iOS 8

[mmntech]

Finally got around to upgrading my phone to 7.1.2 last night. Just under the wire.

Is anybody still rocking the 4S? How's it handling under iOS 8? I know Apple has a bad tendency to grind the oldest supported phones to to a halt to force you to upgrade. So I don't want to take any risks.

 

[Eug]

Links?

How to install iOS 8 on your iPhone 5S, iPad, and iPad Mini right now

OK not really a "big" news site, but a relatively mainstream tech one. However, I'm not really advocating this though, since if you wait a day or so, as the official channels won't be hammered any more.

can anyone confirm how ios 8 is on 5s before i tell my bro to go ahead and update?
i hate to see a perfectly good phone being slowed down just so he's persuaded to get iphone6

It flies on the 5s.

Is anybody still rocking the 4S? How's it handling under iOS 8? I know Apple has a bad tendency to grind the oldest supported phones to to a halt to force you to upgrade. So I don't want to take any risks.

To make my iPad 2 OK, I had to turn off all the eye candy in the Accessibility settings and turn off background Top Hit site loading in Safari. Now it's very usable, but not exactly fast.

Somebody on another site said though that iOS 8 on the 4S is slow, which isn't a surprise since the iPad 2 has a 25% faster CPU (1 GHz dual A9) than the iPhone 4S (800 MHz dual A9).

 

[mmntech]

To make my iPad 2 OK, I had to turn off all the eye candy in the Accessibility settings and turn off background Top Hit site loading in Safari. Now it's very usable, but not exactly fast.

Somebody on another site said though that iOS 8 on the 4S is slow, which isn't a surprise since the iPad 2 has a 25% faster CPU (1 GHz dual A9) than the iPhone 4S (800 MHz dual A9).

That's what I figured. Will be sticking with iOS7 then until I get a new phone. Now I'm down to vanilla iPhone 6, OnePlus One, or the Z3 Compact. Decisions, decisions. ^_^

 

[Eug]

Heh. I like how the Z3 "Compact" is 4.6". How times have changed.

 

[mmntech]

Heh. I like how the Z3 "Compact" is 4.6". How times have changed.

I think the iPhone 5 line was about the right size for a phone screen. Now you need parachute pants to carry them around in. Wasn't that long ago when people were fighting over who had the smallest phones.

I still like iOS but I'm thinking the Z3 is going to suit my needs a bit better. Open-ish platform, waterproof, MicroSD, still got a fairly decent camera, and is probably going to be cheaper off contract. Plus dealing with Sony is better than OnePlus's sketchy customer service if something does go wrong.

 

[Eug]

John Gruber has an iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6+. He used the latter two for 3 days each. He still prefers 4", at least for the time being.

http://daringfireball.net/2014/09/the_iphones_6

The most important question regarding both of the new iPhones is the same: Is it too big? If you want a ginormous iPhone, one that’s almost as much “iPad Nano” as it is iPhone Plus, I don’t think the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus is too big. My guess is that it’s just right — but I really do just have to guess, because this device class is not for me.

The more pressing question for me is whether the iPhone 6, at 4.7 inches, is too big to serve as the standard-sized iPhone. “Too big” mainly pertains to two separate issues: one-handed usage and pocketability.

One-handed usage has been the rallying cry for me, and other fans of smaller phones, for years. So centered on it was I that it almost wholly informed my (clearly wrong) prediction that Apple would never make an iPhone bigger than 5 inches. But here’s the thing: one-handed usage isn’t everything. I needed to remind myself what I so often remind others: design is about trade-offs. No doubt about it, one-handed usability suffers greatly on the iPhone 6 compared to the iPhone 5 series — and the 4.0-inch iPhone 5 displays are themselves less one-hand-able than the classic 3.5-inch iPhone displays. But there are advantages to the larger display of the iPhone 6. I find myself typing much faster and more accurately. That’s a function of physical size, not any improvements to the keyboard in iOS 8, because I’ve been testing iOS 8 on my iPhone 5 all summer long.

In short: the increased size of the iPhone 6 makes it worse when using it one-handed. But it makes it better when using it two-handed.

For people with anything smaller than extra-large hands, the iPhone 6 Plus is only usable two-handed.

--

I’m not yet completely sold on 4.7 inches as a replacement for 4.0 as the standard iPhone size, but give me a few more weeks and I suspect I will be. I love the old iPhone size so much, and I’ve spent so much time with it, that it’s going to take longer than a week to adjust to a new size — especially so when I spent half the week using the ginormous iPhone 6 Plus.

