Technology catch-all thread

[Y2HH]

Well, if nothing else, this new maps software gives me a reason to consider the GS3 as my next phone (or the GS4 come February).

 

By then you'll be able to download google maps as an app again. BigSqwert likes to pretend that if it isn't pre installed that it doesn't exist.

 

In the mean time you can go to maps.google.com when you don't need turn by turn. Also of note, map quest had supported this for years, a free iOS app you could have been using this entire time.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Y2HH

[Y2HH]

Seriously, some of us actually do, now stop.

 

He has a point, some of us are trying to engage in productive conversation, and every other post we have to hear about how Android has done that for years, when there are megaton of apps on the Apple platform that have as well. It's as if they have to interject nothing of worth just so people notice them or something.

[mr_genius]

megaton of apps

 

i originally thought that said megatron. was going to download the app.

[BigSqwert]

By then you'll be able to download google maps as an app again.

 

You certain of this?

[Y2HH]

i originally thought that said megatron. was going to download the app.

 

If you search megatron on the App Store, 2 apps will show up...transformer comics or something.

 

 

[mr_genius]

If you search megatron on the App Store, 2 apps will show up...transformer comics or something.

 

i wanted the megatron of apps. like a comparative description. if that makes sense. probably doesn't.

[Y2HH]

You certain of this?

 

Google said they're working on an app now, and since there are already like 50 other competing mapping products on the App Store I doubt there will be a problem unless Apple feels like being smacked down and broken up for anti competitive behavior.

 

Apple erased YouTube as a builtin app and you can already download Googles newer and better YouTube app off the App Store.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Y2HH

[nitetrain8601]

Played with the phone a bit yesterday. Seems like they took a step backwards. Screen is longer, but it's also less wider than the previous ones. The retina display doesn't make a difference to me on this phone. On the iPad 3, it does. There really is no wow factor with this phone at all. My buddy who bought it also stated the same thing. It just works. But so far, neither of us are impressed by anything on it, truth be told.

 

Didn't know mapquest had an app though. That's pretty cool.

[Y2HH]

Played with the phone a bit yesterday. Seems like they took a step backwards. Screen is longer, but it's also less wider than the previous ones. The retina display doesn't make a difference to me on this phone. On the iPad 3, it does. There really is no wow factor with this phone at all. My buddy who bought it also stated the same thing. It just works. But so far, neither of us are impressed by anything on it, truth be told.

 

Didn't know mapquest had an app though. That's pretty cool.

 

Let's just say we disagree. I understand you are free to have your own opinion, but I don't understand how anyone could say this is a step backwards in design...

 

Not only played with the phone extensively, but own one. To say it's nothing special is like saying the Galaxy S3 is a horrible design and nothing special when it's the cream of the crop in Android phone design to which all others are compared.

 

First, the screen is the same exact width as all previous iPhones. It's also near sRBG in color reproduction...which is amazing.

 

Second, and more importantly, yes, there is a wow factor to it. The shell of this thing is absolutely amazing. It looks like it was made out of the skin of the stealth fighter, it's amazingly light and thin, and more importantly, very comfortable to hold. It's weight alone is an amazing engineering feat...it feels like it's empty and fragile, when it's actually considered their most durable design ever. The carved aluminum shell is far away a better design choice than two sheets of easily breakable glass sandwiching the internals, not to mention lighter and orders of magnitude stronger. It's also WAY easier to repair than all previous iPhone models.

 

To not be impressed by it's weight alone is an amazingly stunning oversight. Not to mention it took a quantum leap in processing power to the tune that it's faster than an iPad3, and it's graphics are AS FAST as the iPad 3's.

 

Not unlike the design of the HTC One X and the Samsung GS2/3, which are also amazing designs...I simply don't understand it when I hear Apple fans say similar things when reviewing them. To hold a Samsung GS3 and play with it, and then claim it's nothing special baffles me, and I've seen this happen. This seems to be a glaring problem with judging modern electronic design these days, especially that of phones...there is almost no objectionability anymore, this fanboyism that's crept into the conversation has seemingly destroyed objective opinion.

 

I'm a known Apple user around here, but you HAVE to admit the GS2/3 and HTC One X are awesome phone designs.

 

Think about where phones were just 5 years ago and look at them now. Every iteration of these phones, be they from Apple or Samsung, are orders greater than their previous models. To say otherwise in a review makes me question a persons objectionability.

