Indeed. But have you actually used it? Time Capsule meters data very slowly, which I take it is a deliberate effort to keep demands on bandwidth to a minimum, which is why initial backups take hours to complete. Would such a solution be acceptable for syncing an iPad or iPhone if it involved shifting large amounts of data?
I don't see why not. Remember most of the time you won't be shifting large amounts of data and the few times you are you could still use a USB cable to speed it up.
At the end of the day syncing an iOS device over WiFi is going to be pretty similar to syncing an Apple TV over WiFi (something you can already do).
It appears that two of Apple's major refresh cycles (announce/ship) are shaping up as:
--iPad: Jan/Feb (FY Q2)
--iPhone May/Jul (FY Q4)
There is an interesting opportunity that will present itself in Jan (if not 2011, then 2012).
.
I wonder how iOS updates will figure in. Major iOS versions are released in June alongside new iPhones. The next iPod touch should come out in September. But what about the next iPad? If the iPad ends up on a 12 month cycle and the iPad2 is comes out in FY Q2 will it still have this year's version of iOS on it (or at most a minor upgrade from the version that we can get today on the iPhone4)?
When people first started getting a hold of them, they often stopped at the food court or whatever afterwards, and were stymied that they couldn't do anything with it
Only someone who hasn't ever owned an iPod or iPhone before would have expected to be able to do anything without first syncing with iTunes.
There is nothing special about the iPad and the requirement to activate and sync it with iTunes. Indeed, I went to the food court after I got mine, but while I was eating breakfast it was syncing to my Mac Book Pro
What I didn't expect about iBooks it that it doesn't tell you anything about the books you have bought on the iPad. If you want them on the iPhone as well, you have to go the the bookstore, go to purchases, and re-download each of them.
Uh, no - I just went into iTunes and selected the books I wanted and synced them right over. Took one step.
You might want to plug your stuff into iTunes every once in a while. The backup alone would be worth it. Not sounding like someone who enjoys doing things in unnecessarily complicated and convoluted ways is another good reason
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It also doesn't seem to come with Winnie The Poo. I didn't check, but I suppose you have to download that separately as well.
But don't take my word for it - restore (erase) your iPad and see how much you can restore from Mobile.Me by itself.
Go on. I'll wait
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First, many casual users never back up their computer at all.
So one stupid act begets the continuation of another? Allot of people drive around without car insurance even though it's mandatory in my state. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop carrying insurance like them.
Supposedly part of being human is being able to learn and grow, and not perpetuate the same mistakes over and over. Granted, someone typically has to be bitten by something at least once before pain motivates them past the common rationalization of "that will never happen to me". Since it's so trivial to plug an iOS device into iTunes, click Sync and walk away, refusal to do so is just being stupidly stubborn.
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Even those who do can use MobileMe. No need to own your own computer.
Again, still waiting for you to do a restore and have all your application data.
The slight difference that you don't acknowledge is that computers don't require being connected to whole another computer to be backed up. It can write to a second hard drive or even optical discs if your apps and data are small enough. A $100 external hard drive is a far cry from a $1000 computer.
Except at this stage in the game, it's highly likely that the average iPad purchaser has a computer, hence the current non-issue.
I agree that as time progresses, and as Apple tries to sell to those who are not in the traditional PC universe, the need for a computer will have to be addressed. Again, I think with their datacenter plans it's plain to see that Apple has at least anticipated this. To assume otherwise would just be silly.
Good. But Apple is still alone in the park so it need to bend on its Flash stance before the market is flood with Android based tablets that are cheaper and more powerfull.
When the "flood" overtakes the 3 million iPads that have already shipped, your point may have some relevance. Of course by then the count on iPads will be even higher.
As of now, it has none whatsoever.
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Or maybe S. Jobs is really right and flash will drain too much CPU and battery life, but imo I dont think so.
I dunno, all the reviews by non-Android fanbois have shown that flash does dramatically impact performance and battery life. What a shocker!
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Has a big APPL stock owner, I wish it allow a third party plug-in to support flash at least so the growth can continu.
Growth will continue without flash just fine. If you sincerely believe it will be a substantial hinderance to future Apple growth, you should probably sell your stock.