 

[Red Storm]

There really is no perfect phone size, people's needs and usage dictate what size works best for them. Over the years it has become apparent that an increasing number of people want larger screens, and even stubborn Apple has responded to the market.

We are far removed from the days where the phone's biggest function is the actual phone calling (where smaller = better). Photos, videos, web browsing, email, social media, games, etc. are all better on a larger screen (compared to something like the 5S). The shift to bigger displays is not surprising especially when you look at everything that we do on our phones now.

 

[bearxor]

One of the best features of iOS 8, IMO, is one I've been asking for for quite some time now.

When you look up a business in Maps and you tap their number to call them, it saves their name as an entry in to your recent calls instead of just the number. So when you look back, you don't just see a list of numbers, you're able to identify a business. And, if they call you back, it shows their name as well instead of just the number.

I don't think I've seen this feature mentioned anywhere and I don't remember it being in iOS 7.

 

[gbeirn]

I just updated my retina iPad mini to IOS 8, went much quicker than I remember IOS 7 going on my iPhone.

 

[Eug]

iOS 8 FINALLY includes third-party app support in the sharing menus. For example, I today installed Vimeo, and it now shows up in the media sharing menu:

There really is no perfect phone size, people's needs and usage dictate what size works best for them. Over the years it has become apparent that an increasing number of people want larger screens, and even stubborn Apple has responded to the market.

We are far removed from the days where the phone's biggest function is the actual phone calling (where smaller = better). Photos, videos, web browsing, email, social media, games, etc. are all better on a larger screen (compared to something like the 5S). The shift to bigger displays is not surprising especially when you look at everything that we do on our phones now.

I think the issue is more than some seem to think bigger is always better, when it really isn't the case. There are distinct advantages to bigger screens, but there are distinct disadvantages too.

 

[Rakehellion]

can anyone confirm how ios 8 is on 5s before i tell my bro to go ahead and update?
i hate to see a perfectly good phone being slowed down just so he's persuaded to get iphone6

It works fine on the 5.

 

[Rakehellion]

iOS 8 is out today! Anyone try the new keyboards?

 

[HN]

So, they figured out another use for the touchID (double touch for 'reachability' on the bigger screens).

have they implemented something similar for say, going back to home screen by touching and holding, instead of pressing?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Safe to update an iPad 4, an iPad Air, and an iPhone 5 or should I let you guys be the guinea pigs first?

 

[Red Storm]

Safe to update an iPad 4, an iPad Air, and an iPhone 5 or should I let you guys be the guinea pigs first?

I'm in the middle of updating my Sprint iPhone 5, I will let you know how it goes.

 

[Phanuel]

Ok, why would they remove the borders from buttons? This seems like a huge step back going through the AT review of 8.

 

[Eug]

iOS 8 on the iPhone 4S: Performance isn’t the (only) problem

 

[HN]

Ok, why would they remove the borders from buttons? This seems like a huge step back going through the AT review of 8.

borders from buttons were removed in ios7, but you can turn them on in Accessibility -> Button Shapes. (unless they actually took that option out in ios8?)

 

[Red Storm]

So far I'm not noticing much of any difference. I see there's a new bloat app called Tips that I can't remove or disable.

All I care about is Swiftkey, and more specifically, gesture based typing. Waiting for their app to release.

 

[Phanuel]

borders from buttons were removed in ios7, but you can turn them on in Accessibility -> Button Shapes. (unless they actually took that option out in ios8?)

I don't have that option turned on right now, so I don't even know what it does.

Things like this;
iOS7

iOS8

How is the 8 an improvement? It's a dumb change in my opinion.

 

[HN]

^^ see if the Button Shapes option has the same effect as this:

 

[Phanuel]

^^ see if the Button Shapes option has the same effect as this:

I'm not running 8 yet. My current 7 settings looks like the accessibility screen on the right.

 

[SlitheryDee]

iOS 8 is pretty cool so far. It's fun to try and send a meaningful text using nothing but the suggested terms in imessage.

 

[rcpratt]

Safe to update an iPad 4, an iPad Air, and an iPhone 5 or should I let you guys be the guinea pigs first?

I'm fine on my air and mini retina. Nothing seems broken. Having Swype is great.

I find myself using my mini much more in "portrait" orientation with Swype. Love it.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

Wow, so many people updated at ~2 at my school that the wifi went from 15Mbs to less than 1.