Tag Archives: Apple

Googlifying my iPhone might be a sin, but I did it anyway.

I’ve recently converted the major applications that I might use on my iPhone 4S to their Google alternatives as offered in the App Store. Some of these get a lot of use and others don’t really get used sparingly, if at all.

Here’s a look-see at what my home screen looks like right now:

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Google Chrome

The iOS third-party browser scene (aside from Opera) all use the built-in web renderer to display webpages. Some browsers even claim to be able to handle certain Flash content in the same way that Android phones have claimed to be adept at handling Adobe’s multimedia web-wrapper technology. Chrome’s intent isn’t to rock the boat, but to design an app that’s more usable than Safari.

In all honesty, that isn’t a very difficult task.

While Safari is a solid browser for the phone, the only actionable touch that I can think of outside of browsing a webpage is using the deadswitch to scroll to the top of any given page. Chrome adds more swish-and-flick mentality to its effort, with swiping from the edge of the screen across allows a user to switch tabs on the fly, while swiping a tab straight off the screen is a shortcut to closing a tab. The bookmark and active tab syncing that reliably work are welcome additions to the browser and are vast improvements over the implementation of the same that exist in Apple’s Safari.

Google Maps

I haven’t switched to Google Maps out of protest about the latest Apple Maps included in iOS 6, but I switched because of the possibility of needing directions by any other means other than driving.

While traveling in the past year, I relied on mass transit once I got there to get around from place to place, mainly from my hotel to the reason I traveled to the city in the first place. With Apple’s Maps not offering any transit directions of any use, I had to pull up the mobile web version of Google Maps along a mass transit system map as necessary. Having one native place to search these items in the future will be extremely helpful—and I always have the Siri-Apple Maps available for hands free use while driving available by summoning Siri.

Google Drive & Google+

These apps are on here for the same purposes, really. Google Drive is the alternative to Dropbox once I run out of free space on there (so far I have roughly a gigabyte left, so that might be gone sooner than I think), so I’m keeping that around just in case.

I’ve started to use Google+ a bit more lately, but that’s because the iOS app smartly looks into my photos and syncs them with an offline service that allows me to use them at another time, outside of my phone without having to connect a cable to my phone for access. Photostream for iOS does handle this for the most part when the phone backs itself up via iCloud, as does Dropbox for iOS. Having another backup system isn’t that terrible of an idea, right?

Gmail

The only thing that worked reliably well in the world of iCloud was the mail system, however switching to Gmail has only been an improvement on the app experience. Sparrow’s team was absorbed by the Google machine a few months back, and it seems that the upgraded Gmail app that I’m now using has been largely inspired by Sparrow’s innovations.

Forwarding mail and setting up Gmail was pretty simple and I haven’t had problems with getting or sending mail since. On the web, Gmail is the experience most central to interacting with most of what Google has to offer its users, but on the iOS platform, it’s very much separate from the rest of the Google experience, but still relatively uniform with the design from the other apps that Google has updated.

Conclusion

I think I could get used to this. If anything, it’ll help me when it’s time to finally make a switch for an Android-based phone, which—unless the Ubuntu-phone is a real thing—seems more and more like a likely possibility. The apps are generally more usable than their Apple counterparts, as well, even without the more in-depth abilities that come with Apple’s built-in and first-party applications.

I can’t believe that I just admitted that, but I think that keeping an open mind when it comes to tech is pretty important—even more so than being a fan of a particular device or operating system.

iPad without a name.

Apple’s special event held yesterday in San Francisco saw the release of a new Apple TV, iOS 5.1, and a new iPad. 1

While the iPad understandably stole the show, the former two big points shouldn’t be forgotten. Along with the Apple TV update, the iTunes Store was also announced to begin supporting 1080p videos and that videos are also going to be permitted to use the iTunes in the Cloud—no more downloading movies, it’s all about the streaming now. 2

Not to mention the whole AT&T iPhone 4S handsets are really on 4G-level technology with the 4G logo changed in the upper-left hand corner of the device thing that came with iOS 5.1—it just looks kinda funny. 3

If you want a recommendation from me about the new iPad, there’s a few situations that have stuck out in my mind since the event:

  • If you already have an iPad 2, don’t worry about it. The second-generation product is thinner and lighter than the just-unveiled successor and many developers who were thinking about going universal for the iPad 2’s graphics capability have already done so. You’ve probably found, as have I, an acceptable ecosystem of applications that allows you to get things done on the device. There was also no indication of how the new iPad will run iPad apps scaled for the older models; you might not be able to notice the pixels on a Retina-quality display, but I wonder if older applications will appear pixel-y as they’re being scaled up to fit in the new double-resolution display.
  • If you’re interested in the 1080p recording, approach with caution. I can’t deny that the new iPad is virtually a simplified video editing studio and publishing tool in and of itself, but i’m not sure how practical Apple’s camera software is for recording video in a serious way. There are no manual controls for keeping exposure and white-balance set at a custom value; the user can only set the auto-focus and the white-balance with a tap or lock it into place based on what picture is available for the camera at that point. Unless you’re carrying a box you can point the camera in that simulates the lighting situation you want to define as standard, there’s no real reason to use the new iPad as a serious video tool… but I doubt that any more than a few will.
  • If you don’t have an iPad at this point, it’s time to put your cr/debit card down. This model represents the definitive tablet of the first multi-core tablet generation and it’s going to be the shining standard that the Android and upcoming Windows 8 tablets will be emulating as far as hardware quality and capability (granted Nvidia called Apple out on its graphics comparison 4). Windows 8 might be the difference that sets its species of tablets apart, but Android tablet systems will be fighting toe-to-toe with this new iPad for the next year. Android tablets will need a major feature shift and software upgrade to compete.

I’ll have one of these models eventually, but I don’t think I’m going to break down and sell my second-generation iPad for it anytime soon. Perhaps after the Mayan calendar ends. Or something like that.

  1. You can watch the keynote here, on Apple’s website. ↩
  2. Engadget has a good wrap-up of the changes made to the new Apple TV, here. ↩
  3. Here’s what the new AT&T 4G logo looks like on iOS 5.1. ↩
  4. Nvidia called bullshit on Apple’s assertion that the A5X is graphically four times as powerful as their Tegra 3 processor. ↩

Typical Apple event blues?

I picked up an iPad 2 over the holidays this past winter and I feel like it’s been one of the best tech purchases that I’ve made in a while. It’s not the gaming machine that I just picked up and it’s nothing I can do some killer video editing on, but for most things—including producing this post—it does just fine and with a minimal amount of effort, I can do things that I might have relied on a computer to do in the past.

So, unless the iPad 3/iPad HD is going to have some mythical quad-core processor along with the Retina-level quality display, I’m not sure that I’ll be able to find myself dumping my iPad 2 for the new model anytime soon. I haven’t used the model that I have to its full potential yet, and developers haven’t hit the limit of what the device can do either.

The main concern I have with using an Apple device from a previous generation is that developers seem to flock to the newest features that the new model has and they stop paying attention to what the old model had to offer. The Retina display upgrade with this model will accelerate the legacy status of the older models.

While this effect wasn’t as pronounced with the iPhone 4 transition due to Apple’s commitment to providing a low cost iPhone in the 3GS, many developers couldn’t develop apps for only the Retina display at first. Developers would eventually find the argument to make the iPhone 4 their primary target for app development as they could take advantage of an extreme improvement in graphics capability over the iPhone 3GS and prior models. This argument was also the basis for some graphical limitations between the iPad and iPad 2.

Similar reasoning and decisions will be made in the next quarter as far as future app development for the iPad ecosystem, but for today, it’s just time to sit back and enjoy the Apple show in San Francisco. 1 Oh, and there’s that television thing that might be happening today, as well.

  1. Here’s an LA Times article that sums up what could happen today. ↩