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iPhone 4S |OT|
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Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Weirdest question:
Is it possible to change the emoticons that dictation uses when you say "smiley face" or "frowny face"? I hate emoticons with noses, why would they default to those?
Is it possible to change the emoticons that dictation uses when you say "smiley face" or "frowny face"? I hate emoticons with noses, why would they default to those?
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
SHIPPED yaaay. OG Droid, I'll remember you fondly even though you got old and senile and haven't been updated since FroYo.
You never forget your first smartphone.
You never forget your first smartphone.
The Friendly Monster
Member
I thought that too, not that I ever use the voice stuff.Stumpokapow said:
edit...wait thought this was the android thread!
Plasmid said:
How well is C-Spire rated? Does anyone else have experience with them?
If they will sell a subsidized iPhone 4S AND a $50/month unlimited data plan, that may end up being the best deal in the country.
I've been running numbers in a spreadsheet and even if you were to use a cheap $30/month prepaid service and an unlocked iPhone 4S, you still end up spending less with C-Spire -- assuming it's a true $50/month.
Greyface said:
The iOS app model is one of browser like navigation with lists. Most apps follow this model, they have a list of options, and you select one and it does something or takes you to a deeper level of the actions. iOS provides a few basic design elements which are often used by 3rd party developers (but don't have to, if they want to write their own).
Title-bar, it typically contains a back button of sorts, usually labeled whatever the previous location was titled, and a title - can be text or image. Settings is a perfect example of the simplest app, it uses only lists and hierarchical navigation. Sometimes a developer also puts a button in the title, for quick access to editing the list (like mail), or settings.
Tab-bar, apps such as youtube and the appstore make use of this UI element. It switches between modes/top-level pages/tabs of the app, or acts as a shortcut for different locations in the app. It's very simple and easy to understand. It gets used by twitter apps, instagram, netflix, etc. It would be silly to break the tens of thousands of apps that use it by getting rid of this simple, easy to use widget.
Tool-bar, this is the least used widget, and when it is used it usually appears at the deepest levels of the hierarchical navigation or with apps like Safari at the very top. It contains icons/buttons that rather than change locations like the other two do, it does actions on the page in view. It's pretty simple however is most similar to how things work on the computer, it does however not hold much space for functions so usually has a button or two overloaded with yet another list of actions (which I will agree, could use some freshening up in the appearance). Actions in the tool-bar list use some colors/images to help people quickly see what is going on. Blue usually denotes some sort of send action, red is delete, dark grey is cancel, and grey is used by everything else.
These are the 3 elements of chrome in iOS apps. All of which can be modified, themed, subclassed, or not used at all by the developers. They are most often themed - Netflix for instance uses a red titlebar with a flat appearance, and a tab-bar with grey/gold selection. Instagram base a blue textured title-bar, with a stylized title and a modified tab-bar with a view to the camera control in the middle. Facebook has a title-bar that can be slid back and forth to reveal a list of frequently accessed locations. It also has an equivalent to the tab-bar built into the title-bar so people can access their friend requests/messages/notifications - it even has a badge to tell you how many are unseen. All of these apps have their own styling, theme, and a unique take on Apples basic widgets.
The biggest element of an apps interface is the page. It usually a scrollable list of things you can do, places you can navigate/drill-down. Peoples names, settings, songs, etc. This has a few basic features - a scroll indicator - which can be themed, but no one really cares to because it is simple and works, labels/wells - they group together the items without making it hierarchical. Long lists often use a rolodex-like divider and an alphabetical index on the side for quick navigation. And at last but not least is the classic UI widgets such as the button, switch, multi-state selector, and the checkbox. All of which can be themed, modified, etc, etc.
So, when I said I don't understand I mean to ask, when people say they want a change, do they mean they want apps to not follow this model? A model WebOS, Android, WP7 all basically use, the model that everyone is trained on due to the popularity of the web-browser. Or do they mean some aesthetic change? Changing the pale-blue for flat black, default tab highlight color instead of neon-blue change them to red, change the default icons, etc. I'm opposed to the first one. The interface works, it is easy to understand, it is flexible, and easy for developers to implement. If it is the later - I don't see much need in this aside from Apple's default apps. Sure, maybe they should theme Mail with red white and blue, put a stamp in the corner instead of a send button. Or maybe they should change the default blue, or something - but out of all the apps I use virtually all of them don't even use the default, they are themed and stylized to fit the "personality" of the app. So really only the default apps would see this kind of change. And if they do go this route, they will likely be doing more skeuomorphs/real-object-themed which will likely just delight the average user and piss off people on Macrumors and GAF.
