I feel like 4.0 is a little to late. I love the iPhone, but I'm starting to wonder how it'll be doing in a few years. 4.0 is practically 3.0 with a few features that 3.0 should of had. Idk, I feel like android is moving right along.
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Is apple gonna have to step the iPhone up?
- Thread starter Simgar988
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What are you talking about? What is android doing that 4.0 isn't?
Rather than just post a way open ended question, try contributing some real information here. What exactly makes you think that 4.0 is "little to [sic] late" ?
Well I will take a stab. The main things that are new in iPhone 4.0 software are multitasking and folders. These things are trivial. My phone is jailbroken and I hardly use multitasking. It's not that I don't want it, it's just a regular feature any smart phone should have. Apple imo has always been known for being one of hte most innovative companies. I bought the iPhone because it combined a lot of features and honestly, because everyone said it was the best. With that said, Apple is no longer pushing to be the best. I don't know what happened. Maybe Steve had something in his life change after the battle with cancer. Their products rarely offer something innovative anymore. I got the point that they take things and do them better, but if they are things that another company has managed to do an ok job at, it's boring to see it replicated in an Apple device.
Simply put, Google is getting the WOW factor. Apple needs to get the WOW factor back. They will never do it unless they start taking some risks. I don't know if a high resolution screen is enough to keep the general public anymore. And yes the general public IS getting more and more into specs.
When I first got into computers, hardly anyone knew what ram was...Now everyone knows what ram is...When I got into smart phones, hardly anyone was paying attention to specs, now they are. The game has changed because smartphones are becoming the norm now.
How about you contribute something... Actually scratch that, I'm tired of this fanboy ********. I'm not telling, I'm posing a question to discuss. Go bend over for Steve in someone elses thread.
beautifully put sir. With my jailbroken iPhone, I've essencially been running 4.0 and guess what. It's nothing exciting. Multitasking and folders (hardly folders with only 12 apps per) is all we get? Really? Hardly and GUI changes, and were still stuck with this stupid 12 app springboard, which is totaly ineffecient for anyone using any decent number of apps. Why can't we see the weather in the topbar, why no lockscreen info? This stuff isn't hard to do. Apple won't survive if their yearly updates are this... Miniscule.
Google does not have the wow factor. They are gaining market share because their devices are cheaper than the competition for the most part. I don't know any Android users who are completely happy. The hardware usually feels cheap, the operating system is aesthetically ugly and sometimes quite slow, and the marketplace is filled with more crap than the app store.
It doesn't matter that Apple don't have the biggest mobile marketshare. They make expensive devices for customers who want a device that just works. The same can't be said for any other competitors products (except perhaps Blackberry).
I absolutely think that now the iPhone is the best thing on the market (granted I like mine alot more since I jailbroken it way back when). I'm thinking more like a year from now. It just seems like unless they do something impressive every update, they won't be able to survive with a yearly refresh cycle. Sure android phones suck and I despise their tochscreens (probably the #1 reason I find my iPhone superior) but there is no doubt the compitition is quickly catiching up.
I'm excited to see how the Evo. If it's a failure, the iPhone will continue to reign. If it's successful, I think it may be the beginnig of a new era. Of couse I know nothing about it anymore than the next guy. But I'm still very interested in how it will fair. I wouldn't be suprised f it was a total success or total wash either way.
I'm excited to see how the Evo. If it's a failure, the iPhone will continue to reign. If it's successful, I think it may be the beginnig of a new era. Of couse I know nothing about it anymore than the next guy. But I'm still very interested in how it will fair. I wouldn't be suprised f it was a total success or total wash either way.
Your first point is somewhat the truth at this time. It is changing though. Android is starting to get some serious hardware that can push it's potential. Don't get me wrong, the apps with Apple are great but here is the problem. People make the apps for Apple. Those people make the apps because they want to make money and are not under contract with Apple. If they want to make as much money as possible, they will develop for both Apple and Android. Apple can't keep riding the app store.
