Let's talk Iphone

[Eco-Logic]

Google + is pretty awesome in my opinion.

I've never has a Facebook account though, so I can't compare really.

[leo8877]

It doesn't take a genius....
(Might have to open in new tab to zoom)

Spoiler for Hiden:

[ravenvii]

What's the big complaint on the maps app?  I've used it a few times and it's been spot on.  I've had Navigon forever on my phone, so I have that as backup, but I like the Siri integration for getting directions and it hasn't gotten me  lost at all.

Public transit. It has none.

Transit was about one of the few things I used the map app for before I moved out into the country.  luckily I can still pull up Google Maps through Safari and use it that way in a pinch, but it won't matter in a couple of months.

Maps in Safari /= native Maps.

Yes, once Google releases their own app, I will upgrade. Until then, I'm staying on iOS 5.

[leo8877]

Here's a panorama photo I took with the new iOS:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/y69D23eCywh3TSGCXDNEL4NfxA1PfUwv8SLpj9ugjYU?feat=directlink

[Eco-Logic]

Wow Leo, those benchmarks are way more of a blowout than I would have thought.

[leo8877]

Wow Leo, those benchmarks are way more of a blowout than I would have thought.

I was very surprised too!

[Canuck]

Who wins the benchmark test for finding the local 7-eleven?

[gellar]

Google + is pretty awesome in my opinion.

I've never has a Facebook account though, so I can't compare really.

That's probably why.

Somewhere I read this analogy, which I am now paraphrasing.

Google+ is the new bar in the neighborhood.  It's shiny, had a huge grand opening and is advertising everywhere.  When you go there, you think 'wow, this place isn't bad at all.'  Except all of your friends hate it.  None of them go there.  You realize that despite all of their efforts, no one is ever there.  It's the awesome place that sucks.  You also then realize that the old bars (Facebook and Twitter) serve beer and liquor, have done so forever, and are where you'll always find your friends.  So yeah, I haven't been back to that bar in months.

[Hrothgar]

Other than the loss of transit, has anyone here complaining about the new maps app had any negative experiences with it?

Yeah, I was looking up a music venue.  It gave the right address, but the directions went to a point 20 miles away from the venue.  Since you're familiar with Houston, the address was downtown, the directions went out to NASA.

[CeeKay]

[th'FOOL]

Other than the loss of transit, has anyone here complaining about the new maps app had any negative experiences with it?

Yeah, I was looking up a music venue.  It gave the right address, but the directions went to a point 20 miles away from the venue.  Since you're familiar with Houston, the address was downtown, the directions went out to NASA.

Yikes. Which venue?

[SkyLander]

[Hrothgar]

Other than the loss of transit, has anyone here complaining about the new maps app had any negative experiences with it?

Yeah, I was looking up a music venue.  It gave the right address, but the directions went to a point 20 miles away from the venue.  Since you're familiar with Houston, the address was downtown, the directions went out to NASA.

Yikes. Which venue?

The old Verizon Theater.

[CeeKay]

apparently Apple forgot to update its spell check too

[Soulchilde]

In regards to Google+, I love it. I have a full science circle where I get a good stream of interesting articles. And in general I go to that more than Facebook or Twitter.

I use G+ almost exclusively.  I only keep my FB page up cause of my sister asked me too.   

[Bullwinkle]

Google + is pretty awesome in my opinion.

I've never has a Facebook account though, so I can't compare really.

That's probably why.

Somewhere I read this analogy, which I am now paraphrasing.

Google+ is the new bar in the neighborhood.  It's shiny, had a huge grand opening and is advertising everywhere.  When you go there, you think 'wow, this place isn't bad at all.'  Except all of your friends hate it.  None of them go there.  You realize that despite all of their efforts, no one is ever there.  It's the awesome place that sucks.  You also then realize that the old bars (Facebook and Twitter) serve beer and liquor, have done so forever, and are where you'll always find your friends.  So yeah, I haven't been back to that bar in months.

I didn't think the bar was all that great to begin with, honestly.  Add the fact that no one I know uses it, and G+ is collecting virtual dust for me.

[rickfc]

Other than the loss of transit, has anyone here complaining about the new maps app had any negative experiences with it?

We tested it going to San Antonio this past weekend, and it was perfect (including a re-route since I took the wrong exit), except until we got to our hotel. Apple maps took us to a spot about 3-4 blocks away from our hotel on the River Walk and wanted me to part and walk the rest of the way.

[The Grue]

I do remember that I was testing it to pick up my son from school on Friday and spoke to Siri, "Directions to Castle Rock Middle School."  She came back with two addresses, one of which I knew wasn't right, so I chose the correct one and it took me right there.  So yeah, I guess thinking about it, I can see how it has some issues.   I used it to take me to Kenosha Pass in the mountains this weekend and it took me right there with no issues.

