I was never a fan of Steve Jobs (by many accounts he was not a very likeable individual) but I have to say, after pretty much creating the entire global market for smartphones and tablets, Apple seems to have been largely treading water since his demise, creatively speaking.
I guess the main problem is that they took such a quantum leap with the first iPhone that it's gotten very hard to invent new amazing things to improve on the original concept.
The competition isn't really ahead of Apple - they've just copied them and added small things like bigger screens, higher resolutions, near field tech, and probably some other smaller things too...but there has NOT been any significant advance in technology since the first iPhone.
...and in alll fairness - I can't even imagine where to take the concept to make the same leap in technology as they started out with.
From now it'll be alll smaller incremental improvements - the time for earth shattering inventions is probably over.
From now it'll be alll smaller incremental improvements - the time for earth shattering inventions is probably over.
I'm thinking Google glass will be the next earth shattering invention, or at least lead to it. Phone, internet, GPS navigation etc all displayed in your glasses. Real wearable/usable technology...I think that apple watch will be a flop.
Flexible displays too when they come to commercial fruition will be a big leap...a phone/device in a pen, you just pull the flexible display out of it for example.
I guess the main problem is that they took such a quantum leap with the first iPhone that it's gotten very hard to invent new amazing things to improve on the original concept.
The competition isn't really ahead of Apple - they've just copied them and added small things like bigger screens, higher resolutions, near field tech, and probably some other smaller things too...but there has NOT been any significant advance in technology since the first iPhone.
The problem with this view is that Apple didn't do anything new in the original iPhone hardware. Yes they repackaged it brilliantly and gave it a coherent usable operating system but all the hardware was already out there. The killer move was having a unified app store together with iTunes all under the same roof and making the whole thing simple to use. In hardware technology terms Apple has always been behind everyone else and normally by at least a couple of years. NFC is an excellent example of this. I have had it on my Nexus for a couple of years but nowhere to use it in the UK. Now Apple have included it together with the backend systems required then it will start to get traction and, no doubt, become one of Apples great inventions.
For a few years now Apple have been chasing the field . Some of the statements that have been made in the past by Apple (mostly Job's but as the company spokesman you have to say it was company policy) are now laughable in comparison to reality. These two new phones are the prime example, We don't do bigger screens because they are wrong, oops... look at the market share flying away to bigger screen phones, quick bring out a bigger screen model. Same with tablets but the other way round.
Real wearable/usable technology...I think that apple watch will be a flop.
It does look too much like a cheap casio watch from Argos to me, pretty-much like every other smartwatch before it! Don't wear watches myself, and not really into the idea of Google Glass or smartwatches, but if I was going to wear one I think the Moto 360 is actually the first non uber-nerdy-looking attempt I've seen:-
Looks almost like a nice, "normal" watch, if a bit big.
i had an mp3 player watch years ago. its great till you realise you have to charge the thing up all the time, it was off my wrist more than it was on it. :grin:
I but if I was going to wear one I think the Moto 360 is actually the first non uber-nerdy-looking attempt I've seen
Looks almost like a nice, "normal" watch, if a bit big.
It's precisely this unbalanced "bigness" that doesn't work for me. Circular dial is no doubt an attempt to differentiate the watch from it's nearest competitors like Samsung, Sony, Pebble, LG (although they are coming out with a circular dial themselves) and recently Apple. But from the reviews I've read it seems to be just form over function and that's no good.
TBH, the Apple Watch is a bit disappointing in terms of looks (OTOH, what was everyone expecting?). But they do seem to have the balance right. It's got some nice curves (ooeer!) and looks good on the wrist, which I daresay is what many people would be more concerned with.
As to function, I would trust Apple to do this better than any other major vendor out there at the moment, simply because they have complete control over their ecosystem. But on the positive side, it will push the Android manufacturers to do it better. And they will eventually do it better because the Android platform is ahead in terms of features to market. They just need to put the pieces together properly.
Smartwatches strike me as a solution to a problem nobody has. I've yet to see a single competing reason for their existence at all. Google glass has more obvious applications, but its such a nerd idea of what cool technology should be like that I can never see out catching on.
Rather glad I don't have an iWhatever at this point though, U2 haven't put out a decent album in decades and having their latest effort forced into my playlist sounds most unpleasant!
U2 have been on the Apple bandwagon for years....remember the i-Pod ads from about 10 years ago, them pricks were all over them.
Exactly, 10 years ago when they where still something (well not to me, I could never stand them and their music).