I for one hate Google, but they DO have the wow factor. I love their Google TV idea. It is much better than Apple TV. It is much more diverse. Google is listening to it's customers *and spying on everything their customers do* needs versus telling them what they need. Apple is making that mistake. Apple should listen to what their customers want and make it better than anyone else can. It's fact.
On to your second point. Your wrong about Apple's mantra. Yes they do want to provide devices that work, but that is referring to their line of computers. The have always advertised their computers as such. However their other devices have always pushed the barrier. Who the hell is going to buy a device for hundreds of dollars to listen to their music on the go when they can carry a walkman? Steve Balmer " Who is gonna buy a 500+ dollar phone UNSUBSIDIZED! *laugh laugh* " Apple wouldn't be a successful company right now if they didn't take risk and bring out things that no once else has seen.
If you quit innovating, you lose. Apple is maintaining the iPhone instead of making it futuristic. If it continues on it's path, it will lose many customers and these forums will be for the few the proud, the die hards. It's sad but true.
I find it amusing that you've a link to getting a jailbroken iPhone to tether to an iPad. As for expensive, the iPhone is the same price or within 50 euro of most of it's competitors such as the HTC desire. If you want an expensive phone the iPhone isn't it.
I agree with the OP that 4.0 isn't enough. Notifications on the iPhone are in the same sorry state that they were when the iPhone launched. At least when it launched your message icon wasn't lost in a sea of apps. Other tasks such as switching on/off wifi could be handled better and yes the lockscreen is completely wasted.
I'm still waiting for the 4G announcement, but unless there's some radical new killer feature that we've yet to hear of I'm getting a desire. If the Evo was on sale here with GSm/UMTS - even without 4g - I'd buy that in an instant.
Is it really necessary to bring up fanboy stuff? The term has lost even more relevance lately, if that is even possible.
I honestly don't know what the next year is going to look like. Most likely it's going to be good enough, but I fully expect that at WWDC we are going to have a very clear roadmap for what iPhone OS is going to do over the next year or so.
It's premature to really have this discussion until all of the players' had laid down their cards for the next refresh cycle.
That said, what precisely are "wow" features that should be brought to the iPhone to appease everyone?
If we are talking trivial stuff like not seeing the temperature with the time, we might see that fixed. What fundamental new things would be a "wow" feature though?
I see consumer mobile smartphone purchasers trifurcating
1st, There exists a group who are going to be spec and feature whores. Whatever phone throws the most bells and whistles, with the fastest processor, highest pixel camera, is going to be the phone that group flocks towards.
2nd, There exists a group who are going after some core functionalities. They want a good phone that is going to last all day on a single charge. They want the internet and email. They want the applications and features that allow themselves to the work they want and keep them entertained.
3rd, There exists a group that will purchase a smartphone because it's what the guy at Verizon, ATT, or Sprint want you to buy. They are what is in and buying it gets that person in and out of the store with as little hassle as possible.
I fundamentally believe that the most important group to the platforms rests in faction number 2. They are the larger of the two groups that would purchase apps, which means the developer pool benefits, among other things. In response to the statement about more and more people being concerned about specs, I think that's a bit overstated.
If the next iPhone does everything that the current iPhone does, with the new background processes, records video well, does video chat decently, has a great display, and streams media, it will do just as well as any phone on the market.
Android is interesting. Android is a very competitive platform to the iPhone. A lot of people complain what Apple needs to learn from Android. I want to flip this and point out what Google really needs to learn from Apple. Google really needs to make information about Android much easier to obtain.
Getting good information on Android is a really annoying process, and I consider myself pretty savvy. Users go to android.com and click on "learn more about 2.2" and it takes you to a blog full of jargon that I find pointless. I go to Verizon and narrow search results to Android phones and get a myriad of phones with no really clear way of seeing which one i might want. The question: "qualitatively, which phone is better? What is the lowest price I can get away?" comes to mind.
The openness hurts the platform in this regard. At the very least, Google needs to bifurcate the Android line into "featured" and "the rest." Consumers should be able to go to android.com and see 3 phones that they recommend.
The biggest liability for Apple in the United States is the carrier - not Android. I think most people who are happy with their iPhone and with ATT will just sign up for a new iPhone. I think most people who would switch, are doing so because of the carrier - not their phone.
