What are your thoughts on Apple's iOS 10 announcement?

[necropol]

I hear the "oohs" and "aaaahs" of all these tech podcasters talking about what a big update this was and I have to wonder if they watched the same keynote I did, 'cause what I saw was a whole lotta nothin'. Mind you, I don't have an iPhone or an Apple Watch, I don't use Messages, I don't care about Maps or, really, any of Apple's stock apps. I care about capabilities of the OS as a whole, not whatever features are or are not being added to the News app. What gets me about all this is that the a lot of the people who are praising this as a huge update are the same people who dismissed last year's update - a REVOLUTIONARY update to heavy iPad users like me - as insignificant and small. And it's not even that I want that much new for the iPad: just give me a better app-switcher (not just the multitasking one; that whole cascading-sheet thing has to go). Anyway, I was very bored and disappointed by the lack of iPad love this time around.

 

[Icyhot1966]

As an iPhone user for about 5 years, I'm now leaning toward the new Note that's coming out this fall. This whole widget being moved to a side swipe (only works if you're on the main home screen) is an atrocity. Plus I have a new Honda Accord which has Apple CarPlay as well as Android Auto and I MUCH prefer Android Auto. And Google Now (Ok Google) is a much smarter voice assistant than Siri.

 

[jaleelhamid]

It was a nice iOS software update they did. I am just disappointed they announced dark mode for Apple TV but not iOS

 

[iOS Gravity]

As an iPhone user for about 5 years, I'm now leaning toward the new Note that's coming out this fall. This whole widget being moved to a side swipe (only works if you're on the main home screen) is an atrocity. Plus I have a new Honda Accord which has Apple CarPlay as well as Android Auto and I MUCH prefer Android Auto. And Google Now (Ok Google) is a much smarter voice assistant than Siri.

It's useful, but I wouldn't say smarter. It just uses your voice to fill in a Google search box and speaks the result.

 

[Icyhot1966]

No, you just say "Ok Google" without having to touch the phone, just like Siri. At least on the newer phones. The Galaxy S6 had it.

 

[anon(8563470)]

Re: What are your thoughts on today's iOS 10 announcement?

For the last several releases, seems pretty clear that the jailbreak community has been way ahead of Apple for developing features "introduced" by Apple into IOS. All been done before. I remember Shiller saying "can't innovate anymore my a...". Yup exactly. Not much innovation evident anymore. Sad.

 

[afctee]

They are getting rid of 'widgets'? Hmm, I'll have to read up on that. Albeit, I don't use them much, but...

 

[robertk328]

Ios 10 is only out since yesterday...

Monday

 

[robertk328]

It was a nice iOS software update they did. I am just disappointed they announced dark mode for Apple TV but not iOS

I saw something earlier it's hidden in there.

 

[anon(3985060)]

Honestly, I don't see myself using majority of these features but its good to have them regardless. Take the whole new iMessage add-ons per-instance. I won't use some of them because I find some of them a little daft but that's just my opinion...Otherwise I wont judge any further until the official release.

 

[OZsMac]

Having now used Maps a little bit, I love the new simple interface and also the in-trip assistance features are quite handy. A crazy thing has also happened, I've started to remember and actually use 3D touch on my iPhone......I might be starting to like it.

I'm not sure what folks were expecting with iOS 10, however for me it all add's up to a great re-fresh, or as Andy I put it "Very little big news, but very big little news".

Watch the 9to5 mac video run through of everything, this release is not about a few new features (the wow), it's about many new features (the ooh).

I'm also trying to keep in mind this is only B1, other features will be introduced, and also we will see some other enhancements when iPhone 7 is launched.

 

[AustinIllini]

Re: What are your thoughts on today's iOS 10 announcement?

Opening Siri up to devs and allowing devs to extend into stock apps are both huge.

Right, but until we can use it, I can understand why people don't think it's super exciting.

 

[Quis89]

I hear the "oohs" and "aaaahs" of all these tech podcasters talking about what a big update this was and I have to wonder if they watched the same keynote I did, 'cause what I saw was a whole lotta nothin'. Mind you, I don't have an iPhone or an Apple Watch, I don't use Messages, I don't care about Maps or, really, any of Apple's stock apps. I care about capabilities of the OS as a whole, not whatever features are or are not being added to the News app. What gets me about all this is that the a lot of the people who are praising this as a huge update are the same people who dismissed last year's update - a REVOLUTIONARY update to heavy iPad users like me - as insignificant and small. And it's not even that I want that much new for the iPad: just give me a better app-switcher (not just the multitasking one; that whole cascading-sheet thing has to go). Anyway, I was very bored and disappointed by the lack of iPad love this time around.

