iYawn 4zzz

I've used eBuddy, which is a decent MSN alternative.

I'd also recommend getting WhatsApp, you can message anyone who has it (it's on android/ios/blackberry) for free. More of a SMS alternative than an IM alternative but still handy.

IM is in a fucking dismal state on iOS. I use IM+ on iPad, but it's pretty shit, partly because...it's shit, but partly because of the app flushing thing I talked about before - after 10 mins the OS kills it, meaning you're offline.

Android has pretty much always done it too, but it's pretty shit at it. If it was any good, those task manager apps wouldn't be as popular as they are. iOS is incredibly aggressive at doing it, all in the name of battery life.

This. iOS is good at only firing up the power hungry GPS chip when needed, and it yeah turning it off breaks shit like Find My iPhone and Location Reminders, rendering them useless.

That's good at least. The battery is lasting longer and longer, i think i have to fully drain it and re-charge it a couple of times to get it at 100% don't i?



Yeah i've been meaning to get this!

Has anyone here used "Find Friends" much?

Not really because I don't know enough people using it. Has awesome potential though, and I know people who do use it a lot with their partner.

My point is that, either way, it's more noticeable now. I have no need for an app killer running any recent Android versions.



gc.

Is Find Friends any different (in principle) to, say, Lattitude?



gc.

Whatsapp and Viber are the shit man. So fucking sweet for keeping in touch with people overseas, and really fill a cool niche between 'chat' and genuine text messaging. You can obviously be frivolous with content because it's free messaging, but you can also send more traditional messages. I use Viber more as I can also call my friends for free!



gc.

Certainly I understand it's improving yeah I agree, but I also base my views on an understanding of how the code behind it all works too, and there is still plenty more Android could do. Gingerbread and ICS notwithstanding, not enough experience there obviously.

Getting down to brass tacks, in principle no. But being an Apple app, it's got advantages in talking to parts of the OS that aren't open to other developers yet, and does some neat tricks, like invite a friend to an event and if they opt-in, it will notify you when they physically arrive at the event, with no interaction or check in involved at all, and automatically revokes the ability for you to view their location as soon as that event is over.

(I haven't used Latitude recently to see if it's improved, just a quick look now)

I've seen some really nice setups - for example, a couple with a shared account, one can add a reminder to the others task list that for example, pops up tells them to get milk as they leave the office.

"Bitch cook me some eggs" whenever near kitchen?

"Two little-known fields in iPhone contact cards are the Phonetic First and Last Names. Fill them in to help Siri understand your requests better and to keep Siri from mispronouncing the names of your friends and family."

Clever.

http://m.itworld.com/mobile-wireless/219429/apple-finally-admits-what-iphone-4s-owners-already-knew-theres-battery-proble

there sure is a problem! mine lasts half a day if it's not on standby the whole time

whenever near your mbp.

http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/mobile/iphone

Galaxy S2 > Iphone 4S ^_^

more fragile though I bet

Anything else you want to be wrong about ?

wow those telscum prices aren't too bad... for NZ

vodafone what ya got?

yeah, the bend test - and most sensible iphoners wear a bumper anyway

Early Thursday morning 10/11/2011 Multi RAB will be activated NZ wide on all RNCs / All 3G Cells

for all those waiting for the tethering fix

for those like me 3 gbs /mth 4lyfe

do you use that much, I'm lucky to crack 200 mb - mainly due to the infuriating wait time when out of wifi range for anything but the simplest most basic tasks

Enjoy your extremely diminished battery life till they fix iOS 5

yup and more

no diff for me but I guess I have programmed it sensibly for power saving from the start and am not a n00b user

*bend it like beckham*

you realise it's a luck thing right ?

Some phones have faulty battery interaction with iOS 5.0 , so powersaving wont do shit

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2056992/iPhone-4S-battery-life-Apple-admits-problem-weeks-fix.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

It's not a luck thing, there's at least 2 known issues that are easily fixed by changing settings, one to do with location services and one to do with a particular type of contact syncing.


