Apple updates iBooks & iTunes U with fresh, flatter looks for iOS 7

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  • Reply 41 of 65

    I have all 5 items checked in System Preferences -> Notifications -> Messages:

     

    Show notifications on lock screen

    Show message preview

    Show in notification center

    Badge app icon

    Play sound notifications

     

     

    If you are not working on the Mac when this occurs, you would never know you had a message.  I had nothing.  Nada.  Except for a small red "2" on the Messages icon in the dock.  So with all these options, there is nothing modal, that you have to dismiss.  I could have a message right now as I type this which was received earlier when I was not at my Mac, and I would never know it unless I proactively check for messages.

     

    As for the iPhone, it does NOT have a PERSISTENT missed a voicemail alert.  My old Motorola clamshell would beep every 5 minutes to let me know I have voice mail.  In a real life example of this idiotic lack of a feature, my boss called me from work at 5:30 PM while I was in the shower and left voicemail.  My iPhone 4s was sitting on the island in the middle of the kitchen.  And no notifications whatsoever!  It wasn't until 7:30 PM that I just happened to pickup my Phone and press the home button, to find that I had missed an important voicemail.  It's happened to me numerous times since I've had my iPhone.

     

    So, I just left myself a voicemail 15 minutes ago.  Except for one lame notification, the phone is sitting there idle, doing nothing.  You'll never know you have a message unless you proactively look, just like with Messages now.  That's what I'm talking about.

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  • Reply 42 of 65
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,394member
    zbernie wrote: »
    I have all 5 items checked in System Preferences -> Notifications -> Messages:

    Show notifications on lock screen
    Show message preview
    Show in notification center
    Badge app icon
    Play sound notifications


    If you are not working on the Mac when this occurs, you would never know you had a message.  I had nothing.  Nada.  Except for a small red "2" on the Messages icon in the dock.  So with all these options, there is nothing modal, that you have to dismiss.  I could have a message right now as I type this which was received earlier when I was not at my Mac, and I would never know it unless I proactively check for messages.

    As for the iPhone, it does NOT have a PERSISTENT missed a voicemail alert.  My old Motorola clamshell would beep every 5 minutes to let me know I have voice mail.  In a real life example of this idiotic lack of a feature, my boss called me from work at 5:30 PM while I was in the shower and left voicemail.  My iPhone 4s was sitting on the island in the middle of the kitchen.  And no notifications whatsoever!  It wasn't until 7:30 PM that I just happened to pickup my Phone and press the home button, to find that I had missed an important voicemail.  It's happened to me numerous times since I've had my iPhone.

    So, I just left myself a voicemail 15 minutes ago.  Except for one lame notification, the phone is sitting there idle, doing nothing.  You'll never know you have a message unless you proactively look, just like with Messages now.  That's what I'm talking about.

    iPhone has always been like this. It doesn't constantly notify you of pending notifications. Why are you speaking as if its something new in ios7? Why are you getting upset now? That's ALWAYS been e case. It's why I always wake my phone whenever I'm away from it, even for a couple min.
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  • Reply 43 of 65

    If you understood my post correctly, I was referring to stupid s*it Apple does, the lack of a persistent missed call notification being one of them.  Yes, the iPhone has always had this shortcoming.  Every other cellphone I've used, and every other cellphone that friends and family have used, has had this feature.  The new Moto-X I just purchased has this feature.  Not to mention there are numerous apps which can be had which can be configured to remind you as many times as you'd like about missed calls and or voicemail.

     

    But never the iPhone.  One reminder for a missed call and or voice mail?  Really?   That's just stupidity or arrogance.  If I'm away from my phone and return, I want it to remind me of a missed call!  It's one of the sorely lacking features I've hated about my iPhone 4s since I got it two years ago, and has bitten me in the ass on several occasions.  But not anymore!

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  • Reply 44 of 65
    Sorry but the update sucks! It's BORING! I want my old iBooks back please!!
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  • Reply 45 of 65
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,394member

    Oh, and I love how the book icon is identical to Safari's bookmark icon. Just brilliant. Won't cause confusion or anything. Either way, the shape barely looks like a book. I guess it's just part of the whole "clarity" theme. 

     

     

     

     

    In my 10+ yrs of using Apple products, I've literally never had issues with the UI. I could understand the reasoning for everything.  But some of these recent decisions just dumb-found me. 

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  • Reply 46 of 65
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,394member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zBernie View Post

     

    If you understood my post correctly, I was referring to stupid s*it Apple does, the lack of a persistent missed call notification being one of them.  Yes, the iPhone has always had this shortcoming.  Every other cellphone I've used, and every other cellphone that friends and family have used, has had this feature.  The new Moto-X I just purchased has this feature.  Not to mention there are numerous apps which can be had which can be configured to remind you as many times as you'd like about missed calls and or voicemail.

     

    But never the iPhone.  One reminder for a missed call and or voice mail?  Really?   That's just stupidity or arrogance.  If I'm away from my phone and return, I want it to remind me of a missed call!  It's one of the sorely lacking features I've hated about my iPhone 4s since I got it two years ago, and has bitten me in the ass on several occasions.  But not anymore!


