Re: Official Apple Thread

[Wonko the Sane]

I have an iPhone 4 which never supported Siri, and my iPad will be getting Siri tonight for the first time when I upgrade to iOS6, so I really don't even know what Siri can do now. I'm thinking it will actually be very useful for setting alarms, reminders, and notes, and doing dictation... stuff like that.

I've got Adblock Plus for Chrome, which as far as I know is the only one that blocks youtube ads. It doesn't block them all, but it gets enough of them. Certain types it just can't block. Also don't forget Ghostery.

And yeah, everyone seems to think Apple's maps are very pretty, but not very useful at all. The only good thing about them is going to be the built in turn by turn directions. Which my iPhone 4 wouldn't even get. So yeah, time to upgrade to the 5 for me, but even then... I'm really gonna miss Google Maps. I think Apple's maps will end up being quite useless. The search apparently sucks also... you can't search for random things like you can now. "Record Store" for example would bring up nothing, you'd have to know the exact business name. Not that it does now since those things don't exist anymore, but you get the idea.

[Theicecreaman]

yeah, I see that the update is available right now, but I plan on doing it later when I have time. Right now, I need the calender app and everything so that I can keep track of things.

[Wonko the Sane]

About to start doing the updates on my iDevices. It usually goes smoothly... make sure you back everything up first just in case though. You can right click your iPhone in iTunes and select backup to force a backup. Looks like you have to update iTunes to 10.7 first also.

Also back up any photos you have on there if you don't have them syncing anywhere like to dropbox using their new fancy stuff. You can find them from My Computer and copy them somewhere. I have them backing up automatically to dropbox, but I still manually back them up juuuuuuuust in case.

[Wonko the Sane]

Took forever to do the updates, even using the over-the-air update on the iPhone itself that doesn't need to download the full OS. The download even failed once, so I think their servers were slammed.

First impressions are that the new maps app isn't as horrible as I was expecting, but it really is going to suck not having street view.

Also, I really like the new Do Not Disturb feature. Ice, remember you asked for that back when you first got the phone? Well, here it is. Already set up a schedule for it to do its thing automatically. It's probably the best part about the update. The rest is... meh.

[Theicecreaman]

Oh yeah, I really wanted that. I only want texts/calls to be seen after, say, 12:00AM until like 6:00AM, not random news updates and whatever else. I didn't u[date yet because it says I need 2.something GB to update without connecting to my computer. Plus, I don't have a few hours to kill ATM. I will do this tomorrow on Friday, though.

[Wonko the Sane]

I had to delete iMovie (500mb) and a couple other apps to make temporary room for the over the air update. That's part of why I'm getting the new iPhone, just to upgrade my storage space. It's easier doing the update over the air though I think. It's a bit quicker and it doesn't wipe your phone before it starts like iTunes seems to do. iTunes wipes it, installs the OS, then restores your stuff back. Leaves more room for something to go wrong and I've had iTunes screw it up on me at least twice.

Make sure you plug it into iTunes and do a backup first. Or if you're backing up to iCloud that's fine too. Can't stress that enough, very important.

I think you should probably read this after you update and play with it for a little bit. I'm curious if you notice this too:

Spoiler:

[Wonko the Sane]

So yeah, the new maps apparently really suck.



More map fun over in the End of the World thread!

[Theicecreaman]

So yeah, I'm hating this new maps app. I'm sorry, but you know how they say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

...totally applies. All they had to do was somehow add voice navigation, but noOoo, they just HAD to switch to TOMTOM. Meh. Google Maps all the way.

The hybrid and satellite views are FILTHY. Absolute garbage. Also, streets lack NAMES and, oh, suddenly the names of buildings disappeared. The radius of which I am describing? Oh, you know, .2 or .3 miles. No big deal. I can look farther, but it doesn't matter because the world is ending. Whatever.

[Wonko the Sane]

I'm sure there were some internal politics at play between Apple and Google because of Android, which didn't exist when the iPhone first came out with Google Maps. I know that they've been working on their own maps version for at least a couple years now. I remember reading all the rumors when they first bought out some map company.

