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Woz Says iPhone Features Are 'Behind'
redletterdave writes "The iPhone may be one of the bestselling smartphones on the planet, but Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believes Apple's flagship smartphone has fallen behind its competitors, namely those built by Samsung, when it comes to smartphone features. Speaking at Businessweek's Best Brand Awards on Thursday evening, Wozniak said he was proud of how loyal Apple fans were to the iPhone, but also said 'this loyalty is not given,' shortly before denouncing his own company's smartphone. 'Currently we are, in my opinion, somewhat behind with features in the smartphone business,' Wozniak said. 'Others have caught up. Samsung is a big competitor. But precisely because they are currently making great products.'" I prefer Android, but it seems hard to find iPhone users who aren't enthusiastic about it. Whatever kind of phone you prefer, are there features you envy the users of some other variety?
Patented by Apple (TM) 2013
Check me if I wrong, but hasn't the iPhone always been behind on features? I mean, how many years did it take just to get copy / paste.
The iPhone was never about features, it was about style and ease of use. The problem is that they set the standard and the other companies have finally caught up.
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Get over it. Why are people so emotional about it?
If more Americans cared about the bigger issues in their lives we wouldn't be tax slaves living in a crumbling nation with an out-of-control government.
Am I the only person that feels this way?
I have a Nexus 4, I envy nobody. I have a $30 a month plan and Wi-Fi almost everywhere I go, so lack of LTE is non-issue for me. I'm completely pleased with this phone, no disappointments.
my friends pay money for every little thing I download for free with my android phone. sucks to be them
I know, paying developers for their time! What fools they are! In the grand scheme of things (given the cost of the phone and the plan), a couple of bucks here and there for apps is peanuts.
In all seriousness, what I want the iPhone to do that Android does is be able to control the hardware from a quick access screen - ie, turn the wifi or bluetooth on and off quickly without having to use the main settings app. When Apple announced they were bringing the swipe-down-from-top notification centre thing to iOS I really hoped that the ability to add those sorts of things to it would be there, but it seems not.
Other than that, I'm happy with it.
That's great that Wozniak can look at competing products and recognize accurately their strengths and weaknesses. That kind of objective evaluation leads to better decisions and great products. Companies that mindlessly insist that their products are the 'best' and punish any who dare to say otherwise have a difficult time putting out high quality products that people want to use. Those are the kind of companies that try to force their products on the marketplace and only have success if there is no choice but to use their products.
Quick question... is good product design about packing in as many features as possible, whether they are something people will actually use, or actually good ideas, or actually implemented in a good way, or something someone will actually use?
No. There are countless products in every market where the company that makes them does exactly that. They shove in every bell and whistle, whether it makes sense or not, whether it can be used in reality or not, and they are mediocre-at-best products. Many of them are bad, and you spend money on those features you will never use, just to get the handful that you will.
Just because the iPhone has "less features" doesn't make it a bad product. Similarly, just because some other phone has "more features" doesn't necessarily make it a better product. If it has more useful features, then it probably is a better product; if those features are implemented in a useful way that isn't buried under a horrible unusable interface, or requires everyone you interact with to also have that product for the feature to be of any use.
(None of what I said above applies to any specific product or manufacturer unless explicitly stated. This post was not meant to be a critique of any particular device, rather a critique on the concept of "more features == better")
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
The health of an ecosystem can be measured by the abundance of parasites...
Good God... calling a "walled garden" an ecosystem!
If all the animals are fed from a single trough, that's not an ecosystem, that's a farm.
Until the Android ecosystem can handle an issue as basic as providing it's users with OS and security updates, Android is not ahead at all.
Over half of the Android devices out there are still running variants of version 2 of the OS and lower while the last three Android releases are version 4 and higher.
Android needs to be rearchitected so that carriers provide drivers for the hardware, while Google takes full responsibility for updates to the OS. This approach has been working with Windows for decades.
Amazing how the circle has turned when it comes to phones. The iPhone has gone from being the hip new boy breaking the rules to a member of the establishment that everyone else is slowly leaving behind.
It used to be that the iPhone was an inspirational device, a device that caused geek envy wherever you used it.
And now, well it's the device for the technical luddites who have more money than sense, or for those that Apple have managed to lock in to their closed-wall infrastructure and are now too wary of trying something else. In other words - it's the phone you recommend to your parents so you don't have to do tech support for them.
