This blog was never supposed to be for tech/digital observations, but what the hell. You probably won’t need this post if you’re not using a lot of apple. Or of course, you could be among a battery of people I know that own devices (apple or otherwise) and have no interest in updating them. In either case, move on and read something else.
Soo! Task 1 this morning. Download and install iOS6 to ALL the apple devices in the house. Managed to install on my iPhone4 and iPad2 and here’s the quick and dirty.
1) Download and installation was a breeze. The phone software was downloaded via the mac. The iPad one was done OTA (over the air). Large size downloads – 900MB approx, but managed both within the hour.
2) Maps a big letdown. There’s just no getting around the fact that Apple has no visible interest in Indian users, content, apps or utilities. Google maps itself was barely sufficient on the iPhone, but the native maps app on the iPhone has some serious issues. It cannot provide driving directions between even prominent points like Bombay Stock Exchange and Taj Mahal Hotel. It can (thankfully) locate both these landmarks. Out of curiosity, I asked for directions between two points on the same road (500ms away from each other), and the app could not serve directions. Clearly. Meant for a few big countries, and some other big cities. The Good part. On the iPad the slight 3D and the ability to rotate the map around is super. You can do all this seamlessly, without any drop in res or any blank patches waiting for images to download.
2) Safari is the real winner. If you’re using multiple iOS and OSx devices like I am, the iCloud tabs feature is very useful. Simply, any tabs/web pages open on any of your devices can be accessed on any other devices. Sort of like a ‘immediate’ version of favourites & bookmarks.
3) Facebook is now deeply integrated. But the FB iPhone/iPad app still sucks. You can import & integrate your entire friends list from FB into your iPhone contacts. Which means that your current iPhone contact list (the ones on FB) gets updated with profile pics, the irritating FB default email, and the FB instant messenger. And friends on FB who were not on your contact list get added in. Which on the whole is not a great idea, but what the hell. FB and Twitter are also deeply integrated into other sections and apps… allowing you to tweet or post from anywhere.
3) Mail has become smarter. It now has boxes for your flagged items & for ‘VIPs’ – obviously you can choose who is a VIP, and read mails only from her if you are in a tearing hurry. So your iPhone and iPad mail is now a fine mirror of your mail on the mac.
4) The Phone function (are you still using your smart phone for phone calls??) = nice small touches. You can now refuse calls and send a simultaneous text message out. Nice, but really not earth shattering. Better functionality comes from a DND service that allows you to keep your phone silent for whatever period of time you decide (say midnight to 5am), and yet with alternatives built in to let specific people disturb you. Or to start ringing if a person calls more than twice. There is some nice intuition and human insight there.
There are many more cute tricks to try, but frankly, unless Apple intends to treat India like a strong future market, we will continue ti find that we will be saddled with increasingly expensive devices (blame the currency), that have little local relevance from a content or utility point of view. Am I getting the new iPhone 5? You bet. Why? The panorama shot feature in the camera looks like a cool thing to try. Aside from that, my reasons for the iPhone5 stay the same as the 4 or previous. It’s setting the standard. App quality and ease of use is superb. You dont have to struggle with Android’s sluggish app store where it’s so tough to figure which apps are best for your device. And largely, since I have already spent the effort in building my own library of mobile content that works seamlessly for me on all my devices and TV screens, wherever I may be.
If you need help with any of this, call out.
And if you’re looking for a more detailed review, I found this one nice.
Surely there are many more around, but from an India persp, a lot of this means v little.
In fact Apple has posted its key feature list, and which countries those features are working in. And that makes me smile ruefully.
Cooks & Runs 