Apple seems to have lost its " Just Works " way

[corriewf]

I'm going to start by saying I love Apple. Its a great American company that I would love to be able to support more. They have changed my mobile computing life. I would love for them to remain the top dog. I try and support Apple the way Japanese folks support Sony..

Anyway here's my story. Switched from an iPhone 4 to a Samsung captivate.. Captivate is horrible. GPS was broken and Samsung never fixed it. Att gave me a free HTC Inspire. The inspire ran 2.2 android and then 2.3.. Force closes galore..stutter buggy random restarts. I then decided this whole android thing is horrible and switched to iPhone 5.. Everything was running along fine on the iPhone and then ios7 came. My apps would crash quite often and the interface just seemed mismatched.

Wife's iPhone 5 was stolen so I sold my iPhone 5 and bought two nexus 5s. The experience has been absolutely amazing. Apps are so fast to open. Things are buttery smooth if not smoother than iPhone 5. I can't remember the last app that force closed.

So here I am using an iPad and nexus 5 and quite often using the same apps and its like the world has been flipped upside down. Apps on my iPad crash constantly. If they don't crash they have to reload from multitasking. Its a mess of lag (keyboard) and other issues on my iPad.. What the hell is going on? Did Steve Jobs really effect development there? Why is iOS so unstable compared to Android now? IOS has always been my go to stable platform and now I feel like running for the android hills.

I really want to show my support for Apple, but I would be doing my hard earned money a disservice by supporting their issues blindly.

 

[Tarzanman]

Vanilla android on high end hardware has always been fairly stable, but the Nexus line has been the best device to get every since Android 4.x

As for iOS stability... a few years ago some statistics came out showing how apps caused ios to crash more often than apps on android... that was at least 2 major releases ago.

anyways, yes the Nexus 5 does not leave much to complain about. The camera is very so-so (not horrible, but only great in well lit circumstances) and the battery can get chewed up very quickly in low-signal areas. I'd appreciate some improvements to the bluetooth stack (particularly microphone gain), but by and large it is usable and doesn't act up much.

 

[corriewf]

Vanilla android on high end hardware has always been fairly stable, but the Nexus line has been the best device to get every since Android 4.x

As for iOS stability... a few years ago some statistics came out showing how apps caused ios to crash more often than apps on android... that was at least 2 major releases ago.

anyways, yes the Nexus 5 does not leave much to complain about. The camera is very so-so (not horrible, but only great in well lit circumstances) and the battery can get chewed up very quickly in low-signal areas. I'd appreciate some improvements to the bluetooth stack (particularly microphone gain), but by and large it is usable and doesn't act up much.

I have had ZERO issues on my Nexus 5. I had lowered expectations going in and have been blown away.

So far my issues on my iPad on ios7/8:
Safari freezes causing me to force close twice..
Safari crashes a lot... Just poof gone
Facebook crashes or takes forever to load
YouTube crashes..
LG remote control app loses sync and/crashes
Various game crashes randomly
Keyboard stutters freezes locks up or lags causing mistypes

I'm NOT a power user. I don't use a million apps but the ones I do use are buggy as hell on iOS 7/8. I use the same apps on my nexus 5 and its smooth sailing.

I wanted to get the new iPhone 6+. Family share and other features sound very appealing on paper.. But I can't deal with the bugs anymore. I never thought I would feel that way about an Apple product.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I have had ZERO issues on my Nexus 5. I had lowered expectations going in and have been blown away.

So far my issues on my iPad on ios7/8:
Safari freezes causing me to force close twice..
Safari crashes a lot... Just poof gone
Facebook crashes or takes forever to load
YouTube crashes..
LG remote control app loses sync and/crashes
Various game crashes randomly
Keyboard stutters freezes locks up or lags causing mistypes

I'm NOT a power user. I don't use a million apps but the ones I do use are buggy as hell on iOS 7/8. I use the same apps on my nexus 5 and its smooth sailing.

I wanted to get the new iPhone 6+. Family share and other features sound very appealing on paper.. But I can't deal with the bugs anymore. I never thought I would feel that way about an Apple product.

I wouldn't say that it was terrible but safari did crash quite a lot on my ipad air. Also some apps used to crash a fair bit. I had the same thing on my ipad mini on iOS7 coupled with a few springboard restarts. It didn't detract from the overall experience though. In January of this year I got an iphone 5S. That was quite unstable, lots of app crashes and springboard reboots. The performance wasn't the reason why I got rid of my 5S.

Android has come a long way in the 2.5 years I've been using it. At the start it was laggy, apps crashed and resulting in the device locking up for several minutes, many random reboots and devices switching themselves off. At that point I persevered because I felt that the benefits outweighed the costs. Now android devices are very smooth and stable and have been for at least the past year and a half. There really isn't any difference between android and iOS in terms of stability and fluidity imo.

