iPhone 6 - BFD

[derekson]

3K is nowhere near the point of no return on a 27" computer display. The old 27" iMac is nearly 3K at 2560x1440. 4K on a 27" screen might be reasonably "retina", but the scaling would be all off in OS X, among other potential issues. It would also be a bit on the low end for being truly "Retina", and wouldn't look retina-sharp if you scaled the resolution at all. On the Retina MBP screens being able to scale the resolution and still have it look incredibly sharp has been a great feature and I'm sure they want to bring that same flexibility in screen real estate and scale to the retina iMac as well.  With the way they do doubling resolution to make the retina displays, 5K makes perfect sense. And it's not so far overkill on pixels that it's just specs for specs sake (the way that say 2560x1440 on a 5-6" phone screen is).

 

[Rook05]

I love my 6, and I continue to be amazed at how much smaller and sleeker each iteration has been. That said. I've been having some problems with this new one. Mostly, the software seems sluggish, especially when I'm typing. Sometimes Safari or Email will crash in the middle writing something, and when I reopen it the message will be lost and predictive typing will be gone. It was particularly annoying during the four attempts to fill out a lost item report for Delta Airlines last night. Other times the screen freezes or can't switch from portrait to landscape views. It's led to a lot of rebooting.

Has anyone else had similar problems? I've been on the road for the past 10 days but will have it checked out by a GENIUS next week.

Edit: Another problem I didn't mention is problems with apps. Email went crazy yesterday and kept asking for my password but rejecting that password. I had to delete and reinstall my accounts. Other apps are clunky and freeze as well. Net-net, these are not huge problems but they stand in contrast to his seamless everything has historically worked.

 

[Silverdude2167]

I love my 6, and I continue to be amazed at how much smaller and sleeker each iteration has been. That said. I've been having some problems with this new one. Mostly, the software seems sluggish, especially when I'm typing. Sometimes Safari or Email will crash in the middle writing something, and when I reopen it the message will be lost and predictive typing will be gone. It was particularly annoying during the four attempts to fill out a lost item report for Delta Airlines last night. Other times the screen freezes or can't switch from portrait to landscape views. It's led to a lot of rebooting.

Has anyone else had similar problems? I've been on the road for the past 10 days but will have it checked out by a GENIUS next week.

Edit: Another problem I didn't mention is problems with apps. Email went crazy yesterday and kept asking for my password but rejecting that password. I had to delete and reinstall my accounts. Other apps are clunky and freeze as well. Net-net, these are not huge problems but they stand in contrast to his seamless everything has historically worked.

What version of 8 are you using?

 

[Rook05]

What version of 8 are you using?

8.0.2. My settings say I'm up to date.

 

[zenter]

3K is nowhere near the point of no return on a 27" computer display. The old 27" iMac is nearly 3K at 2560x1440. 4K on a 27" screen might be reasonably "retina", but the scaling would be all off in OS X, among other potential issues. It would also be a bit on the low end for being truly "Retina", and wouldn't look retina-sharp if you scaled the resolution at all. On the Retina MBP screens being able to scale the resolution and still have it look incredibly sharp has been a great feature and I'm sure they want to bring that same flexibility in screen real estate and scale to the retina iMac as well.  With the way they do doubling resolution to make the retina displays, 5K makes perfect sense. And it's not so far overkill on pixels that it's just specs for specs sake (the way that say 2560x1440 on a 5-6" phone screen is).

 
You know what, I was confusing which axis was the "K", since I'm used to thinking in number of horizontal lines (ie, vertical resolution). My bad.

 

[derekson]

 
You know what, I was confusing which axis was the "K", since I'm used to thinking in number of horizontal lines (ie, vertical resolution). My bad.

 
Yeah it is really bizarre that they've started talking in horizontal resolution when we've had 480i, 720p, 1080i/p etc as stands for so long. I don't know why it's "4K" instead of 2160p or 5k instead of 2880p. It's really a stupid and pointless change.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

 
Yeah it is really bizarre that they've started talking in horizontal resolution when we've had 480i, 720p, 1080i/p etc as stands for so long. I don't know why it's "4K" instead of 2160p or 5k instead of 2880p. It's really a stupid and pointless change.

It's called marketing.

 

[weeba]

My 6 is running fine, but my 4S is having some exchange issues now that it's on 8.  I have a calendar badge icon of 2, as I cannot delete 2 acceptances from the list.  Frustrating, but probably resolvable by removing and adding the account.

 

[derekson]

Definitely glad that I went with the 16 GB phone now that I've got 8.1 installed and setup iCloud Photo Library. I've got 3.5 GB free now after being almost completely full prior to today's update.