Pretty sharp upfront pricing from Telecom too. In saying that, not all smiles:

http://lancewiggs.com/2011/11/08/a-closer-look-at-telecoms-iphone-plans/

Same here.

I've never cracked 200MB in my life and I am farkin constantly using email, social services, navigation and general browsing on my phone... because you're often hooked up to a wifi network and also because 3G is so fucken SHITE its hard to churn through data

<3 Whatsapp.

Viber very rarely works well enough for me to consider using it regularly...

Did 400mb in 5 days recently :/


But yeah, stats say the average NZ user consumes 200mb or under.

Haha... I have an android an an iphone so when I use my 4 Gb quota I change devices

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10764775

My brief test of s didn't impress

How in hell did you manage that? What were you downloading?

only 400 mb?

and voda's RAB tether fix ROCKS (on 900 network anyway)

Upgraded from 3GS to 4S on Saturday. For me it's epic - retina display is like WOOOOOOOOW, camera is infinitely better, and it's super speedy. But I would imagine the 4 is much the same, so if I had a 4 I wouldn't have bought the new one.

And Siri? I must be doing something wrong, because it doesn't effing work for me... (and yes, it's turned on)

3gs to 4s ls a big step up and one I wish I'd made. Well done.

Doubt I'd get the money now I got then for my 3gs though.

3GS: Samsung ARM11 @ 412mhz
4: Apple A4 ~750-800mhz (varies speed to conserve battery)
4S: Apple A5 Dual Core ~800mhz-1ghz (same)

There is a noticeable difference in speed between iPad2 and iPad2 which use A4 and A5 respectively, so even if you were only upgrading from a 4 you'd still notice it, but yeah, much smaller upgrade.


Of note, the 5.0.1 update is supposed to fix battery life issues, and even though I wasn't having any, I'm pretty sure my iPad has improved, especially with 3G turned on.

So Siri is like a watered down version of Android's voice command interface ?

I can't understand why apple only supports US businesses, you can get any local info using the android equivalent :o

(not a dig at apple just wondering the reasoning for it)

it hasn't fixed a thing for me. Apple have confirmed that it hasn't fixed the battery issue, except for a small amount of users.

Annoying!

No. iOS has had voice command stuff for some time. Siri uses natural conversational language and can perform more complicated tasks.



For Apple, Siri is a shot across Google's bows in the search arena. The objective appears to be you go to Siri for things, not to Google, where you would see Google ads and Google trying to monetise your visit.

It only supports US stuff currently because...well think about where Apple is from and where it sells the most iPhones. Of course a beta service is only going to extend so far. Looks like future updates will eventually spread far and wide.

Just watch the Siri videos.

Apple has confirmed that non-US places will be available later, no date given though.

only in the States would the world be called non-US places

coks

Does Siri integrate with your GPS and give you directions and shit ?

EG. If I am low on my gas I can say navigate to nearest gas station and it gives me a list of those that are closest and then gives me driving directions to them, I can do the same with any business, restaurant, cafe, bar, supermarket etc.... It even did it with dick smith... which I was impressed with.

So you are basically saying google is evil and siri is a goddess that won't ever be tainted with apple? (with the statement that google gives you ads - something I am yet to receive on my galaxy s2 even when google searching).

I am just unsure of why it's so amazing that apple have basically integrated one of those question bots with voice activation software...

You do make me laugh Resist.

Because I fail to be impressed with gimmicks ? k, gotcha !

FWIW I'll give credit where credit is due, and I do believe that Siri is great for blind people, however I still think that for the majority of the population it's nothing more than a repacked version of older android software. (much like the majority of features on the new iphone 4s and iOS 5.0)

much like how android is nothing more than a repacked version of iOS then?

maybe android 1.0, since then Android has come up with a lot more innovation than apple has.

Yes. With the caveat that it's only in the US at present, as it's still a beta. (And yes, it's very strange of Apple to be pushing a beta service so much, and yes I think it's silly that it's so US centric, but that's how it is)

Ask it "I want to see some boobs" and it gives you a list of local strip clubs. (And directions) Literally.



