Testing out iOS 9.0

Apple has opened their beta testing program pass developers to the open public. With it’s new Apple Beta Software Program. Beware though your truly testing out unpolished software. So I would not recommend it to your daily phone. I ran my testing on an iPhone 4S. iOS 9.0 has many smaller updates but nothing to stand out. So what’s new……

Siri:

Under Siri options the”Voice Gender” is changed to “Siri Voice.” Now you have the power to change her accent. She also has a fancy new voice animation.   

   

 
Battery:

Now listed separately under your settings. You now have a Low Power Mode option. This is such a long time needed feature. It’s no surprise how iPhones handle battery power. From the test I’ve ran. It really does work well. 

  
News:

Apple’s take on Flipboard and other News Reader apps. It’s on your phone much like other apps you choose to use or not. It works but once you pick the story. It’s really a glorified web story. You might else we’ll go to the website. For me I’ll stick to using Twitter for news.

   
 
Smaller Notices:

Multitasking now uses cards. Feels less snappy but that could be the phone. Passbook is now Wallet. With Photos you now have a Selfie, Screenshots and Hidden tabs. With the Camera app you can not (at the time) use the volume button to capture. On Music you can listen to higher quality on cellular and also use Genius on your music library. 

   
 
All and all there are some neat touches. Once the next release comes out. We shall have a update post on it. 

Apple Music [Review]

The day for Apple Music has come. It’s now in our hands. Will it hold it’s on? Should I stay on Spotify? What’s that radio station I’ve heard about? All will be answered.

Kudos to Apple for making this process so simple. No need to put a credit card number or email/account info in. Without any detailed info your just thrown into the app. This is where it’s confusing if you’ve never use a music app before.

Every artist page looks simple and clean. Though the choices that follow them. Are over barring I feel. Should have just been “Artist, Albums and Videos” I was confused about “Add to my music” is this just on phone? Offline? Streaming? Once I looked around through the settings. I discovered that you have to manually set a album to be on offline. Not as a easy task on other music services.

Beats 1 Radio is an interesting take. Quick and random. Its commercial free. I just wish they had more info on who’s the DJ, what style and what time they air. Once you hear a song or artist you like. There’s many options to use.

Just for comparison I tried Drake radio on Apple Music vs Google’s Play Music. Here’s what they played. First Apple then Google.

Under the “New” tab. There is just so much! Way too much! Besides all the new music there’s a neat feature that’s way on the bottom.

Activities works well and Curators plays mixes from top music websites/magazines.

Music Videos are within the app also. Some artist have a good amount and others don’t. Clearly Eminem’s video was nice and widescreen. Blink 182 was full screen. Slipknot only had one video. Terrible I know!

Siri works for Apple music in every way. I tested her with multiple questions.

All and all it’s the magic that Apple has. Streaming Music something that’s not new. Something other services have. What makes this different. It’s simple in ways and really is fast. Being able to use Siri for me sets this above other services. Sure the radio feature is not as good as others and “Connect” leaves a lot to be remain. I’m staying with Apple Music for now. I’ll check back in after the free trail.

Apple Watch [First Impressions]

The Apple Store opened in about a hour but there was already about 5 people lined up. Hmm, this must mean a product goes on sale or pre-order. Pre-order it was and unless you’ve been living under a rock. It’s Apple Watch Pre-order day. With the strike of 10:00am, the sound of clapping could be heard. This is Apple’s most ambitious product since the phone. 

  

Unlike the phone or the IPad. The watch takes a learning curve. Part of me likes that it’s a bit different from the same old IOS. Though the other feels it could be too confusing. I personally thought it’s only two physical buttons and a touch screen. How hard could it be? I was way wrong. 

  

The main screen is filled with a variety of apps. Once pressing onto one. Your now in the app. Then the natural feeling of using a iPhone/IPad takes over. The side button should take you back to home. 

 

 Just as the home button does but it does not. It takes you to your favorites. See, it’s confusing huh. The digital crown works great. The screen looks great and the animations such as the Mickey face watch. Are great as you would expect. 

 

To be honest I could not tell much of a difference between the 38mm and the 42mm. I wouldn’t mind a bit of a bigger screen. While the “Sport” model is the cheapest of the 3 models. I’m really leaning towards the (standard) Apple Watch edition. The stainless steel case is beautifully crafted. 

 

 

  

  

  

  

So, there you have it. It’s finally here and almost close to being seen on everyone’s wrist. A solid product, a learning curve that could help or hurt it. The App Store will set this apart from just being a watch. Though that is more future talk then it being right at launch. What’s your thoughts on the Apple Watch? Any questions you might have leave a comment or tweet me @ZombieCT