 

[Ddyracer]

snip

Yep, when i jumped ship it was just to get away. Now, everytime i use Apple products i'm amazed and rather disappointed in their crashy, glitchy, slow nature. Apple needs to focus a bit more, maybe too much choice in product goods is a bad thing for Apple since they still stagger one main new thing at a time and get their talent on it.

 

[corriewf]

Yep, when i jumped ship it was just to get away. Now, everytime i use Apple products i'm amazed and rather disappointed in their crashy, glitchy, slow nature. Apple needs to focus a bit more, maybe too much choice in product goods is a bad thing for Apple since they still stagger one main new thing at a time and get their talent on it.

Yeah, and using two devices on a daily basis makes the contrast even more visible.

Do you guys think its possible all of this is due to one man not being there anymore? Could Steve Jobs have really kept the ship on track that much? Obviously they still have the talent there, but they lowered their standards of what is acceptable to release to the public.

 

[gotluck]

I think it is a symptom of Apple opening up the OS / adding features.

iOS started simple but very fluid and is now having growing pains adding features / capabilities

android started feature rich and rough and has been working on smoothness / fluidity for the last few releases

 

[Stuntman06]

I've been using my Galaxy S3 for over 2 years. Prior to that, I had an HTC Desire Z for almost 2 years. Starting earlier this year, I've also been using an iPhone 5S and iPad Mini.

The Desire Z came out in 2010. It did have some issues, but they did not occur often enough for me. Once every couple of months, it would auto shut off or reboot. I did get app crashes from time to time as well. I didn't use iOS devices at the time, so I can't make a comparison at the time.

When I got my GS3, I felt it was noticeably more stable. I think it rebooted twice on its own. Apps were just way more stable. I hardly got any app crashes or error messages at all. Any such app issues seemed to be due to the app. Most common was Pulse a year ago when it was rather unstable. In consultation with the developer I ended up just removing it and reinstalling it and that fixed the issue. I'm still using my GS3 today.

The iPhone 5S and iPad Mini was pretty stable since I got it. I did notice that iOS 8 made it less stable. I have noticed app crashes on my iPhone on occasion. It may be the app (Google+). There was no update to it since iOS 8. Prior to iOS 8, it never crashed. I know Yahoo! Weather crashed a few times in the past 6 months.

The iPad Mini lately has been telling me it can't download something. It started some time after iOS 8. The error message gave no information on what it was trying to download. I only got the option to retry or cancel. I looked to see what might have been downloading, but I could not find out what it could be. Even after rebooting, it still did this. Other than this annoying error from time to time, my iPad Mini has been quite stable.

 

[aristobrat]

Do you guys think its possible all of this is due to one man not being there anymore? Could Steve Jobs have really kept the ship on track that much? Obviously they still have the talent there, but they lowered their standards of what is acceptable to release to the public.

Have you followed OS X releases? Even under Job's watch, it wasn't perfect. If anything, iOS under Cook is starting to feel like OS X under Jobs <IMO>.

 

[mattopotamus]

I agree with a lot of people in this thread. A vanilla android experience it just straight up "pure" if that makes sense. It is very clean, to the point, and no frills.

Notifications work like I expect and taking action on them is easy. My "home" screen is not a row of icons, but tailored to the information I need. Google now is a swipe or a voice command away.

 

[The Game 161]

This reminds me of the batman film when the joker says

"and here we go... "

 

[AustinIllini]

The Nexus line is pretty solid, but I still contend there are some places it could stand to improve. There is no vanilla android direct iPhone competitor, which is what would bring me back to the ecosystem.

 

[corriewf]

I think it is a symptom of Apple opening up the OS / adding features.

iOS started simple but very fluid and is now having growing pains adding features / capabilities

android started feature rich and rough and has been working on smoothness / fluidity for the last few releases

This very much seems like the case. I think ios needs a total revamp. I don't feel like their current leadership is able to really push folks to that next level.

The iphone, although limited, used to be flawless. We might not have had mms for a couple years but we had stability.

I honestly don't like supporting Google. They farm me for data and just have this big brother feel to them. However their product right now is superior in performance. I cannot avoid buying into their Eco system as they push further.

I hope Apple takes things more serious. They can't grow too complacent.

 

[mclld]

This reminds me of the batman film when the joker says

"and here we go... "

 

[mib1800]

This very much seems like the case. I think ios needs a total revamp. I don't feel like their current leadership is able to really push folks to that next level.

The iphone, although limited, used to be flawless. We might not have had mms for a couple years but we had stability.

.

