When someone finds an actual use for a widget then maybe they will. I have yet to find an Android user give me an example if a useful widget despite repeatedly asking.
Geeks love them (for some reason), and won't shut up about them, and when Apple finally gets around to offering them the bitching will go on.
Not clear what new revenues a larger screen would generate? Enormous is the answer. EVERYONE in Asia is going for larger screen Samsungs. I filled in a form the other day where everyone in my "workgroup" had to put the model number of their phones and tablets. I was the only one out of 15 who had an iphone or ipad. Everyone else had Samsung stuff. This wasn't the case a year ago. Asia loves bigger mobile devices.
Yeah, no matter how many articles I read about widgets, I just can't see how I would ever use them (or WANT to use them). It's fine to add something like widgets to iOS if lots of people want them. I can just ignore them. But I honestly don't get the appeal, at all.
Geeks love them (for some reason), and won't shut up about them, and when Apple finally gets around to offering them the bitching will go on.
I sure don't know why either, but one theory would be that the geek mind is more narcissistically inclined to want his technology to serve him, as if he were important in the world. Thus the Android robot fetishism, the need to see little data changes on the screen just for him at all times, on so on.
The Apple user is maybe more inclined to think of his phone or his pad as a gateway to another world, or as an instrument for connection. It's a more literary attitude, likely to be irritated by tweaky messages apprearing by themselves. Which is why geeks find iOS "boring."
Like they say in Hollywood, "There aren't any new stories, but there's always a new audience."
WebTV failed in the '90s. Google TV was the same concept plus broadband and hi-def.
Also, as P.T. Barnum is reputed to have said, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Google knows this and they continually try to exploit the easily-tech-amused with products like Google TV.
It sucks, but it's complex and technical and awkward. Therefore it attracts alpha-geek-wannabes.
Google's problem is that although the company itself is composed of a bunch of geeks, the mass market isn't.
They build products to amuse themselves, and expect those products to sell to the general public.
Oops.
(FYI, the "sucker" phrase was first said by <span style="font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19px;">David Hannum, not Barnum.)</span>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">But they can't shrug off the Motorola acquisition. That "expensive experiment" consumed 1.5 years of profit.</span>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">They'll need to differentiate the Motoroogle phone not just with hardware tweaks but with OS tweaks as well.</span>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">We've seen how poorly the Nexus phones have sold. Generic OS. Generic hardware. "Reference" design.</span>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">Differentiating the Motoroogle phone means giving it proprietary OS features that only it has.</span>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">And that means forking Android yet again. There will be a new "Motoroogle fork."</span>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">The only question is whether it will come before or after the Samsung fork.</span>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">Sure, Google will continue to ship a trailing-edge boilerplate Android release with basic features.</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">(The best features being reserved for just the Motoroogle phone and possibly a tablet as well.)</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">The hopeless generic Android handset makers, all selling exclusively to the Chinese market, </span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">all of whom are competing against each other's Chinese-only "ecosystems" and against Google Play,</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">will snap up that generic release, do the quickest, dirtiest, cheapest hacks on it, then try to</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">beat each other to market and to push each other off the low-price cliff. (The classic "race to the bottom"</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">among undifferentiated whitebox vendors with zero brand loyalty among their users.)</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">And none of the Chinese Generics (tm) will generate one single yuan of revenue for Google.</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">Meanwhile, Google will keep the best new features to itself. They might mash them into the "generic"</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">fork a year or two after they ship those features in their Motoroogle phone. But said features will be</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">the only way that Google has any chance of differentiating its Motoroogle phone from Samsung's.</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">Google has to do it. Because otherwise, the Motorola acquisition (and the entire Android project itself)</span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">will be their most "expensive experiment." And Samsung will take control of Android with their own</span>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">Samsung Fork, which will become the de facto standard due to sheer market share. And no</span>
ne of
that massive Samsung slice of the Android pie will be worth a single penny to Google, because Samsung
has their own ecosystem now. Google absolutely must generate revenue through Google Play, and they
only way to guarantee that, and to control their own destiny, is to sell a successful Motoroogle phone
(and maybe a pad later) that is connected to Google Play.