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I think Apple "control freak" attitude may kill the company in the long run.
I think the "Apple control freak attitude" is what makes Apple unique and successful and it would stupid and insane for them to change all because some myopic people who are intolerant of a system that doesn't fit their requirements whine incessantly about how Apple doesn't do things like everyone else.
Well no $#!t they don't do things like everyone else - it's why they have the highest customer satisfaction ratings and largest profit for the smallest market share of anyone else.
If you claim to like Apple and their products yet want them to change to be like everyone else, then you are irrationally conflicted. It doesn't even make sense. If you want something that works like everyone else go buy it from them.
But stop the incessant whining that Apple is different and therefore bad. I (and millions of others) couldn't disagree more.
it works the same way, which is really frustrating. Especially for podcasts. I go through a lot of them daily and to get new ones, i have to sync to the computer that my ipod/phone/pad was initialized with.
Bingo - the biggest reason I sync to iTunes regularly is podcasts.
Now if the @^#@ iOS would just sync with iTunes over wifi, I would be golden. So what if it takes four days to sync the entire phone over wifi - I'm highly unlikely to do that anyway! However, syncing content back to my machine and dong the incremental backup could easily be done over wifi. This is one area the Zune smokes the iOS devices.
Why not? Not everyone wants a general purpose computer.
In fact, I'd wager that those who want granular control are in the vast minority.
Do we look down upon people who drive cars who don't change their own oil, brakes, fan belts, etc? Those are all trivial mechanical tasks that can be performed in a modest amount of time. How about looking down your nose at someone who eats in a restaurant instead of cooking at home?
Yet in geek circles your less than human if you can't open an command line and belt out some arcane command line of inconsistent sytax?!?! I don't get the double standard towards the necessity of hands on, low-level knowledge when framed in the context of computing. What's so evil with having a true appliance computer that does a set number of things and does them flawlessly without any technical knowledge required by the end user? Yes Cory Doctorow, I'm looking at you! The Apple gestapo isn't marching into people's houses and annihilating anything that doesn't conform to the iOS or the App store. General computers still exist, and will always exist. The iOS model is simply a new model of computing, not a replacement for all computing. That's why I would find all the hysteria over the iOS and App Store hilarious if it simply wasn't tiresome elitist BS.
If Apple wanted total market domination all they have to do is release the iPhone on Verizon and BOOM! Game over. Think that's overhyped rhetoric? Look at Android sales overseas. Their pathetic compared to the US. Also I've said it before and I firmly believe that now, a good reason Apple isn't really concerned about the iPhone on Verizon is it keeps the FTC and any smokescreen about Monopoly out of their hair. Apple is in the process of building a platform, and that will take some time (look at the evolution of OSX!) The last thing they need is the problem of being too successful and inviting unwelcome and unneeded government meddling.
It also doesn't seem to come with Winnie The Poo. I didn't check, but I suppose you have to download that separately as well.
As others have written, this seems to be some kind of peculiarity in a few cases. It came with my iBooks, and I'm absolutely sure I didn't download it separately because I simply have no interest whatsoever in the book.
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Originally Posted by antkm1
actually, the kindle and nook don't need a computer at all. it's all done in a cloud...
I have to agree with Milmoss on this. Those devices are very functionally limited. They don't need to be backed up to a computer because quite frankly, they don't have much to back up. The books obviously come from the stores, which can serve them to you again if you lose them. The annotations aren't much data. There's nothing else. There are no apps. No files you create with apps, like Pages documents or Brushes drawings. No way to load photographs, even if you didn't mind seeing them in monochrome. The same goes for video. No music library. No voice memos. Basically, other than books, there is no other content you can transfer there or create, hence limited functionality and no need for a computer.
With 802.11n and longer better battery and faster HW I can us getting closer to offering this feature, but USB3.0 will be around shortly (next year?) and plugging in to sync 128GB will be by far the most efficient method and dog slow over WiFi, even 802.11n all while using the battery.
What? How often do you sync your entire phone? At most a couple of gigabytes changes on mine.
