[HN Gopher] iOS 16 Available September 12th
___________________________________________________________________
iOS 16 Available September 12th
Author : yottabyte47
Score : 211 points
Date : 2022-09-07 18:53 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.apple.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com)
| bell-cot wrote:
| For those with older devices, a list of supported (& unsupported)
| hardware -
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_16#Supported_devices
| zahma wrote:
| I'll be waiting for reviews and bug reports. I've found that for
| the last releases, subsequent patches have been worth the wait.
| cloutchaser wrote:
| Any news on SKAdnetwork 4 release date? I can't find anything
| online.
| gravelc wrote:
| Been on the b for a while; it's a good OS. Particularly like the
| ability to use the iPhone as a Zoom cam. 3D printed a phone mount
| and everything works pretty seamlessly. Lock Screen widgets are
| nice too.
|
| Stage manager on iPadOS doesn't do it for me though.
| mensetmanusman wrote:
| A great maps feature would be to even let me choose google maps
| when clicking on an address in iMessage.
| teekert wrote:
| My country does not have bike navigation options, so you still
| need gmaps a lot. I really hope they will add it soon.
| paxys wrote:
| I'm just happy that a decade later Apple is finally catching up
| to the industry standard home screen and lock screen
| notifications/widget experience that they resisted so hard for
| some reason.
| ronnocoep wrote:
| Think Apple will ever agree to allow RCS into the iMessage
| ecosystem?
| theshrike79 wrote:
| It's a Google-backed project, so I'd wager the probability
| around "Google will add iMessage and AirTag support to Android"
| -levels =)
| DesiLurker wrote:
| my understanding based on google messaging is that google is
| interested but Apple prefers to have its walled garden.
| Jtsummers wrote:
| It's not really Google-backed, more Google-embraced. Google
| didn't even add support on their own carrier (Google Fi)
| until 2019.
| gman83 wrote:
| Do people still get excited for these smartphone OS updates? I
| remember a couple of years ago I couldn't wait to see what the
| new features were. Now I don't think I've changed the way I use
| my phone for several years.
| Gigachad wrote:
| I'm excited to be able to use my phone as a camera for video
| calls. The quality difference between my phone and MacBook
| webcam is quite large.
| Kkoala wrote:
| As a non-iOS user it looks like a great update, but at the same
| time I thought that many of these were already features like in
| Android
| ezfe wrote:
| Sure, but if you look at Android 13 it's basically all things
| that are already in iOS
|
| From the list, I only see two features that don't have equals
| already in iOS - both related to Material You.
|
| https://blog.google/products/android/android-13/
| glitchinc wrote:
| After all of the iterations of iOS, there is still no way to have
| only the first new/unread message per SMS/iMessage thread
| generate a notification--particularly the notification sound or
| tone.
|
| I find the feature would be useful in all situations, but would
| be especially useful in group threads. I don't need to hear a
| ding every time someone in a group thread sends a message if I
| don't have my phone in my hand. One ding generated when the first
| unread message is received will do just fine.
| patrickserrano wrote:
| Not the same thing by a long shot, but you can turn on "Hide
| Alerts" for group chats. My wife has all of her long running
| group chats set to this to prevent alerts all day when her
| friends are chatting.
| muhammadusman wrote:
| Yup, this has been very helpful. Coming back to 20+ messages
| where 50-75% of them are reactions was annoying to get alerts
| for.
| kemotep wrote:
| Looking forward for PassKey integration. Then the wait for my
| programs and accounts to integrate and allow for passwordless
| logins.
| PassageNick wrote:
| I'm looking forward to this as well.
| noncoml wrote:
| Apple, for iOS 17 can you please let me freely rearrange the apps
| on the screen? Having them shuffle every time I add or remove an
| app is really a pain
| easrng wrote:
| There are a few workarounds.
|
| Clear Spaces https://apps.apple.com/us/app/clear-
| spaces/id1532666619
|
| iEmpty https://iempty.tooliphone.net/
|
| MAKEOVR https://www.makeovr.io/
| giarc wrote:
| I'd like to be able to log into my Apple ID account and do this
| on a PC. I hate sliding them around various pages with my
| finger.
| jacobn wrote:
| I thought that was available via iTunes on Windows?
| layer8 wrote:
| It used to be possible with iTunes, but they removed that
| feature in 12.7.
| kshacker wrote:
| And I think years back you used to be able to do it from
| iTunes when the phone was connected with a wire. It
| disappeared over the years probably when they moved to
| Finder, but I think maybe even earlier.
| ChuckNorris89 wrote:
| jdlyga wrote:
| You've been able to move apps around pretty easily for at
| least a decade. You can even remove them and just access them
| from the app drawer or have multiple copies on the same page.
| What he's talking about is not have them snap to an app grid.
| dang wrote:
| If you keep posting in the flamewar style to HN, we're going
| to have to ban you. I just asked you about this the other
| day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32718712.
|
| If you'd please review
| https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to
| the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.
| ChuckNorris89 wrote:
| _> I just asked you about this the other day:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32718712_
|
| Sorry, my bad, I didn't see your other message since it got
| buried in hundreds of nested replies and there's no way I
| was gonna see it.
|
| Also, what guidelines did the other message it break?
| nabakin wrote:
| Being rude and insulting, I'm sure.
|
| Read the guidelines for comments, your comment violates
| almost all of the top rules.
|
| > _Be kind_. Don 't be snarky. Have curious conversation;
| don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't
| sneer, including at the rest of the community.
|
| > Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive
|
| > When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead
| of calling names.
|
| > Eschew flamebait
|
| > Please don't post shallow dismissals
| ChuckNorris89 wrote:
| _> Being rude and insulting, I'm sure._
|
| And exact which part was rude and insulting?
|
| _> Be kind. Don 't be snarky. Have curious conversation;
| don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't
| sneer, including at the rest of the community.
|
| > Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive
|
| > When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead
| of calling names.
|
| > Eschew flamebait
|
| > Please don't post shallow dismissals _
|
| Many comments on HN break at some of those rules you
| listed on a regular basis, especially on topics that
| spark a lot of debate, yet they fly. Even racist ones.
| Why? Saying my comment breaks all those rules, you must
| be joking.
|
| If you start to split hairs like that and look for
| interpretations out of context (which I assume my comment
| was read out of context, without following the full
| thread) then I'm pretty sure many, may comments here can
| be said break some rules.