 

[bohous]

One issue I have been having is that my iPhone 6 doesn't always recognize Swiftkey right away. Sometimes it will not come up at all unless I hit the World icon. 
I would be perfectly content with the stock keyboard with the new predictive text feature (which seems to work as well) but I still can't figure out why Apple will not show lower case keys on their keyboard. It seems like it would be very simple to implement, even as an optional feature that you could toggle on or off depending on preference.
 
 
 
spelling edit

 

[derekson]

I used apple pay to pick up a prescription at CVS. It worked seamlessly and quickly. I can definitely see myself using it frequently at places where it's an option.

 

[canderson]

I used apple pay to pick up a prescription at CVS. It worked seamlessly and quickly. I can definitely see myself using it frequently at places where it's an option.

Why wouldn't you use it exclusively at those locations (unles you prefer cash payments)?

 

[derekson]

Why wouldn't you use it exclusively at those locations (unles you prefer cash payments)?

One of my cards is through citizens bank which doesn't (yet) support apple pay, as far as I know.

 

[canderson]

That's what you get for using one of the biggest Phillies payrollers.

 

[Tony C]

One issue I have been having is that my iPhone 6 doesn't always recognize Swiftkey right away. Sometimes it will not come up at all unless I hit the World icon. 
I would be perfectly content with the stock keyboard with the new predictive text feature (which seems to work as well) but I still can't figure out why Apple will not show lower case keys on their keyboard. It seems like it would be very simple to implement, even as an optional feature that you could toggle on or off depending on preference.
 
 
 
spelling edit

 
 
Yeah, the Swiftkey app was cool but a bit wonky on my phone (a 5), too. On the flip, the new Apple keyboard's predictive text is really solid. Might continue to flip back and forth, but am liking the stock keyboard right now quite a bit.

 

[bohous]

Today SwiftKey wouldn't work at all when trying to text (worked with other apps). Definitely buggy.
The other problem is that none of the third party keyboards support Siri, which kind of stinks. I don't use voice to text a lot but I do like to have it available when I'm on the road.

 

[saintnick912]

 
Can you expand on this? I'm not being snark but seriously curious. 
 
Is this a matte vs. "glossy" argument or is Apple using "shitty glass". Does glass in front in non-bright lighting really render a 5k display useless?

 
There are a number of different factors that go into monitor quality.  I haven't bought a 4K monitor for that reason, since the ones that would actually be better for photo work than my existing Dells are in the "thousands of dollars" range.  The lower cost ones have been severely compromised in refresh rate, color accuracy, connectivity options.  The Dell that is $2500 as a standalone may be better in any of these dimensions, which matter to some people and not others.  That's the analogy to the megapixel race, I have a 12MP camera that is way more useful to me than some with 3x as many because of what it can do with them.  This iMac is also tied to a computer that will be aging from day one, and I tend to keep monitors longer than computers.

 

[IpswichSox]

I'm updating to 8.1, and keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[derekson]

 
There are a number of different factors that go into monitor quality.  I haven't bought a 4K monitor for that reason, since the ones that would actually be better for photo work than my existing Dells are in the "thousands of dollars" range.  The lower cost ones have been severely compromised in refresh rate, color accuracy, connectivity options.  The Dell that is $2500 as a standalone may be better in any of these dimensions, which matter to some people and not others.  That's the analogy to the megapixel race, I have a 12MP camera that is way more useful to me than some with 3x as many because of what it can do with them.  This iMac is also tied to a computer that will be aging from day one, and I tend to keep monitors longer than computers.

 
Macs have good resale value though, so even if you decide to get a new one in 2 years you can sell the old iMac and upgrade to a new one for significantly less than the original one cost you. 
 
I decided to go back to using my iPhone 6 without a case today. I liked the Apple leather case well enough, but it was accumulating oil and dust around the edge of the screen where it met the edge of the case, especially with the convex curve at the edge of the display glass. I also missed the smooth swiping from the edge with the curved glass. I plan to try a few weeks with the naked phone again and reevaluate. 

 

[Tony C]

do you or anyone else have a sense if it is more/less/same in re scratch resistant?

 

[derekson]

The screen seemed pretty damned scratch resistant in the tests i saw on Youtube. The edges are kinda lacking in shatter resistance because they get so thin with the curve, but scratching the screen seems like a complete non-issue. The back can get scratched up a lot easier since it's just anodized aluminum.
 
