A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch
“San Francisco — June 13, 2016 — Apple today previewed iOS 10, the biggest release ever of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system.” That is a direct quote copied from the Apple website announcing the release of their new operating system, iOS 10. According to the company and many of the fans web sites, this is the greatest thing since the invention of Hostess Twinkies. I’ve been griping about Microsoft and Windows 10 so much that I thought I should point my keyboard in a different direction for a change. Let’s review the latest claims.
Siri, iMessage, and Maps Open to Developers. This might be the single biggest change that Apple has ever made. They have opened up some of their apps to third party developers. Siri can even reserve an Uber car. I think this is the biggest change that I have seen Apple do. Third party development is one of the reasons that so many of their competitors products have outpaced them in usefulness. Of course, this also means there will be an increase in personal data collection. It will be interesting to see how Apple handles that.
The Maps app is getting a boost with Map layers, smarter and proactive assistance as well. The Maps also supports extensions. It can help you throughout your day by offering the fastest routes by following all the traffic around you and suggesting places nearby. It can also make reservations. I guess they are finally recovering from the dumb mistake made in 2012 when iOS 6 dropped Google Maps. Maybe they will finally catch up in another four or five years.
The iMessage app has been enhanced. It supports live GIF and video playback right within the app. You now get quick access to your photos and live camera feed without leaving the app. The Emojis are now three times bigger and you can replace words with Emojis by just tapping on them. The Bubble Effects different personalty to your messages. The app now supports handwritten messages, digital touch and tickers. With the app open to developers, I’m sure there will be no end to the innovation.
Photos & QuickType Become More Intelligent. Apple has ramped up the capabilities of the Photos app with a feature it calls advanced computer vision. The Photos app recognizes what’s in your photos and automatically groups them into categories, creating albums of similar photos. Additionally, the app has a new feature in the Memories tab that not only uses the artificial intelligence of Photos to bring together images and movies according to events and places, but will automatically create a video montage of select photos and video clips with music, titles, and transitions. You would think that is something Google would have thought of first.
Home App Controls HomeKit Devices. The new iOS 10 comes with a new app which lets you control all your HomeKit accessories. You’ll also be able to create and control scenes and use Siri to interact with them. Depending on the accessories you have, from your iPhone you can control lamps, bulbs, doors and locks, cameras, air conditioners, fans, outlets, humidifiers, doorbells and many others. I’m not qualified to comment on this as the only smart equipment in my house is me and I haven’t been electronically modified yet.
Apple has also redesigned or updated the lock screen, Apple Music, Apple News, the quicktype keyboard, the control center and other things. I believe that the company is in dire need of some more “new and exciting” releases, especially in their hardware.
The MacRumors Buyer’s Guide has nicely summarized things. The iOS Devices Page recommends “don’t buy” on four of seven items, the Macs Page a “don’t buy” on six of seven items and the Other Devices Page a “don’t buy” on one of three items. Of the seventeen products, they recommend “buy now” on only one. Almost all of the “don’t buy” recommendations are due to the fact that there haven’t been updates in several years.
I guess I’ll never understand how Apple can be so revered by consumers and only have around ten percent of market share while Microsoft is usually reviled while retaining about ninety percent of the market. Sometimes they kind of remind me of our political parties.
Thanks for reading.