     

    Well, good thing for you, seems you don't need to worry about that anymore as you switched to a Moto-X. Hopefully you can stop complaining now. 

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  • Reply 47 of 65
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zBernie View Post

     

    If you understood my post correctly, I was referring to stupid s*it Apple does, the lack of a persistent missed call notification being one of them.  Yes, the iPhone has always had this shortcoming.  Every other cellphone I've used, and every other cellphone that friends and family have used, has had this feature.  The new Moto-X I just purchased has this feature.  Not to mention there are numerous apps which can be had which can be configured to remind you as many times as you'd like about missed calls and or voicemail.

     

    But never the iPhone.  One reminder for a missed call and or voice mail?  Really?   That's just stupidity or arrogance.  If I'm away from my phone and return, I want it to remind me of a missed call!  It's one of the sorely lacking features I've hated about my iPhone 4s since I got it two years ago, and has bitten me in the ass on several occasions.  But not anymore!


     

    I actually prefer not having blinking lights or constant notifications.  If I am away from my phone for any period of time, like taking a shower for example, as soon as I am next to it, I take a quick glance and that's the end.  A single home button press will show me if I missed a call or have a voicemail.  Having my phone beep every 5 minutes when I have a missed called would drive me nuts, including my girlfriend or anyone else around me.  I also never liked the flashing lights on my old BlackBerry devices.  Both of those scenarios seem invasive to me.  I actually make it a point to decrease the number of notifications I get.  I don't want my devices to distract me so much from every day life.  I do like the active notifications on the Moto X but not enough to ditch the rest of the things I like about iOS.  To each his own.  At least now you won't have to complain about it with your new phone.

     

    As for Messages, it is a bug from what I have seen.  Part of Mavericks was interactive notifications in Messages.

     

    http://www.apple.com/osx/whats-new/#notifications

     

    A lot of my other apps that use Notification Center, work properly, including Mail and FaceTime.

     

    Safe travels.

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  • Reply 48 of 65

    As I stated, every other phone has a persistent missed call/voicemail notification except for the iPhone.  If you want to constantly have to press your home button to see if you missed a call, then more power to you.

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  • Reply 49 of 65
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,394member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zBernie View Post

     

    As I stated, every other phone has a persistent missed call/voicemail notification except for the iPhone.  If you want to constantly have to press your home button to see if you missed a call, then more power to you.


     

    My Nexus 5's notification light is ALWAYS blinking, so its pretty useless. I have to wake it anyway to see what I missed, and if its even worth checking. If I'm away from my phone, or not in earshot of the ringer, I make a habit of pressing the home button. I don't see it as a big deal, and neither do hundreds of millions of others apparently.

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  • Reply 50 of 65
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,394member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    This is what's frustrating to me with all the iOS 7 hyperbole. Both Jony Ive and Craig Federighi have said this is just the beginning, they're just getting started. iOS 7 is version 1.0 that one can assume will get better over time, especially as they take into account user feedback. I'll be very surprised if iOS 8 doesn't have some visual changes, like less white.

     

    What do you mean "just the beginning". Do you expect them to completely redesign iOS7 AGAIN with iOS8? What a cop-out excuse. Yeah, iOS got refined in small ways between iOS1 and iOS6. But they completely nailed the UI from the beginning- it wasn't a "starting point"- it was meticulously thought out, pixel by pixel, and tested to hell and back. It introduced SO many new interaction paradigms, and did it all while maintaining a completely new, useable, intuitive, and functional OS. iOS7 frankly includes a mess of usability, accessibility, and design issues. There's no excuse for this, and definitely not the one you note, which is that they're "just getting started". You don't do that when you're revamping the OS on the product of hundreds of millions of customers who love the existing product. You make sure you get it right first. iOS7 contains so many aspects that make me question how they made it to the final product. 

     

    And when 99% of people have negative reactions to a redesign, you know something is wrong. The average iBooks rating is now 2/5 stars, because of all the 1 star reviews of people revolted with the redesign and claiming its hideous. The 20 most recent reviews are all negative. I can't disagree. Even changing the bookshelf to a glass one, a la iOS6 iPhoto, would have been gorgeous. But no, we'll just make it white, similar to the new Newstand app which was universally mocked. I'd hate to be Forstall now, seeing the last of my work being flushed down the toilet. I'm not sure how that poor guy sleeps at night. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/ibooks/id364709193

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  • Reply 51 of 65
    slurpy wrote: »

    Even the description, from Apple, is off. It still says there's a bookshelve, it still says to copy your ePub and .pdf's to iTunes and they say that 'some .pdf's won't sync to iBooks' without telling why, or giving an example. That might confuse people.
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  • Reply 52 of 65
    zbernie wrote: »
    I have a section in my notes titled "Stupid S**t That Apple Does".   Apple, makes some great products (I love OS X), but they do some really stupid things as well.  Here's the latest -- In Messages 8.0 in Mavericks, the ONLY notification option is to play a sound!  Formerly you could have the icon in the dock bounce, or display a dialog box, or run a script, etc..  So, my wife came home from work one day and asked "Did you get my text message?"  I said no, I did not.  I looked and to my dismay saw a little red "2" on the Messages icon, indicating that I missed two text messages.  I must have stepped away when the 1 second notification sound played. 