... other than battery life and better phone calls.
I've got a Galaxy Nexus, and the hardware is fine -- high-resolution screen, fast enough CPU, etc. The only real "lacking features" are software things, and since it's Android that's just my own fault for not finding a better app to do whatever it is.
What I seriously don't like, though, is its ability to MAKE PHONE CALLS. This is a device that people watch Netflix on, for fuck's sake. Why is it using a ~10kbps codec for voice calls with an acoustic bandpass of a few khz, and moreover one with some absolutely awful signal processing characteristics? For instance (and this is just one example), if I'm talking to someone in the wind, and there's a gust of wind on my end, the phone mutes the speaker so I can no longer hear what they're saying. Why should it do that, unless it's trying to squelch feedback, which is very much not the problem?
As for battery life, I appreciate them making the things slim, but if they'd make it another 5mm or even 8mm thicker with most of that extra volume given to battery, you'd get about four times as much life out of it. Does anyone make a phone like this?
swipe-down-from-top notification centre thing
If fucking bounce-back lists were worth a billion dollars, this thing that's actually useful? Google should sue Apple for $10 billion.
Stop spreading FUD, I dropped mine and it bounced down a flight of stairs. When I got to it expecting it to be trashed, it was perfectly fine.
Speaking of updates, nice to see iOS provides latest updates even to older phones like the 2009 3GS supports the latest iOS 6.1. Read an article about google patching a android vulnerability but only offered it for Andriod 4.2 Jelly Bean which came out November 2012. All older versions of android are still vulnerable. No one wants to offer android users updates to their phones, seems their mentality is "buy a new Android every 3 months when the new OS comes out". Who has time or money to buy new phones and tablets every 3 months? This problem is going to get worse before it gets better, google needs to offer a way to update all these older devices to the latest version of android.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Apple has manged to convince the "unwashed masses" that their eco-system and devices are easier to use than the alternatives, and in fact their systems are pretty well thought out and easy to use and their control of the whole eco-system has made interoperability of software and hardware pretty seamless. Non-Apple sellers have the difficult job of convincing most buyers that their possibly better features are more valuable than Apple's "ease of use", even if the "ease of use" of their devices are as good or better than Apple's. The perception of Apple being the one source for hardware, software and content (through the single iTunes channel), as well as info-syncing (iCloud) is comforting to many. The competition has a number of places the consumer might feel they need to go for hardware support (Samsung perhaps), software support (Samsung, Google, and others?), content (Amazon, iTunes, etc), and services (Google and others?). Even if there is one vastly dominant company in each of these areas, they are still going to be perceived as more complicated than getting it all from Apple - even if it is not more complicated.
Tangentially, I think smart phones are approaching the same point that personal computers reached not that long ago - for the vast majority of customers the increased power and features of new devices are insufficient to justify upgrading their current device. When everyone in the world already has a decent smart phone the market for new phones is going to get much smaller.
Find a free Samba client for iOS that is not trialware with a tiny file size limit, and a free VLC/Mplayer equivalent.* Ready? Go!
*These are the only apps I've tried to find for iOS, so far I have a 100% horrible dissatisfaction rate.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I prefer Android, but it seems hard to find iPhone users who aren't enthusiastic about it.
There are a large number of people out there who think the iPhone is the only smartphone. So when they buy a smartphone, they buy an iPhone and love it, because the only thing they compare it too is their old clamshell phone. So naturally, they are very enthusiastic about it.
Actually, on a larger level my hypothesis is that Apple products work great for anyone who does not question the arbitrary limitations put on the software by Apple in the name of "ease of use". They just assume that "phones can't do that" or "computers don't do that" and are happy; whereas if you know a little bit about how much effort it would be to have that feature, and that it's omitted solely to simplify (i.e. dumb things down), it is immensely frustrating (although it seems once one reaches Apple Guru level, all the workarounds are second nature and these things are once again painless). In short, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. I say this at someone who uses Linux/Android at home, but OSX/iOS at work.
my friends pay money for every little thing I download for free with my android phone. sucks to be them
He gets for free everything he downloads with his Android phone thanks to his friends paying money in his stead. Honestly, that's not what was meant, and that's easy enough to see. However, the statement can be interpreted in both ways. English language, how I loathe thee.