And it was all downloaded over my wifi from the Internet in the first place
And why are you assuming a wifi sync would happen while I'm on battery? My iPhone sits for at least six hours in the clock by my nightstand charging. It could easily re-sync the entire contents of itself - with g! Forget N!
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I think the best you can hope for with iOS v5.0 is manually WiFi syncing if and only if the connection is determined to fat enough and the estimated amount of data to be synced is within a specific amount. This would give users the option in Settings and make sure the device can feasibly handle the sync.
I seriously hope something as brain dead and overly complicated isn't implemented. Stop trying to save me from myself! What's a "reasonable time" and what the heck does "feasibly handle the sync" mean?!?
A robust sync could happen in the background as soon as I am in wifi range of my house. The only control feature I could see being useful is "Stop sync if batter is less than XX%" where I can set the percentage of battery left. Otherwise, if I am in range of my home wifi, my iPhone, iPad and whatever else iDevice I have should be syncing with my home library!
Everyone else has this, it boggles my mind that Apple still doesn't offer this.
Apple also desperately needs a sync services framework for desktop and iPhone apps to sync. Right now I have about six applications that sync between their desktop version and the iPhone/iPad versions - it's a real pain to have to ensure all the apps are running on my home Mac and then open them on each device to get them synced up. There needs to be a system-wide service on both the desktop and iOS to handle all of this crap in one swoop.
I don't see why not. Remember most of the time you won't be shifting large amounts of data and the few times you are you could still use a USB cable to speed it up.
At the end of the day syncing an iOS device over WiFi is going to be pretty similar to syncing an Apple TV over WiFi (something you can already do).
Maybe. That's just my working theory. There must a reason. I don't think Apple's just being stupid.
Maybe. That's just my working theory. There must a reason. I don't think Apple's just being stupid.
Actually there doesn't have to be a reason. Usually there is no conspiracy or Apple being stupid. Typically the real reason a feature is missing is nothing more complex than Apple has a limited number of software engineers, a limited amount of time before the deadline and a long list of higher priority features they want to implement first.
I'm just hoping it makes it on the list of features to be implemented in the next version..
Syncing is already slow over USB = 480Mbit. WiFi sync would be slower. It would be nice and convenient though. Truthfully I am more interested in a faster cable such as USB3 or Light Peak.
What? How often do you sync your entire phone? At most a couple of gigabytes changes on mine.
And it was all downloaded over my wifi from the Internet in the first place
And why are you assuming a wifi sync would happen while I'm on battery? My iPhone sits for at least six hours in the clock by my nightstand charging. It could easily re-sync the entire contents of itself - with g! Forget N!
I seriously hope something as brain dead and overly complicated isn't implemented. Stop trying to save me from myself! What's a "reasonable time" and what the heck does "feasibly handle the sync" mean?!?
A robust sync could happen in the background as soon as I am in wifi range of my house. The only control feature I could see being useful is "Stop sync if batter is less than XX%" where I can set the percentage of battery left. Otherwise, if I am in range of my home wifi, my iPhone, iPad and whatever else iDevice I have should be syncing with my home library!
Everyone else has this, it boggles my mind that Apple still doesn't offer this.
Apple also desperately needs a sync services framework for desktop and iPhone apps to sync. Right now I have about six applications that sync between their desktop version and the iPhone/iPad versions - it's a real pain to have to ensure all the apps are running on my home Mac and then open them on each device to get them synced up. There needs to be a system-wide service on both the desktop and iOS to handle all of this crap in one swoop.
It's all self explanatory. You've contradicted your own post by stating that it sits for 6 hours in a powered dock on your nightstand yet want it to start as soon as you are within WiFi range of your home. That completely ignores how it could task the phone's processor and battery. What if you were doing other tasks at the time or had only a few percent battery remaining? These have to be considered for a consumer device. You can't just say, "well the user should now better and spend hours a day tinkering with their settings so I can have the freedom to do what I want". Thinking that way is destine for failure.
What you suggest is to make it so "simple" that there are no checks and balances to make sure the backup can happen on the device while still keeping the device useful. How you can't see keeping the device useful during a backup needs to be questioned. I also question your implication that syncing 64GB over 802.11b without it charging simply wouldn't happen because every uses a dock and 802.11n and has already synced it so it's only a minimal sync. That is hypocritical to your other statement that making the system check for for feasibility before syncing iss overly complex.