Apple was always about being the cool kid in the class. in 2014 U2 or Perry Como is pretty much the same thing. One would have guessed they would go for someone like Beyonce...
Still, its not far from the truth, I was actually thinking of driving into Germany to Hamburg (as they have an Apple store there) and wait in cue for the iPhone, but sadly there is only a 1 year warranty on their electronics. In Denmark its 2 years. So I'll just do what I usually do and sit up until midnight on "release day" and hit refresh in the browser to purchase it asap. Then it'll take a month or so to actually arrive.
As per the poor taste in comparing the iPhone to other smartphones, one forgets that other phones just aren't smart at all. Thats the major difference. Nothing worse than getting an Android and turning on and BAM! Its full of spam apps and viruses e.t.c.
Anyway, not to bash them entirely, I have lusted for the larger screen for ages.
As for the Apple watch, hmmmm, I can see its "functional" as such. Pity it only works if you already have an iPhone. i.e. you can't use it without an iPhone. Thats pretty lame.
My wife says that "sending your heartbeat" is outright ridiculous, but I said "well we can tap each other, I can send 3 taps which means lets meet and you can send 1 tap for yes 2 taps for no". Argh, it does indeed sound ridiculous.
Anyway, iPhone 6 Plus is what I'm getting. Just bought a 4S as a backup phone which I always liked that design the best.
As usual Samsung takes cheap potshots at Apple. Listen up yo, try to f*****ng innovate something yourself for once!
Nothing worse than getting an Android and turning on and BAM! Its full of spam apps and viruses e.t.c.
I have a Nexus 5 which ships with "pure" Android in the same way an iPhone ships with "pure" IOS. What spam apps are on my phone when I switch it on which don't have exact Apple equivalents?
(Obviously I don't count any apps for all the hardware features the iPhone doesn't have)
Accessing Google Play store for example. Tons of stuff there unhealthy.
At least the Apple store vigorously checks the app before its allowed to upload.
However, if you enjoy using your Android phone, then thats perfectly fine of course :)
I grant you the app store is safer than than Google Play but it's not immune from malware by any means.
I assume from the way you ignored my actual point you concede that either Apple ships the same spam apps as google as a base part of the OS or if Apple doesn't ship crud then neither does Google in Android.
At least Googles crud works, unlike Apples mapping appp when they dropped Google maps.
In the last couple of years I've used both an iPhone and an Android Phone and it's safe to say I'll never touch an Apple product ever again. They don't really care about their userbase or I should say they only really care if they're playing money to Apple. They don't encourage creativity and their terms and conditions are almost a violation of a persons human rights.
As far as I can see Android is for the people, Apple is for the Apple shareholders.
As far as I can see Android is for the people, Apple is for the Apple shareholders.
Android exists because Google's primary business, targeted advertising, relies on knowing as much about your life as physically possible. Don't kid yourself it's anything more than that.
Android exists because Google's primary business, targeted advertising, relies on knowing as much about your life as physically possible. Don't kid yourself it's anything more than that.
2 + 2 = 5 and all that....
Don't worry I don't but it seems to me they encourage people to develop for it far more than Apple ever would. Apple are far too controlling.
I grant you the app store is safer than than Google Play but it's not immune from malware by any means.
I assume from the way you ignored my actual point you concede that either Apple ships the same spam apps as google as a base part of the OS or if Apple doesn't ship crud then neither does Google in Android.
At least Googles crud works, unlike Apples mapping appp when they dropped Google maps.
That article relates to a BUG in the app, not actual malicious intent. Bloggers & Fox News e.t.c. and such always try to spin a story, or make a mountain out of a mole hill.
Of course no one system is 100% perfect, but for the average user it "just works" - Just like Steve Jobs says it does :)
Not deliberately ignoring your question - there are indeed a few (note the word "few") default apps that accompany an iPhone/iPod/iPad and most of these you can just opt to not install (such as find my iphone or iBooks) but some apps are there no matter what, such as "Newsstand".
However, ask yourself this:
What use is a smartphone if there isn't a default app such as "phone" or "messenger" ?
Then you'd just get a blank slate with nothing to do on it?
Unfortunately for Apple, they seem to have adopted the absolute Google/Microsoft icon UI, i.e. kindergarten colour crap that is crappy icons :(
Although we can't get it all, Apple at least satisfies 98% (According to Tim Cooks presentation on stage) whereas Google / Android stuff satisfies what?
Like he said - "I wonder what those tablets are doing? Just sitting on the shelf in the stores"
As far as I can see Android is for the people, Apple is for the Apple shareholders.