|
| Look, I mean no disrespect, and I have apologized and
| corrected my mistake, and I promise I try my best to
| follow the rules as I love this community and love
| contributing here for the best, but what you said and
| what I experienced sometimes, feels like rule enforcement
| is random, subjective and sometimes personally targeted.
|
| Since this is offtopic and don't want to discuss this
| here, @dang, could you please delete this thread.
| tptacek wrote:
| Fair question. Easy answer. If it's some random HN user,
| then maybe it's rule lawyering. If it's 'dang, it's not.
| dewey wrote:
| You can rearrange apps on their screen, you just can't have
| gaps between them or move them "freely" in a way that they
| alwasy snap to an invisible grid...which isn't really
| something I have thought about ever.
| teekert wrote:
| I got used to it (especially when things are settled) but
| when you are fresh from android it can be annoying that you
| have to fill the top rows before your can place your fav
| apps within reach of your thumb. It feels very wrong.
| mikestew wrote:
| Use blank icons to fill in the rows. Kludgy? Sure, but it
| gets the job done:
|
| https://david-smith.org/blank.html
| permo-w wrote:
| they mean they can't have an app floating in space not in a
| nice pretty queue next to another app. not that they can't
| rearrange them at all
| candiddevmike wrote:
| > Freeform. Freeform is a productivity app where you and your
| collaborators can bring ideas to life. Jot down notes, share
| files, and insert web links, documents, video, and audio.
|
| > Coming later this year
|
| Apple going to start offering email too?
| desro wrote:
| With iCloud Plus you're able to add custom email domains
| (really nice and tight integration with Cloudflare DNS for all
| the MX records) -- was a breeze to set up. Haven't put it
| through it's paces yet, though.
| jws wrote:
| Weirdly, you can only have three email addresses per domain.
| So you can't really use it for a typical family domain, even
| though it supports the family group (which can be six
| people).
| ezfe wrote:
| You can create catch-all addresses now, for personal use at
| least.
| nytesky wrote:
| The other users in your family group will be able to add 3
| addresses of their own; the 3 you see are just the email
| address for your root@yourdomain.com account. User1 will
| have their own set of 3; login to iCloud.com from one of
| the family accounts and you'll see.
| CharlesW wrote:
| I migrated my personal email from Google Workspace to iCloud+
| a few months ago, and it worked great. No complaints so far.
|
| This guide to using imapsync was invaluable:
| https://blah.cloud/miscellaneous/migrating-google-
| workspaces...
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| Just be sure to check your spam box more often than you
| used to. iCloud mail's spam filtering is very aggressive
| Jtsummers wrote:
| > Apple going to start offering email too?
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MobileMe
|
| Replaced by iCloud later. So it's not something they will do,
| but something they have been doing for over two decades.
| cachvico wrote:
| mac.com before MobileMe, still have my @mac.com ;)
| SleepilyLimping wrote:
| It's frustrating, because this likely won't be usable on
| Desktop, Windows, or the majority of workspaces. I actually
| don't mind the Reminders app, but like iMessage, I can't use it
| on my main Windows desktop, so I don't.
|
| I can count on one hand the amount of times I've FaceTimed
| someone because of fragmentation in my network with Android.
| ezfe wrote:
| FaceTime supports joining from the web
| easrng wrote:
| https://www.icloud.com/reminders/ :)
| criddell wrote:
| You can use Reminders in the browser.
| artificialLimbs wrote:
| Teams. Apple is going to start offering Teams.
| [deleted]
| christophilus wrote:
| I'm surprised they aren't using the iPhone 14 in the promo
| images.
|
| Anyway, looks like my old iPhone 7 is finally going to have to
| retire. :/ I can't wait for a good Linux phone.
|
| Edit: 7 years of use isn't bad compared to Android, but the phone
| is still just fine, and it really bothers me that it's turning
| into e-waste for no good reason.
| MaysonL wrote:
| Apple is getting ready to release iOS 15.7, which will work on
| iPhone 7...
| lapcat wrote:
| Don't expect that to last long. iOS 14.8 was released on
| September 13, 2021, iOS 14.8.1 on October 26, 2021, and then
| nothing else.
| scarface74 wrote:
| iOS 12.5.6 was released 8 days ago for the 5s...
| lapcat wrote:
| That was a weird one, but nonetheless, here's the list of
| security update, and there's been nothing for older
| versions since October 2021.
| https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222
|
| Also note that 12.5.6 was for a single actively exploited
| CVE and no other vulnerabilities.
| Eric_WVGG wrote:
| come back and let us know how many years that good linux phone
| gets supported
| wildpeaks wrote:
| Same, I still love my 7 (which still works perfectly fine
| despite using it everyday, even still has its original battery
| and screen) and been avoiding the upgrade until now because of
| the lack of Home button on the newer models.
|
| I use both iPhone 13 Pro & Pro Max everyday because I do iOS
| development (among many other things), so it's not like I don't
| know how to use the newer models, but the Home button is so
| intuitive I can use the 7 even when I'm half awake whereas I
| need to pay close attention to the screen on 13.
|
| Not having a Home button is like a keyboard without an Esc key.
| genghisjahn wrote:
| I've stayed with the SE models for the Home Button. Love the
| Home Button and not having a phone that's too big or too
| small. The SE models seem just right. But I hear they don't
| sell well so who knows how much longer they will be around.
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| I agree that the home button is invaluable from a UI
| perspective but for unlocking, it's annoying as hell if you
| live somewhere it's cold (ie gloves) or get your hands
| significantly dirty or wet.
| Klonoar wrote:
| It's not really e-waste given Apple's recycling program, which
| is generally decent. 7 years of use with an option to recycle
| it when upgrading is about as good as you'll find.
| CogitoCogito wrote:
| Do the phones actually get recycled? (This is a genuine
| question.)
| Klonoar wrote:
| https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_P
| r...
|
| Their environmental reports that they release each year
| indicate that they do, yes. It also looks like there's an
| audit report in there as well that logs the recycled
| materials as verified (page 109).