 

The iPhone 5 design is simply stunning.

Edited September 22, 2012 by Y2HH

[danman31]

I think it's more the fact that the improvements now are incremental and not as big as say the jump from the 3GS to the 4 was. That was a huge jump and wowed a lot of people very quickly. To notice all the differences you mentioned you have to be fairly geeky to truly appreciate the differences. Most people won't notice a major difference in a lot of these things, at least not consciously. Although, I held the 5 for myself and compared it to my 4S and the difference in weight was impressive.

[Y2HH]

I think it's more the fact that the improvements now are incremental and not as big as say the jump from the 3GS to the 4 was. That was a huge jump and wowed a lot of people very quickly. To notice all the differences you mentioned you have to be fairly geeky to truly appreciate the differences. Most people won't notice a major difference in a lot of these things, at least not consciously. Although, I held the 5 for myself and compared it to my 4S and the difference in weight was impressive.

 

The big jump in that instance was the screen resolution/dpi, so it was an easy upgrade to see...after that occurred, pretty much every phone started coming with much higher dpi screens, which mostly leveled the playing field in that arena.

 

Most of what you see now, from every manufacturer, is baby steps, but they have gotten much more comfortable to hold over their predecessors.

[southsideirish71]

Not unlike the design of the HTC One X and the Samsung GS2/3, which are also amazing designs...I simply don't understand it when I hear Apple fans say similar things when reviewing them. To hold a Samsung GS3 and play with it, and then claim it's nothing special baffles me, and I've seen this happen. This seems to be a glaring problem with judging modern electronic design these days, especially that of phones...there is almost no objectionability anymore, this fanboyism that's crept into the conversation has seemingly destroyed objective opinion.

 

I'm a known Apple user around here, but you HAVE to admit the GS2/3 and HTC One X are awesome phone designs.

 

 

The iPhone 5 design is simply stunning.

 

I have an iPad 2 and a MacBook Pro. I absolutely love my S3. It is a fantastic phone. Just an amazing piece of engineering. My only complaint is more on the android side. Its on the lack of security in the play store. You download an app and parasite garbage may drop down. You download an app and poof there is another app that came down as well. I had an app recently alter my browser settings to show advertisements. More QA needs to be done to check apps before they get admitted to google play. I got spoiled with how much control that Apple had with their store. Now it's back to reading more about the app and treating it like its an untrusted source.

[BigSqwert]

I have an iPad 2 and a MacBook Pro. I absolutely love my S3. It is a fantastic phone. Just an amazing piece of engineering. My only complaint is more on the android side. Its on the lack of security in the play store. You download an app and parasite garbage may drop down. You download an app and poof there is another app that came down as well. I had an app recently alter my browser settings to show advertisements. More QA needs to be done to check apps before they get admitted to google play. I got spoiled with how much control that Apple had with their store. Now it's back to reading more about the app and treating it like its an untrusted source.

Hmm. I've never had that happen to me on Android but a good head's up nonetheless.

[Y2HH]

Hmm. I've never had that happen to me on Android but a good head's up nonetheless.

 

It's important to watch out for this on Google Play -- being more open has it's drawbacks -- this being the main one. There were times when you could have very similarly named apps with very similar icons, one was real and one was a fake malware app. Google has cracked down on this, but like anything, things can get slipped by. Hell, Apple has even tighter control and things can slip by them...it's always best to watch out for yourself when it comes to installing relatively unknown 3rd party applications, no matter what platform you are on.

Edited September 23, 2012 by Y2HH

[lostfan]

I like the turn by turn feature. That is why I hated google maps and the fact that I will now have that, which I can play through my cars radio, is huge.

??

 

I don't follow... Google maps has turn by turn navigation already and has for a while now.

[lostfan]

Hmm. I've never had that happen to me on Android but a good head's up nonetheless.

I downloaded a malware app one time on accident somehow when I first got my phone, it was some battery monitoring thing and I thought it was actually some kind of system warning because I wasn't used to HTC Sense yet. It made popups in my browser or something and I did a factory reset (I hadn't put anything on the phone yet). But I think that's kind of rare, that was a couple of years ago and I think Google's gotten hip to it.

