Smartphone Wars

[mbianka]

I've been using a Blackberry for several years and have not seen a reason to change to something like an I phone. First it fits easily in my pocket. It allows me to keep an eye on my emails anywhere I am. The built in keyboard works well for me for quick response even when I'm at the helm. I use it as a backup GPS. Plus I also use it for a tethered modem for my laptop when I'm on board for internet browsing etc... I just don't see a need for me to change it. New does not always mean better. I see the emphasis on some of the new phones is to watch movies and play games. I get all the entertainment I need from sunrises and sunsets and a good book or two. But, maybe that's just me.

[Doodles]

Here is a case in point where an iPhone really excels. I was traveling and not familiar with the area I was in. I was looking for an Olive Garden restaurant that I knew was somewhere on the road i was on but I sure if it was ahead or behind. Here's what I did in about 15-20 seconds:

1. Pull out phone
2. Select Google app and "voice" button
3. Ask for ..."Olive Garden Restaurant, Wilson, NC"
4. Immediately received list of hits, the first with a map of the location
5. Clicked on map which brought up the location
6. Clicked on directions from "current location"
7. Then I could see on the map where I was and that the restaurant was a half mile ahead on the right.

[David M]

One day we will have ultra thin portable devices with folding screens....which will solve the "too big of a screen to fit in my pocket" problem.

With Apple products the advantages are great apps and plenty of them but you are restricted to their very controlled ecosystem...I know, there is always jail breaking one but then you have a huge disadvantage of possibly turning it into a brick.

Their new maps on iOS 6 stink at this point in time. I'm sure that will improve.

[keepondancin]

Question for Factor, how do you put PDF's into iTunes? I am an Apple convert. I got so tired of dealing with viruses and Trojans, after paying for different big name protection software, and off shore tech support from Dell, that I switched. The system satisfies my needs, and the inter-relationship of the devices are hard to beat. I have no problems with iTunes. My 3G battery is slowly dying after 4 years, and just checked the tracking, and my new 5 has just left Incheon, Korea, for a monday delivery. It truly is a world economy.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

My first smart phone was a blackberry storm. Awful phone.

I actually threw mine out the window on the highway....... For real... Worst phone ever made...

[sck5]

Or, for $50 you can get a dumb phone which will work quite well for actual phone calls. I have yet to feel the need for an internet connection everywhere I go. All those people who want me to get their emails right away? I am perfectly happy to have them wait until I get home. All those directions you can get on your smart phone? You might try asking an actual human being. You can get surprising answers sometimes, and you might even find out something you weren't aware of at all.

[DeepFrz]

Maine, how is your RazrMaxx in the direct sun? I have an older Razr and it is almost impossible to read in direct sun. Are any of the newer systems any better than that?

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Doodles

Here is a case in point where an iPhone really excels. I was traveling and not familiar with the area I was in. I was looking for an Olive Garden restaurant that I knew was somewhere on the road i was on but I sure if it was ahead or behind. Here's what I did in about 15-20 seconds:

1. Pull out phone
2. Select Google app and "voice" button
3. Ask for ..."Olive Garden Restaurant, Wilson, NC"
4. Immediately received list of hits, the first with a map of the location
5. Clicked on map which brought up the location
6. Clicked on directions from "current location"
7. Then I could see on the map where I was and that the restaurant was a half mile ahead on the right.

I decided to get more modern. I put away my flip phone and got a 4s.

I know where the West Marine store is but I wanted practice.

Siri showed me the closest WM stores around. 12 and 19 miles away.

The one I know of was only 3 miles away.

What BS.

Tried it again without knowing where the pizza place was.

Called the closest one to order and have delivered. They said "We don't deliver there. Would you like the number of the store closer to you that can deliver?"



There could have been an Olive Garden 100 yards astern.

I don't know if Android apps are as bad or not.

I gave the i junk to the son for graduation (I knew I had an out before I bought it ) and am back to the ooolld flip phone.

I find I just don't need things as instantly as my kids, if at all. I also find I can relax more watching grass grow than playing some game.

edit:

Oh yea, I was in Publix waiting for a script to be filled so I thought I would practice with the two new apps that check for prices. Scan a barcode and it looks in your area for the best price.

Forget it.

The apps have access to different stores, not all of them in your area. One of the apps did not have Publix at all. The other did not have a couple of the other stores in the area.

Worthless.

One of the main reasons I went when I did was because I did not want to text by typing. I want to dictate. Modern, you know? So when I saw the ads for Siri I said "Self, now is the time to get what you have been waiting for - Woohooo!!" Kinda like one of those dates from the past right?

Siri is a twit. And they never, before you buy, tell you it is a beta version. That advertising should be against the law.

Then I show it off and a guy at work shows me his two year old android and says he has been doing it for over a year.

