The iPhone 5 thread (well, actually, iPhone 4S)

[stevew]

I have a rails type bumper case for my 4 and it has saved me several times. Admittedly mine wasn't 145, but it also isn't made out of metal. Without a case, this phone is like a bar of soap.

[Peregrine]

Really loving the Siri voice control the more I get to know it - it has a lot of features that I am finding out from the web - like adding or multiplying large numbers on the fly without having to open the calculator, or doing reminders that trigger on location - once you set your home, work etc you can tell Siri "remind me to get groceries when I leave work" and it will ping you once you leave the location. Pretty cool so far.

[Mota]

I still don't have my 4S and I preordered it during the pre-order weekend. As per the Rogers person that I spoke to, preordering was the best way to ensure I get my product.

Apparently Rogers screwed over anybody in Canada that used the Reservation system, they shipped loose product out to the stores and didn't leave any for the pre-orders on the first wave of shipments.

I was actually in line at my Rogers for something for my wife, and the person in front of me picked up the last remaining 4S 64GB where I who had Reserved it a week before got nothing. Needless to say I'm not very happy right now!

[Ksyrup]

I've read in several different places about some issue with iO5 where people's contacts and stuff have gone missing. Is this common/normal?

[bhlloy]

I'm not very impressed with Siri so far, it seems completely unable to recognize even basic voice commands. There's no point in the technology if it doesn't work at a pretty high success rate. It also seems to make the same mistake over and over (e.g. showing me vegan restaurants repeatedly in the LAX area when I'm trying to have it google which terminal Virgin Atlantic flies into at LAX)

Other than that, pretty happy with the phone. The speed and graphics improvements over the 3GS I was on are huge and that makes it worth way more than I paid for it.

[Ksyrup]

To follow-up on my last post, one guys says it's an iCloud issue. Was told to turn off iCloud and wait for the fix.

[Ksyrup]

Talked to my firm's IT guy in charge of phones, and he's a BB guy who recently switched to iPhone. Said he did it mainly because he's seeing so many iPhones that he wanted to have one to personally test out issues and see what our userrs were seeing. But he had the same comments I did about BB compared to Apple, and how we were both hesitant to switch because BB was mmuch more of a business versus personal device, but the industry seems to be going toward personal and BB is getting left behind.

I also asked him about Android phones, and he said he's seeing a lot of isses with server synching. A couple of our folks have had to have their accounts deleted and reinstalled every 2 weeks because of some synching error no one can figure out. He suggested staying away from Android for the time being.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I'm not very impressed with Siri so far, it seems completely unable to recognize even basic voice commands. There's no point in the technology if it doesn't work at a pretty high success rate. It also seems to make the same mistake over and over (e.g. showing me vegan restaurants repeatedly in the LAX area when I'm trying to have it google which terminal Virgin Atlantic flies into at LAX)

I've been pretty lucky and not had many issues along these lines - I've found I just have to slow down my naturally fast speech a bit, and Siri does a lot better at picking up what I say.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I'm not very impressed with Siri so far, it seems completely unable to recognize even basic voice commands. There's no point in the technology if it doesn't work at a pretty high success rate. It also seems to make the same mistake over and over (e.g. showing me vegan restaurants repeatedly in the LAX area when I'm trying to have it google which terminal Virgin Atlantic flies into at LAX)

Are you sure you're not mispronouncing "Virgin"?

[Pyser]

i haven't found too many uses for siri, but just being able to dictate texts and emails alone without using a 3rd party app is super helpful

the speed increase from my 3gs is noticeable. the screen is amazing (though i know it was in the 4, i didn't have a 4). the camera is damn good.

being able to just open iTunes and have it automatically sync with the phone is great. i don't miss plugging in.

theres not much i don't like about the phone. id still like turn by turn directions to be incorporated into maps (seems so close with siri already there), but I'm happy with the purchase so far

[Raiders Army]

I received my case and it was worth every penny. I love this phone and the only complaint I have is that the battery life isn't too good.

I'm not sure I'd want a larger screen either.

[Peregrine]

TUAW has posted some more Siri commands I hadn't tried before, from Harris Rydal.

