Apple? where and why did it all go wrong??

For the past 10 years I’ve been using Apple kit, all the past iPhone variants, a couple of desktops and lots of macbookpro’s.

But it seems that the company is on the slide, the recent update to 10.10.1 is riddled with bugs that you could be mistaken that it was codenamed vista. iOS 8 is equally flawed.

Whats more none of their new kit appears to be innovative, fresh or dare I say it interesting.

I’ve also had access to a couple of Android phones (Sony Z2 & LG G3) and its like taking a big step forwards, I was impressed just how much more functional Android is and also surprised by just how much of a limited walled garden Apple actually give you.

Oh and have you ever tried to save, or export safari bookmarks from an iPad?? its impossible unless you back up to iCloud, no simple way of exporting a file or mailing them to another device.

The new iPhones? hardly an upgrade are they, even before launch the Android market had several units available with higher specs.

Unless they pull something serious out of the bag it looks like that part chewed fruit maybe past its sell by date.

The technology has matured, innovation is difficult, look at the complete **** up microsoft made with windows 8 when “innovating” for the sake of change rather than with purpose.

Some technologies just work, the optimal number of wheels on cars is 4, not 3 or 6, every now and then someone will try and be different, but it is just a gimmick and will fail.

Apple kit still the best all round my a long way IMO. Not sure what bugs the latest OSX and iOS are supposed to be riddled with, we upgraded immediately and have had no issues (iPad & Mini, iPhone 4S & 5 & 6, MBP, Mac Mini)

No I haven’t tried to export bookmarks as the cloud does it automatically and immediately, with latest OS you can now start reading a web page on one device and switch over to the other very easily.

The new iPhone 6 is fabulous. When I am done with it I’ll be able to sell it on for a good price, old Android/Samsung/ phones are virtually worthless.

Totally agree with you, the specs are so poor compared to android phones and what annoys you s when they do their wwc thingies and go ooooooh we have the best phone ever! No I’m afraid you don’t every one else had the same tech as you two years ago. Unfortunately I’m tied in to my 5s until next August! Boooooooo

As someone who’s been using macs for 20 years, even when they were shite, I used to laugh mockingly at PC users and their constant software patches and updates

But now it seems that every time I fire up my Mac, theres a message to say ‘to run iWotsit you must now install iThingy 10.2.3……’

Its getting right on my tits 😈

They should remember that the joy of macs was always that the just worked. Without any of this nonsense!!!

Jobs died.

They’re a victim of their increased popularity. Imagine how buggy there software would be if, like Microsoft, they had to cope with a huge variation in hardware etc. from loads of different manufacturers.

Who really cares what the “spec” is of the Android phones, the Apple phones are great, they do the job extremely well and the whole integration experience with computers etc is outstanding. Look at the statistics, as the STW folk said recently after their front page poll the majority of users on STW are using Apple devices.

The specs of Android phones may be better, but apple has optimised their phones and operating systems so that they run faster and smoother even though they utilise less ram and, on paper at least, a slower processor.

I find iPhones are much nicer to use.

Phone wise the best thing I did was jump from idevices to android. The iPad is still the best tablet out there IMHO, but is still muchos ‘spensive. The Sony ones are catching up very quickly though.
I haven’t really played with macs, but Apple’s OS doesn’t make me go ooooohhhhh, Windows 10 did though.

They’re a victim of their increased popularity

^^ this

You only have to look at the items they address in iOS to realise what’s going on esp in terms of security. So many patches and yet hardly any worthwhile enhancements or integration.

For me they definitely lost it with iOS 7. Put it down and take a step back and ask yourself is this actually any good?

apple is just style over substance these days; see the results of that middleclasstrackworld survey on the front page 😉

the ipod was a big leap, and theyve pushed touchscreen tech forwards with their phones and ipads and easy to use apps

but you are just paying a premium for the logo, a lot of similarities with the santa cruz thread, some people are happy to do that, but better stuff is out there for less

itunes has got worse with every new version and google/android does integration much better without forcing the consumer to buy into their premium hype products

Jobs died.

Nah, they all went to China.

Not entirely the case.. Microsoft had to do something to cater for the rise of handheld, touchscreen devices, or get left even further behind.

well the tide must be turning – this is the first thread I’ve seen here where the iCrowd even hint their system may be slightly less than perfect….

apple is just style over substance these days

That depends. Ever tried working on massive multilayered hi-res photoshop files on a PC? Without launching it out of a window after its fallen over for the 27th time?

When it comes to what used to be their old core market, they’re still approximately 372,986,296 times better than the other available option

Apple have never been ‘cutting edge’ – they take other peoples ideas and make them work. And put them in a desirable package.

And anyone who says Apple were perfect has obviously never had to faff about with SCSI chains!

We’ve used up all the alien technology discovered at Roswell that led to the recent rapid advance in technology we’ve had recently, so things are slowing down as our own ability to keep the pace up dwindles.

I arrived late at the party when I moved to a Mac last year. As a consumer product its almost perfect. Its fast, works well when its up and relatively efficient with the hardware. Its pricey and a pita when it goes wrong, but the time saving on booting alone over the year probably makes up for the extra hassle.

I cant see the iphone being anything more than a fashion statement as the android phones are just as usable. Its just an app and battery life war. Im more than happy with my one plus.

That depends. Ever tried working on massive multilayered hi-res photoshop files on a PC? Without launching it out of a window after its fallen over for the 27th time?

No. I use a maxed out MacBook Pro and external monitor (I guess you use something similar). Can’t see the point in trying a PC to save a bit of money when my time and sanity is worth far more.

Having been an on-call PC tech support for ageing parents with a Microsoft infected computer I refuse to go anywhere near another windows computer.

I’d quite happily see the bloke who designed iTunes get a proper shoeing for designing slow, obstructive and painfully unintuitive software.

i’ve had an iphone since 2005, and i’ve enjoyed them for what they’ve been.. but it’s just such a faff to use vs an android phone… i’ve never been one of those people that could be classed as a fanboy and i think it’s time for something new once my contract is up (in a year’s time 🙁 )

and also this:

PJM1974 – Member
I’d quite happily see the bloke who designed iTunes get a proper shoeing for designing slow, obstructive and painfully unintuitive software.

Having been an on-call PC tech support for ageing parents with a Microsoft infected computer I refuse to go anywhere near another windows computer.

For similar reasons I am eternally grateful that my parents were convinced by my Mac-loving brother to get a MacOS infected computer, and it’s his problem to sort them out when things inevitably go wrong.

Nah, they all went to China.

And then they died. 🙁

jambalaya – Member
The new iPhone 6 is fabulous. When I am done with it I’ll be able to sell it on for a good price, old Android/Samsung/ phones are virtually worthless.

What’s virtually worthless? Cause I got a handsome price for my 2 year old HTC, that I didn’t pay for upfront.

I have all Apple at home and use Windows at work. I have to say I think MS have come a long way over the years, W7 is much more stable than OSX (I regularly churn through 100s Gb of data at work and my machine never misses a beat). Whereas I endlessly have to reboot my MBP esp after upgrading to the latest OSX e.g. ever since the upgrade it loses the internet connection every day and I have to reboot to get it back….

However, the iPhone 6 is utterly brilliant, by far the best phone I’ve ever owned / seen. Worth it just for the camera.

If you’re having to endlessly reboot your computer, no matter what modern operating system it is running, something is wrong with THAT computer. Deal with your (IT) problem, stop blaming it on someone else.

Rachel

I have a defunct, slow, riddled with errors XP PC at home, which isn’t worth a penny.

I have a MacBook of the same age, which runs fine and has taken over from the above as our go to PC and is not painful to use in the slightest.

Just sayin’

The music players are great. Probably the best you can get. It’s those things with operating systems that they’re screwing up. Maybe they should focs on what they do best and bring out an iPod with proper disk space..

(By the way, I upgraded (lolz) my iPhone 4s to 8.1 and now I’m getting freezes. Thanks GrahamS! 🙁 )

I have a defunct, slow, riddled with errors XP PC at home

I have a defunct, not-slow, no errors whatsoever XP laptop at home. I gave it to my son to do his homework on, small memory upgrade and it runs like a dream. Laptop must be 6-7 years old.

I have to admit, though, my Mac does have a ‘bug’ at the moment, it seems…

Long-term iPhone and iPad user, shorter-term MacBook use (just over a year). The most recent IOS is the worst. The worst by quite a margin. Despite really great features it is so full of bugs. It also could do with some distillation – a move back to the core principles. It also needs some better integration of the new features into the user experience to make them less cluttered and more seamless. This is something that Apple has historically done well.

OSX has been less bug ridden and as yet seems to be working well for me. I was s long-term user of Windows and I can honestly say OSX is a much simpler and more enjoyable experience…

DezB – you do know that the iPod players, even the old ones, do actually have an operating system, right?

Rachel

If you’re having to endlessly reboot your computer, no matter what modern operating system it is running, something is wrong with THAT computer. Deal with your (IT) problem, stop blaming it on someone else.

I’m betting it’s a bug in the latest version of OSX, as that’s the only change which caused it. I’m expecting it to just go away after one of their many bug fix builds.

This is the company that launched the iPhone 6 and the next day released an iOS update for it that killed both the fingerprint reader and radio chip. I had a £600 paper weight for a week before they released another update which undid the bugs from the first one….

DezB – you do know that the iPod players, even the old ones, do actually have an operating system, right?

So it’s not pixie dust?

Rachel. Dez Jamie.

For anyone who likes to fiddle with computers, Iphones and Itunes are way too restrictive.

The issue I have with modern IOS systems is that they tart them up too much when it’s not required. I had an Iphone 3 that worked fine, and then they updated the IOS and made the folders fade in and out, and do all sorts of useless graphical features, the phone ran so slow I eventually upgraded to a 4. This pi$$ed me off. Blatantly forcing you to upgrade by ‘forcing’ advanced graphical features on you that you don’t need or probably want.

Any high end PC user (graphic design, 3D modelling etc..) will tell you, the first thing you do with a new PC is turn all the advanced graphical features off to free up memory for the important tasks.

A modern phone should easily run a watered down Windows XP type OS, and an XP level OS could easily do what we need phones to do…

Windows phone 7 should have been good, but lack of support and bugs finished it off. Windows 8 is better, but still quite restrictive.

A modern phone should easily run a watered down Windows XP type OS, and an XP level OS could easily do what we need phones to do…

You can run XP on an iPhone 6, some Chinese chap has ported it across…..

Blatantly forcing you to upgrade by ‘forcing’ advanced graphical features on you that you don’t need or probably want.

ah, the old I was ‘forced’ to upgrade chestnut. I thought all software updates were optional? and how do the latest versions of android run on dated phones?

I think it is less that apple has faded, and more that windows/android has got better.

For similar reasons I am eternally grateful that my parents were convinced by my Mac-loving brother to get a MacOS infected computer, and it’s his problem to sort them out when things inevitably go wrong.

I too got my folks a mac, only had 2 emergency support phone calls, one asking where to get the printer drivers from (easy as they were not needed) and how to stop the windows whizzing around with expose (sorted by watching the little video built into the settings panel) no support calls for months now.

The smartphone market is a mature one now so there’s arguably a lack of innovation on all sides. I don’t count stuffing the latest, fastest off-the-shelf SoC into a phone particularly innovative, nor duplicating 90% of the functionality of the base OS with your own vendor apps.

Android vendors (much like Google itself) like to throw lots of new ideas into their products, whether they work properly or not, and see what sticks. Apple seem to take a more considered approach and put in things like fingerprint readers only when they have a technology that works well enough for them.

I did have a few months on Android (which was OK) but back on iOS now. The extensions/widgets in iOS8 aren’t as comprehensive as you get on Android but functional enough for me. I can have Lastpass sign into websites (authenticated by my finger), I can easily send stuff to Pocket or Evernote and I can start a Strava recording straight from the Today screen.

Wireless charging and waterproofing would be nice, but not that important to me in the grand scheme of things.