<span style="line-height:18px;">~$20 billion in the hole already. </span>
<span style="line-height:18px;">Time to start climbing. FAST.</span>
I don't think Google changing their OS is forking Android, now forking the other manufacturers is more like it.
Not clear what new revenues a larger screen would generate? Enormous is the answer. EVERYONE in Asia is going for larger screen Samsungs. I filled in a form the other day where everyone in my "workgroup" had to put the model number of their phones and tablets. I was the only one out of 15 who had an iphone or ipad. Everyone else had Samsung stuff. This wasn't the case a year ago. Asia loves bigger mobile devices.
I thought Asia was poor and is waiting for a cheap iPhone. A 5" iPhone will be released when Apple knows it will be ready and profitable.
I sure don't know why either, but one theory would be that the geek mind is more narcissistically inclined to want his technology to serve him, as if he were important in the world. Thus the Android robot fetishism, the need to see little data changes on the screen just for him at all times, on so on.
The Apple user is maybe more inclined to think of his phone or his pad as a gateway to another world, or as an instrument for connection. It's a more literary attitude, likely to be irritated by tweaky messages apprearing by themselves. Which is why geeks find iOS "boring."
If all widgets did was make tweaky messages appear then you'd have a case but they don't. A great many widgets look exactly like a app icon but when pressed they preform a specified task instead of doing it through the app.
I am happy with iOS but I do think it needs some changes.
I know many seem to balk at the idea of widgets, but some are very useful. Unfortunately the work phone provided to me is a Samescum Galaxy Note 2. One widget that I do find extremely useful is the widget for a flashlight app I have. It's basically a button on the home screen I just have to press once and the flashlight turns on. I would love to have a flashlight button on the iPhone instead of opening up and turning it on through an app. I do like the weather.com widget as well. That one is very useful to me. Instead of having to open the app, all the weather information I need is on the screen for quick viewing. Speaking of widgets, I would like the ability to have larger icon widgets on the screen for say the weather widget for example.
I would like to see the ability to share iWork documents in iCloud between other users. Something that is similar to the way Dropbox works.
Siri needs some improvements as well. It would be nice for Siri to be able to give us more answers without searching the web. Siri could pull information from wikipedia or for medical questions, get the information from a site like WebMD. One thing that would be cool would be able to set up Siri to read news headlines as the sound for the alarm clock.
I am looking forward to seeing what the new features will be in iOS 7.
I thought Asia was poor and is waiting for a cheap iPhone. A 5" iPhone will be released when Apple knows it will be ready and profitable.
I would sugest if you think everyone in Asia is poor you put down the US propaganda media you are consuming and open your eyes. In Hong Kong, Singapore and the other big cities around Asia Samsung is taking huge market share and these people have lots of disposable income. This to me is a classic case along the line of Nokia's lack of entry into the smartphone arena a few years ago. Apple, with its Many of its executives and their typically unworldly US style world view, they are missing the next revolution taking place NOW. Big screen phones.
If all widgets did was make tweaky messages appear then you'd have a case but they don't. A great many widgets look exactly like a app icon but when pressed they preform a specified task instead of doing it through the app.
Still doesn't make them useful for anything. PC's have had widgets forever and yet I rarely see anyone use them.
I finding the iPhone a little tired. I still love it and don't think I'd change to a Samsung surf board, but the Samsung's layout does seem a little fresher, if not a little confusing. Apple need to take their iOS and rather than dramatically change, they need to refresh it. Some new paint if you will. As for some real, bigger changes. I'd like to see a better photo layout. Photos are becoming a huge part of a phone nowadays. People are taking hundreds of photos on their phones every year and yet, to find a photo you need to scroll through those hundreds of photos. Perhaps they need a calendar view. Tagging people and allowing users to input key words for searching purposes (ie, tagging myself and "John" and then putting in a description or keyword "party", "30th" "birthday") would be very handy. I've always found the search screen to be the biggest waste of space. Why not have all the shortcuts for wifi, Do Not Disturb, Plane Mode, etc on that screen rather than have the keyboard pop up. The search bar can still be there and when you click it then the keyboard comes up. Siri needs some desperate updates and needs to be more intuitive. I'd like to see her have a memory and grows the more you use her. A Dropbox system would also be great. Especially for text and photos
I know many seem to balk at the idea of widgets, but some are very useful. Unfortunately the work phone provided to me is a Samescum Galaxy Note 2. One widget that I do find extremely useful is the widget for a flashlight app I have. It's basically a button on the home screen I just have to press once and the flashlight turns on. I would love to have a flashlight button on the iPhone instead of opening up and turning it on through an app.
