Apple stuff - Mac, iPad, iphone
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Essex
Age: 53
Posts: 164
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 2,460
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
There is virtually no unique technology in Apple products, so the "high R&D spend" story is nonsense. I've been in electronics since the 1970s...
They are good at producing stylish stuff, at a level of build quality which is up with the best in consumer IT gear (though IME definitely not up to the level of say Lenovo), and they market it very cleverly to make the items very desirable.
Fashion breeds fashion and once the bandwagon got rolling they kept it rolling. But it could come to a halt... look at where Myspace is now, for example. Fashion icons come and go. Apple is like Facebook.
Apple products are nothing that any technologically capable company cannot make. For example the Samsung 10" Galaxy tablet is virtually the same as the Ipad, with the apparent differences being just the O/S, and IOS implements the finger gestures better.
And the Iphone is actually a pretty crap phone. Even a £10 phone from Asda is a better phone. At home we have an Iphone4 (which frequently fails to work for inexplicable reasons, and has already been replaced once under warranty) and an Ipad2 (which is mostly OK but has weird wifi issues, along with seemingly many others, and Apple have also replaced that under warranty when its HDMI output was found to be dead). That's a 100% failure rate in our household, reducing to 66% if I count the Imac I bought for my son who lives away.
Steve Jobs was by all accounts a thoroughly nasty character whose nastiness no doubt contributed to the polarisation of views on the company.
Apple use their massive power to shaft Chinese subcontractors into making the stuff for tuppence while they make a few hundred $ gross profit on every one. Of course, nobody is now going to bomb the price so all the other smartphone makers are now playing the same game and milking the market for all it will pay (currently).
Their appstore is full of banal crap. About 99% of the 200,000 or so apps perform no useful function. This becomes obvious when you start looking for something... and the stupid partitioning of apps and their private data means one has to buy multiple similar apps just to do one job.
I would not buy Apple shares because I cannot see the upside. They have no unique technology. They have a slick O/S but that is "just software". They are selling because they are fashionable, not because they are somehow excellent compared to anybody else.
They are good at producing stylish stuff, at a level of build quality which is up with the best in consumer IT gear (though IME definitely not up to the level of say Lenovo), and they market it very cleverly to make the items very desirable.
Fashion breeds fashion and once the bandwagon got rolling they kept it rolling. But it could come to a halt... look at where Myspace is now, for example. Fashion icons come and go. Apple is like Facebook.
Apple products are nothing that any technologically capable company cannot make. For example the Samsung 10" Galaxy tablet is virtually the same as the Ipad, with the apparent differences being just the O/S, and IOS implements the finger gestures better.
And the Iphone is actually a pretty crap phone. Even a £10 phone from Asda is a better phone. At home we have an Iphone4 (which frequently fails to work for inexplicable reasons, and has already been replaced once under warranty) and an Ipad2 (which is mostly OK but has weird wifi issues, along with seemingly many others, and Apple have also replaced that under warranty when its HDMI output was found to be dead). That's a 100% failure rate in our household, reducing to 66% if I count the Imac I bought for my son who lives away.
Steve Jobs was by all accounts a thoroughly nasty character whose nastiness no doubt contributed to the polarisation of views on the company.
Apple use their massive power to shaft Chinese subcontractors into making the stuff for tuppence while they make a few hundred $ gross profit on every one. Of course, nobody is now going to bomb the price so all the other smartphone makers are now playing the same game and milking the market for all it will pay (currently).
Their appstore is full of banal crap. About 99% of the 200,000 or so apps perform no useful function. This becomes obvious when you start looking for something... and the stupid partitioning of apps and their private data means one has to buy multiple similar apps just to do one job.
I would not buy Apple shares because I cannot see the upside. They have no unique technology. They have a slick O/S but that is "just software". They are selling because they are fashionable, not because they are somehow excellent compared to anybody else.
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Earth
Posts: 3,663
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
peterh337,
I made my point clear on another thread.
Why can't we seemingly go a day without someone taking pot shots at Apple.
Look, every company has skeletons in their closet. The choice between Apple and PC or whatever is up to you and you alone. No need to start haranguing others with your viewpoint (which is somehwat incorrect by the way).
You might have worked in electronics, but that one statement surmises the fact that you've never worked in IT.
OEM components are one thing, but I think you substancially fail to realise how much work and effort goes into combining the software and hardware into one final polished product.
