Linked List: September 19, 2012

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Technology vs. Utility ★

Matt Drance on the iPhone 5 and NFC:

It’s no coincidence that the “Tech Specs” link atop apple.com/iphone is dead last.

Rene Ritchie’s iOS 6 Review ★

I didn’t count, but it seems like Rene puts more images in his reviews than I do.

Retina Display Support for Microsoft Office Apps ★

Your move, Adobe.

Google Effectively No-Comments Regarding New Google Maps App for iOS ★

Danny Sullivan:

I asked Google today if we’d be getting a Google Maps app, and if so, when and also if it would include turn-by-turn navigation. Here’s what I was sent back:

We believe Google Maps are the most comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use maps in the world. Our goal is to make Google Maps available to everyone who wants to use it, regardless of device, browser, or operating system.

Let’s parse the statement. It sounds like Google wants its own app for iOS 6 — hence the “regardless of device” part. But it’s not confirming that this will happen soon or why it’s not already happened.

Is Apple somehow blocking it? If so, Google’s not saying. Is Google holding back for some strange reason? Again, we just don’t know.

I highly doubt Apple would “block” it, where by “block” I mean “reject a submitted Google Maps app that complies with the App Store guidelines”. But how limited would a maps app be given those guidelines? ~~The app couldn’t do turn-by-turn while in the background, for one thing.~~ Correction: I was wrong. Turn-by-turn directions in the background are supported for App Store.

Anyway, I wouldn’t read too much into this statement. It’s just good PR not to say anything until it’s ready.

Charles Arthur on the iPhone 5 ★

Charles Arthur:

For existing iPhone owners who have an iCloud account to which they have backed up their phone, there’s a nice welcome that didn’t exist last year. If you activate a new iPhone with that iCloud account, you can set it up with everything — including photos, apps, settings and passwords for email and calendars and Wi-Fi, and even details such as your alarm times.

Everything is as it was on the old one, seamlessly. That’s better than either Android or Windows Phone, the two principal contenders, which will download your apps but leave you to fill in the settings and recreate your alarms and app settings.

Agreed. I restored my review unit from the iCloud backup of my daily-use iPhone 4S, and within an hour, it was like I was picking up right where I took off. Really nice upgrade experience. (I did have to re-enter my passwords for my IMAP and Twitter accounts, though.)

Chiseled to Near Perfection ★

MG Siegler:

You pick it up and it almost feels fake. That’s not to say it feels cheap; because it doesn’t — quite the opposite, actually. It just doesn’t seem real. Certainly not to someone who has been holding the iPhone 4/4S for the past two years. It feels like someone took one of those devices and hollowed it out.

MG is this week’s special guest on The Talk Show, recording later tonight. Tweet any questions you have regarding the iPhone 5 and iOS 6, and we’ll answer as many as we can.

Samsung Ad Mocks iPhone 5 Line-Waiters ★

It’s corny, and they’re playing Pepsi to Apple’s Coke, but I think these are actually effective ads. The thing to keep in mind is that Samsung is not trying to convince would-be iPhone 5 buyers to change their minds. These ads are targeted at people who don’t like Apple; who already agree (with Samsung) that the iPhone 5 is a feat of marketing hype, not engineering and design savvy; and who think that iPhone line-waiters are low-IQ hipster sheep. Samsung isn’t playing for first place, they’re playing for second place — and that’s worked out well for them.

Been a Long Couple of Months ★

Walt Mossberg, July 2007:

At launch, the iPhone version of the Safari browser is missing some plug-ins needed for playing common types of Web videos. The most important of these is the plug-in for Adobe’s Flash technology. Apple says it plans to add that plug-in through an early software update, which I am guessing will occur within the next couple of months.

Ars Technica: ‘Motorola Asks ITC to Ban Every Mac, iPad, and Most iPhones for Patent Infringement’ ★

Motorola is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Google. Shouldn’t Google be mentioned in the headline? Apple’s a big boy, and is getting only what it deserves in terms of the mobile patent war. But let’s stop pretending that Google isn’t willing to use software patents as weapons.

When Did Small Phones Become Crappy Phones? ★

Sam Biddle, Gizmodo:

There was a time when you could buy something that was compact, fast, and beautiful. That time is over. “Smaller” is just a polite way to say “here’s the bad version for cheap people.” And that’s really awful.

Couldn’t agree more. I really liked last year’s Lumia 800, but ever since, Nokia has only put high-end specs into big-ass phones. The iPhone 5 is the smallest high-end phone on the market. There’s an opportunity here.

