iOS

Molly Wood, writing for the New York Times, digs into the good and bad of Apple and Google maps. I add my own take.

Have you ever wanted to train your voice, learn to sing in pitch, develop a better ear? The SingTrue app uses a wide range of pitch recognition exercises to develop your sense of pitch.

A lovely story about an autistic boy named Gus and his BFF, Siri.

On September 23rd, Apple reported an adoption rate of 46% for iOS 8.

As of October 5th (this past Sunday), Apple’s official numbers show that, in the ensuing weeks, the adoption rate crept up to only 47%. Interestingly, the iOS 7 rate went down from 49% to 47% (as you might expect), but the pre-iOS 7 adoption number actually increased from 5% to 6%.

Worth a read, even if you already know most of these, though there’s one minor quibble.

How to track your iOS 8 battery usage, app-by-app.

There’s a world of difference between autocorrect and predictive typing. Here’s my take on the huge strides Apple has made with this particular corner of iOS 8.

TechCrunch:

With both videos and voice memos, iMessage lets you review the content before sending it. You can play it back and then choose to delete or send it off into the world for other peoples’ viewing and judging pleasure.

With still pictures, however, the photo is automatically sent the second your finger releases the camera button.

iOS 8 needs an interface tweak.

This is a nice little collection of tidbits highlighting new functionality that comes with iOS 8.

One of my favorite additions that came with iOS 8 is Siri’s ability to pick out a tune. This is, presumably, a direct result of Apple’s new deal with Shazam.

To try it, press and hold the home button and say “Name that tune”. Siri will listen and will attempt to name the song you have playing. If the song is available in the iTunes Store, Siri will name the song and put up a “buy” button.

iOS 8 is an incredibly rich upgrade. Stepping through these pages will give you a sense of the major new capabilities so you can take advantage of them.

When you upgrade to iOS 8, most of the options are ones you’ve seen with past upgrades. But one option, asking if you’d like to upgrade to iCloud Drive, is new, and the choice you make here matters.

This is a beast of a review, lots to digest.

As you make your way through the various reviews, keep in mind that the best of iOS 8 is yet to come. As developers wrap their heads around what’s possible, clever bits of code that leverage your iOS experience will start to emerge. That’s when the true value of iOS 8 will become apparent.