And that's before we start talking about QA, support and all the rest.
Its an expensive business.
Oh, right... and your beloved Lenovo or Samsung don't do that do they ? They make stuff in the US or Europe do they ? 
Seriously... I can't be bothered to waste my time typing a response.
Take a chill pill peterh337.... infact take two !
I made my point clear on another thread.
Why can't we seemingly go a day without someone taking pot shots at Apple.
Look, every company has skeletons in their closet. The choice between Apple and PC or whatever is up to you and you alone. No need to start haranguing others with your viewpoint (which is somehwat incorrect by the way).
There is virtually no unique technology in Apple products, so the "high R&D spend" story is nonsense. I've been in electronics since the 1970s...
OEM components are one thing, but I think you substancially fail to realise how much work and effort goes into combining the software and hardware into one final polished product.
And that's before we start talking about QA, support and all the rest.
Its an expensive business.
Apple use their massive power to shaft Chinese subcontractors into making the stuff for tuppence while they make a few hundred $ gross profit on every one.
Seriously... I can't be bothered to waste my time typing a response.
Take a chill pill peterh337.... infact take two !
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chez Sprog
Posts: 493
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Why can't we seemingly go a day without someone taking pot shots at Apple.
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Earth
Posts: 3,663
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sprogget,
I am not intolerant of others. I'm involved in the IT industry, it wouldn't do me much good to only be promoting one brand !
What I am intolerant of is people spewing out the same old heavily negative tripe about Apple without actually being able to back it up with hard facts.
Its always the same old rubbish based on personal perceptions with no evidence.
That's what I dislike. I couldn't care less whether people prefer to buy Samsung over Apple for their own use or their business's use .... whatever meets their own needs, desires and requirements.
Look. I know Apple very well. But I also know the other vendors very well (even better in some cases)..... its a fact that the IT industry is a box-shifting industry and therefore they are all largely as bad as each other to a certain extent. However Apple do push out quality product, and I'm not saying that from personal belief, I'm saying that from comparing it to other gadgets their competitors push out. "Fanboi", "hype", "screwing supply chain" and all the usual terminology thrown at Apple.... it's not confined to Apple !
I am not intolerant of others. I'm involved in the IT industry, it wouldn't do me much good to only be promoting one brand !
What I am intolerant of is people spewing out the same old heavily negative tripe about Apple without actually being able to back it up with hard facts.
Its always the same old rubbish based on personal perceptions with no evidence.
That's what I dislike. I couldn't care less whether people prefer to buy Samsung over Apple for their own use or their business's use .... whatever meets their own needs, desires and requirements.
Look. I know Apple very well. But I also know the other vendors very well (even better in some cases)..... its a fact that the IT industry is a box-shifting industry and therefore they are all largely as bad as each other to a certain extent. However Apple do push out quality product, and I'm not saying that from personal belief, I'm saying that from comparing it to other gadgets their competitors push out. "Fanboi", "hype", "screwing supply chain" and all the usual terminology thrown at Apple.... it's not confined to Apple !
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: .
Posts: 2,173
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From a repairability point of view, Appple kit is awful. it looks pretty, but try taking it apart to replace a failed drive. For instance a Mac Mini has to be assaulted with pallette knives to safely open it. As as for a unibody.....aaargh
And what I really object to is the way in which apple insists on total control
On an ipad or iphone you can only install apps from people it likes,
And everytime you buy a book or newspaper or other media online - 40% or more of the cost goes to Apple. That doesn't happen with M$
And what I really object to is the way in which apple insists on total control
On an ipad or iphone you can only install apps from people it likes,
And everytime you buy a book or newspaper or other media online - 40% or more of the cost goes to Apple. That doesn't happen with M$
Controversial, moi?
I have to agree with mixture.
I own both Apple and PC machines. I don't particularly like quite a lot about my Macbook Pro but I do not feel the need to argue that all Apple products are rubbish, they are not. Some things about my Macbook I hate, some things I think are very good. Equally, but less so since W7, I can say the same about PCs!
Apple products are undoubtedly stylish and their presentation is second to none. I do find Apple's ability to not only maintain their prices at very high levels but also to do so across the world quite extraordinary. I also find the fervent obsession displayed by some about Apple products as nauseating as it is weird.
If people dislike Apple so much then don't buy their stuff, I actively don't buy anything associated with Rupert Murdoch but I don't feel the need to shout about it.