I agree. Sometimes I wonder how much of a priority the iPad line really is. For such s great product to run essentially the same OS as my phone seems a bit dated. I'm sure the Pro has more to offer.

 

[Nocticis]

I agree. Sometimes I wonder how much of a priority the iPad line really is. For such s great product to run essentially the same OS as my phone seems a bit dated. I'm sure the Pro has more to offer.

I would really love to see an iPad that functioned just like they do now with iOS, but when plugged into a keyboard, it switched over to macOS. The keyboard is the "laptop" and the iPad would just become a touch screen.

I think the watch and iPhone should be iOS
The Mac and iPad be macOS

 

[TripleOne]

I'm mostly happy with how 3D touch is more system wide and offers more useful features. Other than that, I was expecting more from Apple.

 

[iwicked]

I have mixed feelings about this update. I liked the notification and lock-screen overhaul. The lift-to-wake function seems like a nifty little feature. Although I'm not sure how they will address the issue of taking the phone out of the pocket and accidentally activating the screen?

Now the let downs. I am disappointed that Apple still won't allow us to change the Control Centre toggles. I was really hoping for this one. And is it so difficult to introduce Dark Mode for iOS? This is quite sad.

 

[Wildo6882]

I'm wishy-washy on this whole update, and I'm pretty much going to do a stream of consciousness post here.

For one, I love the raise to wake and the notifications. But being that I've used Android quite a bit in the past, this is nothing new for me and something that iOS definitely needed. I agree with what a lot of people have said before me about iMessages - this update does nothing for me at all. It seemed 110% geared towards tweens and developing countries. My 13 year old would love this. But I see it as just some more fluff. And I'm 34, I don't really consider myself old . I feel like some of their energy would have been better spent elsewhere other than adding invisible texts and exploding balloons.

I do like opening up Siri to developers - but it seems to be up to them to make it great, not Apple. The Photos update is seriously a direct copy of the Google Photos app that I've been using for a couple of years and continue to use on my iPhone. For people who haven't used GP, this is a nice update. I'm not a fan that we still don't have really any customization of the home screen. And the keyboard still gets left in the dust. Sure they added in multi-lingual support. Which is great for those who need it. But what about everyone else? No adjustable keyboard size? No swipe features? If they aren't going to do anything to it, then open up 3rd party keyboards a little more. And why in the name of all things holy do I not have a separate alarm volume that isn't tied into the phone volume? Either I forget to turn my sound down at night and I wake up the house, or I do turn it down and miss my alarm. Not. Intuitive. At. All.

The Apple TV updates and WatchOS updates did little for me either. Nothing earth shattering for me. I'm sure the WatchOS update is nice for those who use it, but until I can get a cellular watch with 2-3 day battery life, I'm not going to use one.

So I don't know about this update. Seriously looked like a lot of fluff, that I'm sure will work well. Because... Apple. And I understand that the mobile phone space has plateaued - but this still seemed lackluster and I feel that some things that really needed to be fixed weren't even touched upon.

 

[petvas72]

Re: What are your thoughts on today's iOS 10 announcement?

I'm FREAKING OUT about losing widgets from the Today pulldown. This is a huge step backwards when it comes to widget usefulness (and more like Android) in my book. I so often use the current feature while typing an email, or in a phone call, or messaging, to simply pull down and look at my calendar, check a date, and then respond without having to leave the app I'm in and either multitask to the calendar or go home and find the widget. This is a terrible loss in true glanceable information, which is the whole point of widgets and was such an advantage over Android!! So now, I have to go somewhere to see my calendar? What's the point of the widget then, I might as well just go to the calendar app! Everything looks great, and I understand they want to make the pull down notification area cleaner, but this is a sad loss. I can't imagine I'm the only person who found the ability to access all widgets any time from any place on the phone, be it while in an app or phone call or anything, a great thing!

Actually it's not that bad. When you swipe from the top you now get two pages. The first shows your missed notifications and the second your widgets. You just have to swipe to access the second page.

 

[iOS Gravity]

I'm loving the 3x larger emojis.

 

[Icyhot1966]

Re: What are your thoughts on today's iOS 10 announcement?

Actually it's not that bad. When you swipe from the top you now get two pages. The first shows your missed notifications and the second your widgets. You just have to swipe to access the second page.

Not in iOS 10, which is what the OP was referring to, and I agree. I hate the way it's done in iOS 10. The enhanced widgets are nice but it isn't intuitive to get to them now.