I have been a captive in America my entire life. Everybody and everything uses customary units instead of metric.
Here we have a good answer.
Apple's restrictions ban a lot of "service" apps that are used by IT techs (and by suspicious persons too) that is one good reason to use android because Apple just suddenly pulls stuff claiming its "used wrong". Apple has a clear "don't shop here" sign out for common OSS network tools and the like.
You'll notice how careful he was not to say "Android-style notification system", which would have made it much more clear.
People who love their iPhones usually bought them. There are two things going on there. Firstly, it's a self-selecting group. They bought into the idea of the ads they saw for the phone. Secondly, they spent money on it. When you make a purchase, you tend to self-justify. You think what you bought was the best, because otherwise you got suckered. No one likes that, so we tell ourselves we won. What we have is the best.
I was handed an iPhone by my company. It's really nice to have a free phone and I appreciate it hugely. Yes, it's a ball and chain to the company, but if they hadn't given me the phone, they'd be calling me on my personal phone anyhow.
But I hate the iPhone. Hate it. My antipathy for it was nonexistent when I got it. It was way better (in some ways) than the crappy blackberry it replaced. But over time, I've grown more and more frustrated with the potential of the thing which is squandered. Every little thing about it annoys me.
My wife has an android phone. I am so envious. There's still much to hate there, but not nearly as much, and there seems to be progress on Android. Something which annoys you might actually get fixed. On the iPhone, you must learn to love it, for it will never change.
But many of the free apps are riddled with holes, spyware, and have zero privacy controls...
FUD.
android has better privacy controls than iOS. every android app must declare permissions for the services it can use BEFORE it is installed. i've been an android user since the G1 and i've never had a problem.
the reports that pop up every month reporting "spyware found on google play store" are from "researchers" scanning the store and recording the permissions requested by certain apps that technically do not require that permission to operate. e.g., a flashlight app that requests internet access. there's no evidence that the apps are actually spyware, they are just suspicious. the only reason you don't see such reports on iOS is because iOS apps aren't required to declare permissions, so there's no easy way to tell what the heck they are going to do.
I would be very interested if an iPhone user put forth one feature that the iPhone has, and Android is incapable of doing. I have not found a single thing an Android user would have to envy iPhone users for. This is partly because the iPhone is a phone, and Android is an operating system that comes installed on phones that run the whole gamut from cheap and flimsily-built knockoffs to high-end cutting edge powerhouses.
There is always an Android phone out there that fits your bill. There is however, only one iPhone.
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
You'll notice how careful he was not to say "Android-style notification system", which would have made it much more clear.
I was?
I thought it was obvious that it was a feature borrowed directly from Android, given that the whole comment was about what I wish the iPhone had that Android has, and given that the Android notification centre has that feature, I logically assumed that the iOS version would have too.
You're looking for conspiracy and coverup where none exists. Don't be so jumpy. It gets tiresome to have to put disclaimers everywhere. My comment features this direct quote:
...what I want the iPhone to do that Android does...
I'm not sure how that's being "careful not to mention" that it's an Android feature. I mentioned Android by name specifically and directly compared it to iOS, noting that the feature is missing from iOS.
Sorry, next time I'll add "I wish iOS had this feature that Android totally has in Android, and totally isn't in iOS but when they announce it for iOS I'll totally mention that it's originally from Android every time I mention it otherwise people will think I'm trying to hide the fact that it's totally from Android".
Better?
a couple of bucks here and there for apps is peanuts.
Ah, another Apple user happy to be nickel and dimed for everything.
I know, paying for things that people make might be alien to you. For the rest of us, we realise that money can be exchanged for goods and/or services. I'm happy to support developers, especially at the low prices they charge for typical mobile applications.
I get value from a product that I pay money for, the developer gets paid. Of course I'm happy about that. Why is that such a hard concept to understand?
I've just purchased a couple of of iPads, and frankly, the "walled garden" apple thing is FUCKING annoying.
Jesus motherfucking CHRIST, but the inability to easily share documents among "apps" on a single device is fucking retarted. I don't care what the motivation was for this, but it's stupid and gets in the way.
From "app" 1, save your document in the "iBooks" thing, the iCloud, "iTunes" (lol) - then it's, oh sorry, but "app" 2 can't open said document from any of those. oh, oh, wait, app2 saves it's documents in it's own little shit hole garden, where nothing else can access it...