Great Siri search commands | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Sports scores - Look up the current score for in-progress games and find the team record, last game score, and the upcoming game. Say "Yahoo team name score". Rydal points out "There is a 'Yahoo' here because mobile Yahoo formats the results better than Google."


Flight Times - Say "Search the web for flights from City/Airport toCity/Airport". In Google, this brings up a list of flight times that day and the associated airline.


Movie Times (and Ticket Purchasing) Say "Search for Movie Name showtimes Optional ZipCode", or if Siri will let you, you may get away withsimply "Movie Name showtimes Optional Zipcode". You can also "Search for showtimes Zipcode".


Rydal points out that if you've set Google in Safari to use your current location, you don't even need to specify an area code. Google's Fandango integration allows you to click the showtime and hop over to the ticket purchasing pag

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

I received my case and it was worth every penny. I love this phone and the only complaint I have is that the battery life isn't too good.

I'm not sure I'd want a larger screen either.

Double tap home in order to kill excessive open apps. Sync email a bit less frequently. Turn off wifi if you aren't using it. Reduce the number of apps that can send push notifications. Reduce brightness/quicker screen lock.


If you do several of the things above, it should enhance battery life. And shouldn't negatively affect your user performance.

[GrantDawg]

I just got it android. It is a definite change from a non-smartphone. I was going to get a iPhone but the salesperson talked me out of it.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by stevew

Sync email a bit less frequently. Reduce the number of apps that can send push notifications.

These are a couple of reasons I'm hesitant to leave my BB. I am addicted to the LED. I want emails immediately. I want that instant information and the immediate gratification. In some instances, I need it for work, but even for personal use, I want immediate notification of emails, texts, FB posts, etc.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I just got it android. It is a definite change from a non-smartphone. I was going to get a iPhone but the salesperson talked me out of it.

Even the guy at the Apple store I was talking to said "Android for phone - iOS for tablet"

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

These are a couple of reasons I'm hesitant to leave my BB. I am addicted to the LED. I want emails immediately. I want that instant information and the immediate gratification. In some instances, I need it for work, but even for personal use, I want immediate notification of emails, texts, FB posts, etc.

Haven't read your recent posts so not sure your stance on Android, but most Android phones have an LED. I have it on my Bionic. On some phones you can even change the color. I have it set to blue for email, green for text, and red for missed call.

EDIT: must have not even realized what thread I was in. :| Nevermind me Ksyrup

[Ksyrup]

Actually, I posted above that I was considering an Android phone, but our IT guy advised against it. Said the few people in our firm that have one have server synching issues that require deleting and recreating their accounts every couple of weeks.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Actually, I posted above that I was considering an Android phone, but our IT guy advised against it. Said the few people in our firm that have one have server synching issues that require deleting and recreating their accounts every couple of weeks.

You need better IT, I've got no issues with Outlook synching here.

[DaddyTorgo]

The only Exchange-syncing errors I have are when I'm low on space...

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

You need better IT, I've got no issues with Outlook synching here.

My understanding is we have maybe a half-dozen people, if that, using an Android phone out of 450 attorneys, so it may be that they don't have enough experience in dealing with those phones.

[stevew]

One IOS issue I've had with this board is the search function not working properly, so I just directly bookmarked to search (Front Office Football Central) and it works for me fine now.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by stevew

Double tap home in order to kill excessive open apps. Sync email a bit less frequently. Turn off wifi if you aren't using it. Reduce the number of apps that can send push notifications. Reduce brightness/quicker screen lock.


If you do several of the things above, it should enhance battery life. And shouldn't negatively affect your user performance.

I have killed open apps, not synced email unless I open it up and have wifi off. I have no apps that send push notifications.

The only thing that helped today was turning off the location finder. Thanks.

It's a battery hog, but probably no more so than my 3G.

[Ksyrup]

I've decided I'm going to get a 4S, but I hate having to wait for the phone. I've tried the last 3 nights to do the night-before in-store reserve thing online. Tonight I got all the way to the last screen - the confirm screen - and it stopped working. The confirm button wouldn't allow me to get to the final page. Fucking pisses me off.