[th'FOOL]

I agree with this take on it: http://counternotions.com/2012/09/21/applemaps/

[Calavera]

I agree with this take on it: http://counternotions.com/2012/09/21/applemaps/

On one hand, it has the normal cherry picking of data. The Hotel was specifically listed as an unverified listing, meaning it was crowd sourced.

On the other hand, I agree with it's main points, that being that 1) Apple wanted/needed to cut ties with Google's map data and 2) creating mapping data is very hard and very expensive. I just don't see Apple investing the money required to make the mapping data usable long term. I think they wanted to buy companies and roll their solutions in, but map data isn't going to work that way. On some level, you're going to have to pay people to verify the data.

I foresee the Google Maps iOS app being really, really popular once it's released.

[leo8877]

If you want to submit a maps error:

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/24/how-to-report-a-problem-with-ios-6-maps-data/

[Fireball1244]

Apple Maps has been fine for me. It got me to and from locations in Los Angeles and Palm Springs this weekend. It knows the roads and locations in Riverside pretty well.

So obviously the dataset they're building on top of is pretty good for this region. It'll get better everywhere as more people use the maps. With 100 million devices running iOS 6 already, they should get better rather rapidly, if not quickly.

Glad I don't live in Europe.

[Blackjack]

Per Canuck's observations back on the 22nd...

Apple's Phil Schiller says chips, scratches on black iPhone 5 are Normal
Oops...

Alex
Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color. That is normal.
Phil

I'm certainly getting a case, might even order one today. But if you like to go sans case, it sounds like the white model is the way to go because its aluminum exterior isn't anodized (so in theory it won't chip, and scratches would be less visually obvious).

[leo8877]

Per Canuck's observations back on the 22nd...

Apple's Phil Schiller says chips, scratches on black iPhone 5 are Normal
Oops...

Alex
Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color. That is normal.
Phil

I'm certainly getting a case, might even order one today. But if you like to go sans case, it sounds like the white model is the way to go because its aluminum exterior isn't anodized (so in theory it won't chip, and scratches would be less visually obvious).

I saw this an it's stupid. Nothing should look like that out of the box.

[hispanicgamer]

I live in San Diego and so far iPhones maps works comparably to google maps.

[Blackjack]

My co-worker just handed me an anonymous looking brown box with a UPS label on it. A little taller than my iPod Touch. The packing list looks like an Apple font.

Is it a sex toy, or is it my iPhone 5?  

Awwwwww..... it's an iPhone 5. A black one even. Sigh.   fwiw, I can verify it was in good shape at least in the box (no scratches, chips, weirdness, so far).

I dunno. Should I whip it out, or wait until I have a case for it? Yes, I'm talking about the phone.  

I can verify that for an iOS product at least, it's incredibly thin/light (feels as light if not lighter than my previous gen iPod Touch, and as thin) and fits comfortably in my shirt pocket as the Touch did).

[ravenvii]

My co-worker just handed me an anonymous looking brown box with a UPS label on it. A little taller than my iPod Touch. The packing list looks like an Apple font.

Is it a sex toy, or is it my iPhone 5?  

Awwwwww..... it's an iPhone 5. A black one even. Sigh.   fwiw, I can verify it was in good shape at least in the box (no scratches, chips, weirdness, so far).

I dunno. Should I whip it out, or wait until I have a case for it? Yes, I'm talking about the phone.  

I can verify that for an iOS product at least, it's incredibly thin/light (feels as light if not lighter than my previous gen iPod Touch, and as thin) and fits comfortably in my shirt pocket as the Touch did).

... your co-workers give each other... iPhones?

[Blackjack]

My co-worker just handed me an anonymous looking brown box with a UPS label on it. A little taller than my iPod Touch. The packing list looks like an Apple font.

Is it a sex toy, or is it my iPhone 5?  

Awwwwww..... it's an iPhone 5. A black one even. Sigh.   fwiw, I can verify it was in good shape at least in the box (no scratches, chips, weirdness, so far).

I dunno. Should I whip it out, or wait until I have a case for it? Yes, I'm talking about the phone.  

I can verify that for an iOS product at least, it's incredibly thin/light (feels as light if not lighter than my previous gen iPod Touch, and as thin) and fits comfortably in my shirt pocket as the Touch did).

... your co-workers give each other... iPhones?

Sure, just like employees at the Microsoft Store!  

Some cases I'm scoping out:

iSkin's aurora (aluminum) and claro (high-gloss, clear plastic) cases
*The claro one is not yet available.

There's an early review of the aurora case here:
http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=43404
*This sort of emulates the actual iPhone 5 finish without adding much bulk. The rear does cover the Apple logo, and it doesn't really protect the top edge of the iPhone 5, from what I can see.

iLuve's case lineup
*They have a cheaper clear, hardshell case ($14.99, vs. $29.99 for the claro), but it's also not available yet.
*They have some two-part cases that put a thin front plastic cover (supposedly doesn't effect touch screen use) as the front portion, and might be useful if you're really concerned about full-coverage protection but don't want a bulkier hard case.