Horses for courses in the same way people are happy to drive cars I wouldn't be seen dead in.
I own both Apple and PC machines. I don't particularly like quite a lot about my Macbook Pro but I do not feel the need to argue that all Apple products are rubbish, they are not. Some things about my Macbook I hate, some things I think are very good. Equally, but less so since W7, I can say the same about PCs!
Apple products are undoubtedly stylish and their presentation is second to none. I do find Apple's ability to not only maintain their prices at very high levels but also to do so across the world quite extraordinary. I also find the fervent obsession displayed by some about Apple products as nauseating as it is weird.
If people dislike Apple so much then don't buy their stuff, I actively don't buy anything associated with Rupert Murdoch but I don't feel the need to shout about it.
Horses for courses in the same way people are happy to drive cars I wouldn't be seen dead in.
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 2,460
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I don't have a problem with any of this, but I must disagree with the assertion that Apple has some sort of technological leadership.
It simply does not.
It uses much the same chips as everybody else uses, or the same chips as are available to any other high volume consumer IT producer.
The rest is software, as they say
And IOS is the slickest implementation of the "finger interface" currently out. The degree to which this is important depends on what you use the device for. For the simple usage probably intended by Apple i.e. multimedia consumption, this slickness is key to getting the sales.
In every other way, IOS is a pig. A very inflexible, one trick horse. But I can see why Apple did that. If somebody could email you an MP3 with DRM protection, and you could then email that attachment to somebody else, Apple could not have got all those media vendors to come on board.
In some specific ways, the IOS devices are poor.
As a phone, the Iphone is poor. I happen to think that a phone should work like a phone, with a decent reception, etc. It also has weird bugs e.g. incoming GSM texts are OK but incoming calls do not make it ring (reproduced in the shop, too, resulting in a swap). You can throw half a dozen phones on the table in any marginal signal area and you can be sure that the Apple one will be the first to stop working.
For data, the wifi implementation is problematic - see the ~100 page thread on Apple's own "community" from people tearing their hair out with (mostly) the Ipad2 and a large variety of what Jobs would call "edge cases"; basically a load of existing wifi routers and access points. This is a bit of a hot issue in IT, with "Ipad compatible" firmware updates being quietly issued, but you won't get these for a bit of hardware which is no longer supported, which is basically anything over a year old. And the phone has problems determining connectivity between GPRS/3G and WIFI, often resulting in no data access at all. Of course this cannot be reproduced in the shop because they use Apple or specific Cisco APs.
The GPS works well on the ground, with GSM assistance, and is crap without it (e.g. in the air). It has been compromised for low power and has a rubbish Kalman filter, and the API is crippled to not reveal the satellite constellation to the app. The app has to guess whether it is getting real reception, by looking at how the estimated position error figure is varying.
Apple have the best designed app shop whereby you can buy multiple IOS devices and download the apps you have bought into all of them, while paying only once. This is kind of possible with Nokia but is difficult at best. And much as I detest Itunes (whose windows implementation must be one of the worst apps written in the last 10 years) it does actually do a full backup/restore which cannot be done with e.g. a Nokia, or with any device which is not backed up by an online app shop which knows your identity (to keep a lid on bootlegging). However its "sync" is horrible and it's easy to wipe out stuff by mistake.
I don't think discussing these issues is "pro fanbois" or "anti fanbois". I could have written similar stuff on any predecessor, right back to early PDAs some of which were only just usable in narrow applications (e.g. running TomTom in a car holder ) and it is no suprise that smartphones have killed the PDA business.
Apple have been astonishingly clever in the way they have created the massive fashion following. Good visual styling, good PR, a high street presence which nobody can even approach.
But a technology leader? No.
Nothing is perfect. I have a Nokia 700 (chosen largely for its small size while doing "everything" the bigger smartphones do) and that has a collection of issues. The finger interface is nothing as slick as IOS. But at least it delivers GSM, GPRS/3G and WIFI connectivity without issues, and is "open" in as much as all the parts which you need to get to are accessible with file browsers, which makes file management possible. And it has cursor keys on the keyboard
It simply does not.
It uses much the same chips as everybody else uses, or the same chips as are available to any other high volume consumer IT producer.
The rest is software, as they say
And IOS is the slickest implementation of the "finger interface" currently out. The degree to which this is important depends on what you use the device for. For the simple usage probably intended by Apple i.e. multimedia consumption, this slickness is key to getting the sales.