I'm sure it will get better very quickly. Some guy who supposedly knows such things said the entire maps team was "under lockdown" at Apple until the maps were fixed. But it's never going to be as good as Google Maps. Google has been doing it for far too long and has far more map data and a much better, dedicated mapping team. Apple has none of that. So I'm sure it will approach usability very quickly, but I'm really hoping they let Google Maps through.

Knowing Apple though, if they don't feel like approving Google Maps out of spite, we're all going to just suffer. That's just how it is, they totally don't care. There's a new version of the main Google app with a bunch of voice command upgrades, and it's been in limbo for months just waiting for Apple to Approve it. They probably never will, because they don't want anybody using any other voice control stuff except for Siri.

This kind of stupid nonsense really is disappointing. But it's not going to get better until there's more competition in the marketplace. Other companies like Google need to stop trying to copy or emulate the iPhone. Apple didn't make the iPhone by copying Blackberry, they invented something new that has completely redefined phones. Now they're sitting pretty on their laurels with complete dominance in the smartphone market. They have no incentive to invent new stuff or continue to innovate. All they have to do is make each phone slightly better than the last to stay ahead of other phones who are always playing catch-up trying to copy Apple. The iPhone 5 sold some outrageous number of pre-orders, more than any phone before it. They're undoubted going to sell more iPhone 5's than any other smartphone on the market, if they haven't already. They have no reason to keep pushing boundaries.

Some other company needs to invent the next big iteration of smartphone tech. Someone needs to think outside this new box that Apple redefined and make something so radically new that it raises the bar again, like when Apple released the first iPhone. Basically I want two Apples to go head to head. I hoped it would be Google to do that, but they seem perfectly content to keep copying Apple. That kind of lack of serious competition frustrates me.

[Theicecreaman]

What do you think about Siri so far? I tried conversing with it yesterday, but it really isn't that smart.

I think pretty much every company in this sector, be them about tablets, phones, or even computers, has been mimicking Apple insanely these last few years (microshit, google, etc). New is dangerous, and people in general tend to want change to occur slowly in companies that do not think outside the box like Apple does.

We shouldn't expect something like this son because this iPhone craze is still quite abuzz. Btw, I'm totally on my iPhone right now, and Safari is soooo much faster! It's awesome.

[Wonko the Sane]

I've only gotten to play with Siri on my iPad because my iPhone doesn't support it. Have not yet bought an iPhone 5.

It seems like it can do a lot, but all the questions you can ask are defined inside a pretty small gated community. If you want it to set a reminder, for example, I think the only way you can is by saying exactly "Remind me to blah". If you say "Set a reminder to blah" it doesn't get it. I like how I can send an email entirely by voice using Siri though, that's very neat. And It'll be nice to be able to do that while I'm driving. Supposedly on the iPhone it will read new texts to you if you ask it and then you can respond. It'll be nice to control the iPod while driving too. I wonder if you can have it google stuff and read to you... I think it can, but then can you tell it to navigate to the first link, etc? 'cause what if you need to look something up while you're driving... that would be awesome.

What I did notice is that it's not smart enough to remember commands in a sequence. So for example, this happened a couple days ago. I asked it at about 1am to "Remind me to do something tomorrow". Siri asked "Do you mean the 20th or the 21st?" (because it was 1am, so it is sorta smart.) Then I asked "What's today?" because I had no clue. It told me, then I said "The 20th." and it had forgotten about the reminder at that point so I had to start all over. So it's smart because it knew it was 1am and I probably meant today instead of tomorrow, but it's not smart because it doesn't expect you to ask a question then go back to a previous command. So... small gated community of commands you can use.


It's funny that you say your iPhone is faster with iOS6. My 4 is so much slower. I'm sure I just got hit with an additional 20% slowness tax for being over two years behind now.

[Theicecreaman]

Yup, everything is much more smooth. Safari is great now.

What do you think about the new App Store app? I don't know how I feel about it yet. But I know for sure that I hate the new YouTube app. I don't like having to click the thing on the top-left and THEN click "search" just to search. Before, all I had to do was type into the search bar.

