Tag Archives: software update

Notes on iOS 6 for iPhone 4 and iPad 2

September 19th, 2012

In case you don’t follow me on Twitter; (really, how can you live with yourself?) earlier today I tweeted a few notes about iOS 6 on my iPhone 4 and iPad 2. I’ve taken those tweets and put them below.

  • iOS 6 note: The new Maps application is pretty fast even on the iPhone 4.
  • iOS 6 note: Clicking “App Store” in Passbook lead to a blank screen for me.
  • iOS 6 note: Love love love the new Phone features. Being able to reply with an SMS with two taps is awesome.
  • iOS 6 note: Change your “Reply with message” messages in Settings > Phone > Reply with Message. Just customized all three.
  • iOS 6 note: The new App Store layouts are such a welcomed change. Screenshots of app are readily available now.
  • iOS 6: Don’t forget to download the new YouTube app. Because the old one from Apple is gonzo.
  • iOS 6 note: The new YouTube app forces landscape video viewing. All is right in the world.
  • iOS 6 note: How to preview a song in the iTunes Music Store is still not apparent. You have to click the number. I never understood that.
  • iOS 6 note: Song previews continue to play while your browsing around. Makes for a much less jerky experience.
  • iOS 6 note: Six versions too late, but… you can now attach a photo/video to a Mail message after you’ve begun writing. Huzzah!
  • iOS 6 note: Shared Photo Streams appears to be dead simple. Looking forward to using this on vacations with friends.
  • iOS 6 note: With Passbook I suddenly have the urge to go to a movie or book a flight to try it out.
  • iOS 6 note: Unsurprisingly iOS 6 does not make my iPhone 4’s screen any taller. I guess I have to wait a few days for that.
  • iOS 6 note: The new “share screen” is also available from any Messages attachments. It used to just be “Save image…”
  • iOS 6 note: iOS 6 on an iPhone 4 runs faster than its predecessor. Even camera readiness from Lock Screen is quicker.
  • iOS 6 note: No matter how loud I yell at my iPhone 4 Siri refuses to listen.
  • iOS 6 note: You “agree to terms” at least 3 times. In iTunes before the download and on first run and a confirmation button. I AGREE APPLE.
  • iOS 6 on iPad 2 note: The clock app is droooool worthy. Wow.
  • iOS 6 on iPad 2 note: Mail is much, much faster. It checks and downloads new email instantaneously.
  • iOS 6 on iPad 2 note: Since the built-in YouTube app is gone. And Google’s isn’t iPad-ready. There is no good YouTube app for iPad.
  • iOS 6 note: To use iCloud tabs you must turn on Safari in Settings > iCloud. And also use Safari on your Mac/PC.
  • iOS 6 note: iCloud tabs works even if Safari is closed on your Mac. It remembers the last opened tab.
  • iOS 6 on iPad 2 note: 3D maps work. And they are amazing.
  • iOS 6 on iPad 2 note: I’ve never seen New York City like this. It is surreal.
  • iOS 6 note: The Yelp integration in Maps is really awesome.
  • iOS 6 note: Something new to me, Street View is gone. 3D maps are good. But Street View will be missed.
  • iOS 6 note: Apple uses the term “200 new features” fairly loosely but this is an excellent upgrade. Recommended for all.
  • iOS 6 note: The Pull-to-refresh animation is way too fun.

As of this writing – 5:45pm – Passbook still doesn’t work yet.

iPhone software update 2.2 released

November 21st, 2008

For the record I jailbroke my iPhone a few days ago full well knowing that the 2.2 OS update was imminent. I thought it gave me the perfect opportunity to play around with a jailbroken iPhone, build the Qik to Viddler bridge, and still be okay to install the latest update to the iPhone without losing anything.

The most notable updates about version 2.2, for me, are:

  • Walking directions in Google Maps – Although I use the driving directions in Google Maps as much as any feature on the iPhone, I’ve found myself wanting more accurate walking directions when visiting bigger cities.
  • Podcasts are downloadable in iTunes – I’m not sure how often I’ll use this feature since I sync my phone every day to get the latest content from my computer to the iPhone. I’m hoping moreso that the iPhone now displays Podcasts in reverse-chronological order.
  • Display the address of a pin – Another update to Google Maps that I’ve wanted to see since day one. When you drop a pin on the map, you can now see the street address of that pin.
  • And last… updates to Mobile Safari.  Any updates to Mobile Safari are good updates.

There is one feature I’m leaving out because I would have loved to see it done a bit differently. In Google Maps you can now share your location via email. Google Maps will now construct an iPhone friendly URL and email it to anyone of your choice. This is an excellent update and I’m sure many will use it. But I would rather have seen Google Maps send the URL via SMS. Someone get on that, will ya?

Oh, and Google Maps has Street View too now. I have no idea why I’d ever use this. But, who knows.

Source: Apple – iPhone – Software update.

Mac OS X 10.5.5 and Mail.app’s speed

September 16th, 2008

On Sunday I asked on Twitter; ”Anyone else use Gmail IMAP in Mail.app with over 25,000 items? Does Mail.app seem to crawl for you too?”.

The responses were a mixed bag. Some told me to ditch Mail.app, some said that they’d rather use POP3 instead of IMAP, and others with far less email messages than I have sympathized with my situation.

Today while starting up the Macbook and sipping my coffee, I noticed Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.5 as a free software update.  In the change notes I took notice of this particular line.

“Addresses performance issues related to displaying IMAP messages.”

To be honest, I don’t know what this actually means. It could mean that it speeds up Mail.app’s ability to display IMAP messages with in-line attachments.  But it doesn’t say that.  It could mean that it speeds up Mail.app’s message list, which is what I want it to say, but it doesn’t say that either.

After updating to 10.5.5 this morning I gave Mail.app a whirl.  After several “restarts” of Mail.app it seems to be a little slower than it was before at displaying the message list.  It takes 33-seconds to load the list on an IMAP-powered Mailbox with 11,899 messages.

So while the above update is, I’m sure, an update to Mail.app with regards to IMAP performance. I’m not seeing it yet.  It looks like I’ll either switch to a web-based client for my Gmail-for-domains powered email (especially now that Gears runs in Safari) or somehow keep 1,000 messages in my Inbox at a time.

Suggestions?