I saw someone else refer to the usefulness of the flashlight widget, and now you.
I guess different people live all sorts different lifestyles. But I can't imagine how that would be useful to me, since I don't use that app very often. I mean, I like it for the very few times I do need it. But I'm curious, what do you use the flashlight for so often? I'm just wondering.
I'm sure whatever Apple does with iOS 7 will be more than I will ever need. I just hope for better maps in my home area in Central America. Not so much for myself since I already know where everything is and my previous need for high quality aerial imagery is no longer important because I have completed my mission of acquiring new property which was the main reason for my original complaint, but it would be nice for tourists to be able to access detailed map data when they visit. Although I enjoy using my iPhone, I probably utilize only a small fraction of its capabilities and I also have way fewer apps than the average, most of which I don't even use like iWork. I use iWork on the desktop all the time just not on my phone. I love my iPhone 5 but to me it is mostly about getting my email, txt, calendar, music and phone calls including Skype, which honestly doesn't work that great but that isn't Apple's fault.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by EricTheHalfBee
When someone finds an actual use for a widget then maybe they will. I have yet to find an Android user give me an example if a useful widget despite repeatedly asking.
Geeks love them (for some reason), and won't shut up about them, and when Apple finally gets around to offering them the bitching will go on.
Yeah, no matter how many articles I read about widgets, I just can't see how I would ever use them (or WANT to use them). It's fine to add something like widgets to iOS if lots of people want them. I can just ignore them. But I honestly don't get the appeal, at all.
I sure don't know why either, but one theory would be that the geek mind is more narcissistically inclined to want his technology to serve him, as if he were important in the world. Thus the Android robot fetishism, the need to see little data changes on the screen just for him at all times, on so on.
The Apple user is maybe more inclined to think of his phone or his pad as a gateway to another world, or as an instrument for connection. It's a more literary attitude, likely to be irritated by tweaky messages apprearing by themselves. Which is why geeks find iOS "boring."
Ooooo I know, put a big knob on it and have no more than 8 channels.
I don't think Google changing their OS is forking Android, now forking the other manufacturers is more like it.
I thought Asia was poor and is waiting for a cheap iPhone. A 5" iPhone will be released when Apple knows it will be ready and profitable.
If all widgets did was make tweaky messages appear then you'd have a case but they don't. A great many widgets look exactly like a app icon but when pressed they preform a specified task instead of doing it through the app.
I am happy with iOS but I do think it needs some changes.
I know many seem to balk at the idea of widgets, but some are very useful. Unfortunately the work phone provided to me is a Samescum Galaxy Note 2. One widget that I do find extremely useful is the widget for a flashlight app I have. It's basically a button on the home screen I just have to press once and the flashlight turns on. I would love to have a flashlight button on the iPhone instead of opening up and turning it on through an app. I do like the weather.com widget as well. That one is very useful to me. Instead of having to open the app, all the weather information I need is on the screen for quick viewing. Speaking of widgets, I would like the ability to have larger icon widgets on the screen for say the weather widget for example.
I would like to see the ability to share iWork documents in iCloud between other users. Something that is similar to the way Dropbox works.
Siri needs some improvements as well. It would be nice for Siri to be able to give us more answers without searching the web. Siri could pull information from wikipedia or for medical questions, get the information from a site like WebMD. One thing that would be cool would be able to set up Siri to read news headlines as the sound for the alarm clock.
I am looking forward to seeing what the new features will be in iOS 7.