In summary - Apps take up ~95 percent of the screen, can be made to look however developers want, but usually go with a themed variation of 4 basic design elements (title-bar, tab-bar, tool-bar, page/list)that are common to all post-iPhone smartphone OSes.
So which is it, when people call for iOS to have a 'modern' interface, which do they mean?
(BTW, if ICS is 'modern', I'll gladly continue to live in 2007)
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Siri suggestions that Apple should implement which do not require any additional third party sources:
- How much free space is on my phone?
- How many songs are on my phone?
- How many apps are on my phone?
- How much battery life do I have left?
- What was the last web page I read?
- List all contacts with the last name "Brown" -- this sort of works by asking you which you want to see, but doesn't list multiple ones at a time.
- Yes/no answers to yes/no questions (EG "Is Albany the capital of New York State", Siri correctly asks Wolfram Alpha what the capital of New York State is, but isn't able to contextually use the answer like she can if you ask "Should I wear a rain coat today?")
- Spell "cantaloupe" (or any word) --> this will haul up Wolfram Alpha, but won't spell back the word you said.
Other Siri and/or general OS suggestions:
- Shazam style music identification (WP7 has this built in, and if ass-backwards Microsoft can get something right, Apple surely can, given that they have iTunes at their disposal)
- Barcode scanning; I know this is a betrayal of Siri's voice activated stuff, but there are a bunch of apps that do this, they all kind of suck donkey dick, and it's a great thing to do with your phone. Apple can buy RedLaser or just license zBarcode I guess.
- Visual product identification
Geofencing:
- Jesus, your geofence needs to be a previously listed address in your contacts? That's insane.
- How much free space is on my phone?
- How many songs are on my phone?
- How many apps are on my phone?
- How much battery life do I have left?
- What was the last web page I read?
- List all contacts with the last name "Brown" -- this sort of works by asking you which you want to see, but doesn't list multiple ones at a time.
- Yes/no answers to yes/no questions (EG "Is Albany the capital of New York State", Siri correctly asks Wolfram Alpha what the capital of New York State is, but isn't able to contextually use the answer like she can if you ask "Should I wear a rain coat today?")
- Spell "cantaloupe" (or any word) --> this will haul up Wolfram Alpha, but won't spell back the word you said.
Other Siri and/or general OS suggestions:
- Shazam style music identification (WP7 has this built in, and if ass-backwards Microsoft can get something right, Apple surely can, given that they have iTunes at their disposal)
- Barcode scanning; I know this is a betrayal of Siri's voice activated stuff, but there are a bunch of apps that do this, they all kind of suck donkey dick, and it's a great thing to do with your phone. Apple can buy RedLaser or just license zBarcode I guess.
- Visual product identification
Geofencing:
- Jesus, your geofence needs to be a previously listed address in your contacts? That's insane.
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
Epix said:
Late Sunday last week, the 9th I think through Verizon's website.
unrenowned
Member
I don't think they want to up the screen size while keeping the same resolution. Would look like a downgrade when they've marketed the retina display using pixel density.Lord Error said:
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
JasonMCG said:
Probably just logistics and red tape, really. The shipping warehouses were backlogged before the stores ran out. Two separate sources of phones.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Epix said:
I think it was "Remind me to get milk when I leave work." or something like that.
Of course, you could set up a contact named "The store" and then input address information for a specific shop.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Epix said:
"What can I help you with?"
"Remind me to get milk at the grocery store"
"When would you like me to remind you?"
"When I get the grocery store"
"I don't know what you mean by 'when I get the grocery store' You can be reminded at a time, or when you leave or arrive somewhere. When would you like me to remind you?"
"When I arrive at the grocery store"
"I don't know what you mean by 'when I arrive at the grocery store'. You can be reminded at a time... (etc)"
"Arrive at the grocery store"
"I don't know what you mean by... (etc)"
"Never mind"
"OK then".
This could be related to the local services not working in Canada, but regardless it should prompt me to add an address if I say a location it can't find.
