Rotten Apple

So to gain a bit of inspiration today I asked my Tweeters what they would like to see me blog about.  If you follow me on Twitter you would have probably witnessed the near on melt down I had last night trying to download IOS 5, so this was the most popular choice.  Therefore, I have decided to give the people what they want:

Downloading IOS 5

Much like the adverts for how quickly you can do things on an iPhone, this sequence has been dramatically shortened, but basically I got in from work, bounded up the stairs like an excited puppy and plugged my iPhone into my laptop.  It conntected, told me I had an update and said that this could take around an hour so not to lose patience and disconnect.  I wasn't going to argue with my laptop and I had to eat my dinner anyway, so left my iPhone upstairs to do it's thing.  This was at 6.30pm.  Fast forward a lovely dinner (roast chicken if you must know) and 2 and a half hours of aggrevated tweeting/moaning, it's 9pm and the software has just downloaded to my laptop, ALL the while telling me it had 58 minutes remaining.  LIES.

The whole process stopped after the software had downloaded, so I had to click on my iPhone in iTunes and click 'check for updates' for it to register that the software had been downloaded.  I clicked ok when it asked if I wanted to update my phone.  I had the agonising wait for my phone to be backed up, and then another annoyance of waiting for it to 'extract software', then disaster.  A MOTHER F*****G ERROR MESSAGE saying some sort of twattery about how my iPhone could not be restored from back up.  I instantly went into a total tweeting melt down, cursing Apple and blaming them for wiping and ruining my phone and my entire life.  5 minutes later I bothered to check and see that it hadn't actually wiped my phone, but it hadn't updated it either.  Calm with a light sprinkling of annoyance was restored.  By this time it was 9.30, and I had been doing this for 3 hours  - I decided to keep trying as everyone was advising that this error was just because the server was overloaded with people attempting to download the software.  Cue me, two hours later STILL TRYING TO DOWNLOAD IT - iAnnoyed was an understatement.  In the end it started itself (?!) at midnight and then worked, but it still took 40 minutes.

IOS 5 Software Opinion

Once the update had worked, I was slightly underwhelmed.  I'm not sure if it was becuase it took so bloody long to download it, or if it's just because it's really not that impressive, but I almost wished i'd just gone to bed and left it updating.  There are the same new features that I listed before, but all of them have aspects that mean I am not as impressed with them as I thought I would be.. Here is my DL on the new features.

iMessenger - 5/10

I was annoyed about this as this is the 1 feature I was looking forward to most and it's really not that good.  The one thing I really like about BBM is that people don't need your mobile number to have it, it's a totally seperate pin.  I don't know about you, but for me i'd rather dish out a pin to a random person than my actual mobile number?  I assumed iMessenger would cotton onto this and thought it would be similar to BBM, but it's not.  It's basically just whatsapp integrated into the normal messages app - After the update I didn't even think I HAD iMessenger, it's that unnoticeable.  Basically when you go into messages, if you are sending a message to someone that has an iPhone AND has updated to IOS 5 the text you send now has a blue background instead of green, and in the body of the message before you write anything it says 'iMessage' - and that's it.  If the person you are texting doesn't have an iPhone or IOS 5 then the message you send is just green like it normally is.  ALSO, if the person you're sending a message to has an iPhone AND IOS 5, but at that current moment in time is not connected to 3G, it'll just be sent as a normal text message.  I get the idea, and it's all very nice being able to send any media to another iPhone user for free, but for me it's pretty pointless.  I get unlimited texts with my bundle anyway, and have been using whatsapp for months to send pictures.  That's it.  I didn't need a big song and dance about something being put on my phone that I already had anyway KTHANKSBYE.

Twitter Integration - 2/10

I was excited about this purely becuase you know how much I like a good tweet and the Apple website promised this update would make tweeting easier from your phone.  1, it's not hard anyway and 2, I am really annoyed with the Twitter app.  I use Echofon Pro for my Twitter account, and Echofon free for the Rejam Twitter account, because I realised long ago that I hated the standard free Twitter app.  The only way this feature applies to you is if you use the boring crap annoying free Twitter app, therefore it doesn't apply to me.  End.

Videos - 5/10

I can't really have an opinion on this, as I don't have any videos on my phone, and probably won't bother to download any from iTunes.  Nice idea though, I suppose.

Reminders - 5/10

Again, I can't really comment too much on this, as THE UPDATE MEANS MY REMINDERS APP DOESN'T WORK!  I was quite looking forward to this feature, especially as the phone can actually work out where you are and remind you of certain things when you are in certain places.  For example, I am going to Westfield tonight and when I am there I want to get some fake eyelashes.  IF the MOTHER F****R worked properly I would be able to set a reminder so the phone would recognise when I walked in the doors of Westfield and then reminded me to go and get the eyelashes - awesome eh?  Yeah, it sounds it!  Not sure what happened with my update but when I click on the Reminders app it opens and I can see the blank list of where all my lovely little reminders should be, but there is no option for me to add a reminder.  Helpful that...

Newstand - 1/10

Ok idea, but completely irrelevant for me.  If I want to read a magazine i'll buy one as I find reading long things really annoying on my phone.  It gets such a low mark because although it's a totally harmless, relatively good idea, I would never use it and you can't delete it from your home screen.  I would have though iBooks would have been a better permanent app over Newsstand?  Random.

iCloud - ?

Haven't used it, it's on but I have no idea what it is, even though I have been googling it all morning and reading what it is.  From what I can work out it backs up my phone wirelessly?  Whatever.

Camera button on lock screen

I didn't think I had this either as it doesn't show up all the time.  To get yours to show up you need to lock the phone and then double click the home button twice to get it to appear.  Why is it not just there all the time?  Also, once it opens the Apple website tells you to take a picture by clicking the volume button on the side. - why?  Once the camera is open you can use it like you always do, so why do it any differently?

Notifications - 10/10

I LOVE THE NEW NOTIFICATIONS.  It is so slick and classy, I love how it looks.  Basically now you can select all the annoying apps that bring that big ugly blue box up, and you can make the notifications come up as pretty little banners instead.  On the home screen there is a hidden notification centre (you literally put your finger on the small line at the top that shows your reception, time and battery life and drag your finger down, pulling the notification centre down like a little helpful amazing blind of awesomeness) and everything is there.  At the top it shows you the weather and temperature for where you are at this point in time, and then all the notifications you have received.  Everything, from Twitter, Facebook, text messages, missed calls, game notifications, calendar events and reminders.  I LOVE IT, it's so helpful and I think it just makes it look a lot better.  I also love that it's pretty much hidden and it's not another ugly app filling up my home screen.  <3

All in all I think for a general FREE update this is good but it's just such a faff to try and get it onto your phone, and as I have proven even when you manage to stay up all night and do it it still doesn't work properly.  I'll still be buying the 4S when my contract runs out in April because I can't wait to have a ELECTRONIC SLAVE in the form of Siri, but that's the only thing that really excites me about this update and the new phone.  I am a bit disappointed that the 4S doesn't even look much different to the 4 but oh well.

P.S I can't help but think it's weird that Steve Jobs dies and then Blackberry goes MENTAL and iPhones updates fail epically.  I think this might be the beginning of the end of the world.