I wish I'd known before I bought these devices that there is no simple, easy to use, way of sharing documents among apps. Windows/linux/osx/* users will have no idea what the fuck I'm on about.
I tried to upload a simple pdf doc to a website using safari... oh no, can't do that. The fucking document can't be found anywhere. It's in appN's walled garden. Solution? Pay for iCabSomething-or-other, which is really a hacked browser which "allows" you to upload any document you want to a simple html fucking form on a website... but only after you've downloaded the document using the SAME browser so you can access it from the same shit hole garden.
It's no wonder the other executives in my team have had their fucking iPads for MONTHS but have yet to use them productively... oh wait, one of them uses it to browse and email. That's it.
FUCK apple, I thought you were better than this.
No, another user who is aware that other people are also real, and that there's an exchange between the app developer and the app writer.
I have an app up which is free, but requests donations. It's on Apple's app store and also on Google Play. The Apple users sometimes donate. One Google user has. Now, in this particular case, I don't care much, because the app is intentionally pro bono work. But even so... The disparity is quite noticeable. If I were primarily acting to make money, there is no way I would bother with an Android port.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
You read that article wrong. It doesn't say that it offered the fix only for Jellybean. It says, "Google’s security officials replied in minutes, confirming the flaw and promising to correct it. Within days they had incorporated a fix into the latest version of the Android operating system, Jelly Bean 4.2, and made available a security update for earlier versions."
The real problem, the article goes on to say, is that those security updates aren't pushed automatically by Google, they're up to the manufacturer and/or carrier to implement, which is where the monolithic approach of Apple has its advantages, although I still prefer my Android overall.
There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start arrays with one and 1) those who start them with zero.
android has better privacy controls than iOS. every android app must declare permissions for the services it can use BEFORE it is installed.
The problem is that is a horrifically stupid idea.
No user can POSSIBLY know before they run the app if all of the permissions make sense. Contacts is a great example, at some point it might benefit to look something up from a contact. So you just agree.
Meanwhile on iOS the user is not asked if the app should access contacts until they are using the app and whatever they are doing triggers the request. So they know what the app does, and know EXACTLY what they did to make the app ask for contacts, so they can decide if it makes sense to have them.
Also, if you don't agree on Android generally you just can't use the app because you have to agree to everything (yes I know there are ways around that, not standard though). On iOS I can keep using the app that I've just told has no access to location or contacts, without having to pre-select access teh app should have.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
How is it "backwards" to pay people for your use of their products? Do you work for free? Because if you don't, it sounds to me like you are part of the "problem", and are making those that use the fruits of your labor "go backwards".
Of course, given your adamance against paying for things, maybe you really do work for free. In which case, please accept my humblest apologies and condolences.
I'm an android fan (nexus 4 baby!), but iOS definately has its points. A few less bugs and quirks, and pretty much 99% of mobile apps are available for it. Android is missing a few, especially in the gaming department where even if one is available, it may not be available for your phone (and often its just not there at all...)
Ah, another Apple user being suckered out of extra money instead of using a system where corporations pay developers to make apps to give to customers free of charge to make their devices more useful. You're a chump, a fool who is parted from his money easily. why is that such a hard concept to understand? In other news, most Linux kernel developers are paid for their work.
You're trying too hard to make this into something it's not. The GPP's point was that we were chumps for paying for software, full stop. My point is that paying for software you find useful is not "foolish" especially when the costs are small.
It's hardly being "suckered" out of money, unless you consider any shop to be "suckering" people out of money when they browse the store and decide to buy something. It's not as if there aren't also a host of free apps on the store too. You make it sound like every single app costs money and that someone holds a gun to your head and says "buy it sucker!!!"
I'm not sure what the argument is here? That it's bad to buy software from developers, but it's ok if those developers are funded by someone else?
This is not an "us vs them" argument. It's like it's impossible for you apple haters to find any common ground with people who use a different mobile operating system to you. It's tiresome. I would have thought of all things, paying software developers for their work (by any means), would be an uncontroversial opinion. Alas, no, because we use Apple software we're "suckers" and "fools" for paying developers for their time.
The FSF says the licenses are incompatible and any GPL apps in the app store are in violation:
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/more-about-the-app-store-gpl-enforcement
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel