Posts Tagged ‘iphones’

iOS 7 review

laelene Posted in reviews,Tags: , , , , ,
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I’ve been running iOS 7 for about two weeks now and it’s been quite a change. Overall I really enjoy it, but there are definitely some issues that need to be worked out and new things to get adjusted to. Here are some of the highlights:

ios 7 geotargeted reminders feature with ability to change geofence radius

Geotargeting with the radius of your choice! Anywhere from 328 to 7.92 million feet, haha. I wished for this back when iOS 5 came out and now I have it!

ios 7 new ringtones list

New, more gentle and pleasant ringtones.

ios 7 new visual look and feel

Liking the new graphics – simpler, cleaner, brighter.

collage of ios 7 photo collections, new multitasking look, and safari tab browsing

New organization of photos into collections, more useful multitasking view with easy swipe to close, and better view of Safari tabs. All nice changes, but take some getting used to!

ios 7 new control panel feature

The Control Panel makes it easy to get to useful features. Finally, convenient access!

ios 7 weather app with sunset and sunrise indicators

I like knowing when sunrise and sunset are.

ios 7 block caller option

Being able to block callers will be helpful.

ios 7 text message times visible on right

If you pull to the left on the text messages, you can see the time of each, thank goodness.

ios 7 correct siri's pronunciation of words feature

It’s great to be able to correct Siri’s pronunciation.

ios 7 inclinometer feature

The compass now offers a hidden feature: inclinometer! Now you can figure out what perfectly balanced is.

And a few things that aren’t so great:

ios 7 new cleaner keyboard

For some reason the new keyboard is different enough to make my typing worse.

ios 7 multitasking feature

The apps keep having to reload when I move between them. I thought they were supposed to work in the background…

ios 7 lock screen with new keypad design

The screen fades too fast and I never tap it in time. Of course when I tried to get a screenshot of it fading I got the full brightness instead, but you get the point.

Have you updated to iOS 7? What do you think? Or what’s keeping you from making the change?

What I like about iOS 7

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , ,
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screenshot of apple iphone 5 showing new ios 7 operating system

Photo credit: Apple.com

I remember learning about iOS 7 a few weeks ago and really looking forward to it. I then kind of forgot about it until my coworker brought up the new iPhone 5C and we started talking about the upcoming changes. Now we’re nearly at the time when it will be released and I can’t wait! There are a lot of great improvements to the operating system and I know my iPhone-using experience is going to be a lot better. You can read more about new features on Apple’s site. Here are some of the highlights for me:

~new visual feel – The entire look and feel of the interface we tap around in on our iOS devices has changed. Things feel brighter, more colorful, more vibrant, and cleaner. I really appreciate their use of transparency to give things a modern and artistic feel. The current clunky toolbars taking up space to make our screens feel smaller have been reworked so that everything we do can take full advantage of the 4″ screens on our phones. It’s a better use of space that really enhances the user experience.

~Control Panel – Ok, so I think this is pretty cool but at the same time I kind of wonder why Apple didn’t already offer this. So in a way, I’m kind of like “about time!” when it comes to this feature. Still, it doesn’t make me want it any less and I’m sure I’ll make good use of it. Basically when you swipe up from the bottom, you get a control panel with function controls for the most common needs like turning on (or off) Airplane mode/wifi/bluetooth, locking your screen orientation, adjusting your screen brightness and speaker volume, and even launching things like flashlight, timer, calculator, or camera. This will save so many steps and offers a much easier way to change these settings quickly.

~swiping between camera modes – It’s a simple little thing, being able to switch between camera modes effortlessly. I love this feature because you can swipe left and right from camera to video or even panoramic. No more trying to tap one small corner of the screen to get video mode launched! They’ve also integrated other nice features to the camera, like photo filters and a pre-cropped square photo-taking mode for you Insta-crazies.

~photo organization – Since your device already knows the time and location of pictures you take, it makes sense that it can group photos based on that data and provide smart groupings of photos. It’s a nice way to organize your photos so you can find that you want easily instead of scrolling through all the photos in your album. They even offer a view of your entire year of photos, though that seems more like a pretty visual effect than a truly functional feature. Still, if you want to quickly browse photos trying to hunt something down, this could be helpful.

~multi-tasking management – Right now you can manage apps running in the background by double-tapping the home button and scrolling through app icons. It tells you little about what’s actually pulled up in each app and to close them, you have to tap and hold an app icon, then choose the little X in the corner. The new way to manage offers a preview of what’s running on each app AND a quick swipe up (and awaaaaay) will close that app. Much more efficient.

~Safari tab overview – If you want to switch between tabs on your Safari browser in iOS, you have to look at one at a time and swipe between them. The new way to view them lets you get a feel for multiple tabs’ content at once and you can also easily swipe away ones you want to close. I believe you can also swipe left or right when you have a tab open to move between tabs, but I’m not sure if I made that up.

~AirDrop – This is a nice way to share content with those who are physically near you. It’s kind of like the app Bump, which transfers files between devices when you “bump” them together. You basically bluetooth things over to other devices conveniently so you don’t have to write up and email or text message and attach files that way. It’s faster and the file is automatically stored in the appropriate place (like contacts in your contacts list or pictures in your photo app).

There are, of course, a ton of other features coming as well, like Siri’s search integration with Wikipedia and Twitter and iTunes Radio. I’ve just listed some of the top items that grabbed me and will make my iPhone experience a whole lot better. What are you most looking forward to in iOS 7?

365great Day 140: AppleCare

laelene Posted in 365great,Tags: , , , , ,
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Learn more about 365great here.

365great challenge day 140: applecareI seem to be unlucky in the luckiest way possible. Ever since I got my first iPhone back in 2010, I’ve had to go in to the Apple Store for Genius Bar appointments no less than a dozen times due to issues with my iPhone or iPad. About 8 or 9 of those visits resulted in me getting a new device or (once) a screen replaced. In fact, I wrote about some of the earlier experiences just so I wouldn’t forget. It’s such a frequent occurrence that all my visits and exchanges have started to blur together. While I’ve had my share of woes with my iPhone and iPad, I am very glad to have Apple Stores readily available to solve all my needs. I can’t imagine the hassle it would be with any other device, where the manufacturer would be far less willing to send you a new device, or it would be a drag to do like Panda’s was when his Android phone had issues. I’m very happy with the 1-year warranty coverage that my iDevices come with and surprisingly, I manage to not break them in the second year.

Just the other day I posted an image on Instagram of my shattered screen. I was holding my phone and a shower pouf, went to put the pouf on the towel rack in the shower, and BAM dropped by phone. The hard impact of the tub was enough to do quite some damage. Strangely, I wasn’t upset like with previous screen shatters. I’m not sure why, but perhaps it’s because I’m far too concerned about larger issues in my life now, like buying a home and getting a job. Ironically, I had been mulling over going into the Apple Store just days before since there was a dust speck in the camera lens that I had ignored since spring. It was in the corner and mostly unobtrusive, but I wanted to get a new device swapped out before my warranty ran out in September. It happened right after I’d gone in on two separate occasion for that same issue so I was sick of trading phones. Then I broke the screen and figured I might as well try to get that new device now! Like I said, I’m unlucky in the luckiest way because whenever I manage to destroy my devices, I’ve almost always had them fixed for free. There was only one time I had to pay a third party to do the repair. How great is that?

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