<p>I just got my notification too. Phones to be delivered by Fri 3pm. I am away right now. The doorman will receive, but D1 will go by to pick them up and put mine in the apartment.</p>
<p>Installed iOS 8 without a problem right when it was officially released. I’m glad they added the predictive keyboard; it makes texting much easier. I’ve used add-on ones that do this on Android. </p>
<p>I notice a huge number of apps are updated today. A number of them reference use of extensions - like you can use Camera Plus filters in Apple’s Photos. Others now allow you to log in with TouchID. </p>
<p>I don’t abuse my phones or try to break them on purpose, but I have had bad luck with iPhone screens cracking and breaking using them in my normal everyday tasks. I wish cell phones could better tolerate water exposure too. Why can’t phone makers design affordable, more water=resistant phones…I’ve lost phones that were damaged in rainstorms I’ve been caught in at events like football games. Guess I should wear white gloves using my cell phones encased in aftermarket protective cases enclosed in plastic bags!</p>
<p>I like the predictive keyboard for messages. To get to Dallas Cowboys, I only had to enter Da and C. That is nice and I hope it will not get unruly and remember typos. But kudos for this implementation. And, yep, I know the Android users have had it for a while. Anoher improvement was that checking usage is MUCH faster than it was before. I am sure there are plenty of other nice tools to uncover. </p>
<p>On the installation, I had a bit of a glitch and had to download it twice for the iPad. I think I might have hit a key and created an unwanted message in iTunes. A message that was typically iTunes as it made no-sense whatsoever. It asked me if I wanted to cancel the syncing and continue with the update or update. Yeah right, Mr. Stem who wrote this, that makes a lot of sense! Regardless, hitting update canceled the whole thing at once! After that servers were busy, but that is understandable. The second time was fast and probably required 10 minutes to download and a few minutes to install. </p>
<p>All in all, not bad with the extra bonus of the forced cleanup. The first iPhone was without problems and I’ll get to the second one later. </p>
<p>PS So far no visible bugs. Dropbox reported a compatibility issue but that should not last too long.</p>
<p>I canceled my refurb mini retina order.
Since the new models are priced closely to the previous model, I decided I can wait another month or two.</p>
<p>I added SwiftKey. I’m not a huge fan of the swiping gesture - have used this before - and I’m willing to give Apple’s improved predictive word selection a chance … but that predictive keyboard isn’t appearing in Safari. </p>
<p>If anyone doesn’t know how to install or use extra keyboards, you add them in the general/keyboard setting. You download an app like SwiftKey and it will appear in the add dialogue. It will ask for general access. The security dialogue is scary; if you don’t trust these people, they could steal everything you type, including credit card numbers. SwiftKey’s privacy policy says that if you don’t use their cloud - which is a separate service - they’ll only collect general stat info like the number of keystrokes and they say the app tries not to record credit card entries and the like. (Yes, it essentially says it tries.) To use a keyboard - like emoji - hit the world globe button and they’ll cycle through.</p>
<p>I would hesitate before using SwiftKey’s cloud service. It will remember what you type and learn from that and so it will become potentially very useful … but that means what you type is sent to servers in the cloud. Not iCloud, but a cloud run by SwiftKey. What if that gets hacked? What if someone manages to get into a server that routes to and from their cloud? That worries me. </p>
<p>As for the OS, one of my favorite little things is that when you double tap the home button you not only see all open apps but your most favorite contacts on top. Touch one and it gives you options to call, etc.</p>
<p>And of course the thing that really makes life better for casual use is the improvement to lock screen handling so you can now delete mail, respond to messages, etc. from the notification itself. </p>
<p>Siri is much more responsive, notably because it now processes word by word. </p>
<p>Lots of other stuff are fairly small, like the more sensitive slider for adjusting size. </p>
<p>I haven’t used many of the extension capabilities. A big one, for example, is the ability to fill passwords, etc. directly from a password manager. </p>
<p>BTW, Apple now has 2 step verification for your Apple ID and iCloud. You log in to enable it. You should have whatever devices you want to use on because you’ll want to “verify” each of them. Apple will then give you a “Recovery Key”, which is a bunch of letters and numbers. You need to keep that. I moved a copy to Dropbox. I put another copy in a secure note manager that’s encrypted with a password. They also suggest printing it and putting it somewhere safe.</p>
<p>Be prepared for an adjustment when looking at your photos. Do NOT expect to find the same camera roll after the update. The organization has changed with new “recently XX” albums. Some might like parts of the features and others not to much. I found “most” of the photos I had in albums preserved but many in the camera roll have been moved where only Apple knows. I do not think they were deleted as much as misplaced. Fwiw, the deleting of photos will be a two steps affair. Either delete them twice (a seemingly Apple new twist in different places) or a purgatory of 30 days a la photostream. </p>