I would sugest if you think everyone in Asia is poor you put down the US propaganda media you are consuming and open your eyes. In Hong Kong, Singapore and the other big cities around Asia Samsung is taking huge market share and these people have lots of disposable income. This to me is a classic case along the line of Nokia's lack of entry into the smartphone arena a few years ago. Apple, with its Many of its executives and their typically unworldly US style world view, they are missing the next revolution taking place NOW. Big screen phones.
As for some real, bigger changes. I'd like to see a better photo layout. Photos are becoming a huge part of a phone nowadays. People are taking hundreds of photos on their phones every year and yet, to find a photo you need to scroll through those hundreds of photos. Perhaps they need a calendar view. Tagging people and allowing users to input key words for searching purposes (ie, tagging myself and "John" and then putting in a description or keyword "party", "30th" "birthday") would be very handy.
I've always found the search screen to be the biggest waste of space. Why not have all the shortcuts for wifi, Do Not Disturb, Plane Mode, etc on that screen rather than have the keyboard pop up. The search bar can still be there and when you click it then the keyboard comes up.
Siri needs some desperate updates and needs to be more intuitive. I'd like to see her have a memory and grows the more you use her.
A Dropbox system would also be great. Especially for text and photos
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boltsfan17
I know many seem to balk at the idea of widgets, but some are very useful. Unfortunately the work phone provided to me is a Samescum Galaxy Note 2. One widget that I do find extremely useful is the widget for a flashlight app I have. It's basically a button on the home screen I just have to press once and the flashlight turns on. I would love to have a flashlight button on the iPhone instead of opening up and turning it on through an app.
I saw someone else refer to the usefulness of the flashlight widget, and now you.
I guess different people live all sorts different lifestyles. But I can't imagine how that would be useful to me, since I don't use that app very often. I mean, I like it for the very few times I do need it. But I'm curious, what do you use the flashlight for so often? I'm just wondering.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpamSandwich
Things will continue to improve. End of story.
Yes but it's not that simple. Things cannot and should not continue the same way.
Apple must invent new stuff that others simply can not copy. That's what will make the platform stand out.
They must be careful of Google like companies.
Just imagine how Apple would own the smart phone market if Google did not copy iOS...
Apple must advance its platform again except this time don't allow Google and others to copy it.
iOS 7: a mysterious box into which you put all your hopes and dreams and wants.
I'm sure whatever Apple does with iOS 7 will be more than I will ever need. I just hope for better maps in my home area in Central America. Not so much for myself since I already know where everything is and my previous need for high quality aerial imagery is no longer important because I have completed my mission of acquiring new property which was the main reason for my original complaint, but it would be nice for tourists to be able to access detailed map data when they visit. Although I enjoy using my iPhone, I probably utilize only a small fraction of its capabilities and I also have way fewer apps than the average, most of which I don't even use like iWork. I use iWork on the desktop all the time just not on my phone. I love my iPhone 5 but to me it is mostly about getting my email, txt, calendar, music and phone calls including Skype, which honestly doesn't work that great but that isn't Apple's fault.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEdge
I love my girlfriend's iPhone, but have been holding off buying one due to a few substantial limitations (to me). The include:
1. no easy system-wide sharing.
2. a keyboard that does not change to capital letters when hitting shift key (only small shift key lights up) and
3. too small of screen for my old man eyes (ok, this is hardware, not iOS)
is it too much to ask for these few improvements to iOS? I mean really, Android solved each of these complaints years ago.
I really want to switch, but can't get past these.
1. Use the iCloud for sharing.
2. Use Siri and dictate your text... screw looking at a keyboard.
3. Double tap the screen for double sizing the text.
I don't know, and the adolesent whining in this article didnt help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpamSandwich
Things will continue to improve. End of story.
Enjoyed your article better, Spam.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEdge
I love my girlfriend's iPhone, but have been holding off buying one due to a few substantial limitations (to me). The include:
1. no easy system-wide sharing.
2. a keyboard that does not change to capital letters when hitting shift key (only small shift key lights up) and
3. too small of screen for my old man eyes (ok, this is hardware, not iOS)
is it too much to ask for these few improvements to iOS? I mean really, Android solved each of these complaints years ago.
I really want to switch, but can't get past these.
2. is incorrect. It does that. Just checked.