In every other way, IOS is a pig. A very inflexible, one trick horse. But I can see why Apple did that. If somebody could email you an MP3 with DRM protection, and you could then email that attachment to somebody else, Apple could not have got all those media vendors to come on board.
In some specific ways, the IOS devices are poor.
As a phone, the Iphone is poor. I happen to think that a phone should work like a phone, with a decent reception, etc. It also has weird bugs e.g. incoming GSM texts are OK but incoming calls do not make it ring (reproduced in the shop, too, resulting in a swap). You can throw half a dozen phones on the table in any marginal signal area and you can be sure that the Apple one will be the first to stop working.
For data, the wifi implementation is problematic - see the ~100 page thread on Apple's own "community" from people tearing their hair out with (mostly) the Ipad2 and a large variety of what Jobs would call "edge cases"; basically a load of existing wifi routers and access points. This is a bit of a hot issue in IT, with "Ipad compatible" firmware updates being quietly issued, but you won't get these for a bit of hardware which is no longer supported, which is basically anything over a year old. And the phone has problems determining connectivity between GPRS/3G and WIFI, often resulting in no data access at all. Of course this cannot be reproduced in the shop because they use Apple or specific Cisco APs.
The GPS works well on the ground, with GSM assistance, and is crap without it (e.g. in the air). It has been compromised for low power and has a rubbish Kalman filter, and the API is crippled to not reveal the satellite constellation to the app. The app has to guess whether it is getting real reception, by looking at how the estimated position error figure is varying.
Apple have the best designed app shop whereby you can buy multiple IOS devices and download the apps you have bought into all of them, while paying only once. This is kind of possible with Nokia but is difficult at best. And much as I detest Itunes (whose windows implementation must be one of the worst apps written in the last 10 years) it does actually do a full backup/restore which cannot be done with e.g. a Nokia, or with any device which is not backed up by an online app shop which knows your identity (to keep a lid on bootlegging). However its "sync" is horrible and it's easy to wipe out stuff by mistake.
I don't think discussing these issues is "pro fanbois" or "anti fanbois". I could have written similar stuff on any predecessor, right back to early PDAs some of which were only just usable in narrow applications (e.g. running TomTom in a car holder
) and it is no suprise that smartphones have killed the PDA business. Apple have been astonishingly clever in the way they have created the massive fashion following. Good visual styling, good PR, a high street presence which nobody can even approach.
But a technology leader? No.
Nothing is perfect. I have a Nokia 700 (chosen largely for its small size while doing "everything" the bigger smartphones do) and that has a collection of issues. The finger interface is nothing as slick as IOS. But at least it delivers GSM, GPRS/3G and WIFI connectivity without issues, and is "open" in as much as all the parts which you need to get to are accessible with file browsers, which makes file management possible. And it has cursor keys on the keyboard
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Earth
Posts: 3,663
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If somebody could email you an MP3 with DRM protection
iTunes went DRM-free in January 2009 with DRM fully phased out by spring.
As a phone, the Iphone is poor. I happen to think that a phone should work like a phone, with a decent reception, etc. It also has weird bugs ....
For data, the wifi implementation is problematic
However its "sync" is horrible and it's easy to wipe out stuff by mistake.
Anyway peterh337, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on your point of view. I still don't feel you are looking at things in a rational and unbiased manner.
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: .
Posts: 2,173
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Apple does it again
Apple users complain new iPad prone to overheating - IT News from V3.co.uk
"Scores of disgruntled owners of the new iPad have complained that the tablet is prone to overheating and are considering returning the device just 72 hours after it went on sale"
Apple users complain new iPad prone to overheating - IT News from V3.co.uk
"Scores of disgruntled owners of the new iPad have complained that the tablet is prone to overheating and are considering returning the device just 72 hours after it went on sale"
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 579
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
-and also here.
Apple misleading customers on warranties.
"Consumer groups in eleven countries have written letters to national regulators asking them to put a stop to Apple's misleading advertising on product warranties". "Apple has already been fined $1.18 million in Italy".
Apple misleading customers on warranties.
"Consumer groups in eleven countries have written letters to national regulators asking them to put a stop to Apple's misleading advertising on product warranties". "Apple has already been fined $1.18 million in Italy".
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Earth
Posts: 3,663
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Milo/KBPsen,
I can't believe you lot are still sitting up in your ivory towers thinking your vendor of choice can do no bad and that Apple is some big bad monster.
