Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10296907)

Small programs that run within the launcher to give you direct access to information and control of particular apps, without selecting and running that app - and having it take total control of your screen to the exclusion of all else.

So you can see the current news, weather, new emails, control music playback, see how much credit is left on your mobile account, turn off wifi, see what the traffic is going to do to your commute, see your diary for the day, how the £ is doing against the $, and what's worthwhile watching on TV - all from one screen, at a glance.

Think user defined dashboard.

For a mobile device, its more just sensible for the use case - its basically a requirement for a 'smart' device. You can tell those who have migrated over from iphones because they populate their homescreen with just icon links, rather than taking full advantage of widgets and what they can do for you.

Originally Posted by commonwealth (Post 10297030)

but don't they consume battery power and processing capacity?

Originally Posted by commonwealth (Post 10297027)

smartphones don't make us smarter :rofl: :p :p :p

Originally Posted by fish.01 (Post 10297184)

I find Apple's phone a great platform that integrates really well with the rest of the eco-system. Allows you to easily, out of the box, do far more than just standard smart phone stuff.

Such a great tightly integrated system of communication/control between all hardware devices and really good software that integrates beautifully with software on the Mac. I doubt anything else would come close for my needs, but if just buying a standalone smartphone and just cared about specs and standalone phone functionality, with little concern for the functionality of the platform, integrated software or ecosystem then my choice may be different.

Originally Posted by fish.01 (Post 10297184)

I find Apple's phone a great platform that integrates really well with the rest of the eco-system. Allows you to easily, out of the box, do far more than just standard smart phone stuff.

Such a great tightly integrated system of communication/control between all hardware devices and really good software that integrates beautifully with software on the Mac. I doubt anything else would come close for my needs, but if just buying a standalone smartphone and just cared about specs and standalone phone functionality, with little concern for the functionality of the platform, integrated software or ecosystem then my choice may be different.

Originally Posted by Beoz (Post 10297835)

Fair point but that requires every network enabled device in the house to be a Mac. That's a continual expensive habit to maintain.

Then suddenly you want to do something other than a bit of music playing and net surfing then boom, not so scalable then is it.

Originally Posted by fish.01 (Post 10297184)

I find Apple's phone a great platform that integrates really well with the rest of the eco-system. Allows you to easily, out of the box, do far more than just standard smart phone stuff.

Such a great tightly integrated system of communication/control between all hardware devices and really good software that integrates beautifully with software on the Mac. I doubt anything else would come close for my needs, but if just buying a standalone smartphone and just cared about specs and standalone phone functionality, with little concern for the functionality of the platform, integrated software or ecosystem then my choice may be different.

Originally Posted by Beoz (Post 10297835)

Fair point but that requires every network enabled device in the house to be a Mac. That's a continual expensive habit to maintain.

Then suddenly you want to do something other than a bit of music playing and net surfing then boom, not so scalable then is it.

Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10297976)

It's actually part of the walled garden problem.

Providing you want to do what apple wants to allow you to do, in the way apple wants to allow you to do it - you are OK. You'll pay through the nose, but it will work.

Apple create hardware and software that is proprietary, ignoring standards and only integrating/testing THEIR products, ignoring everything else. As well as meaning they can rake in the cash, that makes it extremely simple to make sure it all works together. In contrast, someone using real standards has a wider problem of adhering to standards AND testing with other equipment AND trying to make it user friendly.

Result is you can do everything you can do within the apple walled garden with standards compliant kit (where did you think apple copied it from in the first place) but its not as plug and play as going all proprietary. On the plus side, you can do things apple hasn't copied yet, and you can do things apple would actively attempt to stop you doing.

As an example, want to watch that video you shot on your smartphone on your Samsung TV? If you are trapped inside appleworld you can't - unless you pay for an Apple TV unit. In contrast with Android it works fine, via a variety of different routes, because they use standards compliant DLNA/uPnP. Apple could have used DLNA as well, no reason not to, except their route means more money for apple.