Anyway, main question I have is, is iO5 safe to download on my iPod? I keep hearing things about issues, so I'm hesitant to do it. I'm not going to lose my entire music and app collection by upgrading, am I?

[Mota]

Backup your stuff first.

All your stuff goes to your Itunes account anyways, so if you do lose anything, it'll just resync it when you plug it back in. My iPad forgot where all my videos were, but it just put them back on when I synced.

[Ksyrup]

I can't sync anything, so if I lose it all it will have to be a manual process to put it all back, which will be time-consuming. I share iTunes with 3 other devices, so the music and apps are all different. And I've got probably 20K songs on iTunes, but only 7K on my device, so I can't sync. I guess I have no choice but to do this, though - one of my apps won't update unless I have iO5.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I can't sync anything, so if I lose it all it will have to be a manual process to put it all back, which will be time-consuming. I share iTunes with 3 other devices, so the music and apps are all different. And I've got probably 20K songs on iTunes, but only 7K on my device, so I can't sync. I guess I have no choice but to do this, though - one of my apps won't update unless I have iO5.

I really don't mean to be mean KSyrup.

But you really don't understand iTunes, do you?

What you've explained does not limit you from syncing in the list.

I have 4 or 5 different iOS devices synching to my computer. All of them have different playlists, songs, apps, etc. There is nothing that should be limiting/preventing you from synching.

[Ksyrup]

No, I don't understand iTunes because it sucks and I don't like having to use it. It's a pain in the ass, it freezes, and it artificially limits me from freely moving my music around in an easier and much more user-friendly way.

It offers to synch my iTunes with my iPod whenever I add new music to iTunes. If it did that, it would add a bunch of stuff I don't want on my iPod, like music I've put in iTunes but don't want to add right now (maybe an old album I just want to have in there for completeness, or a bootleg), or stuff my daughter has just downloaded (fuck no I'm not listening to Ke$ha). If you're telling me iTunes can divine which music I want on my iPod, then I guess I'm impressed.

Otherwise, I guess I don't understand what the hell synching does or means. If you can explain it, I would appreciate it.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

No, I don't understand iTunes because it sucks and I don't like having to use it. It's a pain in the ass, it freezes, and it artificially limits me from freely moving my music around in an easier and much more user-friendly way.

It offers to synch my iTunes with my iPod whenever I add new music to iTunes. If it did that, it would add a bunch of stuff I don't want on my iPod, like music I've put in iTunes but don't want to add right now (maybe an old album I just want to have in there for completeness, or a bootleg), or stuff my daughter has just downloaded (fuck no I'm not listening to Ke$ha). If you're telling me iTunes can divine which music I want on my iPod, then I guess I'm impressed.

Otherwise, I guess I don't understand what the hell synching does or means. If you can explain it, I would appreciate it.

Whenever you plug a device in, it will show up on the left sidebar in iTunes.

You select that device and it allows you to set up sync options. I'll focus on music specifically.

When you go into music it gives you two main options: "Entire Music Library" and "Selected playlist, artists, albums, and genres".

If you choose the 2nd option, a ton of specific settings open up. You can check individual playlists, artists, genres, and albums.

So, you have a lot of choices there. You could setup a playlist in your itunes that is "KSyrups" music and synch that. You could set up individual playlists for certain tastes of yours, etc. It sounds like you already have a lot of playlists setup, so you can really probably just use those as a starting point.

Smart playlists are good for this imo. For instance, I have a playlist for everything that is rathed > 2*s by me. So anything that I've given 3, 4, or 5 stars is on this playlist. When I had an 8gb ipod touch, I didn't use this because it was bigger than 8gb - but I put it on my 30GB iPod classic.

If you set this up once, you shouldn't have any problems going forward. Only thing would be if you setup new playlists, you'd have to go in and check it on this screen.

For an Apple explanation of what I've tried to explain, go to: Syncing music to iPod or iPhone



*************

I know I've probably come off as rude about this several times to you, but it just seems like you're not understanding how iTunes works and having problems that I don't hear of from anyone else. I should take the tact of trying to teach you rather than mock you, so my apologies for that.

iTunes isn't perfect, but one of the things I think it does well compared to other things is syncing multiple devices - that's why I was really taken aback by your comments.