[Wonko the Sane]

I get confused every time the app store opens to be honest. I don't like the search, I liked the previous list style search. But I haven't tried out the new YouTube app just yet. If all the reviews say bad things about that button then Google will eventually change it. They're usually pretty slow to change that kind of stuff though, especially on Apple's products.

[Theicecreaman]

Yeah, same, it's so weird now.

Here's more Maps testing:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-57518238-233/local-search-field-test-apple-maps-vs-google-maps/?tag=rb_content;main

I am going to drive somewhere tomorrow morning that I haven't been to before, so I will report back on the details for the turn-by-turn navigation. I only know like part of the route currently, so I will see how Apple Maps works out.
edit (11:39PM):
Okay nvm, I'm using MapQuest tomorrow. Apple Maps has the "pin" dropped in the wrong place compared to Google Maps (on my laptop), and half the sidestreets are missing.
edit2:
Oh, and 70 percent of the streets aren't there, and THERE'S A FCKING FARM where there's a shopping complex. A FARM. wtf dude. A farm.


...A farm.
edit3:
Yo I seriously want to send this to you, but I'd rather not for privacy reasons. I'm almost temped to send the address to Apple so that they can realize how stupid they are.

There is a shopping complex (a relatively large one, at that), and not only is there no entrance to it, but apparently there is a farm there. I'm looking at Google Street View right now, and hey...no farm.

[Wonko the Sane]

So utterly useless. Like I said before, I'm pretty sure that kind of stuff is going to be fixed real quick by Apple... all the negative press is not good for them and after the iPhone 5 hype wears off in a couple weeks, the sucky maps are all people will be talking about instead. So I'm sure they know this and are going to crank out fixes real fast.

So you'll probably be able to at least get places using it... but Google would still do it better. Probably can find more efficient routes... and I know their traffic data is way better. So they're basically still going to suck, just they'll be usable at least.

[Theicecreaman]

yeah lol, let me know if you want me to send you the address or something It's hilarious. There is also apparently a gas station inside someone's house.

[Theicecreaman]

Sorry for the double-post, but guess what else is not showing?




(caution: your jaw may drop.)

Spoiler:

[Wonko the Sane]

I've actually read things from other people who said their local hospital was missing from the map. Missing stuff and things poking through other things... gas stations on roofs

End of the freakin' world, man.


Also:




Now I could die trying to find a bagel!

[Wonko the Sane]

Here's some more:

[Wonko the Sane]

ooOOooooh it all makes sense now:



And a couple more of these:





I think the Castaway one is still my favorite so far.

[Theicecreaman]

Lmao, all these were great!

Okay, so, I used Apple Maps today, relying on it entirely (even though I knew where to go for the most part). It was fine for the most part. I made one wrong turn off a highway because it said "TURN RIGHT!!!!" like five times before the actual turn, but it was nbd. It just did not register the shopping complex (complete with a Target, stores, restaurants, etc.) as an actual place, and it said that it was a farm. So, basically, I just set a "pin" to take me to where I saw the entrance was on Google Maps. And when I told it to get me out of there, it was a bit glitchy because I was not parked on a road according to it.

But yeah, it wasn't too bad I would say. The "Dora the Explorer" picture pretty much describes how things looked. I think I will use MapQuest in the future because it is more detailed and shows the location of stores.

One thing that I actively used was the "walking directions" thing in Google Maps. That was freggin' helpful. I am looking at some places in Apple Maps right now (parks, side streets, etc.), and they lack things like sidewalks that Google Maps had such that I cannot use that feature anymore. The hell with anything else, man, 'cause that feature was freggin' awesome.

[Wonko the Sane]

I used to use Google Maps to help me locate myself out on hiking trails. Often times there are crazy back roads leading to/into hiking trails, sometimes even dirt roads, and if you're standing in the middle of nowhere looking at a dirt road, chances are Google Maps would have that dirt road on there, even if it didn't have a name. At least you could get your bearings. I'm highly doubting Apple's Maps will have those kinds of roads based on what I'm reading.

But then again Apple's Maps and the Siri integration sounds like it could be really useful while driving. Being able to say "What's my ETA?" and having Siri tell you how much longer until you get there... Mapquest doesn't do that, you have to pick up the phone and look at it, which is not so good when you're driving. I doubt Google Maps will have stuff like that since it won't integrate with Siri.