If I say, for example "Remind me <x> when I get to Sarah's house" it'll correctly either use Sarah's address or ask me to add one for her if she doesn't have one in my contacts, and that's fine.
WordAssassin
Member
How does Siri handle nicknames for people in your phonebook? For example, my friend Bryce is in my phone as Party Cat - will I have to rename him, or will it understand Party Cat?
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Epix said:
In America, yes. Not where I live.
You should be able to say:
"Siri, remind me to get milk when I go to the grocery store"
To which she should reply by giving the closest grocery stores and letting you pick one to geofence OR offer you the option to dictate a new address (or type it, I guess).
Also, Siri can play songs from your iPhone's library, but not shared libraries you're connected to, which is unfortunately. She also doesn't understand "Play a random song", and when I say "next song", she says "You're not listening to anything" even though I am. Wonderful.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
WordAssassin said:
I used the Contacts "nickname" field to nickname someone Fart. "stump, I don't understand 'Fart'". So she doesn't understand nicknames in contacts, so it'll go by actual name listed. I renamed the contact to Party Cat and it seems to respond to Party Cat now.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Evlar said:
She understood that one contextually, which is good, but again wasn't able to figure out the shared library, and so claimed I had no music.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
Is it weird that I think iOS would look better with a different color for the status bar and a different, darker blue? The color scheme they have now seems, I don't know, old?
Maybe I just like darker colors *shrug*
Maybe I just like darker colors *shrug*
WordAssassin
Member
That is excellent! Yeah I don't use the actual "nickname" field of the contact at all, I just use it as their actual name. This is great news because all of my good friends and family have special/funny names in my phone.Stumpokapow said:
Thanks for checking!
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Notrollious said:
It matches OS X, so I doubt they'll change it. I prefer lighter colors, so I like it.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
Yeah I figured it was probably due to my taste in colors. They should give an option for themes. Dark and light. Problem solved.Zefah said:
New iPhone owner here! Just got it today. Coming from Android. Have a couple quick questions regarding Google Sync.
This one is probably easy: I just set up my Mail using Google Sync, right? This uses Microsoft Exchange, so that's what my phone has it listed as. My question: I don't need to set up anything else right? I don't have to add another account and click the Gmail version, right? Out of curiosity, what would that do (and what are the differences between doing this and not setting this up?) Basically, it sets it up so my email is pushed and "properly" synchronized instead of the Mail app just using a fetch action, right?
Also, just to try a test, I deleted a contact picture from someone on my address book to see if it would also delete from google.com/contacts (or from Gmail contacts list; same thing). It deleted it from the phone but not from the online list. Anyone know what's up with that at all? Does it just take some time? I did that about 6-7 minutes ago. I hope it just doesn't sync web--->phone and not phone---->web.
Edit: Okay, so the picture removed itself but only AFTER I deleted it from my still-synchronizing Android phone (via Wifi). SO, I turned off syncing with my old Android phone. Now I'm going to try it with another contact and see how that works.
This one is probably easy: I just set up my Mail using Google Sync, right? This uses Microsoft Exchange, so that's what my phone has it listed as. My question: I don't need to set up anything else right? I don't have to add another account and click the Gmail version, right? Out of curiosity, what would that do (and what are the differences between doing this and not setting this up?) Basically, it sets it up so my email is pushed and "properly" synchronized instead of the Mail app just using a fetch action, right?
Also, just to try a test, I deleted a contact picture from someone on my address book to see if it would also delete from google.com/contacts (or from Gmail contacts list; same thing). It deleted it from the phone but not from the online list. Anyone know what's up with that at all? Does it just take some time? I did that about 6-7 minutes ago. I hope it just doesn't sync web--->phone and not phone---->web.
Edit: Okay, so the picture removed itself but only AFTER I deleted it from my still-synchronizing Android phone (via Wifi). SO, I turned off syncing with my old Android phone. Now I'm going to try it with another contact and see how that works.
reilo said:
Okay, but I think doing it the way I did it adds some extra usability, doesn't it? If I just did it via the way you mentioned, would it mark mail as unread on the WEB after I read them on the iPhone? I'm trying to mimic the native Gmail app on Android as much as I can, because it was awesome and should be available on iOS, too
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Don't use the Gmail option if you want push notifications. You have to set it up using Exchange to get that.
edit: oops, didn't read that bit about IMAP. I'll have to look into that.
edit: oops, didn't read that bit about IMAP. I'll have to look into that.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Datwheezy said:
Hmm. She understood the word I said but didn't interpret it. Maybe there was a time lag between adding the nickname and her understanding it?