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| I would assume nothing other than easy to recycle
| metal/glass/paper actually gets recycled. It just gets
| shipped to a developing country and dumped there. I assume
| if a company hires a third party to "recycle", it is
| probably cover your ass so they can say they recycled it,
| and it works pretty well if the third party is in another
| country.
|
| https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-
| misled-...
| nytesky wrote:
| My daughter as an iPhone 6, so its many versions pass and I
| think they have stopped security patches with this upgrade. How
| much risk is she of being hacked without those updates -- is
| there any way to track identified risks?
| WrtCdEvrydy wrote:
| It's the iOS app support that suffers. Apple makes it pretty
| unbearable to get apps for unsupported devices so I take
| those and relegate them to single use non-data holding
| devices like dashcams and other uses.
| scarface74 wrote:
| As of at least a couple of years ago, I could still
| redownload "the last compatible version" for my old iPad
| 1st gen (2010). I was able to download and run Netflix and
| Plex.
| WrtCdEvrydy wrote:
| Yes, but you must have a nicer iPhone on the same iCloud
| account that downloads the current version, then you can
| use the "purchased" page on the old device.
| spockz wrote:
| Or for some apps that allow family sharing having someone
| in the family with a nicer iPhone also should work.
| nytesky wrote:
| Oh that's a bonus for me, I want her to use it basically
| for phone, imessage, and find my!
| [deleted]
| gorbypark wrote:
| I'm pretty sure Apple just released a security patch for the
| iPhone 6 just a week or two ago. Seems like they are keeping
| "severe" CVEs patches on (some) out of support devices.
| scarface74 wrote:
| Apple just released a security release - iOS 12.5.6 for the
| iPhone 5s a few days ago (8/31/2022). I doubt they have
| stopped releasing security updates for the iPhone 6.
| nytesky wrote:
| My understanding was they would stop after today!
| lapcat wrote:
| 6 years. iPhone 7 was released in September 2016.
| altairprime wrote:
| iOS 15 will continue receiving security updates for a while
| yet, so there's no pressing reason to upgrade. Or you could
| donate the phone to Apple in case they can melt it down and
| reuse it instead of shredding it.
| lapcat wrote:
| > OS 15 will continue receiving security updates for a while
| yet
|
| iOS 14.8 was released on September 13, 2021, iOS 14.8.1 on
| October 26, 2021, and then nothing else.
| altairprime wrote:
| iOS 12.5.6 was released on August 31, 2022, fixing
| CVE-2022-32894:
|
| https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222
| majou wrote:
| iOS 12.5.6 was released on a week ago.
|
| iOS 15 will be getting patches even if iOS 14 and 13 don't.
| GeekyBear wrote:
| Apple just released another security update for the 2014 iPhone
| 5s.
| highwaylights wrote:
| Yeah but if they're not guaranteeing security updates then
| you still can't rely on it. Which sucks.
|
| I don't really get it either. You want to charge a premium
| for your handsets, why not let there be a secondary market
| all the way down the value chain for prices below where you
| want to go? It just means you're selling more iCloud services
| and locking people in that way so that when they finally _do_
| need that upgrade it's an iPhone rather than an Android.
| Otek wrote:
| Could you elaborate? I genuinely don't understand what you
| mean
| highwaylights wrote:
| Apple might release an emergency patch for an old device,
| but it's not safe for you to keep using that device
| unless they're committing to support the device with
| security patches on an ongoing basis.
|
| I think they _should_ support even very old iPhones with
| updates because:
|
| 1) They can't afford to make an iPhone for $50.
|
| 2) Even if they could, they don't want to make a $50
| iPhone because it would be terrible and the margin
| minimal.
|
| 3) Supporting old phones allows a second-hand market for
| iPhones to thrive in the Chinese-Android-phone-bargain
| price tier where Apple can't compete with new devices
| (this is in fact already the case given that there's a
| used market for old iPhones).
|
| 4) Once someone buys (e.g. an iPhone 6S) used for $50 you
| can immediately start making them an iCloud customer for
| recurring revenue.
|
| tldr; I think Apple views used device sales as a lost
| purchase for them instead of the massive subsidy that it
| is in terms of the cost associated with onboarding a new
| customer. (Apple should be overjoyed that someone is
| willing to sell a first-time prospective Apple customer
| an iPhone 6S for $50. The factory couldn't make them the
| phone wholesale for that price, and it gets someone into
| the ecosystem).
| GeekyBear wrote:
| >if they're not guaranteeing security updates then you
| still can't rely on it
|
| As opposed to Google only offering two years of OS updates
| and an additional three years of security updates after
| that on the Pixel 6?
|
| Sorry, but every single flagship iPhone since 2011 has
| gotten between five and seven years of OS updates. Then
| there are additional years of security updates after that.
| For example, the $399 OG iPhone SE got seven years of OS
| updates.
|
| Google needs to step up their game. They don't even have
| the Qualcomm excuse now that they are having their own
| custom SOC fabbed.
| christophilus wrote:
| Google is absurd. Apple is just bad.
|
| My laptops (Linux) last until they die, and it takes a
| long time for them to die. I'd love a phone that does
| that.
| augustl wrote:
| Apparently, the reason Apple dropped support for iPhone 7 is
| performance on the new lock screen. Pretty lame if that's the
| case, Apple has usually been good with supporting all devices
| as long as the hardware allows it (for example, hardware level
| secure enclave was required at a certain version of iOS)
| alwillis wrote:
| _Apparently, the reason Apple dropped support for iPhone 7 is
| performance on the new lock screen._
|
| It's more likely the fact the iPhone 7 only has 2GB of RAM
| and two cores, not to mention missing the Neural Engine, the
| image processor and other features on Apple's latest SoCs
| that iOS 16 requires for some of its features.
|
| Most of major features of iOS 16 would have to be removed to
| run on an iPhone 7.
| Jtsummers wrote:
| I was looking at that, the iPhone 8 (supported) has a
| 6-core CPU, 4 high efficiency cores, but also 2GB of RAM in
| the plain iPhone 8, 3GB in the Plus. So if it's anything,
| it'll be in the GPU or the 2 extra cores, that marks the
| critical differentiator for performance.
| alwillis wrote:
| But even the iPhone 8 doesn't support all of the features
| of iOS 16:
|
| * Live Text
|
| * can't send emojis in iMessage using Siri
|
| * can't ask Siri about apps
|
| * offline Siri support for HomeKit, Intercom, Voicemail
|
| * being able to smoothly switch between voice and typing
| when using dictation
|
| * adding medications using the camera
|
| * Door Detection in Magnifier
|
| * Image search in more apps
| anonuser123456 wrote:
| It is a extremely hard to maintain differential software
| features across hardware product lines. What 'sounds lame'
| may translate into significantly added complexity to the
| maintenance process.
| theideaofcoffee wrote:
| I think with all of their resources, Apple of all companies
| could dig deep and stretch a little bit to make that
| happen.
