
Apple’s 2013 Scorecard - ingve
http://hypercritical.co/2014/01/02/apples-2013-scorecard
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archgrove
Chalk me up as a user for whom Messages seems to function as advertised. Most
people don't take to the air to shout about how something as mundane as text
messaging works fine for them.

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GuiA
Do you use messages across several devices? And do you have group chats?

If I use Messages just on my iPhone, it works just fine. However, when I use
it between 2 macs, an iPhone, and an iPad, it just breaks.

Sure, it's an edge case use - most people use messages just on their phone -
but it's a pretty basic feature.

~~~
rickyc091
Yep, to the first one. No, to the second one.

Works fine for me across the board. My only issue with it is how it's eating
~2gbs of disk space on my phone for attachments. I haven't figured out a way
to get rid of it without going through and purging all my messages or
formatting my phone.

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jacquesc
My biggest hope was: Make iTunes (mac) not suck. It's on a short list of the
worst software I use every day. Just bringing down the spinny beach balls
after every action would have gone a long way. I don't blame the vast majority
of people who seem to be avoiding it altogether, I'll have to follow shortly.

~~~
kylec
It still makes no sense to me why, on the Mac, everything is glommed into a
single app. For years I've been hoping that Apple breaks it apart into
separate music, video, app store, and device syncing/management apps. Why
should I be locked out of playing music or a video just because I'm restoring
my iPod, and iTunes decides that it wants to present a modal progress bar
until it's done?

~~~
dhruvmittal
I've been hoping that they might roll the iOS app store into the Mac App
Store, and consolidate it all under the App Store banner.

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ry0ohki
I don't want a BIGGER iPhone, I want a SMALLER one. Am I the only person that
doesn't need a semi-tablet? I miss the days of the old tiny flip phones.

~~~
kunai
If you've never used a larger-screened phone, you may not see the benefits
immediately. I went from a 4s to a Lumia 1020. Initially, I thought it was way
too big, but the supple, thick, curved edges and ergonomic design of the
1020's case made it much easier to hold and I acclimated quickly. Going back
to a 4s seems quaint and stupidly tiny now.

> I miss the days of the old tiny flip phones

This is progress. Either get with the times or get left behind. Use cases for
mobile devices have completely changed, and now there are serious, tangible
benefits to a large screened device that no one except an extreme minority is
protesting. Note that this doesn't mean they all have to be tablet-sized;
anywhere from 4 - 5" is what most would agree on as the perfect range for
devices. The iPhone 5s/c isn't even 4". It's 3.997" if we want to be pedantic,
which is too small for everything we use smartphones for now.

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BlackDeath3
>This is progress. Either get with the times or get left behind.

In some areas. I'll tell you what: my "old tiny flip phone" never froze up,
refusing to make phone calls, end phone calls, or respond to user input _at
all_. That's pretty important when you really need to make a fucking phone
call.

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endtime
My Galaxy Nexus never did that either, and I used it for a good two years.
Which phone do you have that works so badly?

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BlackDeath3
Motorola Droid RAZR. I don't know if it's just a lightweight phone, or I've
just put too much shit on it, or what, but the thing gets quite slow and
unresponsive.

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jsz0
> Make Messages work correctly

I've had no problems at all with Messages over the last 6-8 months. Multiple
devices (iOS/OSX) all messages synced, in the right order no less, and unread
badges updated.

> Make iCloud better

IMO iCloud Documents is a lost cause until the document silo problem is fixed.
I can't even consider using it knowing that my data may end up being
inaccessible on different devices. I don't like having my data locked into a
specific application. I think Apple should just throw in the towel here and
let other cloud service providers plugin to iOS. Maybe they should just bring
back a revamped iDisk for power users.

> Resurrect iLife and iWork

They should have prioritized iPhoto/PhotoStream.

> Reassure Mac Pro lovers

They need to do the same for Mac Mini & iMac lovers next year. Desktops are
just going to become more and more of a niche product in the future. I don't
know if Mac desktops can continue to exist if they are just MacBooks in a
different form factor. What's the point? Apple should be targeting them
towards the hardcore desktop users left. For the iMac that's obviously a big
Retina display and for the Mini it really needs a discrete GPU option again.
It would give people a reason to actually buy Mac desktops again.

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joeblau
I feel like the TV thing is such a thorny situation. TV is a cartel run by
media companies and I think they already saw how Apple turned the Music
Industry on it's head. These media companies are trying to hold onto the last
bastion of hope that makes them relevant: Live sports. Without that, I feel
like a physical TV or set-top TV box won't really be able to really compete
with what you get with cable.

~~~
adestefan
People said the same thing before the iPhone. However, I agree about live
sports. Apple needs to go directly to the major sports leagues and get them on
onboard.

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sarreph
_" I’d call that a solid year."_

... I wish everyone else would and give Apple a break.

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wsc981
I guess iCloud still ain't usable on platforms other than Mac OS X / iOS,
which really limits its potential and appeal.

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RandallBrown
My girlfriend's photo stream syncs right to her Documents folder on Windows.

~~~
wsc981
That would be using an application developed by Apple I guess? Cause as far as
I know there's no API (RESTful or otherwise) available for other platforms
than iOS / Mac OS X for third parties.

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TheZenPsycho
So you would have preferred apple to give you nothing more than a shitty api
and a "good luck" ?

You do realise that not everyone is a programmer right?

~~~
wsc981
No, but it would be nice for 3rd party developers to have an API available to
implement into their own products. Since Apple doesn't provide an API for
platforms other than Mac OS X / iOS, I'll likely use the Dropbox API in my
next product, since I will be able to use it on an Android phone, for example.

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dbg31415
iTunes is starting to show its age. Can't stand it any more, would much rather
just use Pandora or Spotify. It's just so... clunky in comparison. Needs a
meaningful re-work. Not just the BS "hide the bar you actually use" kind of a
re-work like they did this year or last.

Also missing from the list... "Give us another cool new thing." Everything
they did this year was just a minor upgrade. I'm fairly technical and I can't
tell you what OS X Mavericks did that the last one didn't... or for that
matter what any of the last 3 revisions have really added... all I know is
that Office on a Mac still sucks, and Pages doesn't let you work on and save
Word files as Word files without jacking them up. Someone please make it so I
can use Word docs correctly on a Mac and I'd be happy. Basic basic
functionality...

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interpol_p
> _Also missing from the list... "Give us another cool new thing." Everything
> they did this year was just a minor upgrade._

But they produced two very big new things:

\- Mac Pro, a completely re-imagined workstation with some extremely clever
engineering and a push for future GPU computing using OpenCL

\- iOS 7, a very big change to their most popular OS

You ask for a "cool new thing" but then you complain about a lot of minor,
iterative issues ("Office on Mac still sucks", "Pages doesn't let you...",
"Basic basic functionality...").

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uptown
I'm surprised Apple hasn't scooped up Nest. If they intend to eventually make
the home their next "platform" it seems like a decent place to start.

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protomyth
I think Honeywell is more likely to buy Nest than Apple.

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onedev
But integrating that kind of smart device control into iOS and OSX is the kind
of crazy shit I expect from Apple.

Well it's the kind of stuff I _want_ to expect from Apple...

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marincounty
Fix Mavericks--I wish I never installed it. Oh yea--still don't understand why
you screwed with ibooks?

