[mac4theblind] Re: 4s to 5s Upgrade Review from a Non-Apple Nut
- From: Samuel Negron <samuel_negron@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <mac4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 13:35:25 -0700
I’ve had it for close to a week, the week I happened to not have any classes,
which is why I haven’t gotten to use the GPS apps.
I’ve used some apps more than others, but I’ve had a chance to use to lesser
degrees a lot of other popular apps. For example, I use WhatsApp with one of
my buddies, and I’ve had a lot of luck with that one. I think I’ve only had the
app crash once. I use skype a lot because my apartment has awful reception. On
the 4s, Skype had this crazy issue where the voice of the other person would
slow down and sound fragmented and digital when I would use it to call mobile
phones. On the 5s, over the course of a 30 minute call, I didn’t have that
issue. when using the Apple ear buds, calls on the stock phone app sound a lot
crisper than they do on the 4s. So far, News-line, Bard Mobile, Audible, the
stock Podcasts App, and Netflix work the same or better than they did on the
4s, with the caveat that they load a heck of a lot faster.
From: David Hilbert Poehlman
Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2013 9:50 AM
To: mac4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [mac4theblind] Re: 4s to 5s Upgrade Review from a Non-Apple Nut
So,
How long have you had it, How much real time have you spent using it? how long
would you say you have spent on each app?
The market bears scrutiny for sure but I'm mostly concerned about apple issues
than anything else at least as far as this list goes.
you've got the fastest chi[p on the planet there so even the iphone 5 will take
a hit as a result.
for the purposes of OCR, it needs to be throttled back by the engines and I've
not yet attempted o c r with it. In terms of image recog, I've not tested
enough to know but I can say we gat afaster return.
On Oct 20, 2013, at 2:26 PM, Samuel Negron <samuel_negron@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So, I upgraded my phone after a couple of weeks of deliberating. It came down
to two phones: the iPhone 5s, and the Note 3. Obviously, since I’m writing
here, we know which phone won. To be fair to the Note 3, one of the major
factors was the cost. People criticize Apple for having supposedly overpriced
phones, but after trading in my 4s, and getting my 5s on contract, I only paid
$50 for my new iPhone, where as I would’ve spent close to $200 for the Note 3
after trade-in and contract.
I relate that little story because I get a little annoyed with these news
stories that point the finger at Apple for having costly phones, when in
reality, as far as smartphones go, they’re really quite reasonable. There are
some frustrating things about them, naturally. The fact you can’t use micro SD
cards is still pretty ridiculous, as is this obnoxious adherence to the iTunes
store and the so called closed garden approach. I’m not relating that to start
an argument. I understand the business sense it makes, but I do think, in this
case, business is not on the side of the consumer, or the power user who
despises the handholding nature of iOS.
I haven’t gotten to use the 5s extensively, so I don’t know if the new camera
provides better OCR, bill recognition, or object recognition. I also haven’t
checked the GPS features with BlindSquare or seeing Eye GPS, so I don’t know if
the location services are more accurate. I have, however, used all the basic
apps like Facebook, safari, mail, etc. I’m pleased to report that all the
various bugs I noticed with the 4s were, by and large, solved just by getting
the new phone.
This phone is extremely zippy, loading apps ridiculously fast, and running VO
very smoothly. With the 4s, VO would hang, apps would lag, and my phone would
frequently freeze after upgrading to iOS 7. This isn’t to say the 5s is
perfect. Sometimes, when swiping down with three fingers to pull down the
notification center, the springboard will crash, throwing me back to the lock
screen and restarting VO. This is particularly noteworthy as this is the first
iOS update I’ve ever had since I’ve been using an iPhone that has featured
crashes and major VO bugs. The same issues the 4s had with over sensitivity
isn’t entirely solved. The virtual keyboard, for example, needs some fixing.
I haven’t used my braille display with it, but I’ve heard reports of braille
issues with friends who are braille nuts, so we can hope that’s around the bend
soon. I know all of you have reported other hardware issues with the 5s, and
thankfully, I haven’t had any of those. I got very lucky.
I haven’t used Airdrop, but I love that it’s there. Between that and bump,
people’s criticism of the iPhone lacking NFC is pretty silly. I’m sure there
are several things NFC can do that Apple hasn’t figured a way around, but in
real world use, people barely, if ever, use any of those wiz bang features of
the Samsung phones.
I did activate the fingerprint scanner for my right and left thumb. It sounds
silly, as it’s the difference of only 10 seconds or so, but this feature is a
time saver. When pressing the home button to activate the lock screen, just
leave your finger there and the phone unlocks right away. For us who use VO,
this also provides an added layer of security, as people can overhear your
passcode as you type it in. I wish this feature could be used for more apps in
place of a password, actually, so I can avoid the problem of VO shouting my PWs
to the world when I’m not wearing my Bluetooth headset.
If you are using a 4 or 4s, or an even older phone, I would encourage everyone
to upgrade. I don’t know the differences between the 5 and 5s in terms of
performance, but the difference between my 4s and my 5s is simply ridiculous.
The extra row of apps, the vastly improved battery life, the faster loading
times, and the fingerprint scanner make it an extremely worthwhile choice.
--
Jonnie Appleseed
With His
Hands-On Technolog(eye)s
touching the internet
Reducing Technology's disabilities
One Byte At a time
Other related posts:
