The Wall The Misadventures of a PK

iOS 4.1

Towards the middle of last week Apple released iOS 4.1 which brought a lot of updates and new features.  Some of the highlighted new features are Game Center, HDR Photos, AirPlay and Ping.  Ping really was released a week earlier with iTunes 10^43 or whatever huge number we are on now.  Well, Thursday morning I updated my phone to the new version and I have to say I am both excited for the future of iOS and underwhelmed with what this release brought.

First off lets talk about Ping.  I have been dying for a good social site that is geared towards music.  So many of my friends listen to great music that I just would never stumble across, so hopefully this would allow me to find it sooner.  Everything about it on the surface seemed perfectly suited for this.  It wasn't very long, about 5 minutes into using it, before I broke that surface and realized why it just won't work.  It only works with music in the iTunes store.  I think this is a huge mistake.  I cannot "like" a song, album or artist I have in my collection unless I go into the iTunes store and find that album or what ever.  Some of my favorite music just isn't in the iTunes store.  The other issue I have is that there is no linking between it an other social networks like twitter or facebook.  That means I have to create a whole new network of friends for Ping.  They really needed to work out a deal with those companies.

I think the biggest draw for me with iOS 4 is Game Center.  It was touted to be an XBox Live like gaming platform, and just like Ping, falls just far enough short to be annoying.  The main reason I was looking forward to GC was the ability to play games with friends everywhere.  Invite them into my game, and they will get a notification and can jump into the action.  Of all of my friends I have by far the most games.  Not one of them allows me to invite friends into the game unless they are on the same wifi or on bluetooth.  In which case what is the point of GC, as they are close enough for me to just ask them in person.  Another really huge annoyance is the achievement system.  Why do achievements have points if all it shows is how many achievements you have completed?  This seems like a poor design flaw.

One of the key features added that kinda rocked, was also the most unexpected addition.  HDR photos built in (iPhone 4 only).  I am not a huge fan of the HDR craze personally, but on my phone it absolutely rocks.  The sensor on the phone has a very low dynamic range and taking pictures outside in the sun almost always come out with massive dark and blown out areas.  The HDR function does a great job reducing these without over doing it.  It is not something to be used all the time though.  In low light conditions it really blurs movement more than normal.  One of the best features though is that it will save both a normal and HDR for the same shutter press.

Now I realize that most of this article has been critical of the iOS 4.1 update and I want to just say for the record, I completely see where this is going.  I absolutely love the fixes for bluetooth and the proximity sensor, and still think that this is the best mobile platform out there.  While it would rock for Apple to allow jailbreaking for those who want it, I love the stability of the phone and the fact that it really can do anything.  After the 4.1 update I now have to say I would completely recommend the iPhone 4 to anyone looking for a smart phone.