I don't think so.
Even though I'm a shareholder and we recently just enjoyed a 7/1 stock split, by no means is an indication that Apple is only for shareholders.
I think majority of users aren't shareholders at all.
But for the clever ones amongst us - we enjoy the benefits of owning some stock, because we saw ahead, adhered to the ideologies of Apple and it brought us nice earnings :)
Its better to trust Apple than not.
This is like the Guns are good vs Guns are bad debate thread. There's seemingly no middle ground
iOS vs Android, pretty similar these days. I've used both, but got currently got Android phone & tablet. Main reason - I could get a ?100 7" tablet with Micro SD. And for what I want if for - I don't need retina class display.
But for my parents I got them an iPad. I think the locked down App store is far safer. Although iTunes (on a PC) was a complete pile of #*&# last time I used it, although there's less need to use it these days.
No offence intended to the Apple fans, but it's the entire "isn't apple wonderful / cool / ethical" attitude that really grinds by gears. Plus the guaranteed coverage on the news - seeing people queuing up on the day of release for a ?600+ phone - when 90+% of them will have the current iPhone, is consumerism gone mad.
Comments
The competition isn't really ahead of Apple - they've just copied them and added small things like bigger screens, higher resolutions, near field tech, and probably some other smaller things too...but there has NOT been any significant advance in technology since the first iPhone.
...and in alll fairness - I can't even imagine where to take the concept to make the same leap in technology as they started out with.
From now it'll be alll smaller incremental improvements - the time for earth shattering inventions is probably over.
My games for the Spectrum: Dingo, The Speccies, The Speccies 2, Vallation, SQIJ.
Twitter: Sokurah
I'm thinking Google glass will be the next earth shattering invention, or at least lead to it. Phone, internet, GPS navigation etc all displayed in your glasses. Real wearable/usable technology...I think that apple watch will be a flop.
Flexible displays too when they come to commercial fruition will be a big leap...a phone/device in a pen, you just pull the flexible display out of it for example.
Oxymoron of the week!
Hah, yeah, thought about that when I wrote it, but thought "what the hell, they'll know what I mean". :D
My games for the Spectrum: Dingo, The Speccies, The Speccies 2, Vallation, SQIJ.
Twitter: Sokurah
The problem with this view is that Apple didn't do anything new in the original iPhone hardware. Yes they repackaged it brilliantly and gave it a coherent usable operating system but all the hardware was already out there. The killer move was having a unified app store together with iTunes all under the same roof and making the whole thing simple to use. In hardware technology terms Apple has always been behind everyone else and normally by at least a couple of years. NFC is an excellent example of this. I have had it on my Nexus for a couple of years but nowhere to use it in the UK. Now Apple have included it together with the backend systems required then it will start to get traction and, no doubt, become one of Apples great inventions.
For a few years now Apple have been chasing the field . Some of the statements that have been made in the past by Apple (mostly Job's but as the company spokesman you have to say it was company policy) are now laughable in comparison to reality. These two new phones are the prime example, We don't do bigger screens because they are wrong, oops... look at the market share flying away to bigger screen phones, quick bring out a bigger screen model. Same with tablets but the other way round.
U2 have been on the Apple bandwagon for years....remember the i-Pod ads from about 10 years ago, them pricks were all over them.
Looks almost like a nice, "normal" watch, if a bit big.
It's precisely this unbalanced "bigness" that doesn't work for me. Circular dial is no doubt an attempt to differentiate the watch from it's nearest competitors like Samsung, Sony, Pebble, LG (although they are coming out with a circular dial themselves) and recently Apple. But from the reviews I've read it seems to be just form over function and that's no good.
TBH, the Apple Watch is a bit disappointing in terms of looks (OTOH, what was everyone expecting?). But they do seem to have the balance right. It's got some nice curves (ooeer!) and looks good on the wrist, which I daresay is what many people would be more concerned with.
As to function, I would trust Apple to do this better than any other major vendor out there at the moment, simply because they have complete control over their ecosystem. But on the positive side, it will push the Android manufacturers to do it better. And they will eventually do it better because the Android platform is ahead in terms of features to market. They just need to put the pieces together properly.
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
Rather glad I don't have an iWhatever at this point though, U2 haven't put out a decent album in decades and having their latest effort forced into my playlist sounds most unpleasant!
The Daily Mash is spot on, as usual...
Exactly, 10 years ago when they where still something (well not to me, I could never stand them and their music).