Edited September 24, 2012 by lostfan

[lostfan]

I don't know which company decided to take Google maps off iOS, but regardless of whether Apple or Google did it, it was a bad decision. People are trying to downplay the significance, but really maps are a pretty core smartphone function, it's one of the main things people use. For Apple to downgrade from Google's clearly superior product to some inferior proprietary version isn't winning. The majority of iPhone users won't give a s*** who makes the map, just as long as it works. Google, on the other hand, loses that large data bank of iPhone users to keep their maps up to the standard they've been keeping. Lose-lose.

[justBLAZE]

??

 

I don't follow... Google maps has turn by turn navigation already and has for a while now.

 

It's a turn by turn VOICE navigation.

[StrangeSox]

Did they not have that for Google Maps in iOS before?

[Y2HH]

Did they not have that for Google Maps in iOS before?

 

They did not. If you wanted this function, you had to download a free (MapQuest) or paid alternative (TomTom/Garmin).

 

If we think about this logically, yes...it's a lose lose situation, for both sides on the short erm...but I also understand the perspective of both sides. In the long run, this will probably be better for everyone, as it will drive innovation even further in the map category. Now, please...I beg you to read on to my following points so you realize the situation Apple was in and why they did what they did...all you have to do is think about this logically and you'll see why.

 

Google Maps on iOS was very basic, with nearly same functionality as their website, maps.google.com, which you can still use via Safari, Chrome, or whatever browser you use on iOS. This is why, for all the hype, I don't really understand the complaint. The only difference now is it's no longer a built in app.

 

The app Google has on Android is FAR FAR FAR superior to the app they had on iOS, and this was because of politics between them AND Apple. Neither company is innocent of playing politics when it comes to business. And therein lies the problem. This is where the "rock and a hard place" situation came in for Apple. Using what became a direct competitors software on your device for a primary function like maps rendered Apple at the mercy of Google. So, pose the question...what happens if one day, Google decided they were no longer interested in making or supporting maps for iOS, what then?

 

People like to ignore reality when they b**** and moan about these types of decisions, but they're actually legitimate concerns to have if you're Apple, or Microsoft, or Nokia, etc...Google can, at ANY time, take their "free" app away from you, when they deem you are no longer necessary.

 

Is Google Maps better? No question. But if you're telling me it's a good business decision for Apple (or anyone else) to rely on a direct competitor that may one day decide they're no longer supporting them...than you're also an idiot.

Edited September 24, 2012 by Y2HH

[Y2HH]

I don't know which company decided to take Google maps off iOS, but regardless of whether Apple or Google did it, it was a bad decision. People are trying to downplay the significance, but really maps are a pretty core smartphone function, it's one of the main things people use. For Apple to downgrade from Google's clearly superior product to some inferior proprietary version isn't winning. The majority of iPhone users won't give a s*** who makes the map, just as long as it works. Google, on the other hand, loses that large data bank of iPhone users to keep their maps up to the standard they've been keeping. Lose-lose.

 

I explained why in a post above.

 

Something most people seem to not be thinking about when it comes to this decision.

[StrangeSox]

But Apple Maps is still hilariously bad, at least right now.

[Y2HH]

After playing with the iPhone 5 for a few days, I have to say this thing is amazing, but not without a flaw that will be sure to annoy some people.

 

The size, shape and weight are, for lack of a better word, awesome. The overall build quality is much higher than in the past, and the durability of the phone is pretty much as good as it's ever been...BUT, it's shell is delicate. Not from blunt force damage (drop tests have shown it's actually pretty strong when it comes to this), but from scratching...it's aluminum, so it's exactly like a MacBook Pro, iPad, or even the original iPhone. It WILL scratch quite easily for people that tend to carry their phone around with them in the same pocket as their keys, etc.

 

I have the black model, and I'm not a "case user", I despise cell phone cases. Taking beautiful small devices and turning them into rubber covered monstrosities is insane, IMO. What I did do for this phone, however, was have it ghost armored, and it looks great...only now it can't be scratched.

[Y2HH]

But Apple Maps is still hilariously bad, at least right now.

 

I've been using it for a few months and haven't run into any problems. So I wouldn't call it bad, by any stretch. What you're seeing now, as with most things Apple, are the most egregious examples to be found. As someone that's been using it for a while around Chicago/Suburbs, it's not given me a single issue yet.

[southsider2k5]

With all of the hikers out there, maybe someone can help me. We do a decent amount of hiking with the kids at the state park. What I'd like to be able to do is find an app that I am able to tag/flag certain points along the trails for points of interest, that way I can view how far away those certain points are on a different day when we are out hiking. Does that exist in a free app?