Belated greetings

Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas. Please accept my best wishes for 2012.

Come on, feel the noise

The CRTC announced Wednesday a whole pile of folks are applying to operate new radio stations in Calgary.
Of note, AM 770 CHQR wishes to rebroadcast its programming on an FM channel to improve reception for those who live in the city core. The station cites difficult reception in high-rises and along LRT tracks as reasons it needs to operate an FM station nested within its AM contours.
The situation would be essentially the same as what CBC Radio One is doing now — simultaneous occupying an FM and AM channel to serve Calgary.
This application, along with about a dozen others, are to be heard by the CRTC in Calgary in February 2012.
Please see this link for a full list of applicants and proposed radio services.

iPhone 4S battery issues: It wasn’t all in my head!

According to a report from Reuters, Apple is to release a firmware patch for iOS 5 within weeks, to correct short battery life on some devices.
Glad someone at Apple HQ was listening.

Occupied and preoccupied

The Occupy Calgary tents at Olympic Plaza remain up as of today.

Falling for beauty

An awesome view of Calgary’s downtown core, seen from the zoo side of the 12 St. bridge.

My first five days using iPhone 4S

It’s been a week since Apple’s iPhone 4S went on sale in many countries, including Canada.
As promised, here are more of my thoughts on the device.

Siri

One of the biggest selling points of the iPhone 4S is the voice command system, Siri.
I am quite impressed with it, except for two hiccups I’ve noticed thus far.
First, the system is still in beta so it won’t give you a voice interface for business or mapping info in Canada.
Second, Siri remains accessible when your phone is locked unless you specifically set the phone to not allow this. You can ask Siri to send a text or e-mail, or create and manage appointments without having to unlock your phone. If your request requires access to an app (like Safari, for example) Siri will ask you to input your passcode.
This is either a feature or a major hiccup, depending on how you look at it. Each user will have to decide if the convenience versus security trade-off is worth it.

Location-based reminders

You can set reminders based on when you depart or arrive at a location.
If you add addresses to profiles in your contact list, Siri will recognize them.
You can ask Siri to remind you to buy milk when you leave the office or to reset your thermostat when you get home, for example. A notification will appear when you are leaving or arriving near to the specified location.
My first few attempts did not work. Before my third try, I allowed Siri access while my phone was locked — and that seemed to do the trick.
Again, it is a matter of whether you feel the convenience of having Siri working with the phone locked, versus the potential security risk.

Battery consumption

As I noted in an earlier post, the posted battery consumption of the iPhone 4S in standby is much less than its predecessors — 200 hours now versus 300 hours before.
However, the advertised talk time in 3G has improved slightly.
In real-life usage, I’ve had it drain almost completely in one workday with heavy usage on Tuesday.
But Friday, I’ve only used up about one-third of the battery over approximately the same time period.
Still looking for ways to extend battery life … suggestions welcome!
Of course, your mileage may vary.

3G or nothing

There is no longer an option to turn off 3G and force the phone to use 2G (EDGE).
That was a useful energy-saving trick. It also helped to trim mobile bandwidth usage, too.

Camera — out damned spot!

Apart from all the advertised improvements to the iPhone camera (8 megapixel, f/2.4, extra lens, etc.) there is one significant change: No more horrid blue spot at the centre of the screen when picture are shot under fluorescent light!
The new city skyline at the top of this site was shot with the iPhone 4S.
You can see a few more examples on my Flickr page.

Shake it, baby

The vibrator is different on the iPhone 4S compared to my old iPhone 4. It is not as “sharp” a feeling when you’re holding it, or when you’ve placed your phone on a table. However, it is still enough to be felt when the phone is in your pocket.

AirPlay

Most AirPlay mirroring will not fill a flat-screen TV as the phone’s aspect ratio is 1.5:1.
If an app in use provides AirPlay natively, you’re better off using that instead of mirroring.
And as I noted earlier, the upgrade to iOS 5 means AirPlay will no longer override your auto-lock settings.

Hot, hot, hot!

Perhaps it’s the better processor on the phone, but it feels as if the iPhone 4S runs a little warmer than the iPhone 4, especially if I’m playing a game, using the camera or editing photos for a good length of time.
Maybe it’s just me?

What are your iPhone 4S experiences? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Smile!

Awesome vanity licence plate, especially for those Albertans who read French.

iPhone 4S — Talking with Siri

Because everyone else is doing, so I might as well pile in …

iPhone 4S — Siri leads the way … as long as you’re going to the U.S.

You’ve seen all those news stories about how Siri on iPhone 5 doesn’t give directions in Canada.
But it seems mapping technology will work if you tell your iPhone that you’re going to the United States.
I asked Siri to show me directions to get to Anchorage, Alaska, and she happily showed me how to get there, even offering an alternative route within Canada.
It will be awesome once Siri is able to show driving, transit and walking directions for destinations within our own country.

iPhone 4S standby — I think we’ve got an answer

Tech/Apple geeks everywhere have been curious as to why the Apple 4S has 100 fewer hours of standby time than its predecessors.
Indeed, It claims only a maximum of 200 hours of standby time now, versus 300 hours with older iPhones.
I’ve got another guess as to why this is so: You can no longer force your iPhone to operate only on 2G (EDGE).
I might have been the only iPhone user to deliberately use a slower cellular network most of the time, but I’d done so to reduce battery consumption while the phone was idle.
With light usage and limiting the phone to 2G (turning 3G on only when I needed it) I could go three, four or sometimes even five days between recharges.
As I giddily unwrapped and set up the iPhone 4S that arrived this morning, I flicked through the menus only to find the “enable 3G” option is gone.
Too bad. It was a neat little trick to help reduce energy consumption.
Perhaps, if I beg hard enough, Apple will bring it back?