<p>For all its professed love of graphics, Apple remains pretty damn awful in managing photos. Some has to do with the IOS and iCloud, but one could expect a more intelligent organization of photos on say … an iPad.</p>
<p>I did not think the improvements of Mail to be interesting. Nor really annoying but much ado about nothing. I still wish there were a ONE step delete without the archive/trash silliness. And a bulk delete from within IOS. Still a huge WIP. As far as Safari … it is still Safari and the changes are nothing to crow about. One slight improvement on the iPhone. The forced desktop look might be nice considering how horrible the mobile sites are. Typical Apple software. </p>
<p>Thats helpful, and scary. I already messed up something with my access to pictures when linking to the cloud. Cant find any photos since April. Ugh.</p>
<p>I don’t recall getting an auto notice to upgrade my iPad Air to iOS 8.</p>
<p>I’ve mostly used “Recently Added” as the camera roll replacement. Haven’t gone into more. Because I mostly use apps other than the built-in camera app, I have the option of saving to “Photos” or not, which reduces clutter there. That’s one reason I use other apps: to avoid cluttering my (former) camera roll with stuff I really should delete which also gets downloaded to my Mac.</p>
<p>jym, if your photos are automatically added to iPhoto, try making a search for your photostream. [url=<a href="http://www.webtechgadgetry.com/2013/12/mac-osx-tip-add-icloud-photo-stream-finder-sidebar/]Here’s[/url">http://www.webtechgadgetry.com/2013/12/mac-osx-tip-add-icloud-photo-stream-finder-sidebar/]Here’s[/url</a>] a link that says how. BTW, I currently find this useful now because iPhoto doesn’t work well with Yosemite - most every new iteration breaks iPhoto again - but I want to make sure my photos are being downloaded and because I want to use them. I assume this problem will continue perhaps until the replacement for iPhoto comes out months from now. </p>
<p>I noticed with this development cycle that I have become so dependent on my phone I was less willing to put beta software on it than on my Mac. I know I can more easily find and maybe fix the problems on my Mac - Terminal and all - but also that I worry more the beta software will screw up something I really need right now on my phone. Never felt that way before.</p>
<p>I got a notice that my new iPhone will arrive tomorrow. Unfortunately, I’m on a trip so won’t “meet” it until Sunday night. I decided not to put IOS 8 on the iPad until after the trip since I didn’t want any surprises. Need connectivity for work. </p>
<p>Normally I get an update notice on my phone and iPad for iOS updates. I have not gotten this at all for iOS 8. Will I be getting this? Or do I have to get iOS 8 another way?</p>
<p>When my iPad Air update said it estimated 18 hours to completion, and I read of problems, I decided to cancel the download and wait a few weeks. </p>
<p>Go into settings, general , software updates and it will tell you if you can update. My iPhone needs a cleanup since it says it takes 5 GB to update and I don’t have that much open right now. </p>
<p>Ixnay, do you have dial up?
If you have a Mac, plug your device into it & go to itunes.
Then you will need much less room to install the update.</p>
<p>Thanks…I just checked…and I don’t have sufficient memory on my 32 unless I delete some applications. Lovely.</p>
<p>I only have 6.6 available. </p>
<p>Sheesh.</p>
<p>I always buy more storage than I think I need to allow room to move stuff around.
I only have it about half filled as I deleted apps that I barely open.</p>
<p>It may just need to be cleaned up.
There are some apps that allow you to clean up old pref files etc.</p>
<p>I did get more storage than I thought I needed…six months ago. I didn’t expect the iOS to hog up addition storage space from the iOS that came on the machine.</p>
<p>Whatever. I deleted applications that I normally use only for work…since I’m not working right now!</p>
<p>Thumper, that is the Fall cleanup I mentioned. Actually it is NOT that bad. Check your usage and you will see the biggest culprits, probably under Others. I deleted a bunch of applications to get rid of the hidden data and attachments. I also deleted all my email accounts from the iPad as I know I could get it back by updating the app later. I moved a lot of pictures away from the iPad. If you have a large camera roll, move them into albums. I did not lose any in the albums. Punting and reloading apps is not a bad idea as most will need to be reloaded anyway. Cleaning the underbrush of the iPad is also good. I had several GIG of old mail and IMs. You might have a lot from AOL and GMAIL. The delete function from the iPad are a pain. Before reloading Mail, do the pruning at the desktop level. </p>
<p>I did the update via iTunes. It probably will be smooth today. </p>
<p>When I ordered the 6 last week, I ordered the 16GB without even thinking since a 32 wasn’t available. Of course I immediately had buyers remorse and could kick myself for not ordering the 64GB. Once that phone arrives tomorrow I am going to want to set it up and start using it, but I am thinking maybe I should try to swap it out; just now sure how quickly that can happen without standing in line tomorrow, and that will not happen! </p>