Apple releases new bugs in iOS 8.3, OS X 10.10.3 and iTunes 12.1.2 :)

Well…It has become routine now. New untested releases from Apple again. Anyway, we can safely assume that there will be new bugs and some old ones that will remain. The list of bugs “fixed” will continue to have some variations with every update besides “improving security, safety…” etc.

Bugs can fly!

iOS 8.3 breaks touch id for some according to quite a few blogs on the net. So, you might want to gather more information on this one before updating iOS to see which devices are affected by this bug.

For me, OS X seems to have some display related issues where windows will not redraw on my iMac even though the application is running and visible.

The brain-dead Photos app found only 20 photos on my phone where there was actually a whole lot more. This was on a freshly created user account after upgrading to 10.10.3. Out of the 20 photos, it could not import 2 with a message saying there was some issue with the metadata. Well…It goes even further, only 2 photos out of the imported 18 were complete, the rest were incomplete images with half of the image missing. The scenario did not change after upgrading iOS to 8.3. From a usable iPhoto, we now have a bare-bones, brain-dead Photos app!

Given the somewhat longer list of bug fixes in all the released software, it shows what all bugs have been around for years and are included in every update as being “fixed”.

Although I have yet to figure out any improvements, I do see new bugs besides some of the older ones still hanging around. Still to use the new iTunes update…Let’s see what new bugs are in store there.

With the tasteless (bitter for some) Lollipop from Google and Windows all-over-the-place, Apple has no real need or urgency to improve or fix anything, excepting on paper.

BTW, the iPhone 5c is available for the same price as the iPhone 4s officially. Head over to Amazon India for the current pricing and availability. With some coupons or offers, it can be even cheaper and falls into the same price range as a mid-to-low range Android device.

Overall, I would say it’s okay to update since the updates do not seem to be any worse than the previous ones…So far!

Joke of the Year…Apple iJoke unleashed!

Apple, the iconic company has done it again! They released the biggest joke of the year already, but, not very many are aware of it. Maybe it’s subtle enough to be ignored in a casual read.

So, here it is…Apple announced a “Public” beta of not just OS X, but also of iOS now. It’s Apple hardware, Apple software and everything on it is Apple moderated by the Mac AppStore and iOS AppStore and now Apple needs to do public betas in order to get their software fixed and working.

While this would be perfectly understandable in Microsoft’s case or similar companies since the combinations in the PC world are practically endless, for Apple, this is the biggest joke of all time!

Command key on my iMac. Time to clean up.

 

So…What could be the reason behind this joke? The only logical reason would seem to be that no one at Apple uses any Apple hardware or software anymore and relies on the more robust hardware and software from other vendors. A company that never let out any details about what it was upto, now announces products in advance and fails to deliver over extended time periods.

Personally, I had signed up and participated in the OS X beta and never got any acknowledgements of any of the bugs I submitted or their status on release. This is just another eyewash from a directionless company after Steve Jobs.

Looking at it another way would be like saying; “It’s our hardware and software and we need others to check it out since we cannot do it ourselves”. Other companies do it, so, we must too…

I am still using a spotted, bad LCD, on my iMac like, possibly, many others. A common issue that was well-known. It was replaced once during warranty and spotted all over again after 3 months again. The replaced screen did not even carry a 6 month warranty. While I know Apple replaced the LCD vendor, it does not help me. At a paid replacement cost of over 30k, my next monitor would be accompanied by a PC.

I hope Microsoft gets its act together with Windows soon, otherwise it would be a Linux only PC. My Android phone is almost as usable as my iPhone now, so, the change seems to be coming…

So, what prompted me to actually write this post? Well…It was triggered by this video on YouTube where I think the laughter might be a bit overdone, but, I could add more points to it 🙂

This has English sub-titles and is fun to watch!

You can say iWatch or Apple Watch now…!

Apple – Let the Pain Begin!

After yet another flurry of untested and buggy software releases in the form of iOS and Yosemite, Apple was no longer concerned about the less than 50% adoption rate of iOS 8 at yet another boring event with lame jokes. They appeared to ignore the fact that even the close to 50% adoption rate for iOS 8 was primarily driven by the new iPhones.

The entire ecosystem that made Apple what it was while Steve Jobs was around is steadily crumbling. Personally, I think Apple made too much money to be bothered about quality, user experience or the identity the company had under Jobs.

iOS 8.0.2 – Extremely buggy and slow – Best Avoided for now…

Apple has pushed out yet another un-tried and un-tested release for iOS 8. There are too many issues to list out here. 8.0.1 worked better on the iPhone 5.

For starters though, FaceTime appears to be quite broken in different ways and combinations. Extremely laggy on the iPad 3, not that iOS 7 was a speed demon. The only way to fix the intermittent issues seems to be to reset the device, and the issues come right back after sometime. These are results from a clean restore of iOS 8.0.2 since 8.0.1 had issues when upgrading (according to Apple).

iOS 8 Released – Best Avoided for now…

Well, as I had indicated in my earlier posts, Apple is releasing buggy and untested stuff all over the place. The iOS 8 final build is the same as the GM released to developers earlier. No surprises, it remains bug riddled at least in my brief tests.

Apple has already pulled Health Kit related apps as they “discovered” serious issues there. I probably have some ideas on one of the bugs since I ran into it with no additional, related, apps. I entered some data in iOS 8 beta 5 in the health app and the entire data was destroyed when the device was updated to the iOS 8 GM. Although I had emailed a backup of the health data from the app, there is no way to restore it in the GM version. There was another issue that I could not change units to suit my taste, it seemed to be fixed/hard-coded.

iTunes U 2.0 with custom classroom support released

Apple released iTunes U 2.0 with support for creating and sharing courses a few hours ago. Although it is too early to figure out the actual impact and overall usage and adoption given the high price of Apple devices, it does look promising.

To create a course, you need to have an iPad and have to register with an Institute name and profile, which, can be edited later. I guess details will emerge as and when people start using it.

A brief description from the application is as follows:

• The new iTunes U makes it simple for students participating in private courses to pose questions on the course or any post or assignment
• Other students in the class can jump into the discussion and ask more questions or provide answers
• Teachers and students can keep up with the conversation when they receive push notifications as the discussion progresses

Create courses on iPad

• Teachers can now create and update their courses using the iTunes U app on their iPad—getting started is fast, simple, and completely free
• Provide every student a course outline, write posts, distribute assignments, upload class materials, easily track participating students, and much more
• Take advantage of the built in camera on iPad to easily capture photos or videos and upload them for course assignments
• Create materials using Pages, Numbers, and Keynote—or other apps from the App Store—and add them to your course by using “Open in iTunes U” from within each app
• Teachers affiliated with qualified institutions have the option to publish their courses to the iTunes U Catalog—making them available to everyone for free

 

iOS 8 Beta 3 – First Looks

After dabbling around with the iOS 8 Beta 3, I came across some interesting things. I had skipped Beta 2, so, it is possible that some of these might have been in Beta 2 as well.

If you restore to iOS 8 Beta 3, you will find the following changes on startup.

• Hindi welcome messages have been included in the startup screen.
• Keyboards are selectable at startup along with English (India). You can also select Emoji right here.
• Find my phone is enabled by default if you use iCloud.
• Upgrade to iCloud Drive for Yosemite or keep using iCloud documents.
• Share App Analytics with developers to improve apps.

WWDC 2014 – iOS 8, OS X 10.10 – Apple opens up iOS a bit more!

Well…Not a very exciting event from Apple, but, there are some points that could stretch Apple’s lead in the mobile and desktop market to some extent.

1. Apple has opened out more APIs on the iOS side allowing app functionality, officially, that was previously available only on jailbroken devices. Given the wide developer base, we could see some exciting apps coming up in the near future. iOS 8 Enterprise features have also been enhanced and could spur wider enterprise adoption.
2. The introduction of a new programming language, Swift, which could accelerate the development on iOS and OS X platforms far more than ever before.
3. The integration and extension of the functionality of the 10+ year old Nokia PC Suite into Yosemite is a welcome addition. Most people using iOS devices would probably understand that this could be quite useful on occasion. This page has details.

A word of caution for early adopters. Do not attempt to try iOS 8 just as yet on your primary phone. Most of the current applications will not work as expected and a vast majority would simply crash, including the stock apps. Yosemite, although usable, is quite laggy and slow, which is to be expected from a developer preview. The same applies to Xcode 6 beta.

Setting up a new iPhone/iPad? A brief How-To…

Back in 2010, I had listed out some of the apps I was using and recommended the same. A lot has evolved since. It’s not just the apps, its also the devices that have changed giving rise to better and more powerful apps. I will try to cover the basic setup options for a new iDevice running iOS 7. iOS is currently at version 7.1.1 and, ideally, one should upgrade to this version, if not already on it.

I will focus on the iPhone here since that is the most commonly used iDevice. Most of the following also applies to the iPad. You can find tutorials for the iDevices on Apple’s site as well as YouTube, if needed.

OS X Mavericks Release and Update – The Buggiest Ever?

Well, now that OS X Mavericks has a .1 update, with the concentration being on Apple Mail and Graphics, it would be safe to say that OS X Mavericks, like iOS 7, is possibly the worst release of OS X ever. The completely untested releases, not to mention the non-existent UX.

Mavericks, true to it’s name, is one. Almost nothing works as expected. Although Apple acknowledged issues in Apple Mail, it was limited to Gmail related accounts and mentions nothing else. It still has a clutter of draft/versions and sync issues. The rendering of standard HTML email still does not work.

The Contacts still retain the bloat and duplication issues of earlier. All iCloud applications require manual run to sync them across devices. The iCloud Keychain does not work for Exchange accounts…try changing an Exchange account password after the policy expires it. The more iDevices you have on the iCloud Keychain, the worse it becomes.