Showing the user ads isn't the only way Google monetises you using their services. Note that I didn't say Google was evil (that's another discussion altogether), and "tainted by Apple"? It's an Apple service. Of course it's dripping in Applesauce?! But after seeing how the service is designed and how the backend works, and basing my opinion on how Apple approaches such services - I'm confident that it will keep working the way it does now, improving over time. They want you to use their device for everything - they already *have* your money (highest profitability in both the computer and mobile arena remember), and if they keep making their product better and better, they will keep taking your money. Money which they use to run services like Siri without having to care about making money directly from the product - they make it when they sell you the device.



The amazing bit is the natural language performance. You can write it off if you like but *shrug*.

You're high if you think Android is "innovating" in a manner any different to how Apple does. Google is trying to snap up just as much technology to put into Android as Apple does, just less successfully. (eg Nortel patent buy up)

Is it?

Thanks kris, I do appreciate you spelling stuff out for me, I am quite willing to listen, the language performance is pretty sweet...

Sorry innovation probably isn't the right word, but adding more features faster than apple (from what I have seen), whether those features are actually useful, well that's a different story

e.g. facial recognition locking software.

Nah it's just that when you get something between your teeth, you're like a rabid dog that doesn't stop barking. It's just your passion, it's cool, I'm not trying to dis you, it's just funny because one can always tell what has your attention this week. :>

I have attention deficit disorder dude, it's a symptom of my disease

Aha.... Well now I feel like a cunt. Sorry dude. No offense intended.

haha, not what I meant :> (or what I wanted you to feel)

I am completely fine with my condition

https://twitter.com/#!/timbray/status/126510193323409408


nek minnit

Well I'm not bloody expert on smartphone UIs but android on the face of it seems pretty bloody identical to iOS. Oh sure it's grown and branched out added it's own features (much like windows did against macOS)... whatever... it still looks very much the same.

So I've read arguments about how that is how a smart phone UI is done, you can't claim innovation on something when that is the only way to do it.... rubbish of course. How the hell does one explain Windows7 mobile then? That seems to look and work pretty different.

Give me several million dollars and I'll come up with several different UIs for a desktop and a mobile OS and none of them will look like iOS (or a WIMP desktop OS).

Yeah, as demonstrated above, adding more features faster isn't necessarily a good thing. Apple's general track record is to tread a lot more carefully and try and introduce the best version of a feature possible. That doesn't always mean the most feature packed jack of all trades features, but hopefully the *best* version for the consumer.


An of course, Apple's vision of best isn't always going to suit everyone, but at the very least they've spent a bunch of time modelling, testing and considering it before releasing it. They don't always get it right, but for the most part, they do.

If you don't already have a vision for "several different" desktop and mobile UI's that work in a totally different way to existing models without the millions of dollars, you don't have shit. If you really had a vision, you'd be able to sketch it out pretty quickly.

Not going to give this shit away!

Google bought android in 2005 so development well underway before ios on scene

No UI to speak of at the time?

Except what Android looked like then was pretty far removed from a real full touch based UI. What was leaking out back then looked like a Blackberry. Hell, the first publicly released Android phone (HTC Dream), while having a (very lightly used) touch screen, still had a godawful QWERTY slider. This was 16 months after iPhone 1 was released.

Sorry fella, missed this. Just...stuff. Normal stuff!

Was on holiday, travelling only with iPad. So *every* little bit of browsing was over 3G. About once a day I would hit up some wifi and use Byline to cache my RSS feeds from Google reader, so that hammers bandwidth a bit, but I did disable caching for a bunch of feeds I wasn't going to be getting through, but yeah. Easy to blow through data when you're relying on 3G only.

Pays to use mobile versions as much as possible

It was only a drama because of the insane charges for roaming on 2degrees data. Next time an XT sim makes much more sense for national travel, assuming coverage.