[Ksyrup]

I appreciate the info, seriously.

But here's the problem. I don't use playlists, at all. I'm not interested in them. I don't even understand the concept or why I should care about them. I don't rate music, I don't take the time to make sure the music I listen to is put in the proper genre (although the little I have noticed, it's often wrong and all over the place, even within the same artist). etc. I've got new stuff from artists I've never listened to being added to iTunes, older stuff, my wife's music (80s rock), my kid's music, etc. I don't know how I could possibly set up parameters to not only filter just what I want, but make sure it doesn't fill my iPod to capacity. As I mentioned, I've probably got 3 times the music in iTunes that I can fit on my iPod. So if I told it "metal genre," my iPod would be filled with a bunch of stuff I don't necessarily want on there, and leave off a bunch of stuff I do want.

I guess I just don't "get" how iTunes is supposed to be used. I rarely use the program itself. Most of the time, I don't even use it to listen to music on the computer. And that's because it freezes all the time and is just generally not the first program I'd choose as a music-listening program.

I'm not trying to be difficult or the crotchety old man here. There's a fundamental lack of understanding between how Apple wants me to use and manage my music, and the way I want to manage my music. We are not on the same wavelength.

[wade moore]

So how do you get music on your ipod then?

Like I said, you could make one list called "KSyrup" and just drag everything you want onto that list. You can then sync that playlist and only that playlist to your ipod. At the simplest level, this would accomplish what you want.

I could go into a ton of other ways you could make it manage your music for you, but I suspect you're not interested in that. FWIW, I think your.... simplistic... method of managing is part of why you have the problems that you do. I think Smart Playlists would be more effective than dragging 100s or 1000s of songs at one time to a playlist. However, as you've said, the smart playlists do require some management of genres, etc. I agree that the categorizing of songs is pretty hit or miss.

Personally I try to manage both genres and song ratings. I've always had the goal of rating everything, but never met it. If you do manage the ratings and genres, it gives you a great deal of flexibility in managing your music.

[Ksyrup]

I simply walk through my iTunes directory and drag-and-drop the albums directly to the iPod. I would never think to add the extra step of creating a playlist to do that. I guess I'm failing to understand how using a playlist makes the task any simpler or worth doing.

I think the conceptual issue I have with playlists is that they seem like the functional equivalent to a mixtape, and I don't listen to music that way. I rarely, if ever, even use the shuffle function (occasionally, with bands that have 5-10+ albums, I'll shuffle amongst all the songs, but generally, I listen to music the way I always have - each album, front to back). So the idea of creating a playlist is something i wouldn't consider right from the start.

As far as rating and genres...I don't see the utility. I know what genre the music I listen to is without taking the time to specifically identify it in iTunes, and rating music, to me, is a total waste of time. If it's on my iPod, that means it's 5 star (something I want to listen to at any given moment). Otherwise I wouldn't care enough to put it on my iPod to begin with. I could never see myself listening to just metal, or just 4 star songs.

[Ksyrup]

Another thing is, I bought the 64GB iPod for the express purpose of having as much music with me at all times as possible. So I don't have the constant back and forth of taking certain things off and adding others due to space. I mean, I have a ton of music I'd ideally add if I could, but what's on there now is probably 90% of the stuff I might want to listen to at any moment, given my mood. So once I've dragged and dropped it once, it's there. When I buy something new, I drag and drop it once, and it's on there. I don't really have a need to move subsets of my music off and on my iPod, nor do I categorize my music for listening purposes, in a way that seems to make setting up playlists something i should do. But maybe even after you've explained it to me, I'm still missing something.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I don't really have a need to move subsets of my music off and on my iPod, nor do I categorize my music for listening purposes, in a way that seems to make setting up playlists something i should do. But maybe even after you've explained it to me, I'm still missing something.