| anonuser123456 wrote:
| It would make their product worse.
|
| As someone that has worked on this very problem for 20
| years, I can say with somewhat confidence Apples choice
| is the right one.
| stouset wrote:
| They quite literally already are. Find me a manufacturer
| that comes anywhere close to supporting devices for as
| long as Apple does.
| tshaddox wrote:
| Apple does, with all of their resources, dig much deeper
| and provide OS updates to much older device models than
| any mobile device manufacturer I know of.
| BuckRogers wrote:
| You can blame their competition for not beating them out
| at longterm support on that front. Apple is already
| leading the market supporting iOS this long. I used my
| last iPhone for 7 years, unfathomable on any other
| platform than iOS.
|
| I hope their competitors step it up and beat Apple out on
| grade A support. I'm seeing them fall further behind in
| every metric. My iPhone 12 mini that I bought on launch
| day "just works".
| [deleted]
| airstrike wrote:
| Why throw money away?
| m3kw9 wrote:
| E waste, no no don't throw it out. You can use 99% of the
| apps even without ios16. It's only when individual app
| developers phase out support for ios15 typically 2-3 years
| after. Facebook, YouTube etc still supports even iOS 12
| WrtCdEvrydy wrote:
| Actually, you can download the newer version of an app on a
| newer iphone and then download a version that works on the
| old iphone from the Purchased page.
|
| Apple makes it difficult but keeping my iPhone 5S is still
| going years after iOS 12 is no longer "cool"
| 2muchcoffeeman wrote:
| I'm impressed by how long you kept it going! My iPhone 5
| and 6 were still going until last year.
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| Why would you be keeping an 5S "still going" when you can
| buy an 8, SE, or an X/Xs/Xr, for a song and get vastly
| better performance, battery life, wifi and cellular?
|
| The A7 is _dogshit_ slow - I have an iPad with the A7 (or
| maybe it 's the A9) and it's unusably slow for even
| simple things like apps from newspapers and library
| e-reader apps; you can watch the page assemble. Even
| waking the iPad with the home button is slow. On my
| A11-powered phone these apps run smooth as butter.
|
| A 5S supports 11 of the LTE bands versus 24 bands of the
| 8. That alone is worth the upgrade, for the greater
| chance of being able to make or receive an important
| call.
|
| How much time are you wasting on silly work-arounds just
| to be a retro-tech hipster pretending it's cool to use a
| completely outdated and inferior-in-every-way piece of
| hardware for absolutely no reason?
| Xylakant wrote:
| I stuck with an iPhone SE of the first generation until I
| really needed multi-sim this year. The form factor is
| great, no other phone is that small. Battery life was ok,
| too. Why not stick with hardware that does the job? If it
| works for him, great. Better for the environment, too.
| Cheaper as well.
| christophilus wrote:
| OK. I'm convinced. I really don't use any 3rd party apps
| other than Brave and my banking app, so as long as those
| work and I keep getting security updates, my cheap ass is
| good to go.
| yabones wrote:
| Well, looks like it's the end of the line for my 1st gen SE. It's
| been a good run. I'll miss you, little guy.
|
| Looks like my other options for a small phone are 12/13 mini or
| possibly the 2nd/3rd gen SE. But not nearly as compact as the 4"
| SE.
| throwanem wrote:
| I switched to a 12 mini last year, after my last 1st gen SE
| took a drop that damaged it beyond practical repair. They
| aren't _that_ different in size, and it didn 't take me as long
| to acclimate as I'd expected, especially when I found I do
| quite like having a larger display and smaller bezels -
| especially since few if any apps or websites are still tested
| on 4.7"-class displays like the 1st gen SE's.
|
| There's definitely an inflection point - I also have a Galaxy
| 10+ for work and still find it uncomfortably large. The 12 mini
| seems to fall right in a sweet spot for me.
| sockaddr wrote:
| 2nd gen SE owner here: It was a great little phone, but the
| batteries are terrible and terribly inadequate. You were
| warned.
| vbezhenar wrote:
| You can use iOS 15. Apple is known to supply security updates
| to old iOS versions for a few years.
| Eric_WVGG wrote:
| I just bought a 13 Mini about an hour ago (waiting for the $100
| price drop)... don't get the 12 Mini, you're really gonna want
| that extra battery life
| SSLy wrote:
| 12 mini isn't available from Apple anymore
| vesrah wrote:
| https://www.apple.com/shop/product/FG8R3LL/A/refurbished-
| iph...
| SSLy wrote:
| OK, new ip12m, or outside of USA.
| layer8 wrote:
| Also the RAM sizes doubled from 12 to 13.
| o_m wrote:
| It looks like I'm going to keep my iPhone 13 mini for the next
| 7 years, or until it won't receive any updates anymore.
| empressplay wrote:
| I just ordered a 'refurbished' iPhone 8 plus off of Amazon to
| replace my SE -- it's slightly bigger than the second
| generation SE but it has a second telephoto camera so... if I'm
| going to be forced to have a larger phone then that's
| sufficient compensation. Also it still has a fingerprint
| sensor!
| Jtsummers wrote:
| The 13 mini is only slightly larger than the SE (2016).
| Dimensions: Model Height Width Depth
| SE 4.87" 2.31" 0.3" Mini 5.18" 2.53"
| 0.301" (strangely precise) Diff +0.31" +0.22"
| +0.001"
|
| The screen goes from 4" to 5.4", which (for me) was worth the
| slight increase in size. I'm not going to say it's as compact
| as the SE (2016), but it's not a huge difference (nowhere near
| the difference of the regular sized 13 and 14 models). The mini
| is also smaller than the later SE models (except for depth,
| they are slightly slimmer).
| GloriousKoji wrote:
| As a lover of the original SE and a a Mini 13 owner the HUGE
| increase in thickness is what really bothers me with the size
| change. Their official thickness spec only measures the main
| body of the phone which is virtually a zero change in size
| but the camera bump makes it's thickest point about 50%
| thicker.
| Jtsummers wrote:
| I did forget about the camera bump, but I don't believe the
| numbers work out that it's adding .15" to the thickness of
| the phone on its own. I had a recent chance to compare the
| SE (2016) to my 13 Mini (my mother still has the original
| SE but is likely to upgrade soon, I was recommending the
| mini since, other than the home button, it mostly met her
| needs and would provide a better display for her aging
| eyes) and it's definitely not 50% thicker at any point.