I'm amazed at how this simple idea of usable features for the majority seems to pass over so many heads. You can look at any of the Android phones to see exactly what uncontrolled features for the sake of having the feature can do to ruin the user experience.
Did you consciously leave out the Touch? iPods get updated about every September, give or take a month, it has been a pattern from before the iPhone. Almost every iPod gets a refresh then, once a year.
Yeah, I was too lazy to research it-- but thanks for the info! So now we have (for smart mobile devices):
I was also too lazy to research regular iPods, Laptops, iMacs, Mac Pros. But, I suspect you can predict that:
-- some laptops are targeted to back-to-school, probably Aug-Sep [No announce/ship difference] (FY Q3)
-- regular iPods* are targeted for the holidays Oct-Nov [No announce/ship difference] (FY Q1)
* iPod Touches tend to echo the features of the most recent iPhone-- and, as such, are proven technology. With regular iPods, there seems to be a pattern that uses back-to-school promos to clear out existing iPod inventory before a refresh-- Buy a Laptop, get a free (regular) iPod. Then, the regular iPod line is refreshed for the holidays.
The others products are less sensitive to the calendar, but tend to have semi-regular refresh cycles.
I suspect that iLife, iWork and MobileMe will tend to have complimentary releases/refreshes on Mac and Mobile in the future-- e.g. A release of Mobile iMovie will be tied to an update to iLife iMovie on the Mac.
I suspect that the iPad and iPhone will continue with separate announce/ship dates because of:
-- FCC Approval Lead Time
-- Secrecy advantage in a very competitive environment
-- New hardware innovations
-- iOS update closely tied to new hardware
-- Developer lead time to update apps
Anyway, my original objective was to determine if there were going to be predictable, annual, technology breakthroughs centered around Mobile. If I were a betting Man, I would look for iPads in January and iPhones in July. This tends to level resources, manufacturing, supply chain, profits, etc. around these 2 major products.
The analysts and pundits, now, seem to be predicting 10 million iPads and 10 Million iPhones for CY 2010... interesting!
I wonder how iOS updates will figure in. Major iOS versions are released in June alongside new iPhones. The next iPod touch should come out in September. But what about the next iPad? If the iPad ends up on a 12 month cycle and the iPad2 is comes out in FY Q2 will it still have this year's version of iOS on it (or at most a minor upgrade from the version that we can get today on the iPhone4)?
That's a very interesting question. Here's one way to look at it, FWIW:
-- The iPhone will tend to have the hardware feature breakthroughs-- gyro, camera, etc., so I would expect these features to require an iOS version update.
-- The iPad will tend to have software/UI breakthroughs-- enhanced iWork, iLife, so I would expect these to require point updates to iOS.
-- Then, there are things like Accessories, AppleTV, inexpensive smart remotes, WiFi synch, MobileMe enhancements, home server... Something like AppleTV or Home Server might require a temporary fork like the iPad. Others might just be a point update when the device/feature becomes available.
Over time, I suspect all iOS updates to apply to all iOS devices, even if there is nothing in that update that applies to that specific device.
Except at this stage in the game, it's highly likely that the average iPad purchaser has a computer, hence the current non-issue.
I agree that as time progresses, and as Apple tries to sell to those who are not in the traditional PC universe, the need for a computer will have to be addressed. Again, I think with their datacenter plans it's plain to see that Apple has at least anticipated this. To assume otherwise would just be silly.
Mmmm.... Just 'cause I don't know-- What happens (setup, backup, synch) if you buy a MacBook Air as your first and only computer?
Syncing is already slow over USB = 480Mbit. WiFi sync would be slower. It would be nice and convenient though. Truthfully I am more interested in a faster cable such as USB3 or Light Peak.
Nah! SCSI (scuzzy) is the answer-- this little gem weighs a mere 7 lbs, slips into any suitcase and will set you back only $69.
Comments
Indeed. But have you actually used it? Time Capsule meters data very slowly, which I take it is a deliberate effort to keep demands on bandwidth to a minimum, which is why initial backups take hours to complete. Would such a solution be acceptable for syncing an iPad or iPhone if it involved shifting large amounts of data?
