee

 

[Relique du Madde]

Is it also possible that iPhones associated with different providers may not function entirely the same, from one provider to another? Maybe the software is slightly different?

From the rumors I heard, yes. I've read that stated that the Verison iPhones suck compared to ATT&T ones. However, its hard to say if it was pro-AT&T propaganda or not.

 

[falcarrion]

Wow.....I'm in the wrong career! Every year?

I'm still finishing payments for the car I bought at the end of 2006..

I've seen people replace a leased vehicle every 3 years but every year? That's a lot of $$$

Banshee

that was back in the 60's.

 

[Banshee16]

that was back in the 60's.

Oh.....ah......not that I'm a whipper snapper, but that's before I was born..

I've heard things were different back then, when my parents' generation had to walk to school, backwards, both ways, in a snowstorm, in July, getting chased by polar bears...

I'm sure some day a younger generation will say "what, what do you mean there was no internet, and no video games? What did you do?"

I'm being entirely tongue in cheek here, just to be clear...no disrespect intended.

Banshee

 

[falcarrion]

Oh.....ah......not that I'm a whipper snapper, but that's before I was born..

I've heard things were different back then, when my parents' generation had to walk to school, backwards, both ways, in a snowstorm, in July, getting chased by polar bears...

I'm sure some day a younger generation will say "what, what do you mean there was no internet, and no video games? What did you do?"

I'm being entirely tongue in cheek here, just to be clear...no disrespect intended.

Banshee

When I was younger I used to have to get up two hours before I went to bed to get ready for school....

 

[John Crichton]

I tried to use my monitor the other day at work by pressing on the screen.