| That would have been quite noticeable.
| layer8 wrote:
| It's also markedly heavier. Despite the nominal size
| increase being small, the feel is totally different.
| Jtsummers wrote:
| I guess 25% heavier sounds substantial, but a change from
| 4 oz to 5 oz is not that big. (113g -> 140g)
| gridder wrote:
| You can already download the RC with the public beta profile.
| Released few minutes ago.
| minimaxir wrote:
| watchOS 9 also September 12th unsurprisingly.
| dkrich wrote:
| Interesting to see the similarities to watchOS
| robot9000 wrote:
| Huge!
|
| But the bigger surprise is that there's literally nothing in it
| that I care about despite being an iOS user.
|
| Also, multiple stops on Maps? That's Google maps 15 years ago.
| t-writescode wrote:
| 15 years ago? Wow! Seeing Google Maps came out 17 years ago,
| that's really early in their lifetime!
| ezfe wrote:
| Doesn't really matter if Google Maps had it first, I like Apple
| Maps more and I'm excited for the feature.
|
| Google Maps UI is a mess - only real advantage is (usually)
| better POI data. Routing quality is the same in my experience.
| Waterluvian wrote:
| Is anyone else anxious about updates?
|
| I used to be so pumped for them when I was a teen. They'd unlock
| a world of new opportunities.
|
| Now I just feel anxious that there's change for change sake to
| justify the resourcing of the design teams and that they'll make
| things I'm used to worse all for a bunch of features I'll never
| use or want.
|
| I don't want more features. There's so many already and they're
| really cluttering.
|
| Like when they moved the address bar to the bottom in Safari.
| Bad. Shame. But they let you revert it. I'm just waiting for that
| team to decide, "no those users are idiots. It's been a year.
| Time to remove the setting and impose our new vision on existing
| users."
|
| ...it's me isn't it? This sounds like old man yells at cloud
| speak.
| highwaylights wrote:
| They won't make them functionally worse. They'll outright break
| them, and then move on, then eventually once everyone has
| stopped using it because it's so broken they'll quietly remove
| it.
| layer8 wrote:
| I mean, you don't _have_ to update, at least not right away.
| Just wait a couple of months for the new version to stabilize
| and see what the reports say. In the past I've sometimes
| skipped two or three major updates to reduce the frequency of
| disruptions. But I agree that everything has become
| increasingly cluttered and decreasingly "it just works".
| noahtallen wrote:
| Maybe not just you, but probably more rare. I'm pretty excited
| for many of the new features coming in this update! (Lock
| Screen customization, live activities, and iMessage edits being
| a few very powerful and practical additions!)
|
| I also liked the safari address bar change, as it's objectively
| more ergonomic for thumb use.
|
| Many recent iOS updates have significantly expanded power user
| features too: we have shortcuts and automations, customizable
| focus modes, default browser/mail apps, Home Screen widgets,
| etc. Most of which the HN crowd (and many others) have been
| asking for for years!
|
| In fact, we're at the point that people can technically
| customize app icons.
|
| I think these updates objectively are unlocking a world of
| possibilities. The features I listed above a pretty powerful --
| especially shortcuts and automations.
|
| It's ok to not be in that headspace anymore -- but many others
| still are :) You can always stick around on older iOS versions!
| And I'd argue there are vanishingly few new features that
| dramatically change the way you use your phone. The address bar
| being a good example.
| [deleted]
| scottydelta wrote:
| I recently published an article[1] on How Apple could improve the
| VPNs experience on iOS. I hope someone at Apple finally decides
| to improve it on the next update.
|
| It surprises me how Apple continues to add a lot of fancy feature
| and ignore basic day to day usability features like these.
|
| [1] https://medium.com/@contact_54652/how-can-apple-improve-
| the-...
| poglet wrote:
| The improvements with photo sharing seem promising. Right now my
| partner and I have Dropbox Photo Sync enabled on our iPhones, but
| viewing the shared photos must be done through the Dropbox app.
|
| But now with the new improvements it looks like there is an
| automatic option "you can share photos instantly right from
| Camera, choose to share automatically when other shared library
| members are nearby".
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Passkeys gonna be fire. Goodbye password managers, credential
| stuffing, and phishing attacks!
|
| (photo deduplication is nice too btw, been a long time coming)
| isatty wrote:
| Have they added the feature to have a locked (and hidden, I
| know that hidden already exists) folder for pictures?
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| That is my understanding. FaceID for hidden and deleted
| photos.
| isatty wrote:
| Amazing. I cannot believe it's taken this long but that's
| amazing. Upgrading first chance I get.
| jdadj wrote:
| Indeed, but the lock-in potential of passkeys [1] is
| concerning.
|
| [1] https://www.fastcompany.com/90755838/theres-a-big-problem-
| wi...
| PassageNick wrote:
| That is concerning. Have to weigh that against the added
| security, I guess.
|
| The article does talk about how tools like 1Password could
| allow for PassKey sharing without vendor lock-in.
| bioemerl wrote:
| > Passkeys gonna be fire
|
| Knowing apple they're going to be another avenue to lock in.
| Now not only does switching your device been that you have to
| leave apple's ecosystem, it also means you lose all your
| passwords for all your websites.
|
| I'm honestly hoping this does not take off.
| thefourthchime wrote:
| I imagine you'll have the option to still have a password,
| for those that aren't concerned about Apple lock it'll be a
| nice benefit.
| PassageNick wrote:
| That would kind of defeat the purpose, no?
| Spivak wrote:
| No? At least not for convenience. On my phone, instant
| login, anywhere else, enter password.
| derefr wrote:
| The point of passkeys isn't convenience (that's what
| things like TouchID/FaceID are for); the point is to
| obviate password phishing, brute-forcing, and password
| database leaks. Having a "backup" password removes every
| one of those benefits.
| joshstrange wrote:
| > Knowing apple they're going to be another avenue to lock
| in.
|
| I mean it's just Webauthn under the hood, I'd bet money you
| can export them from keychain into another tool like
| 1Password or similar.
| thebitstick wrote:
| Time to pay up! Exporting is impossible on Apple's
| implementation of Passkeys. Even exporting your entire
| keychain of passwords doesn't result in any WebAuthn keys,
| just standard passwords. Tested on macOS 13 and iOS 16
| betas. I sincerely doubt this will change with the official
| releases. Google's implementation is probably the same.
| Microsoft hasn't done a thing yet to support passkeys
| besides what Edge and Windows Hello do.