You are right. A calculator works flawlessly. Now the calculator wanted to be something more...

iphone users welcome to 2011...that's when android was growing up...please enjoy enjoy a few years of flaw - fullness

 

[Wrathwitch]

I too used to be diehard Apple girl, until some of their designs seemed to move past my needs. (Removed the disk drive from laptops and iMacs). I got tired of looking at the same old same old, but I can say my iP4 was my best phone ever for an entry smartphone device. My mom is still happily using it.

My fiancee bought the new iPad Air and the damn thing has issues with WiFi. Very disappointing. It seems there are tonnes of issues with iOS8. I think they released it without it being completed imo.

Either way it seems that updating Apple products is very much like Russian Roulette. Sometimes it works and sometimes you get your head blown off.

I am glad I didn't update my 3rd Gen iPad and I told my mom not to update her iP4.

 

[Stuntman06]

iphone users welcome to 2011...that's when android was growing up...please enjoy enjoy a few years of flaw - fullness

That's the feeling I got when trying to use third party keyboards (specifically SwiftKey) on iOS. Actually, it's more like 2009 as the bugs made SwiftKey totally unusable for me. I wasn't using third party keyboards on Android until 2 years ago and they were way better than the initial iOS offerings.

 

[apolloa]

My 2010 MacBook Pro is still rocking strong. But I have had too many issues with iOS devices.
My iPhone 4 had the home button failing after about 18 months, my iPhone 5 power button stopped working after about 13 months.

Anyway, I bought a retina iPad Mini through a works scheme, and I hate it. The WiFi is AWFUL in it, the 5GHZ just didn't want to work! A quick Google and I see it's due to the MIMO design Apple put in it, it's improved under iOS8 though but you don't expect to pay that much money for a device that's broken out of the box, and still if it works fine at home, I get to work and it decides to not work on the 5GHZ WiFi their.
It's also slow and laggy, I use a Nexus 5 every day at the mo, and did have until very recently a 2012 Nexus 7 and they are a lot smoother.

In fact I think my Mums iPad 3 is way better then the retina Mini, no issues with the WiFi, screen has better colours, and yes it doesn't run quite as smooth, it's not so far behind you care.

So the up shot is I'll be giving my Mum the retina Mini, see how she gets on with it, and I will be getting the new Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact.

Apple certainly has lost it with iOS 7 and 8, 6 worked fine with no problems. I hope they aren't too messed up though as I plan to change my laptop next year and was hoping for another MacBook Pro!
Actually want a Mac Pro but cannot justify spending that much on a computer...

 

[samiznaetekto]

http://rustyshelf.org/2014/10/01/it-just-works/

 

[corriewf]

My 2010 MacBook Pro is still rocking strong. But I have had too many issues with iOS devices.
My iPhone 4 had the home button failing after about 18 months, my iPhone 5 power button stopped working after about 13 months.

Anyway, I bought a retina iPad Mini through a works scheme, and I hate it. The WiFi is AWFUL in it, the 5GHZ just didn't want to work! A quick Google and I see it's due to the MIMO design Apple put in it, it's improved under iOS8 though but you don't expect to pay that much money for a device that's broken out of the box, and still if it works fine at home, I get to work and it decides to not work on the 5GHZ WiFi their.
It's also slow and laggy, I use a Nexus 5 every day at the mo, and did have until very recently a 2012 Nexus 7 and they are a lot smoother.

In fact I think my Mums iPad 3 is way better then the retina Mini, no issues with the WiFi, screen has better colours, and yes it doesn't run quite as smooth, it's not so far behind you care.

So the up shot is I'll be giving my Mum the retina Mini, see how she gets on with it, and I will be getting the new Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact.

Apple certainly has lost it with iOS 7 and 8, 6 worked fine with no problems. I hope they aren't too messed up though as I plan to change my laptop next year and was hoping for another MacBook Pro!
Actually want a Mac Pro but cannot justify spending that much on a computer...

I have an iPad 3 THATS getting long in the tooth. Im very undecided what my next tablet will be. The scene isn't what it used to be years ago when I bought my original iPad, ipad 2, and ipad 3. I can't but wonder if it's time to go android.

The Z3 tablet has really peaked my interest especially in regard to ps4 remote play. My wife would love to get her tv back. Lol.

I remember my times in Android hell when things were very unstable. The 2.2/2.3 days. I remember vividly the crashes and constant hiccups.

It's wierd to now have that experience on ios...very wierd.

 

[TechGod]

I don't know how you have massive issues and stuff. My iPad 2 performs slightly better with iOS 8 than 7 and I've never had weird WiFi issues either

FWIW, I haven't had any issues with any of my tech. Which includes a Nexus 4, 2011 MBP,2013 MBP and iPad 2.

Maybe I'm just lucky with tech?