It will succeed I think.
Google's philosophy is simple, " If we throw enough pieces of **** at a wall, eventually one will stick. " They keep throwing them and now quite a few are sticking. They are trying to give people things they have never been given before. Google is a very innovative company. I mean goggles is crazy weird and awesome at the same time.
Apple is finding itself in the same position that Windows Mobile found itself in years ago. At one time Windows Mobile was the greatest OS platform....Well it didn't have much competition outside of Blackberry. Windows Mobile had the best apps. Microsoft got content with itself and didn't move on. Instead it kept updating the same old **** until it was so outdated, it didn't take much to blow it away.
Apple is doing the same thing. They had a hit with the original iPhone OS and they are riding it for as long as possible. They have not really changed it since it's induction 3 years ago. Their improvements so far have only been to bring it up to current standard via mms, copy paste, and now multitasking. It takes more than that to compete.
Steve Jobs needs to get a team together that just sits around and thinks about crazy **** to do. Let their creative techy mind ooze for 6 months about different possibilities. Think outside the box. After 6 months gather some of the best ideas and implement them in a way that no other company could replicate for years. Do this every year and no one could ever compete!
See that is a very hard question to answer. Most of us here would not be able to answer it. Something that would be a WOW feature or offer a WOW factor is normally something so innovative that I didn't think about it. It would be something I didn't even know I wanted until it was offered and I watched on in amazement.
I watched a video today of Google's TV thingy ma jig and I was wowed. I was also kind of pissed as I just invested in a all in one computer for my internet watching needs. Anyway, I was blown away by the ease of use and integration. All other ways of watching internet videos on a tv were too complicated or clumsy before so for ME it wasn't a viable option. This was GREAT! I could use my iPhone as a remote and do everything!
More and more people are paying attention to specs. The older generation is getting older. The newer generation have grown up with all of this technology. I never had a computer growing up. When I did have one, it had dial up and the web was silly looking. Heck did engadget exist 10 years ago or even have a market? Now I can't refresh their page without seeing some advancement in technology happening. The new world, this generation is much more informed and easily able to understand the complexities of computing that were hard for us to learn 10-15 years ago. Smartphones are a trend that has become mainstream for everyone.
It was already posed to the OP, but could someone please state in a calm manner what they believe that Android has over iPhone OS? As far as I've been able to tell, there is nothing useful, but I'm willing to hear an argument otherwise. Android 2.2 vs. iPhone OS 4.0.
LoL, you're posing a question? What question are you posing that hasn't already been brought up 100 times by 100 different trolls? It's not an issue of being a fan boy, it's an issue of people making post after post after post after post after post saying the same bs thing. YOU don't like the iPhone then move on. Don't like 4.0, move on. What is your topic bringing to the discussion? What sets your "apple isn't stepping up the game" post apart from all the other ones just like it? Nada, zip, zilch, nothing. Step on off the high horse and settle down Jr., you'll be ok.
As far as some of the things you said you had to jailbreak for...... so what's the problem? You can do all the things you want to do with a jail broken device so basically your post is another trollathon comparing your JB i vs apple's version of what your phone should be.
Which is why google has no coherent goal as a company... Yes they are innovative and yes did well with android. But I still fail to see where android fits in to their business policy. Google's other business ideas has always been about the internet. The power of the web, like what they said when they released google maps; the web has finally made it to replace a native application. The internet server based "applications" has finally arrived they proclaimed. They named facebook, twitter, flickr and google maps as other great server applications. This same policy is the theory behind chrome browser and chrome os. Yet once they began to direct their attention towards Apple that has greatly changed. They are now embracing the idea of native applications, (btw where is chrome os??) even remodeling their ads to target native applications through the acquisition of AdMob.
While I do love to see the innovation of android, I can't seem to help but question the eventual direction of Google as a company. Business wise they are burning bridges away from potential customers unless they believe that android can take over the mobile space as the single operating system for mobile phones (something they wanted to avoid and the motivation behind creating Android in the first place). Yet they make no money from android except for the potential consumer data they are able to gather. This anti-Apple mentality visible during the Google I/O keynote defines Google's new direction as a company, and I think it will define Google's future in other areas of their business.