Nah...I'm the same way.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Another thing is, I bought the 64GB iPod for the express purpose of having as much music with me at all times as possible. So I don't have the constant back and forth of taking certain things off and adding others due to space. I mean, I have a ton of music I'd ideally add if I could, but what's on there now is probably 90% of the stuff I might want to listen to at any moment, given my mood. So once I've dragged and dropped it once, it's there. When I buy something new, I drag and drop it once, and it's on there. I don't really have a need to move subsets of my music off and on my iPod, nor do I categorize my music for listening purposes, in a way that seems to make setting up playlists something i should do. But maybe even after you've explained it to me, I'm still missing something.

I guess I'm the one missing something.

Why does any of this mean you can't sync to your iPod and other devices?

You plug it in, it syncs what you've selected. YOu back it up, upgrade to iOS5, plug it back in, it syncs the songs you had selected.

You have some weird aversion to playlists though.

It's basically just doing what you're doing, but it would allow you to easily take the same songs and sync to different devices. Like, let's say you have all of this music. Then you drop your ipod off a cliff by accident. You get a new ipod, you just sync that playlist to your new ipod, no worries.

It's functionally the same, except that it's there forever.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by wade moore

I guess I'm the one missing something.

Why does any of this mean you can't sync to your iPod and other devices?

You plug it in, it syncs what you've selected. YOu back it up, upgrade to iOS5, plug it back in, it syncs the songs you had selected.

I don't know why it means that. I guess the clue to the answer is what you mean by "what you've selected." Or hell, what is "synching" in Apple vernacular?! Let's start from the very beginning, shall we?

The way I understand how it works is it will synch "my iTunes" with my iPod. That, to me, suggests it will synch everything (at least the first time you re-connect; after that, whatever was not in iTunes the last time you plugged in) if I have it set to synch (as opposed to manual, which is what I have it set to now). But I don't want everything from iTunes on my iPod (even if I had room). So to avoid that, the first time iTunes asked me if I wanted it to automatically synch, I switched it to manual. I do not want it to automatically put on my iPod every song that was not in iTunes the last time I plugged in. That's what I take it to mean.

If my daughter buys a Lady Gaga album, and I synch my iPod with iTunes, will that Lady Gaga album not be transferred to my iPod? If not, why not? Isn't that what synching is? If it does nothing in synch mode and I have to select what gets synched, is that not the same as my manual transfer of the same songs to my iPod?

I'm afraid to try anything in that damn program because of the unintended consequences that might occur.

You have some weird aversion to playlists though.
...

It's functionally the same, except that it's there forever.

The only time I ever see the need to have all of that music in a subset of iTunes is for upgrading the operating system, I guess. I don't have an aversion to it, I don't understand why I need it when it adds one more step to the process of transferring music to my iPod.

Drag-and-drop------>Chris' Ipod

vs.

Drag-and-drop------>Chris' Playlist------>Chris' Ipod

That's what I see.

Honestly, I appreciate the help with this. It's like Apple and I just don't speak the same language or something. There was something else that I completely misunderstood that I posted about in the iTunes thread a long time ago - I think it was where I can edit song titles. The dropdown has a "get album info" command. That, to me, is a command to access the online album info to download it. But no, in iTunes, "get album info" is code for "edit song info." I would never have realized what that was, without someone here pointing it out.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Drag-and-drop------>Chris' Ipod

vs.

Drag-and-drop------>Chris' Playlist------>Chris' Ipod

That's what I see.

And this may be one point you are missing.

FIRST TIME:

1. Create Playlist.
2. Tell iTunes to only sync that playlist, no other music, to your ipod.

EVERY OTHER TIME:

Drag-and-drop------>Chris' Playlist

Next time you plug in (or hit the sync button) the music is on your ipod.


I still personally think you're missing a lot of what iTunes can do for you, but I think you're being too close-minded and set in your box to be open to those things. So, at minimum, I'm trying to make you understand how you can use iTunes without the "problems" you're mentioning.

For all of the problems iTunes has, imo it is completely flawless and simple to use with multiple devices, syncing different items to each.

[Easy Mac]

Wife's 4s came Wednesday. Waited until last night to activate it until she got her case. Turned it on, there's a 3 pixel wide white line running straight down the screen. Now we have to wait 3 weeks on the return because there are none in stock. Glad we pre-ordered.