    So now you have to actively look for missed messages, or you might miss them.  Give me a friggin option!  I don't want to miss important text messages on my Mac!  Let me display a dialo, that does not close until I close it, or something!

    Okay, speaking of notifications, here is one that has been nagging me since I bought my iPhone 4s about two years ago:

    THERE'S STILL NO MISSED PHONE CALL OR VOICE MAIL ALERTS!!!!!!!!!!

    Apple in their infinite stupidity, deems this feature unnecessary.   And you can't get an app for that, because Apple does not allow access to the phone internals.

    So yes, iOS 7 is just the culmination of a lot of stupid s**t that Apple has done over the years, and Jony Ive needs to be fired.
    Bounce troll
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  • Reply 53 of 65
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,394member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by PhilBoogie View Post





    Even the description, from Apple, is off. It still says there's a bookshelve, it still says to copy your ePub and .pdf's to iTunes and they say that 'some .pdf's won't sync to iBooks' without telling why, or giving an example. That might confuse people.

     

    This is the type of blatant carelessness that is disturbing me. I mean, aren't there people in charge of reviewing release notes for such a popular app? How hard can it be? I don't remember this kind of shit happening in the past. 

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  • Reply 54 of 65
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    And it's butt UGLY. Sigh....
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  • Reply 55 of 65
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    slurpy wrote: »
    What do you mean "just the beginning". Do you expect them to completely redesign iOS7 AGAIN with iOS8? What a cop-out excuse. Yeah, iOS got refined in small ways between iOS1 and iOS6. But they completely nailed the UI from the beginning- it wasn't a "starting point"- it was meticulously thought out, pixel by pixel, and tested to hell and back. It introduced SO many new interaction paradigms, and did it all while maintaining a completely new, useable, intuitive, and functional OS. iOS7 frankly includes a mess of usability, accessibility, and design issues. There's no excuse for this, and definitely not the one you note, which is that they're "just getting started". You don't do that when you're revamping the OS on the product of hundreds of millions of customers who love the existing product. You make sure you get it right first. iOS7 contains so many aspects that make me question how they made it to the final product. 

    And when 99% of people have negative reactions to a redesign, you know something is wrong. The average iBooks rating is now 2/5 stars, because of all the 1 star reviews of people revolted with the redesign and claiming its hideous. The 20 most recent reviews are all negative. I can't disagree. Even changing the bookshelf to a glass one, a la iOS6 iPhoto, would have been gorgeous. But no, we'll just make it white, similar to the new Newstand app which was universally mocked. I'd hate to be Forstall now, seeing the last of my work being flushed down the toilet. I'm not sure how that poor guy sleeps at night. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/ibooks/id364709193

    I'm sure Forstall sleeps just fine. Especially if iOS is as bad as you say, he must be sleeping really well! Maybe he'll be back to save Apple from Ive and Federighi hell. Anyway, I never said iOS 7 would be redesigned from the ground up. My point is I think this new direction will be improved over time. Especially with user feedback they're receiving. From what I'm seeing the biggest issue with iOS 7 isn't functionality but the look of the UI. That is certainly something that can change, can be improved upon. No I don't see Apple going back to Microsoft Bob like skeuomorphism, but I wouldn't be surprised if iOS 8 has a lot less white on white. The new iPhoto app looks really nice. The UI is black and gray. As far as the iBooks rating in the App Store most of the negative reviews aren't about the app's functionality, but about the look - i.e. too much white. I don't disagree and I think with iOS 8 we will see more contrast and less white everywhere. Basically I think iOS 8 will be a more polished version of iOS 7 (from a UI perspective).
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  • Reply 56 of 65
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    slurpy wrote: »
    This is the type of blatant carelessness that is disturbing me. I mean, aren't there people in charge of reviewing release notes for such a popular app? How hard can it be? I don't remember this kind of shit happening in the past. 
    I guess you don't remember the clusterfuck that was the podcasts app? Probably the worst app Apple ever produced. How in the world did that ever make it out the door?
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  • Reply 57 of 65

    As a seventeen year old, I must say that most people my age don't really care about skeuomorphism. In fairness, we aren't the only age group to use Apple products, but could it be possible that Apple is really aiming towards my generation with iOS 7 and the 5c? 

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  • Reply 58 of 65

    If Apple stops doing dumb shit, I'll stop complaining.

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  • Reply 59 of 65

    Millions of others who use iPhones don't know any better.   Motorola, Samsung, Google, Asus, HTC, etc., ALL incorporate a persistent missed call/voicemail notification.   All except for Apple.  It should at least be an option, but Apple doesn't even give you that.

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  • Reply 60 of 65
    ...and STILL no highlighting for PDFs. Because who would ever need to do that?
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