Screen protectors are such a ridiculous racket. I'll never understand why people want to ruin the clarity and texture of the screen because of an irrational fear of damaging a screen that's been tested to be hard to scratch. It can be easier to scratch off some of the oleophobic coating which will result in micro scratches that can only be seen at a specific angle with the screen off, but honestly they're basically unnoticeable in day to day use. My 5S got one of these micro scratches in a year of using it naked.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

What a joke. Retailers are now disabling NFC on existing terminals to push their QR code based system they hope to have up by next year.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/25/7069863/retailers-are-disabling-nfc-readers-to-shut-out-apple-pay

 

[canderson]

Google and Apple not allowing the app in their stores will put and end to it I'd think.

 

[soxhop411]

Google and Apple not allowing the app in their stores will put and end to it I'd think.

It's in the App Store (ios) right now. Would think they pull it soon

 

[derekson]

I imagine pissed off Apple and Google fanatics inundating them with complaint emails and taking their business elsewhere might change their minds about that fairly quickly. The kind of people who like tech toys enough to use things like Google Wallet and ApplePay tend to be fairly affluent consumers as well, not exactly the kind of customers these companies can afford to be pissing off.

 

[The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa]

What a joke. Retailers are now disabling NFC on existing terminals to push their QR code based system they hope to have up by next year.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/25/7069863/retailers-are-disabling-nfc-readers-to-shut-out-apple-pay

 
Is this about the retailers trying to avoid eventually giving Apple a miniscule cut of the customer's payment by essentially developing their own system in-house?

 

[canderson]

Is this about the retailers trying to avoid eventually giving Apple a miniscule cut of the customer's payment by essentially developing their own system in-house?

Retailers don't pay Apple, the credit cars do.

This is about a conglomerate of businesses thinking their shitty system is better. Nevermind it isn't secure at all.

 

[Silverdude2167]

It is ironic that people are complaining about other companies not playing nice with Apple? The kings of not playing nice with other companies?

 

[Murderer's Crow]

We get it, you don't like apple.

 

[Silverdude2167]

We get it, you don't like apple.

Come on that is funny. I like their products, not the company.

 

[soxhop411]

It is ironic that people are complaining about other companies not playing nice with Apple? The kings of not playing nice with other companies?

It's also not playing nice with Google. As now those people with Google wallet are fucked

 

[jayhoz]

Retailers don't pay Apple, the credit cars do.

This is about a conglomerate of businesses thinking their shitty system is better. Nevermind it isn't secure at all.

 
I'm not sure how you know that it is shitty and/or insecure since the service has yet to officially launch.

 

[jayhoz]

This is going to set up a bunch of heavyweight fights that are going to be fun to watch.
 
Credit Card Companies v. Major Retailers - Neither one wants to piss off each other too much
 
Apple/Google v. MCX - MCX needs to tread lightly lest they get booted off the Playstore / AppStore
 
MCX v. POS hardware guys (Verifone, etc).
 
Major Retailers v. MCX - Who owns the customer data?

 

[Blundatola]

 
I'm not sure how you know that it is shitty and/or insecure since the service has yet to officially launch.

 
The details on how CurrentC works are out there.  It is both shitty and insecure.

 

[canderson]

 
I'm not sure how you know that it is shitty and/or insecure since the service has yet to officially launch.

Blundatola linked to a great TechCrunch piece about why, but it uses freaking QR codes to do payments. That's inherently less secure than a tokenization format. The system requires a strong cell signal and is tied directly through your phone to your bank account so you get no rewards from a card. Plus if the store has no signal you can't use it.
 
The merchents are doing this not for safety but in an attempt to cut out the middle man of having to pay credit card rates per transaction. It has zero to do with consumer protection.

 

[jayhoz]

Blue linked to a great TechCrunch piece about why, but it uses freaking QR codes to do payments. That's inherently less secure than a tokenization format.
 
The merchents are doing this not for safety but in an attempt to cut out the middle man of having to pay credit card rates per transaction. It has zero to do with consumer protection.

 
I don't know enough about it to speak with authority, but CurrentC does use tokenization to secure data.
 
If retailers share the 1-3% savings they will reap by cutting out the processing fee, then it could be a win win no?
 
The user experience sounds like total crap though.  I've got to scan a code on the register screen (do I walk around the counter?) and the clerk has to scan a code on my phone?  If that is the ultimate implementation then this will flop and no-one will have to worry about it.

 

[canderson]

 
I don't know enough about it to speak with authority, but CurrentC does use tokenization to secure data.
 
If retailers share the 1-3% savings they will reap by cutting out the processing fee, then it could be a win win no?
 
