- lack of time to implement (this would be great but we have three people on a team, and five features to deliver...)
- lack of people who care enough and have the resources to fix it (this would be great, but manager has other priorities that are more important at the moment)
- conscious choice as expression of philosophy or style (like flat UI)
- conscious technical trade off (like on-device photo analysis)
What are some of the things you think are wrong and would be easy to solve? Openradar links would be useful too :)
There is no way to make the &%*#ing thing stop whining about lack of wifi - it literally waits until I'm trying to do something else to throw up a shitty dialog trying to annoy me into turning it on.
I turn connectivity off for a reason, and no, Apple does not know better in this instance. It is incredibly user-hostile and irritating, and I hope the engineer that wrote that code gets pink eye[2].
[1] I know, I'm a weirdo. Trying to explain how I'm Doing It Wrong will lead me to ignore you.
[2] I kid. It is really annoying, though.
I can't run real Firefox.
I can't route all calls through Google Voice.
I can't run CarPlay without a head unit.
I can't open all map links in my preferred maps app.
I can't create restricted accounts for my kids.
It's essentially unusable as a "smart" phone.
Any claims about privacy fall apart after investigation. Google will still get my location on iOS if I use Google Search, exactly as it does on Android.
Well, unless you pay, or use Swift Playgrounds.
> I can't create restricted accounts for my kids.
Does the standard set of restrictions not do what you want?
> Google will still get my location on iOS if I use Google Search, exactly as it does on Android.
You don't have to use Google…
Separate accounts have separate data, not just restrictions.
> You don't have to use Google…
That's the point.
This is on Google now. Apple provides ways for app developers to use the native phone UI now. If I set up my number with the Google Hangouts app, I can get calls from my Google Voice number via the Voice app or the native UI. You can't do this with the Google Voice app but I have a feeling that's because they haven't updated it to support this API.
If Google Voice has Siri integration which has been around for awhile, you can say “Call X using Google Voice” and it will call using GV and activate the phone Bluetooth protocol if you are connected to your car’s Bluetooth system.
What’s the fundamental difference between clicking on Contacts and making a call and clicking on the GV app?
If the GV app has been updated to take advantage of the latest APIs, calls to and from the GV app will show up in your call history along with the native dialer.
If you like GV, why use the native contacts app at all? Any app that adds to contacts will automaticallly be added to GV.
If Google wanted to since they already have all of the apps, you could completely stay in the Google ecosystem on iOS - Browser, mail client, google voice, etc.
If I trust a phone app enough to use its dialer, I should be able to route all calls through it. If I trust a maps app enough to use it manually, I should be able to set it to open for all address links. It really is that simple.
For somebody who is seriously privacy-conscience, Android is strictly better.
All claims about privacy appear to stem from using fewer Google apps by default. Those default apps (like Safari and Siri) are inferior to their Google equivalents for most users, and for the people who don't want to give Google information, Android users can choose to use non-Google apps as well (like Firefox and local assistants and maps).
[0] https://digitalcontentnext.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DC...
You can't block ads across all apps without running your own ad-blocking proxy, jailbreaking, or paying Apple for the privilege of building an ad-blocking app on your phone. You can on Android by just installing an app (one example: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.blokada.alarm/).
> and iOS collections an order of magnitude less tracking data[0] than Android.
iOS collects the same data that Android collects. The difference is how much data the default apps collect that go to Google as I stated earlier. The Google apps are strictly better than the equivalent Apple apps for most users (maps, assistant, photos, mail, etc.). For the relatively fewer users who care more about privacy than about their apps doing things for them by knowing about them, Android has more and better options as well (Firefox, local apps, system-wide ad blocking, etc.).
Nope. Google was caught collecting location data even when everything was turned off:
https://qz.com/1131515/google-collects-android-users-locatio...
They also made their settings very misleading: https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/13/17684660/google-turn-off-...
Your first link is about accidental collection that no longer occurs according to the article.
I file radars when applicable, my gripes are more general:
- No universal 3D Touch puts it in a weird spot. I like 3D Touch! Why not say we equip all models with 3D Touch, similar to when they made ips display the standard even for entry level MacBooks.
-prohibiting self signed applications. You have all the right to keep Steam Link off your shop, but not off my device. And if I had the desire to install Alex Jones’ app I would like to do that. You’re not my mom Apple. I’m still hoping the EU will fix this at some point.
-iTunes. I use it. It’s awful. If they would at least kill it off I’d know not to use it anymore.
-Seriously lagging behind in standards like PWAs, wireless charging or NFC.
-iMessage and Airdrop are awesome. Too bad I can rarely use them because the majority around me use Android.
What if, fixing things the way you like breaks these features for someone else?
1. There's really no space for it, if you look at teardowns. So something took its place.
2. It does give better water resistance. Google the water resistance tests between iPhones and others. The difference is night and day in real world performance.
This guy was able to add the headphone jack back into an iPhone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utfbE3_uAMA). The argument that there is really no space just isn't true.
2. No. Samsung phones are far more water resistant than iPhones are with a jack on it. I would love to see your links to said research.
Earbuds that work with the iPhone come in the box (and prior to the just announced models even an adapter was included). I'm not sure how lack of a jack pushes someone to buy AirPods. Maybe it makes them think about buying bluetooth headphones over wired if they were already thinking about third party headphones? Maybe.
Also while you may disagree about the 'barometric vent', it was put in the space that the headphone jack would have taken.
As pictured above, you can see a piece of plastic sits behind the ingress protection (waterproofing!), right where the headphone jack would have been. And (update!) according to Apple it's a "barometric vent." Apparently adding all the waterproofing to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus meant that it was more of a sealed box, and so to be able to have an accurate and working barometer, Apple used that space. The barometer is the thing that allows a phone to measure altitude, and Apple points out that on the iPhone 7 it can measure even minor changes like climbing a flight of stairs.
https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/16/12941040/iphone-7-teardow...
Knowing my altitude is something I need on at least a weekly basis. I'm OK with losing a port I haven't used in a couple of decades.
And AirPods? If you keep them in the case between uses they should always be charged.
How are people being "pushed" to buy Airpods when they can use any Bluetooth headphone, the headphones that come bundled with the phone, or use their own headphones with a $9.99 adapter that they have included up until yesterday?
So, if your headphones don't support AAC, they will (most likely) fallback to SBC encoding with a subpar sound quality. Don't want a subpar sound quality? Buy Airpods. Or Beats. Or some other overpriced thing that understands AAC. There was some 100 year-old industry standard regarding sound transmission, but apparently it's "obsolete" now, because Apple said so. And bundled headphones don't sound too good.
The removal of headphone jack was purely a political decision to spite Qualcomm and screwing over Apple's customers.
But if you aren’t satisfied with the Apple wired headphones, up until the 12th Apple bundle an adapter, you could choose any wired headphones you wanted. After the 12” it would be $9.99. It’s still not forcing you to buy AirPods.
As far as Bluetooth, there are other non Apple/Beats Bluetooth AAC headphones. Nothing forcing anyone to buy them from Apple.
FWIW, my lack of headphone jack had nothing to do with me buying $170 airpods. The product sells itself. It literally felt like something out of the future when it launched. Opening and closing the lid makes me happy on a daily basis. I can't think of a better use for that $170. It's a product that is pure joy to use, and completely eliminates one of the biggest annoyance factor in my daily life: tangled headphones, and worse, that feeling on your ears when you accidentally tug earbuds that are in your ear. So frustrating!
Edit: Oh, and when I broke my older model with saltwater, they replaced it. Twice.