Marty Chinn
Member
Stumpokapow said:
That's ok. Even if it did set it up, it might not even remind you as I learned yesterday that location reminders are hit and miss and unreliable.
oh yeah, got my 4S today! picked it up from Fido with the reservation system and Im dumping my music on there now.
so far, siri has worked as advertised and Im appreciating the speed when rendering webpages. much closer to the new iPad.
worst siri mishap was when I was messing around and said call me daddy! and then it initiated a call to my dad.
I cancelled that.
so far, siri has worked as advertised and Im appreciating the speed when rendering webpages. much closer to the new iPad.
worst siri mishap was when I was messing around and said call me daddy! and then it initiated a call to my dad.
I cancelled that.
WordAssassin
Member
I haven't had any problems with them at all, but I'm on an iPhone 4. Don't know if that matters but Reminders has been startlingly accurate for me.Marty Chinn said:
Also, you could just create new contacts for places you frequent, and keep them in their own group so you don't have them cluttering up your main contacts list. Just make a group and call it "Address Book" but only sort your phone book by the iCloud/On This Phone setting.
LCfiner said:
Hahaha that's good to know, my family is in my phone as "Mommy!" "Daddy!" "Sister!" and "Brother!" hahaha
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Datwheezy said:
Maybe she doesn't like noun nicknames because she interprets them as a non-contact word? Heh, might be worth further experimentation. The only friend I have who goes by a nickname goes exclusively by his nickname so I have it as his first name.
Do you want me to write up an intro to Metro UI so you can learn about the pivot and panorama controls and how they differ from the tab bar? Or perhaps you'd like a link to Palm's interface guidelines so you discover the app menu, gesture controls and dashboard widgets? I think you're just pulling my leg and you already know that iOS third party developers don't have the power to replace the preinstalled system apps, the notification system, Springboard, the multitasking bar and other fundamental parts of the user experience (unlike say in Android where developers have carte blanche and replacement launchers, for example, are very popular). If you really think the scope of possible changes for iOS is limited to themeing "Mail with red white and blue" then I'm wasting my time here. Carry-on.ivedoneyourmom said:
Yes, that's why I told you to use the IMAP settings.Pyrokai said:Okay, but I think doing it the way I did it adds some extra usability, doesn't it? If I just did it via the way you mentioned, would it mark mail as unread on the WEB after I read them on the iPhone? I'm trying to mimic the native Gmail app on Android as much as I can, because it was awesome and should be available on iOS, too
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=77702
http://lifehacker.com/314434/what-gmail-imap-means-for-you-and-your-iphone
If you read/delete/write/whatever a message on Gmail, it will sync it to your phone 1-to-1. This is also true if you do that on your iPhone, as long as you are using IMAP.
Quoting myself about my Gmail/Contacts Syncing:
Update: Okay, so when I delete contact profile pictures from the phone, they'll reappear on my phone, making me think this only works web--->phone. BUT If I CHANGE them to a different picture on my phone, they'll change on Gmail.com, too. Very strange. Anyone know why this is and how I can have everything by in sync?
This has to be perfect for me or I'll go crazy and regret getting an iPhone instead of another Android. Crazy, I know, but I need my Gmail and Contacts (and Calendar) on the web to be perfectly synchronized with my phone. I want to keep this iPhone!
Pyrokai said:
Update: Okay, so when I delete contact profile pictures from the phone, they'll reappear on my phone, making me think this only works web--->phone. BUT If I CHANGE them to a different picture on my phone, they'll change on Gmail.com, too. Very strange. Anyone know why this is and how I can have everything by in sync?
This has to be perfect for me or I'll go crazy and regret getting an iPhone instead of another Android. Crazy, I know, but I need my Gmail and Contacts (and Calendar) on the web to be perfectly synchronized with my phone. I want to keep this iPhone!
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
bionic77 said:
I can't pronounce that personally but contacts allows you to add a phonetic spelling to names so presumably you could use that to help you. I assume the first name rhymes with "Blade" and the last name is "Div ack"? If you want I can test it for you, my accent is reasonable neutral.
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