iOS 7 wants.

This is a forum post I turned into a blog post.


i'll divide this post up by fixes and new features.


{{Fixes}}

• Safari- Tired of the crashing, dead tabs and freezing.

• Maps. They suck.

• Siri. She sucks.

{{Requested Features}}

• Notification Center

     • in the lock screen
     • ability to dismiss individual notifications
     • Quick settings widget
     • Allow developers to create widgets
     • Actionable notifications- I.e. respond to texts, etc
    • Better looking. New theme or something. Idk. It's ugly in my opinion.

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• Passbook

• Support for NFC hardware (assuming we ever get an iPhone with NFC. Doubtful).

• Better Multitasking. Not sure how, just needs to be gesture controlled and better looking.

• Sharing options like android.

• Inter app communications. This ties into my last point in that on android apps are aware of each other and allow the user to send data or share data with apps.

• Allow users to set default apps.

• Allow users to delete stock apps, and download them from the App Store if they need them.

• Ship iPhones only with the following apps:

      • Phone

      • Messages

      • iTunes

     • App Store

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• Gestures on the iPhone

• Automatic app updates

• Self destructing iMessages

• App.Net integration (obvious pipe dream)

• Guest Mode/User Logins for iOS devices

• Allow developers more (greater) access to system resources.

App Store review of Nettelator

This is by no means a reflection of my writing. This is an App Store review I did at 4AM running off of 2 hours of sleep.

Twittelator was the first Twitter app I ever used. When Twittelator Neue came out, it was so much better than Pro. I'm very excited about Nettelator. With that said the app is very buggy. I rated it 5 stars because the developer is very aware of the problems and is working to fix them. This app has a lot of potential.

Suggestions:

*Black Egg icon for App.Net
*Notifications. This is desperately needed.
*Ipad version. If need be, I'd be willing to pay again. I was holding out hope that Neue would get an iPad version. I really hope that Nettelator gets an iPad version. There is only one good App.Net app for the iPad, and that's Netbot.

Initial Thoughts on iPad mini

It took seemingly forever to get my iPad mini on November 2nd as I waited on the couch for the UPS man to show up. When I heard his foot steps on the porch happiness washed over me, it was here.

I open the door, scribbled my poor signature on the UPS pad thing and grabbed the boxes and shut the door. I cut open to both boxes (one was for my bf) to see which one was mine. I find my mini and cut the skin-tight plastic off. My first thought after seeing the mini is "hmm. It looks like a small iPad".

But in many ways, it isn't just a "small iPad".

After I turned it on and got through the longish setup, I was installing all of my favorite apps. Unlike many reviewers of the iPad mini, the first thing I noticed wasn't the lack of a Retina Display. It was the weight. This thing feels so light in my hands. It reminded me of the first time I picked up my iPhone 5, it was jarring. Much like the iPhone 5, I almost dropped the mini the first time I picked it up.

Much like the iPad with Retina Display, I hold it with one hand and use it with the other. It is very comfortable to hold due its weight, or the lack thereof. The next thing I noticed was the build quality. Everything I have owned thus far from Apple has always felt sturdy and solid, and while this wasn't much of a surprise, it was nice to see that the fit and finish Apple is known for was present. It is notably better (and lighter) feeling than the Nexus 7, which I also own.

Another thing about the mini that caught me off guard was its speed. Launching, closing, and using apps felt fast. One thing that makes me both glad (and slightly irritated) is that it feels as fast as the third generation iPad. I have never felt that an iOS device is slow, and I think that is mostly due to the great code that makes up iOS, but the speed of the mini really is amazing. I thought that it was going to be slow, much like my Nexus, so in a way, I had set myself up for disappointment unnecessarily so.

I really like how Apple decided to bring the design constructs of the iPhone 5 to the iPad mini. It looks fantastic in both colors (I chose black, bf chose white).

Once I have spent more time with the mini I will post a review which will have more in depth thoughts, as I will have spent more than a day and a half with it.

My must have iOS apps

My very first iOS device was a 16GB iPhone 3GS. I was in love with that phone, and it still holds a (smaller) place in my heart. Since then I have had an iPad (first gen), iPad 2, iPad (third gen), iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPhone 5. 