Well Android atm has the ability to offer a large array of information on your desktop instead of having to open apps. Don't get me wrong, widgets are not amazing, but pretty useful when you don't want to look at information from just one app at a time. The notification system is better. That is what is better for ME, but im sure there are other things. My personal needs are different than other peoples im sure so.
Well other then his comment about " Android is moving along ", I don't see this as a iPhone vs Android thread like the generic ones we tend to see. I see this more as a " Lets get moving ". I don't think the OP is unhappy with the iPhone or wanting an Android device versus an Iphone. It seems to me that what he is talking about is similar to what I am talking about, a lack of innovation in the iPhone.
Jailbreaking is a lot of work and stress. Yes yes it's simple to jailbreak, but you have to be careful too. You can't upgrade on a whim and you can't just install things as you want either. Simply put, it's not the most stable system to use. I do enjoy my jailbreak perks, it's just sometimes frustrating. As a jailbreaker you almost feel like you are constantly with odds at Apple. I mean cmon 3.1.3 was for what? To stop us from jailbreaking and sure they did a great job at it too. My wife was stuck on 3.1.3 with a replacement phone for a while before she could enjoy any jailbroken features. At the end of the day jailbreaking has no support. If something goes to ****, your sol unless someone from the forums here helps you out.
Google scares me. They collect so much data on people. They know what you search about, they have your emails (gmail), they have pics of my house on google earth.
No, but seriously, they collect and collect data. It scares me really. The recent problem with their mapping vehicles illegally gathering personal network data was ridiculous. I sometimes think they invent new products simply to collect more data on us. I don't trust them.I think this situation is like the tortuous and the hare. Apple is the faster better company, they are the hare. Lets have an ADD moment and put it this way, a Ford Pinto can beat a Mustang if the Mustang runs out of gas. That's exactly how I see Apple right now, out of gas. Android isn't the only Ford Pinto out there, you have Windows Mobile 7, you have Sammysung Bada etc etc.
I fear the "killer" app for iPhone HD will be the gaming center.
That will be sad.
I agree, with froyo and now gingerbread on the horizon, google has leap frogged apple in terms of power and functionality with the OS. Apple still has an edge with volume of apps (which android is quickly catching up) but also quality of apps.
On the hardware front, android based phones are far ahead of of the iPhone as well.
As for the argument that we're comparing a year old OS with one that got updated just recently and a year old phone with ones that are being released monthly. That's a valid comment except for one thing.
Why is apple taking a year to release an update to their OS and why wait a year for the new iPhone, especially given the increased competition.
OS4 is not even out the door and its already behind what android can do.
If apple is going to retain the momentum, they need to start rolling out updates faster. When was the last time we saw a decent update to OS3? We really haven't. 3.1 AFAIK was mostly a bug fix with little to no new features. We're waiting for OS4 and then its only providing a crippled version of multitasking and iAds apple's which is apple's desire to add another revenue stream.
It's not only me that doesn't like this kind of thread judging from the posts these types of threads get. Of course you will get the people that can't read the "don't feed the trolls" sign and continue to "contribute" to these types of threads, even though there are a couple hundred similar threads.
However, I guess I'm just as bad because I respond to every one of them so..... we're all made of suck.
I don't feel at odds with apple at any time, it's my phone and I'll do with it as I wish. Just because apple puts out an update doesn't mean you have to apply said update. Like you said about 3.1.3, what was the point? You're absolutely correct, it was worthless hence the majority of JB devices were not updated until spirit came out. None of my i's have had any issues with jail breaking. Never had a stability issue with any of my iPhones, even the first gen that took about 2 hours to jailbreak when it was first available. Of course there are apps that conflict with one another but those get exposed quickly and they are either fixed or aren't downloaded very often.
I do see what the OP is saying...... just as I saw what the other 20 people that started the same thread were saying. iPhone f/w is what it is. People know "what it is" yet still buy the phone, which makes no sense to me if all they're going to do is complain about it.