 

[twintin]

My iPad 2 performs slightly better with iOS 8 than 7 and I've never had weird WiFi issues either

I have both iPad Air, iPad Mini gen 1 and iPad 2 and for some reason iOS 8 seems to run better on my iPad 2 than it does on the other 2 (both the air and mini have WiFi issues while iPad 2 does not).

 

[apolloa]

I have an iPad 3 THATS getting long in the tooth. Im very undecided what my next tablet will be. The scene isn't what it used to be years ago when I bought my original iPad, ipad 2, and ipad 3. I can't but wonder if it's time to go android.

The Z3 tablet has really peaked my interest especially in regard to ps4 remote play. My wife would love to get her tv back. Lol.

I remember my times in Android hell when things were very unstable. The 2.2/2.3 days. I remember vividly the crashes and constant hiccups.

It's wierd to now have that experience on ios...very wierd.

I don't know about weird, I am a bit more inclined to blame Cook and his board of directors, iOS has been a bit of a mess since Ive was placed in charge of it, also their design choices are confusing, like OK you could let them if maybe for removing the DVD drive from a laptop, but to take it out of the iMac? To make the sides thinner, which no one ever asked for. And hen they charge the same or more when they lack the DVD drive.

I'm just using that as an example, I don't know how long they can keep going like this but if they don't sort out iOS I can see them losing customers and their shares going down a bit and staying down. Its the one thing millions of people use every day around the planet, so its the one thing everyone knows when its buggy and broken.

If it was me I would have left the Apple watch until the end of next year to the y and boost battery life, and put a lot more resources into testing iOS and ensuring it was a successful release, also I was would boost security a lot on the cloud services.

Apple is beginning to rest on its laurals and when the competition has.matched, and in some cases exceeded you, you really shouldn't be doing that.

 

[rillrill]

I've been using apple products since 2003. The iBook G3 was my first laptop, and, subsequently, i bought an ipod, macbook pro, iphone 3gs, 4, macbook air, and a retina macbook pro. I've tried the 5s for a while and briefly had the 6 before returning it. Currently, all of my past macbooks and iphones have been sold or recycled. For the first time, I actually do not have any apple products.

I am interested in what apple is going to bring to the table, but the it just works mantra does not apply for me anymore either. The amount of problems I had on ios8 and the delicate construction of the 6, to me, highlighted the issues apple is struggling with that android is working to solve. Even the fuzzy text on the iphone 6 and the lack of updates for apps made me laugh at apple's criticism of android's different screen sizes. now, apple has this problem.

I switched back to the nexus 5 because, for the price, you cannot beat the value. I'm typing on a chromebook, and google is the only company that I have found that is ready for a cloud-computing era. there are always going to be bugs, but the movement forward is much faster on google's side than apple's side. throw some $$$ at this problem, apple. hire more engineers and software designers.

i like apple's privacy policy, and they are still the best designed computers (not so much in the smartphones area) in the business. when it comes to cloud computing, apple is way behind.

 

[corriewf]

I've been using apple products since 2003. The iBook G3 was my first laptop, and, subsequently, i bought an ipod, macbook pro, iphone 3gs, 4, macbook air, and a retina macbook pro. I've tried the 5s for a while and briefly had the 6 before returning it. Currently, all of my past macbooks and iphones have been sold or recycled. For the first time, I actually do not have any apple products.

I am interested in what apple is going to bring to the table, but the it just works mantra does not apply for me anymore either. The amount of problems I had on ios8 and the delicate construction of the 6, to me, highlighted the issues apple is struggling with that android is working to solve. Even the fuzzy text on the iphone 6 and the lack of updates for apps made me laugh at apple's criticism of android's different screen sizes. now, apple has this problem.

I switched back to the nexus 5 because, for the price, you cannot beat the value. I'm typing on a chromebook, and google is the only company that I have found that is ready for a cloud-computing era. there are always going to be bugs, but the movement forward is much faster on google's side than apple's side. throw some $$$ at this problem, apple. hire more engineers and software designers.

i like apple's privacy policy, and they are still the best designed computers (not so much in the smartphones area) in the business. when it comes to cloud computing, apple is way behind.

Yes Apples privacy policy is top notch. That's something that worries me about google. I don't use some of the features on my nexus 5 just because I don't trust google. I also like how apple detailed how fingerprints are handled in touchid. I like how the are stored as an algorithm on an enclave on the A7/A8 chip locally. I have no idea how Samsung's fingerprint reader works despite lots of digging. You only have one fingerprint, that cannot be changed, so its important to secure that data.

The Apple Watch is a good example of a me too product. It does not improve on an idea that competitors have already implemented. Apple used to define categories, not me too them. It seems now the priority is marketing vs innovation.

Anyone else also seen the apple watch as an incarnation of and iPhone 3gs? You would think there would be some continuity of the design language from the iPhone 6..