So I'm really hoping Apple at least makes their maps usable enough for turn-by-turn directions while driving, and then I'm hoping Google releases their own app so I can use that for everything else. Basically I'd only ever use Apple's maps for turn by turn voice directions and nothing else.


I was listening to a tech podcast today at work and some of the panel were saying how Apple was basically stupid to make their own maps entirely on their own, and asked what they were expecting to happen. Apparently they could have licensed legit map data from the same two companies that provide Google and a ton of other GPS people their data. There's supposedly only two major map data providers in the world with really good raw data. Google generates a ton of their own data, and license data from those two to fill in any gaps. But nooooOooo, Apple had to do it all on their own and failed miserably. They were talking about Apple's hubris when it comes to that type of thing.

[Theicecreaman]

I used to use Google Maps to help me locate myself out on hiking trails. Often times there are crazy back roads leading to/into hiking trails, sometimes even dirt roads, and if you're standing in the middle of nowhere looking at a dirt road, chances are Google Maps would have that dirt road on there, even if it didn't have a name. At least you could get your bearings. I'm highly doubting Apple's Maps will have those kinds of roads based on what I'm reading.

Nope, you're out of luck, mate. I highly doubt you'll see the road leading INTO the trail, or any road five miles around it. Those little "back roads" and "roads you use to get your bearings" while walking are a thing of the past. I used those too.

[Theicecreaman]

...So I put the Google Maps website on my iPhone's home screen (the web app thing, or whatever you call it). This was quite required. I could not see shit without it.

I never knew how much we took Google Maps for granted

I cannot begin to describe the lack of detail when comparing Google Maps to Apple Maps. It makes all the comparison pictures they show on news sites seem like nothing...

edit:
Okay, so, I asked Siri to do a simple math problem, and all it could do is Google it It's so incomplete.

This is what I asked: "What is one plus one?"

Its result? "Would you like me to search the web for one plus one?"

Useless.
edit2:
Oh, nvm, I figured it out. I then asked it "Calculate one plus one" and it did it, showing a visual representation on a number line and everything. It got all this crap from Wolfram Alpha. Then I asked, "integrate 2x" and it did the same, showing stuff from Wolfram Alpha complete with graphs and such.

edit3:
Okay so I asked Siri to call me "Doctor Who" from now on, but it was all like, "Sorry, I can't let you do that."

edit4:
Okay so I sang it lyrics to the song Yoda by Weird Al, and this is what it got:
"I Marshtown day ago when I ask is Henerest new voice DeCerchio Rudolph Ohio DAU."

[Wonko the Sane]

Haha... oh Siri, why do you suck so bad.

Oh, right, because Google didn't make you.



In any case, I do really want Siri on my iPhone for the few things that it does do well. I really want to be able to voice dictate reminders, shopping lists, notes, stuff like that. And it does that very well. Or at least close enough that a day later when I look at the reminders app I'm reminded to do whatever it was I needed to do.

The other reason I really want it is for everything while I'm driving. Controlling my iPod is huge... I'm always annoyed when I have to pull out my phone and find a song I want to play WHILE DRIVING. Seriously bad driving habits, but I need to hear that song NOW!! So Siri can do that, and also can read my texts and emails while I'm driving and I can respond. That kind of stuff is huge for me personally.

So I don't really care if it sucks at everything else, as long as I can at least do a basic form of those things, it will be incredibly useful for me.

And dammit Google, get your mapping ass in the app store already.



PS: Try asking Siri to tell you a story or sing you a lullaby. Keep insisting even when it's being all reluctant. If you respond the right way enough times (no, really, please tell me a story!) (Pretty please tell me a story!!) (That's alright, just tell me the story!) eventually you'll get a really awesome story and/or lullaby. It's one of the few easter eggs I've found on my own that I think are really cool.

I also tried: "Make me a sandwich" and then "Sudo make me a sandwich" as in this comic:
http://xkcd.com/149/

Alas, it did not make me a sandwich.

If you don't understand sudo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudo

Basically it's the same as "Simon Says" (yes I tried that too) except for Linux. Stands for "Superuser Do".

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