GeorgeBMac

omair said:

Can't they at least make the battery life more practical?

blastdoor said:

GeorgeBMac said:

blastdoor said:

GeorgeBMac said:

kenan said:

...

Taiwan does not belong to China, Taiwan is an independent democratic country!

..

That's what some secessionists / imperialists claim.  But its no more true than when Virginia claimed it was part of an independent nation from the U.S.

Taiwan has never been governed by the PRC. Virginia absolutely was governed by the US.

a better analogy would be Puerto Rico. And if Puerto Rico wanted to be independent, they would be allowed independence.

but of course that’s not what PR wants, because the US isn’t a genocidal dictatorship .

Neither was Virginia governed by Whigs or Democrats.   But, like Taiwan, it was always part of the nation.

BTW, while the U.S. has not been a dictatorship (although we've had one who tried), it has been genocidal.

I don't think you know what genocide means. 

dysamoria said:

GeorgeBMac said:

Yes, EVENTUALLY the iPhone was a success that changed the market.    But neither was it, at least at first, was it the best.

Samsung had been making smart phones since the 90's and later the things like the Palm Treo refined the product.  The only thing the iPhone really introduced was the larger screen and replacing the stylus with a finger.

For myself, I didn't switch till the iPhone 5 -- 5 years later -- and even then I was forced to give up features that I had long valued.

As for the iPhone being the computer for the people:  That really didn't happen till much later and even Steve Jobs didn't buy into it.   Instead, he felt that the small, hand sized iPhone 4 was the ideal iPhone because "nobody wanted to hold a brick to their ear to talk".   In short, he saw the iPhone as a phone first and a computer second.   Apple didn't go the computer route (with a large screen) until after Jobs had died when they released the iPhone 6.

iPhones had apps for years before the iPhone 6. iPhone 4 was an acceptable web-consumption, emailing, and note-taking appliance. I even made a silly song on it with GarageBand. Way more than just a phone. I hate large phones. The iPhone 6 (and newer) button placement is garbage ergonomics, and we have to have a kludge to be able to reach the upper quarter of the screen with our thumbs. Apple still hasn’t made the keyboard effective for fast two-thumbed typing (it’s constantly treating two separate taps on two separate letters as a mistake).

As a side note, I still hold on to my iPhone 4. I use it as an iPod because bloated websites made it nearly useless for the internet. Everything else would’ve been fine if not for that, and for Apple’s bloated & buggy iOS 7, which I still refuse to put on it (iOS 6.x forever, if I can help it).

revenant said:

I would rather an unexpected shutdown than an unexpected explosion. 

I would rather an unexpected salmonella infection in my food than an unexpected listeria infection.

... When you buy top of the line food (or top of the line smart phone), most people would rather have neither....

Apple gets 1 point for thinking ahead to computer failure (due to software or hardware corruption).
Apple loses 2 points for making hardware non-upgradeable.
Apple loses  3 points for tying user data not only to the operating system & software but to the hardware itself.

I key IBM philosophy from the 80's was to keep software (be it OS or programs) separate from the data and never, ever mix the two.  It worked.  It made their mission critical business systems pretty much bullet proof.

BUT:  A failure of ALL PC OS's (except OS/2) has been to mix the software and the data -- so when the software gets corrupted you lose both software and data.   The trouble is:  software can always be replaced.   User data cannot.

Now Apple is compounding the problem by mixing software and hardware and user data....   When one fails they all fail.
...  The mystery socket is a rather weak work around for a weak design.

That concept works on IPhones & IPads because the need for extreme portability trumps the need to protect user data -- and besides, those devices don't contain volatile user data (mostly just pictures).   But, can it work on a laptop where a user depends on the integrity of the data?

The answer is obvious:  automatic online backups to the ICloud.
...  But then:   Why not just store the data in the ICloud?   (Ooops!  Google already thought of that.  It's called "Chromebook"!)
......... I think the next 5-10 years should be an interesting evolution....

I give Apple credit for trying.   But frankly, I consider these "medals" kind of silly.  

Apple does not seem to understand serious athletes & fitness enthusiasts.   They need to up their game...

Instead of a silly medal, I would prefer to go to the Health App or Activity App and find a meaningful summary of my exercise & activity that helps me to see and understand how I've been doing over the past week, month, quarter and year and to help me tune my exercise and activity in order to promote my health.   Right now those offerings are second rate -- particularly the health app. 

rogifan_new said:

And this is news because? I'm amazed that every time iFixit does a tear down the collective tech world loses their mind as though this hasn't been Apple's MO for years now. None of this is surprising so why the freak out?

Steve Jobs used weird screws to keep people out of his Macintosh.  

Tim Cook let's you in -- but stops you from doing anything once you get there....

We've been arguing the user modifiable/fixable debate for 20 years (is it 30 already?).   But part of that debate that has been ignored is the fact that making a unit non-user fixable or modifiable or upgradeable increases its cost by hastening its obsolescence and death.

A 6 year old Lenovo can be repaired or upgraded to maintain its operability.   What about a 6 year old Mac?

It's also important to realize that Jobs and Cook have different motivations for keeping people out of their machines:
- Jobs didn't want people screwing up his careful design
- Cook & Company are obsessed with thin and light designs that necessitate units that are not upgradeable or repairable.

And, that's an important distinction:  Anything designed to be non-repairable or upgradeable (even by its own manufacturer) is designed to be disposable.  But who wants to pay $1,500 - $3,000 for a disposable laptop?   (Especially when there are competitive options available? -- Such as a Chrome Book)

... Jobs focus was:  technology is just a means to an end (functionality -- "It just works").   Cook needs to realize that technology is not the end game.