On Saturday, I went out to get at $12 salad and came home with a new iPhone 6. I walked past an Optus shop, they said they had it, so I went for it. I had a three year old iPhone 4s which worked reasonably well under ios8. However, battery life was my main issue.
I got a great deal with Optus. $91 a month for space Gray 128 gb. I wanted 64 gb but they only had 128 gb left. I get unlimited calls and text and 5 gb of data a month on a two year deal. The phone is unlocked.
I got the standard size iPhone primarily on the basis that I will have it for an hour a day on my upper arm in a case while exercising. I also like something closer to the size of my wallet and keys. I also own an iPad.
First thoughts on the phone:
* It is incredibly light.
* It us amazingly thin.
* The screen size is perfect . I am pleased I didn’t go for the plus.
* It fits pretty well into the palm of my hand although I have moved some icons or apps to more convenient locations. The thumb has had to stretch on occasion.
* So far so good on the battery life.
* The Apple leather case feels great.
IOS 8 has some great features. My standouts are:
1. Being able to reply to messages with a voice message. This is great when driving.
2. Siri now works really well. Being able to activate Siri by saying “Hey Siri” is very cool. However, it must be plugged into power to do this.
3. You can use different keyboards. There’s a very cool one where you drag your finger over the keyboard. It works so well. I have installed SwiftKey (http://swiftkey.com/en/keyboard/ios/) and it is great but it doesnt work on iPad. There’s another keyboard for just over a dollar called Swype. It works on both iPad and iPhone but isn’t as good. It had some keys in funny places.
There are many other great features in ios8 which will become apparent over time. The ability to make payments is one I am looking forward to.
On the downside, I now have many docks, cables, connectors and adapters that no longer work with my iPhone. That’s the price of progress I guess.
All in all, I am happy.
AW
PS: re the reach . I just saw this on the Sydney morning herald website.
When Apple announced the 6 Plus, I noted that it had included a feature that allows you to pull the top buttons halfway down the screen by double-tapping the home button. I did not anticipate that I would quickly come to rely on this feature for almost everything I need to do on the phone.
Another cool feature (from: http://m.tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/ios-8-tips-and-tricks-10-cool-features-you-probably-didnt-know-about-235016.html)
To recover photos or videos that have been accidentally deleted, there’s a new folder called Recently Deleted. This includes recently deleted apps which you can recover if you need to. Older photos and videos get deleted automatically from the folder.
another one from: http://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/25-things-you-can-do-on-ios-8-that-you-couldnt-do-on-io-1636303912
Swipe down on the home screen to access Spotlight, type out a few words and you’ll notice that Web links now appear alongside results from apps. Results from Maps may also be included. The Spotlight section in the Settings app lets you change this behavior.
Andrew Woodward 