I don't see why not. Remember most of the time you won't be shifting large amounts of data and the few times you are you could still use a USB cable to speed it up.
At the end of the day syncing an iOS device over WiFi is going to be pretty similar to syncing an Apple TV over WiFi (something you can already do).
It appears that two of Apple's major refresh cycles (announce/ship) are shaping up as:
--iPad: Jan/Feb (FY Q2)
--iPhone May/Jul (FY Q4)
There is an interesting opportunity that will present itself in Jan (if not 2011, then 2012).
.
I wonder how iOS updates will figure in. Major iOS versions are released in June alongside new iPhones. The next iPod touch should come out in September. But what about the next iPad? If the iPad ends up on a 12 month cycle and the iPad2 is comes out in FY Q2 will it still have this year's version of iOS on it (or at most a minor upgrade from the version that we can get today on the iPhone4)?
Yeah but you need a computer to use it, personally Apple has to solve this necessity and make the iPad completely independent.
I have a feeling that small data center in the carolina's may have something to do with this in the future.
Just a hunch, tho.....
When people first started getting a hold of them, they often stopped at the food court or whatever afterwards, and were stymied that they couldn't do anything with it
Only someone who hasn't ever owned an iPod or iPhone before would have expected to be able to do anything without first syncing with iTunes.
There is nothing special about the iPad and the requirement to activate and sync it with iTunes. Indeed, I went to the food court after I got mine, but while I was eating breakfast it was syncing to my Mac Book Pro
What I didn't expect about iBooks it that it doesn't tell you anything about the books you have bought on the iPad. If you want them on the iPhone as well, you have to go the the bookstore, go to purchases, and re-download each of them.
Uh, no - I just went into iTunes and selected the books I wanted and synced them right over. Took one step.
You might want to plug your stuff into iTunes every once in a while. The backup alone would be worth it. Not sounding like someone who enjoys doing things in unnecessarily complicated and convoluted ways is another good reason
It also doesn't seem to come with Winnie The Poo. I didn't check, but I suppose you have to download that separately as well.
Nope, it synced right over with iBooks
No, you don't.
To back up all your application data, yes you do.
But don't take my word for it - restore (erase) your iPad and see how much you can restore from Mobile.Me by itself.
Go on. I'll wait
First, many casual users never back up their computer at all.
So one stupid act begets the continuation of another? Allot of people drive around without car insurance even though it's mandatory in my state. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop carrying insurance like them.
Supposedly part of being human is being able to learn and grow, and not perpetuate the same mistakes over and over. Granted, someone typically has to be bitten by something at least once before pain motivates them past the common rationalization of "that will never happen to me". Since it's so trivial to plug an iOS device into iTunes, click Sync and walk away, refusal to do so is just being stupidly stubborn.
Even those who do can use MobileMe. No need to own your own computer.
Again, still waiting for you to do a restore and have all your application data.
The slight difference that you don't acknowledge is that computers don't require being connected to whole another computer to be backed up. It can write to a second hard drive or even optical discs if your apps and data are small enough. A $100 external hard drive is a far cry from a $1000 computer.
Except at this stage in the game, it's highly likely that the average iPad purchaser has a computer, hence the current non-issue.
I agree that as time progresses, and as Apple tries to sell to those who are not in the traditional PC universe, the need for a computer will have to be addressed. Again, I think with their datacenter plans it's plain to see that Apple has at least anticipated this. To assume otherwise would just be silly.
Good. But Apple is still alone in the park so it need to bend on its Flash stance before the market is flood with Android based tablets that are cheaper and more powerfull.
When the "flood" overtakes the 3 million iPads that have already shipped, your point may have some relevance. Of course by then the count on iPads will be even higher.
As of now, it has none whatsoever.
Or maybe S. Jobs is really right and flash will drain too much CPU and battery life, but imo I dont think so.
I dunno, all the reviews by non-Android fanbois have shown that flash does dramatically impact performance and battery life. What a shocker!
Has a big APPL stock owner, I wish it allow a third party plug-in to support flash at least so the growth can continu.
