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iOS 8: To update, or not to update

Dorian Libby, a Sophmore, listens to music on his smartphone while waiting for his next class to start. (Ariana Berkemeier / The Signpost)
Dorian Libby, a sophomore, listens to music on his smartphone while waiting for his next class to start. Apple’s new iOS 8 update has been met with mixed reviews. (Ariana Berkemeier / The Signpost)

“Even the mightiest will fall” seems to be Apple’s theme for the week. In addition to releasing an iPhone that is not skinny jean-friendly, they have also released an update that has left iPhone users more than unsatisfied.

Apple recently released the new iOS 8 for the iPhone community, although this update is only supported by iPhone models 4s or later. The update included several new features including QuickType, a keyboard that makes words suggestions while users are typing and then allow users to easily select the word they want.

The Healthkit application is also included in the update. This app allows users to track calories, exercise, vitals and sleep patterns. This data is all stored in one convenient app that allows users to quickly access their health stats throughout the day.

Despite the hype over QuickType, it seems to have fallen short with many users because it isn’t really anything new. Other smartphones were already equipped with similar features before Apple even announced the idea of QuickType.

Despite Apple’s big push for the improvements that were promised to be contained in the iOS 8 update, it seems more like a sinking ship with holes that Apple is still attempting to patch. Apple has already released a few different bug fix downloads specifically for the original update.

iPhone users have also complained that the update was too large and was causing poor battery life. With the promise of improved battery life for the iPhone 6, it seems counter-productive that Apple’s latest software update would cause iPhones to go from fully charged, to almost dead in less than half a day.

Tanner Nielsen, a student at Weber State University, gave his thoughts on the update, “I did notice that it drained my battery quite a bit faster. It was also a large download because I needed 4.6 GB of free memory to do the update, so I wasn’t very impressed.”

An essential component of a smart phone is actually being able to use it. If the battery life has to constantly be conserved then it isn’t as useful of a tool for most people.

Despite the issues with the battery life and size of the download Tanner did find a few things to like about the update, “There are some cool apps like TinyScan that I like so that wasn’t so bad.”

Apple’s fixes, which were released shortly after the original update, were intended to improve several things. The cellular network connectivity was an issue that needed to be immediately addressed by the bug fix. iPhone users had experience problems with 3G, 4G and LTE connections after downloading the new update.

Whitney Nixon, a freshman at Weber State University, was not impressed by the update at all.

“I wish I didn’t download it. I couldn’t call anybody and my 3G network wouldn’t work. I was hoping that the iOS 8.2 update it would at least help with a couple problems that I was having but it didn’t change anything.”

Although most reactions have been negative, it seems that some people aren’t as irked by the changes as others.

Tanner Nielsen remarked, “I am not as disappointed as most people have been but I don’t know if I have gained too much by downloading it.”

So it seems that Apple has fallen short recently with their latest releases. Hopefully as more issues and concerns are brought to Apple’s attention, the appropriate fixes and updates will become available to iPhone users.

 

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