I can probably find hundreds or thousands of examples of non-Apple vendors ending up with similar headlines.
Hardware defects happen, curious contract terms happen ..... get over it and move on with your life ! (I suspect you'll find many other manufacturers with worse warranty terms than Apple).
Anyway, as I said, I'm wasting my time trying to persuade you lot to look at stuff in an unbiased and rational way. So this is going to be my last post on the matter, you lot can continue to rant away on your little soapboxes !
I can't believe you lot are still sitting up in your ivory towers thinking your vendor of choice can do no bad and that Apple is some big bad monster.
I can probably find hundreds or thousands of examples of non-Apple vendors ending up with similar headlines.
Hardware defects happen, curious contract terms happen ..... get over it and move on with your life ! (I suspect you'll find many other manufacturers with worse warranty terms than Apple).
Anyway, as I said, I'm wasting my time trying to persuade you lot to look at stuff in an unbiased and rational way. So this is going to be my last post on the matter, you lot can continue to rant away on your little soapboxes !
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: EU
Posts: 626
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Apple is a industry leader. iPad is the number 1 tablet, iPhone is the number 1 phone. There are no tricks. Millions of people can't be wrong.
Android are in fact changing their software to match that of IOS because they know Apple are onto a winner.
Apple may not be a technology leader, but they have changed the way we think about technology. Kind of an revolution.
Not an Apple fan boy either, I have a HTC. My HTC is better spec wise than the iPhone, but it doesn't gel together with Android and HTC have added their own UI on top of that making the whole phone laggy and basically crap. Let's not forget all those horrid default apps you can't remove. Apple software and Apple hardware gel very very well and because of that they have the upper hand over any higher spec device.
I do have a Macbook though, and I will never ever go back to a PC or any other OS again.
Apple aren't the great honest company they appear to be, but take a look at Microsoft. They get slagged off left right and centre all over the internet.
Android are in fact changing their software to match that of IOS because they know Apple are onto a winner.
Apple may not be a technology leader, but they have changed the way we think about technology. Kind of an revolution.
Not an Apple fan boy either, I have a HTC. My HTC is better spec wise than the iPhone, but it doesn't gel together with Android and HTC have added their own UI on top of that making the whole phone laggy and basically crap. Let's not forget all those horrid default apps you can't remove. Apple software and Apple hardware gel very very well and because of that they have the upper hand over any higher spec device.
I do have a Macbook though, and I will never ever go back to a PC or any other OS again.
Apple aren't the great honest company they appear to be, but take a look at Microsoft. They get slagged off left right and centre all over the internet.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
just bought an Ipad 3, mainly to use SkyGo to watch the football and F1.
Anyone know if there's an App to set up a UK proxy service so that SkyGo will work when outside the UK?
Anyone know if there's an App to set up a UK proxy service so that SkyGo will work when outside the UK?
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: HON121º/14 NM
Posts: 664
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
As ever, google is your friend, as I'm sure you know. I used my private network.com (might be .co.uk) whilst in Latvia, and it worked well. I know that some of my mates used different VPNs. Mine was very easy to set up, and cost about £5 per month.
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: .
Posts: 2,173
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
take a look at The UK Proxy VPN Service for Expats from SimplyExpats.net
I've never used it, but it says it can work with iPads
I've never used it, but it says it can work with iPads
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: .
Posts: 2,173
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
yet more publicity for apple
"Apple is facing criticism from customers who bought the new Ipad only to find that its Wifi connectivity apparently is not up to scratch.
The company's support forums are ablaze with angry Ipad owners who, having finally got their hands on its latest tablet, find that they cannot get a decent wireless internet connection.
Source: The Inquirer (Angry users bite Apple over poor WiFi on the new Ipad - The Inquirer)"
Source: The Inquirer (Angry users bite Apple over poor WiFi on the new Ipad - The Inquirer)"
Whilst doing a scan through my laptop yesterday it came up with the unwelcome visitor in the form of a Trojan Horse.......I was both a little suprised and unhappy at the prospect. Anyhow, it was isolated and securely deleted. A friend who works for Apple said that "oh yeah we get customers coming in all the time with these 'issues' and it's a scam of sorts..." You download a demo version of a scan/checker and voila! there you have something that needs the full version to prevent in the future.
Any views from the worldly wise ?
SHJ
Any views from the worldly wise ?
SHJ