You particularly notice this once you want to do something apple don't want you to do. Want to download a torrent and automatically serve it up to your TV in the lounge? Easy with the right open client, but pretty much impossible with apple. And what about pushing live TV over your home network so it can be viewed on a tablet? Because of standards compliance that's possible - providing you aren't in an apple walled garden.

Apple deliver nice idiot friendly kit, provided you are prepared to pay double, and never do anything interesting that goes outside what they expect and want you to do. Do NOT walk on the grass.

If you want freedom however, the world outside the walled garden is bigger, more varied and interesting - with everything that's in the manicured, walled, garden, just with no groundskeeper to looming over everything and shouting at you if you decide to cut through a different way.

Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10297976)

It's actually part of the walled garden problem.

Providing you want to do what apple wants to allow you to do, in the way apple wants to allow you to do it - you are OK. You'll pay through the nose, but it will work.

Apple create hardware and software that is proprietary, ignoring standards and only integrating/testing THEIR products, ignoring everything else. As well as meaning they can rake in the cash, that makes it extremely simple to make sure it all works together. In contrast, someone using real standards has a wider problem of adhering to standards AND testing with other equipment AND trying to make it user friendly.

Result is you can do everything you can do within the apple walled garden with standards compliant kit (where did you think apple copied it from in the first place) but its not as plug and play as going all proprietary. On the plus side, you can do things apple hasn't copied yet, and you can do things apple would actively attempt to stop you doing.

As an example, want to watch that video you shot on your smartphone on your Samsung TV? If you are trapped inside appleworld you can't - unless you pay for an Apple TV unit. In contrast with Android it works fine, via a variety of different routes, because they use standards compliant DLNA/uPnP. Apple could have used DLNA as well, no reason not to, except their route means more money for apple.

You particularly notice this once you want to do something apple don't want you to do. Want to download a torrent and automatically serve it up to your TV in the lounge? Easy with the right open client, but pretty much impossible with apple. And what about pushing live TV over your home network so it can be viewed on a tablet? Because of standards compliance that's possible - providing you aren't in an apple walled garden.

Apple deliver nice idiot friendly kit, provided you are prepared to pay double, and never do anything interesting that goes outside what they expect and want you to do. Do NOT walk on the grass.

If you want freedom however, the world outside the walled garden is bigger, more varied and interesting - with everything that's in the manicured, walled, garden, just with no groundskeeper to looming over everything and shouting at you if you decide to cut through a different way.

Originally Posted by fish.01 (Post 10298133)

I haven't hit one thing it can't do. The apple tv is cheap and works great. The major difference is I do FAR more than when I had PC kit due to the simple elegant integration of everything. The difference between the promise of doing things vs the reality.

I used to buy the best spec'ed, non apple devices with all the promises of functionality and openness. When I switched to Mac recently it delivered far more than anything I have owned before. I am finally doing all the things I dreamt of doing on a PC, but never could be arsed fiddling/hacking to make happen.

As a windows software developer of 20+ years I love the software on the Mac. The hardware is just fantastic. I paid not much more for my Mac PC but the longevity and resale value is far higher. I think over their life it will work out cheaper. The out of the box integration is just fantastic and the windows experience just does not compare at all. I have video's (from all sources), photos, documents, contacts, notes, data, passwords, accounts etc flying all over the house, the city and the world in ways I never managed before. Built in Airplay and mirroring is just fantastic for videos, photos, music, iCloud versioning, syncing etc between rich clients, time machine, incredible iMac web surfing using gestures...it is all so nice to use.

Knowing the history of IT the notion that apple just copy is not historically accurate or a fair representation of the incredible innovation they have added to the industry compared to any other company.

I'm fine with everyone else using Andriod/Window or whatever they want but find this constant spamming of every Apple thread I read on the internet with reasons why we should go back to windows etc a bit trying...not a chance in hell I'll go back to windows I've given my whole windows setup to my 7yo and have never touched it again :)

Originally Posted by Amazulu (Post 10298114)

what the f**k is an eco-system?

Originally Posted by knockoff nige (Post 10298141)

I couldnt agree more. Apple tend to improve on existing technologies, making them work as opposed to rushing them to market.