Growth will continue without flash just fine. If you sincerely believe it will be a substantial hinderance to future Apple growth, you should probably sell your stock.
I think Apple "control freak" attitude may kill the company in the long run.
I think the "Apple control freak attitude" is what makes Apple unique and successful and it would stupid and insane for them to change all because some myopic people who are intolerant of a system that doesn't fit their requirements whine incessantly about how Apple doesn't do things like everyone else.
Well no $#!t they don't do things like everyone else - it's why they have the highest customer satisfaction ratings and largest profit for the smallest market share of anyone else.
If you claim to like Apple and their products yet want them to change to be like everyone else, then you are irrationally conflicted. It doesn't even make sense. If you want something that works like everyone else go buy it from them.
But stop the incessant whining that Apple is different and therefore bad. I (and millions of others) couldn't disagree more.
it works the same way, which is really frustrating. Especially for podcasts. I go through a lot of them daily and to get new ones, i have to sync to the computer that my ipod/phone/pad was initialized with.
Bingo - the biggest reason I sync to iTunes regularly is podcasts.
Now if the @^#@ iOS would just sync with iTunes over wifi, I would be golden. So what if it takes four days to sync the entire phone over wifi - I'm highly unlikely to do that anyway! However, syncing content back to my machine and dong the incremental backup could easily be done over wifi. This is one area the Zune smokes the iOS devices.
As an informal, unscientific poll, how many of you believe this most dubious of dubious rumors:
http://www.looprumors.com/index.php?...macs_with_ios/
Why not? Not everyone wants a general purpose computer.
In fact, I'd wager that those who want granular control are in the vast minority.
Do we look down upon people who drive cars who don't change their own oil, brakes, fan belts, etc? Those are all trivial mechanical tasks that can be performed in a modest amount of time. How about looking down your nose at someone who eats in a restaurant instead of cooking at home?
Yet in geek circles your less than human if you can't open an command line and belt out some arcane command line of inconsistent sytax?!?! I don't get the double standard towards the necessity of hands on, low-level knowledge when framed in the context of computing. What's so evil with having a true appliance computer that does a set number of things and does them flawlessly without any technical knowledge required by the end user? Yes Cory Doctorow, I'm looking at you! The Apple gestapo isn't marching into people's houses and annihilating anything that doesn't conform to the iOS or the App store. General computers still exist, and will always exist. The iOS model is simply a new model of computing, not a replacement for all computing. That's why I would find all the hysteria over the iOS and App Store hilarious if it simply wasn't tiresome elitist BS.
If Apple wanted total market domination all they have to do is release the iPhone on Verizon and BOOM! Game over. Think that's overhyped rhetoric? Look at Android sales overseas. Their pathetic compared to the US. Also I've said it before and I firmly believe that now, a good reason Apple isn't really concerned about the iPhone on Verizon is it keeps the FTC and any smokescreen about Monopoly out of their hair. Apple is in the process of building a platform, and that will take some time (look at the evolution of OSX!) The last thing they need is the problem of being too successful and inviting unwelcome and unneeded government meddling.
It also doesn't seem to come with Winnie The Poo. I didn't check, but I suppose you have to download that separately as well.
As others have written, this seems to be some kind of peculiarity in a few cases. It came with my iBooks, and I'm absolutely sure I didn't download it separately because I simply have no interest whatsoever in the book.
actually, the kindle and nook don't need a computer at all. it's all done in a cloud...
I have to agree with Milmoss on this. Those devices are very functionally limited. They don't need to be backed up to a computer because quite frankly, they don't have much to back up. The books obviously come from the stores, which can serve them to you again if you lose them. The annotations aren't much data. There's nothing else. There are no apps. No files you create with apps, like Pages documents or Brushes drawings. No way to load photographs, even if you didn't mind seeing them in monochrome. The same goes for video. No music library. No voice memos. Basically, other than books, there is no other content you can transfer there or create, hence limited functionality and no need for a computer.
With 802.11n and longer better battery and faster HW I can us getting closer to offering this feature, but USB3.0 will be around shortly (next year?) and plugging in to sync 128GB will be by far the most efficient method and dog slow over WiFi, even 802.11n all while using the battery.