| joshstrange wrote:
| Interesting, I'm not running the betas and I searched a
| bunch before I posted and couldn't find it mentioned one
| way or the other. I hope that changes sometime in the
| future, though I only use 1Password anyways.
|
| > Time to pay up!
|
| What's your favorite charity?
| scrollaway wrote:
| > _What's your favorite charity?_
|
| Not GP but the EFF is the charity most likely to help
| successfully push for changes here :) I am sending them
| 50 bucks in your name. Care to double it?
| highwaylights wrote:
| I dunno. Passkeys scare the crap out of me.
|
| If I get arbitrarily locked out of a Google/Apple/Microsoft
| account then my logins for absolutely everything go up in smoke
| too.
|
| (Assumes the key is a composite pair of local passkey + cloud
| account secret)
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| Fire so long as sites implement them. Given how "quickly"
| yubikeys or even just touch ID webauthn have been going around,
| it doesn't seem very imminent :( Hopefully Firebase or AWS
| offer an easily accessible way to add passkeys etc as auth
| methods.
| cheeze wrote:
| On the flipside, Yubikey and whatnot are still pretty niche.
|
| That being said, I was hoping to see more touch ID webauthn
| so I'm not super hopeful. But we can hope!
| sebk wrote:
| There's nothing special RPs have to do in order to support
| Passkeys. It's just WebAuthn that happens to be synced. If
| the site supports WebAuthn it already supports Passkeys (As
| long as they're not doing significantly less common things
| like checking for attestation, which Passkey-enabled
| credentials won't do).
| jacobr wrote:
| The iPhone 8 only compatibility means that many teams will be
| stuck supporting Safari 15.6 for a very long time. Anything under
| "no support" on this page will continue to be out of reach for
| years to come
| https://caniuse.com/?compare=safari+15.6&compareCats=all#res...
| ezfe wrote:
| It's good that Safari is much less shit than it used to be...
| bnt wrote:
| Next to CarPlay it says "Vehicle announcement coming in late
| 2023" - what is this related to? Showing car-related information
| in CarPlay, or are they announcing a car of their own?
| jackson1442 wrote:
| I think that's surrounding which vehicles will support the
| CarPlay dashboard.
| berberous wrote:
| I'm not sure, but a while ago they announced a sort of expanded
| CarPlay where things like the speedometer, fuel gage, etc were
| shown in the CarPlay format, so I assume that.
| [deleted]
| antipaul wrote:
| Late 2023 is when they will announce the list of cars that
| support this radical expansion of CarPlay to encompass the
| whole dashboard, as in the image
| CharlesW wrote:
| I believe this means, "late next year, we'll be announcing 2024
| model-year vehicles that will be the first to support next-gen
| CarPlay experiences".
| Jaepa wrote:
| Likely the former. They announced a new version of Carplay
| during WWDC. Basically rather than just applying to the
| infotainment system, it will also include information from the
| dashboard, and climate systems.
|
| https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/06/09/apples-2023-carpl...
| WXLCKNO wrote:
| Really hope that this will be compatible with iDrive 8 on my
| upcoming BMW.
| BoorishBears wrote:
| This is something that essentially replaces iDrive and your
| entire gauge cluster with CarPlay: it will be a very long
| time before BMW supports it, if ever
| theshrike79 wrote:
| The chance of an "Apple Car" is exactly zero. Even actual
| manufacturers are having huge issues producing enough.
|
| BUT tighter Apple/CarPlay integration with existing brands is
| most definitely coming.
|
| Soon your iPhone will handle the whole instrument cluster and
| infotainment for your car as well as functioning as a key.
| smm11 wrote:
| I got one or two spammer calls a week on TMobile over the course
| of maybe 8 years.
|
| Six months on Verizon and I get more spam calls a week than those
| 8 years.
| avtar wrote:
| Apple's call and sms spam filtering remains subpar to say the
| least. When I had a Pixel, I had the option to let the OS
| transcribe what the potential spammer was saying and end the
| call. It's puzzling why Apple isn't doing more here.
| reaperducer wrote:
| _Apple's call and sms spam filtering remains subpar to say the
| least._
|
| It's my understanding that this is largely because of the
| carriers.
|
| Phone and text spam filtering came to the iPhone in China long
| before it hit other countries. I only know a couple of people
| in China, and neither are in tech, but they say it's because
| spam was absolutely rampant so the government leaned on the
| carriers to fix it, and the iPhone spam filtering appeared a
| short time later.
|
| There's no shortage of Chinese users on HN, so maybe one of
| them can explain further, or refute what I've been told.
| anormaluser wrote:
| Is it true? I'm also curious about it.
| blibble wrote:
| I think they have a patent on it
| thefourthchime wrote:
| robokiller does a decent job on ios
| Daltzn wrote:
| Give the app bouncer a try. I been able stop almost all spam
| texts.
| MR4D wrote:
| Select "Silence unknown callers" and you're done.
|
| Last month I had a flurry of spam texts and calls. I moved the
| slider to the "enable" side a few weeks ago and have had zero
| issues since.
| [deleted]
| MR4D wrote:
| For those of you that want to learn more about this feature,
| Apple has a page describing how it works as well as how calls
| get through.
|
| It's a simple read and worth the minute or so if you use the
| feature.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32757077
| wl wrote:
| I do this.
|
| I missed a hospital calling about a family member. They
| should have left a voicemail, but they didn't.
| frizkie wrote:
| This is a great feature but it's a huge double-edged sword. I
| need to remember to turn it off when I'm expecting a call
| from an unpredictable number, and then I need to remember to
| turn it back on again after I receive the call. It would be
| great if I could turn it off for some number of hours or
| days.
| nytesky wrote:
| I use a Google Voice number for all of my delivery,
| business, etc phone calls. It has built in verbal call
| screening and the smarter spam filtering, and thus my
| personal iPhone # can be exclusive for my white listed
| personal calls.
| lelandfe wrote:
| Sadly, soo many services refuse to accept Voice numbers.
| Most recent example: I tried to submit _positive_
| feedback to an airline and their form rejects any Google
| Voice numbers, mandating a "real" phone number instead.
| nytesky wrote:
| True. Would they accept Ooma number? Wish I could pay
| like $5/month for a forward only number that worked
| everywhere.
| gnicholas wrote:
| I use GV also and use call screening. But it still rings
| through for me quite a bit with spam, so I now keep DND
| turned on, and if I get VMs then I return the call. Not
| ideal, but better than giving out my real phone number.