I prefer paid apps to free apps. Paid apps are almost always better than free ones because they (in most cases) provide a better experience through design, usability, and content. Due to this ideology, I have downloaded many, many apps. The iPhone has really changed what I feel is good software. If an app doesn't have an attractive icon, I look elsewhere. That is the very first thing I look for when I buy an app. 

"Is the icon ugly?" I'll think to myself. Due to the structure of the iOS home screen, I will be constantly looking at it, so it has to look nice. If the app in question has an attractive icon, I move on to the description of the app. Does the app do something that cannot be found in my current collection of apps? Does it do it better? Is it capable of doing multiple features, or just one really well?

Finally, I move on to the screenshots. This is where most apps are forgotten. I don't like ugly UI, and I often won't download apps that I find to be ugly, even if they are useful. I definitely won't pay for a ugly app. 

I consider the user reviews last, because, they are often unreliable. Most people don't know how to read, and therefore, leave shitty reviews. These are the same people that review microwaves on Amazon, and leave bad reviews. "I had to put my popcorn bag in the microwave before it would cook it". "I had to plug the microwave in for the clock to come on". 

If you feel I am exaggerating, open a new tab and read some of the lower star reviews on Amazon.  I'll be here when you get back. Another reason I don't read the reviews is because in some cases, it is fairly obvious that they are from the company that developed the app. Granted, this isn't always the case. There are exceptions and some reviews can be very helpful. 

Okay I'm rambling now. Here is a list of my favorite iOS apps. I will do universal apps first. The universal list will include apps that are universal binaries (buy once for both iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch) and apps that while they aren't universal binaries, offer both versions. 

Bare in mind that these prices were current at the time of this posting. I have written very crappy descriptions of the apps I have included in this list, sorry about that. I do assume however that if you wanted to know more about an app that you can open the link and read more there :). Finally, this is in no way an exhaustive list of apps that I have purchased, or apps that I like. It was a list that I felt were the best paid apps that I had encountered at the time of this writing. I will update this post in the near future with more apps. Enjoy. 

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Universal Apps (Both iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch versions of the app)

I'm going to start things off with some note taking apps, as I am addicted to them. 

Awesome note  (This is one of those apps that has both iPad+iPhone versions, but isn't a universal binary)  This is by far, the best note taking app that I have found on iOS. It is very neat, and organized and it has lots of options for organization. 

iPhone $4

iPad $5

NoteFile is a no frills note taking app. It is very, very simple, but that's why I like it. If I need to just typing something really quick, Noteflile is great.

iPhone+iPad $3

Delivery Status is a great way to track packages on iOS. 

iPhone+iPad $5

Tweetbot  A full service Twitter client.

iPhone $3

iPad $3

Netbot A really good App.net client

iPhone $5

iPad $5

Flight Tracker Pro , a super easy way to track your flight. 

iPhone+iPad  $5

iFlies is an incredible file opening/viewer app.

iPhone+iPad  $4

iStudiezPro is an organizer, calendar, assignment book, and more for high school and college students. 

iPhone+iPad $3

Pages is a word processor from Apple.

iPhone+iPad  $10

Keynote is an app from Apple to create slideshow presentations.

iPhone+iPad  $10

Numbers is an app from Apple to create spreadsheets.

iPhone+iPad  $10

Soundhound is a great way to identify unknown songs.

iPhone+iPad  $7

Tapatalk is a great app for those that like to browse forums.

iPhone+iPad  $3

1Password is a password keeper.

iPhone+iPad  $15

BeejiveIM is an instant messaging client for iOS that handles multiple logins and platforms.

iPhone $5

iPad $10

Djay is a DJ app for iPhone and iPad.

iPhone $.99

iPad $20

Camera+ is a great camera app.

iPhone $.99

iPad $.99

Reeder is one of the best RSS feed readers I have found on iOS

iPhone $3

iPad $5

iPhoto is a decent photo editor

iPhone+iPad  $5

iMovie is a good video editor for iOS.

iPhone+iPad  $5

Garageband, for me, is just something fun to play with.

iPhone+iPad  $5

Drafts is a great way to enter text quickly and send it to a variety of apps

iPhone $2

iPad $3

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iPad Apps

Blogsy is a very powerful blogging app that works with many popular platforms. 

iPad $5

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iPhone Apps

#Pan is another full-featured App.net client. The price is a little steep, but the app comes with it's own dedicated hosting service for media, which is a plus. 

iPhone $7