[Mota]

Got mine early this week. Loaded it in the new Defender case by Otterbox and it's ready to go. So far, awesome. I had a 32GB iPod Touch 2nd Gen already but this is my first smartphone. I've snapped a bunch of pics, exchanged contacts wirelessly with my wife, assigned pics to the contacts for when they call. Listened to music, watched videos.

And I even made a few phone calls.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by wade moore

And this may be one point you are missing.

FIRST TIME:

1. Create Playlist.
2. Tell iTunes to only sync that playlist, no other music, to your ipod.

EVERY OTHER TIME:

Drag-and-drop------>Chris' Playlist

Next time you plug in (or hit the sync button) the music is on your ipod.


I still personally think you're missing a lot of what iTunes can do for you, but I think you're being too close-minded and set in your box to be open to those things. So, at minimum, I'm trying to make you understand how you can use iTunes without the "problems" you're mentioning.

For all of the problems iTunes has, imo it is completely flawless and simple to use with multiple devices, syncing different items to each.

I'm not trying to be closeminded. I'm just on a different wavelength than the designers of this application, I guess.

I'm on my 3rd attempt at upgrading to iO5. Is it normal for this thing to be stuck on 7 hours downloading, and then timing out hours later? That's all it's done each time I've tried to update. Right now I'm 2 hours in, and it looks like I've go about 20% progress.

[stevew]

I think you need to adjust your Internet settings. Mine took like 5 minutes or so.

[Ksyrup]

What does that mean? Adjust the settings in iTunes or something? I don't have any kind of connection problem outside of iTunes. Downloads are lightning fast.

It timed out at 4 hours last night. That was after it did its customary freeze when I started it up, of course.

This whole thing has really made me think twice about getting an iPhone. It's bad enough that I have these issues with my iPod, but I can't have these kinds of difficulties with my phone.

[stevew]

I'm just saying you have all these issues with iTunes on your PC, which other people don't seem to have(myself included). I don't know if there is a firewall issue, or some sort of permissions issues with your computer. Maybe you need to run iTunes as an administrator or something.

[Ksyrup]

That's beyond my understanding or capabilities. I wouldn't know where to start or what settings to mess with.

Maybe I'll try putting iTunes on the desktop computer and seeing if it acts any differently.

[cartman]

Ksyrup, based on the problems you are describing here, as well as the issues you were reporting with your Xbox, I wonder if you have some sort of overarching network issue at home.

[Ksyrup]

The XBox thing has been widely reported - both the freezing of the NCAA game and the fact that it might have something to do with being connected to the internet (although I'm not sure that's been proven). I seriously doubt there's more to it than some game-specific issue. The Xbox remains connected for all other games the kids play, and we've never had a problem.

I don't know what kind of network issue I could have where everything works perfectly aside from iTunes. I guess it's possible, but I have not seen a single issue with connectivity for any other purpose. I download a ton of stuff, and there's never a problem. My youngest daughter plays a bunch of online games, and doesn't have a problem. My iPod is connected wirelessly at home and I surf the web on it just fine.

Like I said, diagnosing that kind of thing is way over my head. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes, and it doesn't seem to matter.

[stevew]

Just right click on iTunes to see if that makes any sort of difference. Might not, but it's a 2 second attempt at a fix.

[Ksyrup]

Don't tell me there's no easy way to transfer what's on my iPod to a new computer. This can't get any worse than it already is.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Don't tell me there's no easy way to transfer what's on my iPod to a new computer. This can't get any worse than it already is.

I've tried to back away from this subject, but...

I'd recommend looking up "Home Sharing". That i what I've used.

[Ksyrup]

I saw that option, but I don't think it fits the scenario for a permanent dump of everything on my iPod to a new computer's blank iTunes.

Say my (or your, for that matter) computer crashes, and dummy me only has what's on my iPod. I get a new computer, or I've wiped my old one clean to get back to factory settings...how do I recreate my old iTunes library using just my iPod?

With pretty much every other MP3 player I've ever owned, this is as simple as drag-and-drop through Windows Explorer. Is there not an equivalent for iTunes?