Apple and windows don't get along. Try moving pics around. PIA.

But why should they since we know that there was some serious bad blood in the past. From the very beginning.........

If you go all i stuff and are willing to pay the premium for the most fragile phone on the market, go for it.

Not me. I will just follow the masses. Not the cult.

Is this true? If you want a toy buy an i thing. If you want a tool buy a Android.

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by Factor

I actually dont find Itunes all that bad? Is it crappier on a Gates system (windows etc) or ?? You dont need to connect to Itunes anymore anyway I think. Need to check that - most of my gear is a few years old now. I like how I can put PDF files in Itunes and see them on the phone, eg Boat docco like insurance certificate that marinas want to see. Rego and Licence scans as pdfs , manuals and help files etc.

You can probably do that in other systems but I find it very easy with Itunes.

Do you have a Mac? I find iTunes difficult to figure out and use on a PC

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by Doodles

Here is a case in point where an iPhone really excels. I was traveling and not familiar with the area I was in. I was looking for an Olive Garden restaurant that I knew was somewhere on the road i was on but I sure if it was ahead or behind. Here's what I did in about 15-20 seconds:

1. Pull out phone
2. Select Google app and "voice" button
3. Ask for ..."Olive Garden Restaurant, Wilson, NC"
4. Immediately received list of hits, the first with a map of the location
5. Clicked on map which brought up the location
6. Clicked on directions from "current location"
7. Then I could see on the map where I was and that the restaurant was a half mile ahead on the right.

iPhone 4 and older uses Google Maps. iPhone 5 uses a TomTom app. Pretty buggy so far. TomTom will never catch up to the maps Google has invested billions in. There are work arounds to get Google Maps on the iPhone 5, but not as easy to use with the exact same features as what it had. Google has an App tied up in red tape at the App Store. Wonder why?

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Apple and windows don't get along. Try moving pics around. PIA.

I had three iPhones and a iPad all at the same time. I updated my phones to ios 4. something. On all my iPhones, I lost all the photographs in the phones. I still have them saved in the iPad, but I am afraid to plug it into iTunes because I already proved 3 times I don't know how to use iTunes on a PC.

I am down to 2 iPhones now, and one of them I tried installing the new ios 5. Again, at first I lost all the pics in the phone. Just gone. Then all of a sudden, some mystery program started replacing them in the phone.

iTunes? iCloud? iWonder!!! I wish something that works so well, was a little friendlier at getting along with non-apple made devices.

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

I actually threw mine out the window on the highway....... For real... Worst phone ever made...

My wife and I had Verizon and at that time, the only smartphone that looked like an iPhone was the Storm. My wife liked hers, and it took her a few weeks to stop griping when we went with iPhones. Now she loves her phone, but she has never tried to plug her iPhone into a PC. I get that unfortunate task.

I was able to sell our Storms on eBay, but throwing it out a moving automobile would have been more satisfying. Feel sorry for whoever purchased them. I called them a brick, with a sheet of glass glued to one side.

[GaryMayo]

iPhone tricks I have learned to make your iPhone work better.

1: Reset function

Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings > Passcode > Reset Network Settings (in red). This will align all your apps to factory settings, reset the phone to as it was when new, saving all your pics, screens, and the way your iPhone looked before. DON"T choose another reset feature, as that will erase stuff you want. Apple service taught me this trick. I do it once a month or so. Makes the iPhone run faster.


2: Close unused Apps

Double click the main round button on the bottom of your iPhone, and a scroll bar opens at the bottom. These are all the Apps running in the background. Hold down on one of them till they start to jiggle with minus (-) signs. Click each (-) and close them. You most likely have dozens or more apps running all the time, using up resources.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

iPhone tricks I have learned to make your iPhone work better.


2: Close unused Apps

Double click the main round button on the bottom of your iPhone, and a scroll bar opens at the bottom. These are all the Apps running in the background. Hold down on one of them till they start to jiggle with minus (-) signs. Click each (-) and close them. You most likely have dozens or more apps running all the time, using up resources.

Thanks for that one! I had a bunch running.

[svHannabel]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

2: Close unused Apps

Double click the main round button on the bottom of your iPhone, and a scroll bar opens at the bottom. These are all the Apps running in the background. Hold down on one of them till they start to jiggle with minus (-) signs. Click each (-) and close them. You most likely have dozens or more apps running all the time, using up resources.

Alright, ios geek-time, so be prepared...

This one is only partly true. Multitasking in ios doesn't slow down the performance of the foreground app or drain battery life unnecessarily. Double-clicking the Home button displays a list of recently used apps. These apps are not necessarily actively in use, open, or taking up system resources.

Essentially, only GPS, audio, and syncing apps run in the background and potentially use resources.