| wilg wrote:
| My strategy is to have my voicemail say that I don't get
| calls from unknown numbers and to text or call again if it
| is urgent.
| zonkedwheel wrote:
| I've had the same issue if I am expecting a call but not
| sure what number it will ne. But iIf you already know the
| number, adding that to contacts will solve the problem ?
| alistairSH wrote:
| Numbers I didn't know and had to turn off "silence
| unknown callers"... recruiters/hiring managers, freight
| deliveries, doctors, pharmacy.
|
| The feature mostly works, but needing to remember to
| disable it when a call is expected is annoying.
| [deleted]
| CPLX wrote:
| People always say this but if this is true:
|
| 1) You have a kid AND 2) You're not currently looking right
| at that kid
|
| Then you need to pick up calls from random numbers basically
| every time. Just the way life is.
| dereg wrote:
| I would have this on if it wasn't for the fact that I get
| calls from delivery drivers, who all have unknown numbers,
| and for whom the notification must be immediate.
| [deleted]
| wilg wrote:
| It's strange they don't have some API that would let Lyft
| or Doordash or whoever provide caller ID for this use case.
| giarc wrote:
| My carrier has an option that forces unknown callers to
| enter a 2 digit number to proceed with call. I add known
| contacts to my list online and they don't get the prompt.
| Works well, however I now get a lot of spam texts which it
| doesn't work for.
| robbyking wrote:
| I'm always paranoid that I'm going to miss a call from one
| of the million numbers that come from my kiddo's school.
| derwiki wrote:
| Buy a Twilio number that forwards to your real number. Then
| whoever has that number can call it, and it will ring you
| from the known Twilio number. Add to address book and
| voila!
| dereg wrote:
| This is a simple and neat idea. I'll try it on the
| weekend.
| clamprecht wrote:
| Do spammers not call Twilio numbers?
| [deleted]
| tshaddox wrote:
| I assume the spammers buy "known active real person phone
| numbers" from somewhere (probably the awful carriers
| themselves), so it might be less likely for them to find
| a new Twilio number. But as soon as you give the phone
| number to some company that sells (or accidentally leaks)
| their customer data, that number will be burned too.
| derefr wrote:
| I don't know about calls, but I definitely get spam SMSes
| on my persistent Twilio SMS numbers.
| ako wrote:
| Hospitals and MDs often use unrecognizable phone numbers, you
| may want to receive those.
| protomyth wrote:
| T-Mobile does this and also labels a lot of numbers "Scam
| Likely". Its been really helpful. I too wish Apple would do
| more, but the carrier can do a bit.
| ljm wrote:
| I'd like it if you could just have an ephemeral call list. I
| don't want to add an estate agent or recruiter to my main
| contact list, but I'd like to see their name come up if they
| call back or I get another call from them.
|
| Just make it a contact with like a 7 day TTL or something. If
| it's longer term, save it proper.
|
| I mention this because the old Caller ID setup doesn't really
| work any more.
| the_mar wrote:
| Boy do i have a lifehack for you. Buy a phone number with a
| random area code, like ohio or something, all the spam calls
| come from surrounding area codes.
| mwint wrote:
| But then my calls will come from the random area code too.
| It'd be neat if you could do a dual phone number, where your
| CID on outbound calls shows as your local area code, but you
| give out the foreign area code for inbound calls.
|
| But then you mess up callbacks.
| 98codes wrote:
| > But then my calls will come from the random area code too
|
| Nobody will care. Everybody's cell number is just a record
| of where they lived when they got their first phone; people
| you call will have you in their contact list most likely.
| axxl wrote:
| You misunderstand slightly. All the calls from the area
| code matching your phone number are more likely to be spam
| (spammers matching you to appear legit). So unless you call
| people in that particular area, you won't be matching their
| area code, so you won't look like a spammer. And unless you
| happen to know a lot of people in that area, you won't get
| calls from that area that appear to be spam.
| sangnoir wrote:
| > So unless you call people in that particular area, you
| won't be matching their area code, so you won't look like
| a spammer
|
| You're misunderstanding them too, I suspect. One could
| equally assume that a call coming from an area code
| they've never been to, 5 states away _is_ spam - so this
| trick works if you do not make a lot of calls.
| xsmasher wrote:
| > One could equally assume that a call coming from an
| area code they've never been to, 5 states away is spam
|
| Not equally. I have an area code from the opposite coast.
| If I get a call from that area code, it is 100% spam.
| Spammers just love outing themselves by spoofing the same
| area code of the person they are calling.
|
| A call from any other area code is only 30% chance of
| being spam.
| briffle wrote:
| Your missing the point. Spammers call you from a spoofed
| number so that you think its someone near you based on the
| area code. I lived just a town over an invisible line in
| 2009, and ordered a new phone, and got an area code that
| the only other person I know that has a number in that area
| code is my wife. (920)
|
| the ONLY calls that call me from that area code are
| spammers. if I get calls from any other area code, only 20%
| or so are spammers. Others are sales/marketing for IT
| companies, etc, and calls from one of the 2 area codes that
| cover my area where I actually live are usually all local
| businesses, etc. If I had to guess, I would say 85-90% of
| the 'spam callers' call and spoof the 920 area code when
| they dial me. that drastically cuts down on my automated
| messages about a car warranty that is about to expire.
| [deleted]
| renewiltord wrote:
| Yeah, I did this. But it's not enough. Most phone number
| blocking apps get really slow blocking a couple of area
| codes. Number Shield loads _very_ slowly on my iPhone 13 with
| just 919 and 984 blocked. But they do fire prober calls from
| other locations too. The interesting thing is that they never
| actually say anything on the phone _or_ in text. It 's solely
| some sort of DoS against me. Weird.
| limeblack wrote:
| This works until you get calls from DC.
| encryptluks2 wrote:
| Just have the US start sending missiles to spam call centers
| and people will stop real quick.
| wwweston wrote:
| One of the things I've noticed recently is that spam call
| numbers have gotten smarter -- somehow they're figuring out
| numbers corresponding to regions that I spend time in that
| _aren 't_ related to my area code or central exchange...
| ffhhj wrote:
| Meta smarter
| kemayo wrote:
| There's a useful iOS app called Number Shield that lets you
| block all calls coming from numbers that match the first six
| digits of your phone number. That's the most common spoofing
| technique, so it really does help.
