OK I am biased – as an Apple fangirl, I am content with my ecosystem involving all iGadgets – although I don’t own a mac….yet. Here are my thoughts on why Apple users are misunderstood by Android users.
Simplicity
With CEO of Apple Inc. Steve Jobs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jobs’ mantra of “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” was the driving force behind Apple’s products. Even if you have never picked up an iPhone, the ios is so intuitivite that most pick it up and start using the phone, SMS and apps within minutes. Out of the box Apple products come with little or no instruction manual – because they don’t need it.
According to the infographic below, for every $1 spent on the Google Play App store, $2.45 is spent on the Apple App store. On the other hand, Google is catching up with more than 800,000 apps available as of March 2013, compared to 840,000 Apple apps.
by mostash.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
How about you? Are you an Apple user? What do you think makes it better than Android?
This morning as us Australians were sleeping, Apple held its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. (WWDC). This annual event is where Apple announces its new products and features for the year, it is so coveted that tickets to the event sold out in 71 seconds.
The updates are so huge that it will seem like you are getting a new iPhone, iPad or iPod.
If you are like me, you are already impatient about the wait to get ios7, however for now it is only available to developers. It will be available to the rest of us in the US Fall. Cue annoyed ‘I want it now’ face.
The next time you are asked to update the operating system on your mobile device you will get (assuming you have an iPhone 4, iPad or iPad Mini or iPod touch) these new features:
New look interface
A new look interface that is so unique and beautiful, you will want to cradle it. Assuming you don’t already do that. According to Forbes writer Anthony Forbes Kosner the new interface is “lushly colorful, subtly dimensional and exquisitely modern.”
New Control Center allowing short cuts to WiFi settings, better Multi tasking, Flashlight app and filters for Photos.
improvements to Siri
Password library known as Keychain where you can keep all your passwords securely
iTunes Radio
this is Apples answer to Spotify and Pandora, an online music streaming service, that is free with ads.
Apps will now update within the App Store and can you location services to suggest new apps near you.
New range of Mac Book Air laptops will be available and new Mac Book Pros are due out later this year.
ShuffleR.FM – get hip with the latest music offerings before they hit the dreaded mainstream commercial radio stations. Thanks Claire for the recommendation.
Cost: FREE
Flipboard This app is what pushed me over the line to buy the first iPad upon release and join the throngs of Apple geeks to wander the shopping centre, eagerly trying to find a store that had some in stock or would take my order. Simply put, Flipboard let’s you view your news in magazine format. This includes social media, so rather the standard facebook news feed, your Facebook news will appear as if it were a glossy lifestyle magazine, giving you the ability to zoom in and out of ‘stories’ (friends posts, photos etc). Not only that, but in the one app you can also view hundreds of other news including BBC, ABC, CNN and most other news site on the web. It’s no wonder that upon release there were such a huge demand that the flipboard server crashed from the weight.
Cost: FREE
GoSkyWatch Planetariuum Go Sky watch is cool if you want to check out star constellations. Simply hold the iPad up to the sky and it points out where they are all located, and you don’t even need to be outside to use it. Great for the kids too. Worth the price if you are a sky buff.
Cost: FREE
Quake watch
As the name suggests this app shows a list of earthquakes and their scale in real time. You can search by location or size.
Pages, Numbers and keynote
Nothing beats the apps designed by Apple itself, after all they did design the iPad! Looking for Word, Excel and PowerPoint on your iPad? Get to know their iPad equivalents: Pages, Numbers and Keynote. They each allow you to export Mac or PC file formats, are beautifully designed, although Numbers takes a bit of getting used to after being so familiar with the Excel toolbar. Available for both iPhone and iPad so if you are in a WiFi area, you can start a document on your iPad, the move to another room and finish it on your iPhone.
Cost: $10.49
Scan to PDF There are many apps that allow you to use your ipads camera as a scanner of documents. Take a pic of a document and converts to PDF and you can email it.
Cost: Various
Autograph
Handy little app allows you to use the ipad to scribble your autograph and saves it as your signature for importing into documents.
Cost: FREE
Ebooks
Kindle
The Kindle app allows you to view the ebooks from Amazon, however will need to purchase the ebooks on your Mac or PC first as the app doesn’t yet allow you to buy from it.
Cost: FREE
News
SMH
The Sydney morning herald app is slick, easy to use and for the moment free. It may soon feature a paid subscription as many publishers seek to regain revenue from falling print and advertising subscriptions.
Epicuriouscontains thousands of recipes Allergy free entertaining allows you to search recipes to cater for those of us that may be intolerant to gluten, lactose and other common food allergies. ReceipeGrazer BigOven
Photo loader for Facebook This appallows you to upload albums of photos at once to your Facebook, great when you are traveling and want to bulk upload your holiday pics.
Cost: Where is Navigator is FREE for iphone whilst MetroView is $14.99 for both iphone and ipad
Fuel finda
Find the closest petrol station when you need it most.
Cost: FREE
Sydney HD traffic
Using feeds from live traffic cameras, this app shows major highway traffic conditions in Sydney, so you can plan your route before you leave work or home.
Calculator FREE turns your iPad into a handy oversized calculator.
antonina.com.au 