[Jimmy the Fish]

I can't vouch for the quality of these iPhone cases but damn the artwork is pretty stunning:

http://society6.com/KarenHallion/cases?page=1

[Bullwinkle]

I'm waiting on one of those battery cases, I think (and the phone itself, of course).  Has anyone had any experience with them?

I'm eyeing Phonesuit, Incipio and Morphie.

[Arkon]

While they are big and bulky, I am still considering an otterbox.  I had no intention on replacing my iPhone 4, but after having the screen shatter I don't want to have that happen again.

[Blackjack]

Can you veterans help me figure something out?

I've got the iPhone 5 activated OK, and I restored a backup from my iPod Touch, which I had just backed up tonight. I believe I verified I restored from the proper iPod Touch backup, judging by the time stamp.

However, most of the iPod Touch's apps didn't carry over to the iPhone at all. It's got about the same number of "pages" set up, but there are rows upon rows of missing apps.

I'll try synching again now that I downloaded all the app updates I saw. Maybe that's it, but I'm a little puzzled.

I made one quick call to my best friend in Boston, and well, hey, it works well as a phone. Very crisp and clear.  Albeit, that's not really what I got it for.

[SkyLander]

Was your iPod touch on iOS 6? I wasn't sure if you could restore a backup from a previous version of the OS. But it's been awhile since my iPhone.

[Blackjack]

Never mind.   I was activating via iTunes, and I guess I just needed to manually get it to fully synch over apps, music and photos/videos. Seems all good now.

Yes, I learned from past mistakes. I went ahead and backed up my Touch, then applied the iOS6 iPod update. Then I backed up the iPad, and applied the update on that. Then I activated the phone, restored from the iPod Touch, then... then I realized about 22 app updates, most trying to accommodate the iPhone 5-screen size, were signaling me and installed those. Don't ask me how long it took to do all this on iTunes. I didn't get much Torchlight II play time in.  I actually put in hour this morning to make up for that.

All I can say is it really is delightfully thin, light and fast. I'd read somewhere that people complained it felt "too light" and thus "like a cheap product," which is ridiculous, imho. If one thinks it's too light, one should hold out for Mophie to come out with it's Juice Pack Case iPhone 5 version (case with battery embedded to double the battery life). That should give it a bit more heft and presumably battery life comparable to a Razer Maxx.

I just like that's about as thin and light as my 4th gen iPod Touch. Maybe even lighter. So I can just keep it in my shirt pocket and forget about it. At least as long as I don't bend over to pick something up (which did cause my old Palm PDAs to fall out of my shirt pocket on many occasions).  

I did order that Aura case, hope to get it by Monday or Friday. I guess it's a shame the move to aluminum takes away the apparently scuff/scratch resistance of the previous designs, although I'm sure the case-makers/marketers are happy.  

[Blackjack]

Hey guys, I'm lost again. Or else last night's activation didn't properly activate my added-on data plan.

I can't seem to do any Internet stuff via cellular connection only. Wi-Fi is off, and I have Cellular Data turned to "On" in the General Settings. If I try to do anything online, I get a "Download Error' popup that say "The internet connection appears to be offline, please check internet connection and try again."

If I can't figure something out, I guess I'll drop by the Apple Store after work to see if one of the... Geniuses can't help an Idiot Noob out.   I'll try doing some searches on that type of problem. It's like this:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1455624

WiFi is working very well, no problems with that. I have great cellular coverage (usually 4 or 5 bars). I noticed that I'm not getting any 4G, 3G, or even EDGE on my iPhone. Data is not working at all on my phone. I checked my settings and it says Cellular Data is ON.

I found many, many, many forum posts at various sites with this same problem, both on AT&T and Verizon.

Possible solution here at Apple's support site:
iPhone: Troubleshooting a cellular data connection
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3780

BOOM! Suggestions 1 and 2 together (toggle cellular data off, and then on in settings; then power down the iPhone and restart it) worked and I seem to have a data connection now.  

[Arkon]

So I don't really have neighbors, I live out in the country.  My wife is at work and I am in California currently for work.  UPS claims to have delivered my phone today with a note that they Met Customer Woman.  I did have my wife fill out a pre-sign for delivery form and put it on our front door...I hope my phone hasn't been stolen...

[leo8877]

Google faked a wrong address in their iLost ads.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/27/googles-ilost-motorola-ad-faked-an-address-to-lose-ios-6-maps

[leo8877]

http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/

[Soulchilde]

http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/

Beat me to it.  They should have figured they would get backlash.  I miss the Google Maps, but I pinned the website to my start screen.  I hope Google decides to release a map app for the iOS6

[The Grue]

Still not having any issues and for me it's better than the old Maps app because you can actually do turn by turn, making it useful.  I don't use public transportation, so I don't have that issue, either.