The user experience sounds like total crap though.  I've got to scan a code on the register screen (do I walk around the counter?) and the clerk has to scan a code on my phone?  If that is the ultimate implementation then this will flop and no-one will have to worry about it.

 
My understanding of CurrentC is you store your bank account and SS# locally on your phone and that gets read every time a merchant scans the QR code. Maybe that's not right, but I don't see how the app will work with a static code and not have your info locally stored.
 
I'd rather not my merchant have direct access to my bank account (and the info that could come from that information).

 

[IdiotKicker]

 
My understanding of CurrentC is you store your bank account and SS# locally on your phone and that gets read every time a merchant scans the QR code. Maybe that's not right, but I don't see how the app will work with a static code and not have your info locally stored.
 
I'd rather not my merchant have direct access to my bank account (and the info that could come from that information).

 
Not to mention that bank accounts historically have had much lower levels of fraud protection than credit cards.

 

[IpswichSox]

Storing you Social Security number locally? Is that really necessary for CurrentC to work? That seems like a lot of risk. It's one thing if someone hacks a credit card number -- you can always cancel the account and get issued a new card with minimal disruption. But your Social Security number is kind of like the keys to the kingdom. In the wrong hands, that could cause significant disruption, especially if a major financed purchase is in the near term, like a mortgage, refinance or car loan/lease.

 

[canderson]

Storing you Social Security number locally? Is that really necessary for CurrentC to work? That seems like a lot of risk. It's one thing if someone hacks a credit card number -- you can always cancel the account and get issued a new card with minimal disruption. But your Social Security number is kind of like the keys to the kingdom. In the wrong hands, that could cause significant disruption, especially if a major financed purchase is in the near term, like a mortgage, refinance or car loan/lease.

Rereading the TechCrunch article it doesn't mention entering your SS# so I may have misread it. Them having direct bank account info is enough for me to not want it at all on my phone.

 

[jayhoz]

On mobile so I can't link, but I don't believe anything is stored locally.

 

[soxhop411]

On mobile so I can't link, but I don't believe anything is stored locally.

I believe it is the cloud
 

 
To use CurrentC, consumers must have an active account that requires them to set up a bank account as a payment source and confirm their identity by providing their driver's license and social security number. This sensitive information is stored in the cloud and not on the phone.

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/27/currentc-mobile-payments/

 

[IdiotKicker]

Yeah, warm and fuzzies all around on that one.  Next.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

 
I don't know enough about it to speak with authority, but CurrentC does use tokenization to secure data.
 

 
I've been doing a bunch of research into it over the last couple days and haven't found anything that says they do. Do you have a source or do you know it some other way? (This isn't snarky, but a serious question)
 
As for ACH. the last thing I need is my bank account drained. It's bad enough when your credit card is compromised. 

 

[derekson]

My understanding is that ACH transactions offer basically zero fraud protection, leaving the customer to try and get the retailer to assume liability in the event of any kind of security breach.

 

[jayhoz]

 
I've been doing a bunch of research into it over the last couple days and haven't found anything that says they do. Do you have a source or do you know it some other way? (This isn't snarky, but a serious question)
 
As for ACH. the last thing I need is my bank account drained. It's bad enough when your credit card is compromised. 

http://www.greensheet.com/emagazine.php?story_id=4118
 
http://www.paymentsleader.com/the-future-of-payment-security-tokenization/

 

[Hambone]

That tokenization article is awful. First tokens aren't a form of encryption as they are being randomly generated. Second if the token can be used to make a financial purchase by someone other than the actual cardholder then it didn't do much to solve for security.

Kinda surprised no ones pointed out that there is no authentication in Apple Pay that would prevent someone from loading other peoples cards into their phone to make purchases.

Also MCX is a joke. I pulled together a demo for them like 3 years ago and thought it sucked then too.

Will be interested to see visa and mastercard reaction to turning off ApplePay based on their rules to accept all forms of their cards.

 

[Apisith]

The authentication is in the fingerprint thing, no?

 

[Murderer's Crow]

The authentication is that when you setup a card, it sends a notification to your account. For all of my cards, I've had to enter a passcode sent to my personal account or login to my account through their app. 
 
If I gave you my cc info, it's very unlikely you can use it on your phone without my help.

 

[Hambone]

Whoops. Knew I should've double checked that vs post from an airplane with some kid driving me crazy. They must've added that after pilot. I'm staying clear from getting an iPhone 6 to help me dodge against questions, but helped a couple industry contacts troubleshoot some use cases.
 
Nothing to see here....