Apple was always about being the cool kid in the class. in 2014 U2 or Perry Como is pretty much the same thing. One would have guessed they would go for someone like Beyonce...
I sadly missed this thread it seems.
Still, its not far from the truth, I was actually thinking of driving into Germany to Hamburg (as they have an Apple store there) and wait in cue for the iPhone, but sadly there is only a 1 year warranty on their electronics. In Denmark its 2 years. So I'll just do what I usually do and sit up until midnight on "release day" and hit refresh in the browser to purchase it asap. Then it'll take a month or so to actually arrive.
As per the poor taste in comparing the iPhone to other smartphones, one forgets that other phones just aren't smart at all. Thats the major difference. Nothing worse than getting an Android and turning on and BAM! Its full of spam apps and viruses e.t.c.
Anyway, not to bash them entirely, I have lusted for the larger screen for ages.
As for the Apple watch, hmmmm, I can see its "functional" as such. Pity it only works if you already have an iPhone. i.e. you can't use it without an iPhone. Thats pretty lame.
My wife says that "sending your heartbeat" is outright ridiculous, but I said "well we can tap each other, I can send 3 taps which means lets meet and you can send 1 tap for yes 2 taps for no". Argh, it does indeed sound ridiculous.
Anyway, iPhone 6 Plus is what I'm getting. Just bought a 4S as a backup phone which I always liked that design the best.
As usual Samsung takes cheap potshots at Apple. Listen up yo, try to f*****ng innovate something yourself for once!
Peace :)
I have a Nexus 5 which ships with "pure" Android in the same way an iPhone ships with "pure" IOS. What spam apps are on my phone when I switch it on which don't have exact Apple equivalents?
(Obviously I don't count any apps for all the hardware features the iPhone doesn't have)
At least the Apple store vigorously checks the app before its allowed to upload.
However, if you enjoy using your Android phone, then thats perfectly fine of course :)
And note the date of the article.... 2012.
I grant you the app store is safer than than Google Play but it's not immune from malware by any means.
I assume from the way you ignored my actual point you concede that either Apple ships the same spam apps as google as a base part of the OS or if Apple doesn't ship crud then neither does Google in Android.
At least Googles crud works, unlike Apples mapping appp when they dropped Google maps.
As far as I can see Android is for the people, Apple is for the Apple shareholders.
Android exists because Google's primary business, targeted advertising, relies on knowing as much about your life as physically possible. Don't kid yourself it's anything more than that.
2 + 2 = 5 and all that....
That article relates to a BUG in the app, not actual malicious intent. Bloggers & Fox News e.t.c. and such always try to spin a story, or make a mountain out of a mole hill.
Of course no one system is 100% perfect, but for the average user it "just works" - Just like Steve Jobs says it does :)
Not deliberately ignoring your question - there are indeed a few (note the word "few") default apps that accompany an iPhone/iPod/iPad and most of these you can just opt to not install (such as find my iphone or iBooks) but some apps are there no matter what, such as "Newsstand".
However, ask yourself this:
What use is a smartphone if there isn't a default app such as "phone" or "messenger" ?
Then you'd just get a blank slate with nothing to do on it?
Unfortunately for Apple, they seem to have adopted the absolute Google/Microsoft icon UI, i.e. kindergarten colour crap that is crappy icons :(
Although we can't get it all, Apple at least satisfies 98% (According to Tim Cooks presentation on stage) whereas Google / Android stuff satisfies what?
Like he said - "I wonder what those tablets are doing? Just sitting on the shelf in the stores"
Makes you think, dosen't it? :)
I don't think so.
Even though I'm a shareholder and we recently just enjoyed a 7/1 stock split, by no means is an indication that Apple is only for shareholders.
I think majority of users aren't shareholders at all.
But for the clever ones amongst us - we enjoy the benefits of owning some stock, because we saw ahead, adhered to the ideologies of Apple and it brought us nice earnings :)
Its better to trust Apple than not.
iOS vs Android, pretty similar these days. I've used both, but got currently got Android phone & tablet. Main reason - I could get a ?100 7" tablet with Micro SD. And for what I want if for - I don't need retina class display.
But for my parents I got them an iPad. I think the locked down App store is far safer. Although iTunes (on a PC) was a complete pile of #*&# last time I used it, although there's less need to use it these days.
No offence intended to the Apple fans, but it's the entire "isn't apple wonderful / cool / ethical" attitude that really grinds by gears. Plus the guaranteed coverage on the news - seeing people queuing up on the day of release for a ?600+ phone - when 90+% of them will have the current iPhone, is consumerism gone mad.