What? How often do you sync your entire phone? At most a couple of gigabytes changes on mine.
And it was all downloaded over my wifi from the Internet in the first place
And why are you assuming a wifi sync would happen while I'm on battery? My iPhone sits for at least six hours in the clock by my nightstand charging. It could easily re-sync the entire contents of itself - with g! Forget N!
I think the best you can hope for with iOS v5.0 is manually WiFi syncing if and only if the connection is determined to fat enough and the estimated amount of data to be synced is within a specific amount. This would give users the option in Settings and make sure the device can feasibly handle the sync.
I seriously hope something as brain dead and overly complicated isn't implemented. Stop trying to save me from myself! What's a "reasonable time" and what the heck does "feasibly handle the sync" mean?!?
A robust sync could happen in the background as soon as I am in wifi range of my house. The only control feature I could see being useful is "Stop sync if batter is less than XX%" where I can set the percentage of battery left. Otherwise, if I am in range of my home wifi, my iPhone, iPad and whatever else iDevice I have should be syncing with my home library!
Everyone else has this, it boggles my mind that Apple still doesn't offer this.
Apple also desperately needs a sync services framework for desktop and iPhone apps to sync. Right now I have about six applications that sync between their desktop version and the iPhone/iPad versions - it's a real pain to have to ensure all the apps are running on my home Mac and then open them on each device to get them synced up. There needs to be a system-wide service on both the desktop and iOS to handle all of this crap in one swoop.
I don't see why not. Remember most of the time you won't be shifting large amounts of data and the few times you are you could still use a USB cable to speed it up.
At the end of the day syncing an iOS device over WiFi is going to be pretty similar to syncing an Apple TV over WiFi (something you can already do).
Maybe. That's just my working theory. There must a reason. I don't think Apple's just being stupid.
Maybe. That's just my working theory. There must a reason. I don't think Apple's just being stupid.
Actually there doesn't have to be a reason. Usually there is no conspiracy or Apple being stupid. Typically the real reason a feature is missing is nothing more complex than Apple has a limited number of software engineers, a limited amount of time before the deadline and a long list of higher priority features they want to implement first.
I'm just hoping it makes it on the list of features to be implemented in the next version..
What? How often do you sync your entire phone? At most a couple of gigabytes changes on mine.
And it was all downloaded over my wifi from the Internet in the first place
And why are you assuming a wifi sync would happen while I'm on battery? My iPhone sits for at least six hours in the clock by my nightstand charging. It could easily re-sync the entire contents of itself - with g! Forget N!
I seriously hope something as brain dead and overly complicated isn't implemented. Stop trying to save me from myself! What's a "reasonable time" and what the heck does "feasibly handle the sync" mean?!?
A robust sync could happen in the background as soon as I am in wifi range of my house. The only control feature I could see being useful is "Stop sync if batter is less than XX%" where I can set the percentage of battery left. Otherwise, if I am in range of my home wifi, my iPhone, iPad and whatever else iDevice I have should be syncing with my home library!
Everyone else has this, it boggles my mind that Apple still doesn't offer this.
Apple also desperately needs a sync services framework for desktop and iPhone apps to sync. Right now I have about six applications that sync between their desktop version and the iPhone/iPad versions - it's a real pain to have to ensure all the apps are running on my home Mac and then open them on each device to get them synced up. There needs to be a system-wide service on both the desktop and iOS to handle all of this crap in one swoop.
It's all self explanatory. You've contradicted your own post by stating that it sits for 6 hours in a powered dock on your nightstand yet want it to start as soon as you are within WiFi range of your home. That completely ignores how it could task the phone's processor and battery. What if you were doing other tasks at the time or had only a few percent battery remaining? These have to be considered for a consumer device. You can't just say, "well the user should now better and spend hours a day tinkering with their settings so I can have the freedom to do what I want". Thinking that way is destine for failure.
What you suggest is to make it so "simple" that there are no checks and balances to make sure the backup can happen on the device while still keeping the device useful. How you can't see keeping the device useful during a backup needs to be questioned. I also question your implication that syncing 64GB over 802.11b without it charging simply wouldn't happen because every uses a dock and 802.11n and has already synced it so it's only a minimal sync. That is hypocritical to your other statement that making the system check for for feasibility before syncing iss overly complex.
