Impressions of iOS 4.2

So, iOS 4.2 is finally here. This version finally brings all iDevices to the same version and feature level. I hope this parity continues with iOS 5. While iOS 4.2 is an update to every iOS device, I think it’s fair to say this update is more of an iPad than an iPhone update.

Since iOS4’s release this summer, iPads have been stuck running iOS 3.x. So, no multitasking, no folders, no fast app switching. On a device one hopes to use a mobile computing platform, this was a hinderance — especially the multitasking and fast app switching. Now, the iPad can do those things. Sure, it’s not the same multitasking, but it’s a big update.

On a daily basis, my iPad gets tons more use than my iPhone. I use it for e-mail triage, surfing, reference,  video watching, ebook reading and it’s my preferred way of reading RSS. I’ve never quite adopted the multiple display workflow, but my iPad is usually next to my MacBook doing something. Without fast app switching or multitasking, my iPad would often be stuck finishing one task while I wanted to do another.

Take Evernote, for example. My Evernote library is huge, and the main reason I spring for the Premium service is for offline storage on my iPad. I’m in the middle of a few projects where I’m storing research notes into Evernote. I recently dumped about 100mb of PDFs up in there. The subsequent download to Evernote for the iPad was painful. Now, with iOS 4.2, that sync would happen in the background. We’ve been seeing a slew of apps updated for iOS 4.2, so most of my apps now support the new features. I’m thrilled with the update. My iPad feels a ton snappier. I love that folders condensed five screens of apps to two rows.

Game Center, AirPlay and AirPrint I’m less thrilled about. I have never wanted or needed to print from iPad. Even when I’ve travelled, I haven’t had to print out a document since I was in England in 1999.

A while back I stated that almost everything I write in some way passes through the iPad. Recently, that’s changed from “almost everything” to “most things.” I’m writing more how-to instructions and their heavy reliance on screenshots pretty much leaves the iPad out of the running. I do have hopes some day of just grabbing my iPad and a keyboard and heading to Starbucks to see just how an iPad would hold up to a day of writing.

Elements for iPad Updated with Folders, Markdown Support

Two iPad apps that have been very near and dear to my writer’s heart: Elements and PlainText. They are two simple apps, that let me edit plain text files on a Dropbox folder — each app uses its own Dropbox folder, named Elements and Plaintext respectively. I’ve loved both, but PlainText was winning because it supported subfolders in its folder, which Elements lacked before this update.

Another writing tool I often take advantage of is Markdown, a sort of formatting shortcut language created by John Gruber. The lack of native support wasn’t a big deal for me. I already know most of the formatting commands so I could just enter them in by hand and preview them when I exported them.

The Markdown implementation is a little tricky. If you’ve created a file on the iPad, you’ll need to change the extension to .md, .markdown, .mdown or .mdwn. That will activate the Markdown preview button. It doesn’t appear to add any shortcuts for common Markdown elements, like #. It’s too bad since the need to access the secondary or tertiary on-screen keyboards can slow you down. If you are a heavy Markdown user, I recommend the excellent Edito iPad app.

Now that Elements supports both subfolders and Markdown in version 1.5, it just might become my iPad plain text editor of choice

 

Looking back on yesterday's presser

The way I see it, with the iPhone 4 antenna issue is there’s an existing (perceived or otherwise) that the antenna issue is the worst thing to hit the tech market since Windows ME. Apple’s response is needs to hit two key points: what we are going to do about existing users; and what we’re going to do about future models.

Apple’s giving out free cases solves the problem with the existing users. There was no way Apple was going to issue a recall.

Apple was hedgy on the future plans. During the Q&A Jobs said, “we’re keeping an eye on it.” Frankly, I didn’t expect much. The last thing Apple wants to do is get people to wait on a hardware revision.

I get the feeling people were thinking Jobs’s conference was addressed to users. I don’t think it was. This whole presser to me was directed squarely at Wall Street. Even the timing was for Wall Street; it was timed to be over before the market closed.

In full disclosure: I don’t have an iPhone 4. Due to when my contract expires, It’s unlikely I will ever own one — I’ll just get the iPhone 5. My statistical data is from a very small sample set. The two people I have talked with that own an iPhone 4 both have the signal drop issue.

Jobs went out of his way to explain this problem affects all cell phones. I’ve had my iPhone 3GS since March and I’ve never been able to replicate the problem. Once I heard about the problem I’ve gripped my iPhone every way imaginable and can’t make the problem happen.

I tend to believe Apple’s numbers on returns and calls to AppleCare are true, with one caveat — Jobs said 0.55% of all calls to the AppleCare line are about this issue. Now, you can really spin this: does this involve all calls to the AppleCare line, or just the iPhone 4 support line. If Apple is really spinning that number based on all calls to the AppleCare line (i.e. people calling in MacBook issues, etc.), that number affects a larger number than Apple is letting on. Update: Jobs indeed did say 0.55% of iPhone users. Nothing to see here.

Jobs went out of his way to denigrate the tech press. It was pretty clear he holds the tech press with disdain, and I don’t blame him; I hate us as well. The problem with the tech press it this: some site comes out with a half-sourced or patently false story. This story gets grabbed with “so and so is reporting that…” and then a major news site grabs the story, which then gets circulated with “so and so is confirming…” and when you track down the story line, the original story is one that won’t stand up to a basic fact check. Which then leads to “It’s not our fault; we’re bloggers, not journalists.”

