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iOS 8 Review
An anonymous reader writes: Apple is releasing iOS 8 today, and Ars Technica has posted one of their huge, thorough reviews of the updated operating system. They have this to say about the UI: "iOS 8 tries to fit a whole lot more stuff onto a single screen than iOS 7 did. The operating system was clearly developed in anticipation of iPhones with larger screens." The biggest new feature is Extensions: "Older versions of iOS limited what third-party applications could do to communicate with external services and other third-party applications. ... Extensions remove some (but not all) of those barriers." The biggest examples of extensions are custom keyboards, a feature iOS users have been requesting for years. Downsides to iOS 8 include increased storage and processing requirements, which are bad news for older iPhones, and a host of new bugs associated with the new features.
I have an iPhone 5. When iOS 7 was released, the main features that pulled pep from my phone was the motion visual effect. Turning it off made a huge difference. Can be found under -Settings --> Accessibility --> Reduce Motion (ON). Hopefully the iOS performance hit is mainly video related so as to turn off whatever advance feature chews through cycles. If it's the kernel itself taxing the CPU, yeah, pretty much screwed.
Life is not for the lazy.
Wrong. It's a common marketing tactic.
You have one model that you use to advertise the "starting" price. This model has a significant con to it that will concern most users.
You have the main model you intend to sell the most of. This model does not have the con of the cheaper model. This model is what you based your design and price around. The other models are represent minor changes and have prices determined entirely by psychology, not by production cost.
You have a high end model that you sell a few of at ridiculous markups. This model is just slightly better than the main model in a few aspects.
You see this done with Apple devices, cars, video cards, event tickets, etc. It's not a conspiracy unless you're an idiot who doesn't realize this goes on everywhere. It's marketing.