Being a “geek” I frequent a lot of geek-y websites. One topic that comes up over and over is a raw hatred for all things Apple. Macs, phones, ipods, ipads, you name it, and you would think that Apple, instead of being one of the most loved companies on the planet, is staffed by the Antichrist.
The thing that really bugs me, is that much of this hate, and virulence is completely offbase and misdirected. Last week, someone said that if you bought a Mac Book Pro with the SSD, you couldn’t change it, as it was soldered to the motherboard. Clearly this basher had no idea what he was talking about. Apple laptops use the mini PCI form factor SSD’s. There are lots of them used in netbooks, and now ultrabooks, but they are standard, they are available, and you can upgrade change them. Fortunately about 10 other people piled on to call him an asshat.
The same thing about the iPhone. It’s a walled garden ecosystem, and Apple does control the content. They have standards that you must meet to submit and publish, but by and large, it is filled with useful, high quality applications. But the fact that without “jailbreaking” your iphone/ipad you can’t side load (install miscellaneous binaries circumventing the on board controls) applications, and that pisses them off. Of course, the geeks all view this as the antichrist rising. But, if that is your preference, you can jailbreak, and you can load whatever the hell you want.
About a year ago, I bought an Android device. I wanted to like it, to see if it was as good of an experience to use as my Apple gear. I even bought a Google branded Nexus tablet, so I wouldn’t have a system encrusted with carrier installed crapware. I used it exclusively for several months, I bought many applications, I tried to live with it. In the end, I went back. Yes, I am biased, and I am used to the Apple way, but there were enough annoyances that even having an unencumbered open system couldn’t make me forgive the Android experience.
Now Apple has retreated from the Skeuomorphic experience, offering a plainer, less lifelike experience, that I associate with Win 8. I did upgrade my iphone, a 4S that is getting long in the tooth, and I was surprised. It took no time to get used to the new stuff, and I think I got lucky by having a dark wallpaper, but it just works. Of course, I am sure Steve Jobs is spinning wildly in his grave.
The real surprise, is that it is quite snappy on my 2 year old phone. I was hesitating to update, as the last time at the end of life for a phone, the 3GS, I upgraded to iOS 5 and that made the phone almost unusable.
And, at the same time, Apple launched their radio service as part of iTunes. You know what? It is AWESOME. Great selection of genres and sub-genres, great music, and a hugely better quality experience (listening, navigation, and selection of included tracks) than the Google Play all-access service. Heck, it might be too soon to tell, but this might replace my Spotify account.
Love, love, love the radio.
As I said, I am biased, I have tried to venture from the vine, but I keep coming back.
Well, I upgraded my iPad3 today and it went smooth until it got to my photos (7000+), all the albums were greyed out and it took me from 10AM to just past 7PM to get them all showing up (several sync attempts). Even so it showed to be finished on iTumes, the iPad was still syncing photos. Bummer -So I am going to wait for a while before I upgrade my other Apple stuff.