I do believe this is issue — for whatever reason — has gotten blown way out of proportion in the press. I do not believe it’s the gigantic problem that it’s being lead to believe. Twenty four hours later, when I ask if I feel the presser was satisfactory, I’m inclined to say yes. Apple was addressing the existing issue. I would not be surprised to see this brought up again during the Apple September iPod Event.

Satire: My predictions for tomorrow's Apple presser

  1. Steve Jobs will show us the proper way to hold the iPhone.
  2. Apple will single out Brian Lam and say “this is why we can’t have nice things … or at least test phones.”
  3. They will give out free Bumpers to everyone, but they will be of the “purple polka-dot bikini” variety.
  4. Apple will blame AT&T saying, “their More Bars; More Places” advertising campaign was behind the code that was overly generous on reporting signal strength.
  5. Steve Jobs will say, “It’s not a big deal. People just don’t use phones anymore”

WWDC 2010 Predictions

iPhone News

  • New iPhone and OS 4.0 shipping imminently. It appears they are already ramping up production. I might even go out on a limb and say 4.0 will ship within a week of WWDC
  • AT&T to allow tethering
  • More tech details of 4.0

iPad News

  • Sales update
  • OS 4.0 new announcements: better file management, better iCal. Bluetooth tethering and greater bluetooth connectivity options, including 3rd party presenters tools, ability to manipulate Photo library, removal of iTunes initial sync requirement. Apple will begin marketing the iPad as a stand alone device.

Mac news

  • Sales update
  • Mac Pro refresh
  • No OS/X 10.7 details except “we’ve got great new things planned”

Cloud news

  • Apple will roll iWork.com out of beta with better collaboration tools
  • MobileMe syncing and cloud backup will be free for iDevices. Possible free MobileMe for Mail/Calendar. iDisk to remain premium.
  • Apple will begin to focus more on cloud storage and syncing.

App News:

  • Possible: new iWork and iLife with cloud storage.

Thoughts on Mobile Me

My e-mail is hosted on Google Apps, as is my calendar. I also use Google Reader for my RSS feeds. I’ve also been a serial abuser of Mobile Me trial. My blog is hosted on WordPress. I use Dropbox for cloud storage.

I don’t generally get political about my technology choices. I use Apple gear because it works the best for my workflow. Over time, I’ve become very integrated into the Apple infrastructure, and while every computer I use has the Apple logo on it, — and I write about Apple professionally — I don’t really consider myself an Apple fanboy. Apple for me is the best choice for me. It may not be the best choice for you. I’m not going to judge.

The one holdout for me as been Mobile Me. I try it and cancel it. I try it and cancel it. There just never seemed to be a hole in my life Mobile Me would fill.

That’s starting to change.

The Google buzz fiasco has started change how I view Google. I’ve been leery of Google’s motivation; they are in the search business and probably know more about what I do on the Internet than the NSA. I’m starting to have qualms about entrusting my email, calendar, etc to Google.

I’m very happy with Dropbox and have considered upgrading to the 50g plan. However, there is one problem with Dropbox: it’s an all-or-nothing sync. Without putting too fine a point on it, there are things I’m ok with syncing to my work computer and things I am not. However, living as a digital nomad and needing to get access to certain documents when I need them, and not just when I’m at home is crucial. As an example, I told a friend if mime I’d send her something I wrote. Now I have to remember to email it. If the file was in the cloud, I could have just shared it with her.

Now that I own an iPad, iPhone and my Mac, simple things like bookmark syncing become important. I don’t usually bookmark — I use Instapaper and Evernote for a lot of my read later needs. I’ll still run across a site I want to bookmark for later on a mobile device.

Which has lead to yet another Mobile Me trial, only this time I think it’s going to stick. For the short term, it’ll let me have a work-pc-friendly cloud storage device without worrying about my freelance writing stuff getting synced over.

I’m not sure what to do about the e-mail thing. I love that Mobile Me lets me have up to five aliases, which is great for creating throwaway accounts. I can’t, however, host the writersmark e-mail there. One alternative is to simply find a place to park the MX record for writersmark and forward it over. For now, I’m just going to keep it hosted at Google until I give it more thought.

My iPad Purchase

So, today was iPad day, where we could blindly throw money at Apple for a product few of us have seen or touched, and only heard about through media briefings.

And, yet, there I was at 8:30 AM today clicking refresh on the Apple Store with a credit card in hand. While I’ve written about deciding on an iPad with the 3G connection or just wifi , in the end I chose the 64 Gb wifi. These are the factors that went into decision:

1: If I was going to settle, I was going to settle on the 3G not space. I plan on consuming a hell of a lot of media on this thing. I need 64 Gb more than I needed 3G.

2: Today I got a new iPhone 3G S. Since my data plan was going to jump a lot with this upgrade, I didn’t want it to jump even more.

3: My iPhone will be my “always with me” Internet device, making the need for an ipad 3G redundant.

4: I wanted it sooner than later. There are a few things happening in early April that an iPad would be damn handy for.

5: The iPad is also on AT&T. If I’m going to spring for a second data plan, I want it to be on a second carrier for a fail safe.

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