I'm amazed at how this simple idea of usable features for the majority seems to pass over so many heads. You can look at any of the Android phones to see exactly what uncontrolled features for the sake of having the feature can do to ruin the user experience.
Did you consciously leave out the Touch? iPods get updated about every September, give or take a month, it has been a pattern from before the iPhone. Almost every iPod gets a refresh then, once a year.
Yeah, I was too lazy to research it-- but thanks for the info! So now we have (for smart mobile devices):
--iPod Touch* Sep-Oct [No announce/ship difference] (FY Q4)
--iPad: Jan/Feb (FY Q2)
--iPhone May/Jul (FY Q4)
I was also too lazy to research regular iPods, Laptops, iMacs, Mac Pros. But, I suspect you can predict that:
-- some laptops are targeted to back-to-school, probably Aug-Sep [No announce/ship difference] (FY Q3)
-- regular iPods* are targeted for the holidays Oct-Nov [No announce/ship difference] (FY Q1)
* iPod Touches tend to echo the features of the most recent iPhone-- and, as such, are proven technology. With regular iPods, there seems to be a pattern that uses back-to-school promos to clear out existing iPod inventory before a refresh-- Buy a Laptop, get a free (regular) iPod. Then, the regular iPod line is refreshed for the holidays.
The others products are less sensitive to the calendar, but tend to have semi-regular refresh cycles.
I suspect that iLife, iWork and MobileMe will tend to have complimentary releases/refreshes on Mac and Mobile in the future-- e.g. A release of Mobile iMovie will be tied to an update to iLife iMovie on the Mac.
I suspect that the iPad and iPhone will continue with separate announce/ship dates because of:
-- FCC Approval Lead Time
-- Secrecy advantage in a very competitive environment
-- New hardware innovations
-- iOS update closely tied to new hardware
-- Developer lead time to update apps
Anyway, my original objective was to determine if there were going to be predictable, annual, technology breakthroughs centered around Mobile. If I were a betting Man, I would look for iPads in January and iPhones in July. This tends to level resources, manufacturing, supply chain, profits, etc. around these 2 major products.
The analysts and pundits, now, seem to be predicting 10 million iPads and 10 Million iPhones for CY 2010... interesting!
The big question: What about 2011?
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I wonder how iOS updates will figure in. Major iOS versions are released in June alongside new iPhones. The next iPod touch should come out in September. But what about the next iPad? If the iPad ends up on a 12 month cycle and the iPad2 is comes out in FY Q2 will it still have this year's version of iOS on it (or at most a minor upgrade from the version that we can get today on the iPhone4)?
That's a very interesting question. Here's one way to look at it, FWIW:
-- The iPhone will tend to have the hardware feature breakthroughs-- gyro, camera, etc., so I would expect these features to require an iOS version update.
-- The iPad will tend to have software/UI breakthroughs-- enhanced iWork, iLife, so I would expect these to require point updates to iOS.
-- Then, there are things like Accessories, AppleTV, inexpensive smart remotes, WiFi synch, MobileMe enhancements, home server... Something like AppleTV or Home Server might require a temporary fork like the iPad. Others might just be a point update when the device/feature becomes available.
Over time, I suspect all iOS updates to apply to all iOS devices, even if there is nothing in that update that applies to that specific device.
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Except at this stage in the game, it's highly likely that the average iPad purchaser has a computer, hence the current non-issue.
I agree that as time progresses, and as Apple tries to sell to those who are not in the traditional PC universe, the need for a computer will have to be addressed. Again, I think with their datacenter plans it's plain to see that Apple has at least anticipated this. To assume otherwise would just be silly.
Mmmm.... Just 'cause I don't know-- What happens (setup, backup, synch) if you buy a MacBook Air as your first and only computer?
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Syncing is already slow over USB = 480Mbit. WiFi sync would be slower. It would be nice and convenient though. Truthfully I am more interested in a faster cable such as USB3 or Light Peak.
Nah! SCSI (scuzzy) is the answer-- this little gem weighs a mere 7 lbs, slips into any suitcase and will set you back only $69.