Dan Moren on iOS 6 ★

Comprehensive, clever, and spot-on review. Update: And a nice challenge from Macworld editor Philip Michaels.

Iconic ★

Watts Martin:

This is why trade dress battles are so important to Apple. Try introducing a soda in a container that’s easily mistaken for a Coke bottle and see how far “har har har, you can’t patent curved glass!” gets you as a defense. If somebody makes a product that can be easily mistaken for an Apple device, then Apple is going to do whatever they can to get that product either off the market or changed. And this is why Josh Topolsky is wrong when he says it doesn’t matter if a reviewer fails to mention when a competitor makes a product which is clearly following Apple’s design language. This isn’t about individual features and who did what first. If a company consciously attempts to make you think is that the new Apple thing? when you look at their new thing, and you know that’s what they’re doing, it’s noteworthy. It’s noteworthy because it’s a little sleazy.

One reason why the iPhone has no indicia on its front face — no Apple logo, no “iPhone” name — is that the device itself represents the iPhone brand.

Using Maps to Improve Maps ★

Scott Rafer:

What’s missing from this conversation is that map usage is critical. […] Google’s maps are going to start degrading. Apple’s will get better. They’ll meet in the middle within 18 months.

The idea is that you need to collect usage data to improve your data. The only way for Apple to get from here to there is to release what they have now and improve the data as millions of people start using it.

More on the New iOS 6 Maps App ★

Waze CEO Noam Bardin, in an interview with Megan Rose Rickey at Business Insider:

Both TomTom and Waze are listed in Apple’s copyright notice as providers of map data. But Bardin’s observations suggest that Apple is relying predominantly on TomTom.

“Apple went out and partnered with the weakest player,” Bardin says. “They’re now coming out with the lowest, weakest data set and they’re competing against Google, which has the highest data set. What’s going to happen with the Apple maps, is that you’re literally not going to find things. When you do find them, they might be in the wrong place or position geographically. And if you do have it, the route to it may not be the optimal route.”

Tell us what you really think. (Via BGR, whose article contains an update that suggests Bardin regrets his acerbic tone.)

Who Benefits From iOS 6’s Crappy Maps? ★

Anil Dash, after using the iOS 6 beta all summer:

But this time, they’re right: Apple’s made a new product that actually is pretty but dumb. Worse, they’ve used their platform dominance to privilege their own app over a competitor’s offering, even though it’s a worse experience for users. This is the new Maps in iOS 6. […]

Here in Manhattan, where I live, basic search by building names is profoundly degraded in Apple’s maps search. “Bloomberg” doesn’t find the Bloomberg Tower; on Google Maps it’s the first result. Searching for its address “731 Lexington Avenue” yields that address on Lexington Avenue in Brooklyn. It’s fine to think that perhaps I wanted the address in Bed-Stuy, but even appending “NY, NY” or “Manhattan, NY” still yields the Brooklyn address. Google maps has none of these comprehension issues.

Seems pretty clear the new Maps is going to be the biggest problem with iOS 6. Here’s the thing, though: we don’t know how much of this decision to switch was Apple’s alone. We do know that Apple’s existing contract with Google for Maps expired this year. It’s possible Apple tried to renew for another year or two and Google either refused (unlikely, I’d say) or offered to do so under terms Apple found unacceptable (possible, I’d say).

Could well just be arrogance on Apple’s part, too. Just saying, we don’t know. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes for Google to release a standalone Google Maps apps in the iOS App Store, as they did already with YouTube. What if Google doesn’t ever release a Google Maps app, to paint iOS as the platform with crappy maps?

Anil is right about the bottom line though: the maps experience in iOS 6 is a downgrade. Users shouldn’t (and won’t) give a rip about behind the scenes negotiations.

Hands on With iOS 6: Installation ★

Upgrade tips and suggestions from Serenity Caldwell at Macworld.

HTC Introduces Windows Phone 8X and 8S ★

Not sure how HTC has fallen so far behind. Aesthetically, I like their phone designs much more than I do Samsung’s. Interesting too, that these Windows phones from HTC don’t bear much resemblance to their Android ones. If anything, with the bold colors, they more resemble Nokia’s. They even announced some pricing information: $199 for the high-end 8X on AT&T and T-Mobile.

iPhone 5 and iOS 6 SunSpider Performance ★

A big part of this score is the A6 CPU, but iOS 6 plays a part. They’ve got the iPhone 4S listed at 2,250, but when I run the SunSpider benchmark on mine (which I’ve already upgraded to the iOS 6 GM build), I get scores around 1,800. (Lower is better in SunSpider.)