|
| E.g. if your number is (555)555-1234 it'll block anything
| from (555)555-0000 to (555)555-9999.
|
| https://apps.apple.com/us/app/number-shield/id1319082167
| [deleted]
| NonNefarious wrote:
| Actually, the more-telling part of the number is the
| exchange. They'll often match yours, which is dumb as hell.
|
| In the age where most phones are mobile, this whole "scheme"
| is pitifully ignorant.
| kshacker wrote:
| Spamming, like many other things in life, is a field of
| bleeding edge technology. :) They were not using your area
| code a decade back, then they realized your area code works
| better - it probably did for a while. When it loses
| effectiveness, they will move on to other patterns they
| have discovered.
|
| Also, A/B testing is not just for good guys.
| hospitalJail wrote:
| stouset wrote:
| > Other companies compete over best or newest features.
| Camera location/exterior shape forces their status-conscious
| demographic to buy new phones.
|
| Frankly this kind of comment has no place on Hacker News.
|
| There are many, many reasons to be critical of Apple.
| "Doesn't compete on features and only cares about what the
| device looks like superficially because their customers are
| sheep who only care about status" is not only a lazy take,
| but also doesn't even remotely describe the reality in which
| we live.
|
| > I don't see what is wrong with calling out a very rational
| decision to continue making high status products rather than
| deviate into high tech products.
|
| I genuinely can't fathom how one could conclude that Apple as
| a company isn't investing in technology. I mean, even at a
| superficial level, you're talking about a company that in-
| houses their own chip design and has dominated the mobile CPU
| market since doing so. They're very competitive in the
| desktop space in compute power with their very first chip
| line in this product category, and are absolutely crushing
| the existing players on performance per watt.
|
| The've leveraged this advantage into being effectively the
| only meaningful player in the wearables space other than
| Garmin. Satellite integration into the phone is a direct shot
| across the bow of devices like the Garmin inReach, and the
| greater battery life (plus satellite integration) in the
| Apple Watch Max is going to start eating away at a chunk of
| Garmin's marketshare for GPS-tracking watches. Though Garmin
| still wins here for serious backcountry enthusiasts who spend
| multiple days in a row out of reach, Apple is leaving them a
| smaller and smaller margin in which to operate.
|
| I stand by my original comment that this characterization of
| Apple is not reflective about of our reality. For Apple's
| many faults, they are _extremely_ competitive from a
| technological perspective. Precisely because they are so
| unbelievably good at identifying how and when to apply a
| technological advance to achieve the largest possible impact
| for their customers.
| willyt wrote:
| That must be a US thing? I never get spam calls on my iPhone
| and only very rarely a spam text; maybe a couple of times a
| year I get the 'you've got a parcel with a fee to pay' scam.
| sensitivefrost wrote:
| It's definitely not a US thing.
| vbezhenar wrote:
| I'm using yandex app and it detects spam calls. So iOS does
| have some hooks for that. You just need to find app for your
| location.
| pwpw wrote:
| It's the biggest thing I've missed after switching from a Pixel
| to an iPhone this week. In my first day of iPhone ownership, I
| received more spam/text calls than in an entire year with a
| Pixel.
| dchuk wrote:
| Why would you switch the same week they were going to
| announce all new stuff?
| pwpw wrote:
| There's a 2 week return period, and I wanted to be sure I'd
| be fine switching to iOS before buying an expensive new
| device. Part of the reason I'm switching is the new Pro
| models are a lot closer to Android phones with features
| like always on display. Based on the rumors, I was pretty
| sure what to expect today, so I have just been onboarding
| myself with iOS yesterday and today and can return the
| phone by the time I should have the new one in hand.
| justusthane wrote:
| Odd strategy. Why wouldn't you just return the 14 Pro if
| you didn't like it?
| pwpw wrote:
| Because I'm immediately leaving town. I can grab it,
| quickly set it up, and know what to expect.
| l72 wrote:
| Still no ability to have separate accounts on an ipad... I sort
| of understand that a phone is a single user OS, but the ipad most
| certainly should be a multi user OS.
| amelius wrote:
| Apple's products are closer to a personal computer than most
| PCs ever were ...
| Gigachad wrote:
| There will never be multi user support on the iPad until the
| iPad has some real competition. Apple has absolutely no
| incentive to invest resources in to multi user when it's much
| more likely that you will buy two iPads than buy an android
| tablet.
| patrickserrano wrote:
| If you don't mind using MDM you can get something akin to
| roaming profiles on iPads. It's an enterprise feature, but it
| was introduced sometime during iOS 13.
|
| I agree though, native multi-user support would be great.
| Though, I'd hope it's better than what we got on tvOS.
| K7PJP wrote:
| I'm starting to think this will never happen.
| pkulak wrote:
| This won't bring ambient display to older phones, will it?
| MBCook wrote:
| No. That requires new display tech.
| ChuckMcM wrote:
| This may be an unpopular opinion but I find iOS to be a much
| better appliance OS than Android, Chrome, or Windows. That said
| they are getting close to the 'computer' gap.
|
| Back when computers were super expensive (like millions of $) the
| owners (or lessors) would try to get them to do as many things as
| possible all the time so maximize the "value" of their
| investment. What was truly revolutionary about microprocessors
| was that they were inexpensive enough that you could dedicate
| them to doing just one thing.
|
| But then the capabilities of microprocessors started to greatly
| exceed the level of computation you needed to do that "one thing"
| and so the age of "featuritis" was born where the "wasted"
| compute resource in the dedicated microprocessor could do
| something to differentiate or add value to a product. That could
| be as silly as adding more indicator lights, but usually it was a
| way of altering the thing the appliance did. Today, nobody things
| twice about a washing machine that has a combinatorial set of 20
| different wash cycles, versus the simple "water level", "water
| temperature", "number of cycles" that was achievable with just
| simple mechanical switches and a few dumb sensors.
|
| However, it seems we might inflect again, as even cheaper
| microprocessors make even less expensive appliances available.
| Further, the subsumption of dozens of devices into the "phone"
| (copier, camera, recorder, navigator, television, Etc.) has
| created its own "traffic jam" where you might be watching TV on
| your device, and suddenly there is something you want to take a
| picture of and call someone about it. Multiplexing the device
| kind of works but it can also become annoying.
|
| It will be interesting to me to see how this more "computer os
| like" version of iOS will fare, and whether or not multi-
| functioning on a single devices develops into a negative feature
| vs the current economic win.
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