PSA: iOS8 & iPad

[Accidental Retiree]

Such a techie, lol!

My own phone is a plain ole 4, but by god I'm getting the uprade to the 6, as soon as those yahoos at Verizon see fit to send it to me!

Like you, I have the plain ol' 4 with Verizon but have been loathe to give up my unlimited data plan, which I have been assured will happen with upgrades.

Still, I love the size of the 6+ and am considering it anyway.



Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Midpack]

I was never interested in previous iPhones (too small), but I looked at the iPhone 6/Plus yesterday and me likey, esp the Plus. But until "they" offer an unlimited plan for $50/mo or about $90/mo for DW and I, I'll wait.

 

[explanade]

Unlimited data for $50 or unlimited voice/text?

Straight Talk has $45 plans on either AT&T or T-Mobile with 3 GB of LTE and unlimited voice and texting.

But your phone has to be unlocked, meaning you'd have to buy the phone unlocked, which starts at $750 for the 6 Plus.

Now Verizon phones are unlocked for AT&T and T-Mobile but not Verizon's network. But of course, you have to sign a contract to get a phone starting at $199 (or $299 for the Plus).

 

[Midpack]

Unlimited data for $50 or unlimited voice/text?

Straight Talk has $45 plans on either AT&T or T-Mobile with 3 GB of LTE and unlimited voice and texting.

But your phone has to be unlocked, meaning you'd have to buy the phone unlocked, which starts at $750 for the 6 Plus.

Now Verizon phones are unlocked for AT&T and T-Mobile but not Verizon's network. But of course, you have to sign a contract to get a phone starting at $199 (or $299 for the Plus).

"Unlimited" voice/text/data (knowing that means there's a data slowdown threshold for anyone who's not grandfathered). We have Net10 for $85/mo now, but I'd like to have an iPhone when I grow up. IIRC Sprint is already offering an unlimited (20GB data) family plan for $100/mo - but Sprint coverage is horrible where I live. Maybe one day...

 

[explanade]

Yeah I don't think there will be unlimited data plans other than grandfathered ones, at least on the national carriers.

I was hoping Sprint would be able to acquire T-Mobile because the new owner waged a price war in Japan and had stated he'd do the same if he had enough mass, which required combining T-Mobile and Sprint.

 

[Sarah in SC]

You can keep the unlimited plan if you do a regular upgrade (the two year mark) with ATT. You can actually keep the unlimited plan with Next (their payment plan) but it is a bit pricey. This is for the individual plans that are unlimited data. I know this because I had to go through EVERY possible permutation of upgrade in the course of researching it for a friend.

I am on "Duggar" sized plan with Verizon, so it is a little less complicated. And definitely not unlimited data. If you want to keep one of those, then you have to be willing to pay a lot for it, compared to the sweeteners they offer for metered plans. Really only makes sense if you routinely go over 10GB a month, which is the argument I used on my friend who averages 2 GB or so!

 

[explanade]

I just converted a corporate-paid account to a personal AT&T account. I'm out of contract and eligible for an upgrade.

But a iPhone 6 Plus with 64 GB would cost 42.50 a month more over 20 months.

Or I could just pay the $850 up front and then go to Straight Talk, which would reduce my bill by about $20 and increase the data from 2 to 3 GB on AT&T's network.

Also the crazy thing is, if I go over 2 GB, I have overage charges but if I go over 3 GB on the Straight Talk plan, I supposedly will just be throttled down to slower speeds.

One down side of Straight Talk is no international roaming available. So I wouldn't be able to take emergency calls or make them, even at high roaming rates.

Well I took my iPhone 5S to France this past week, along with a brief stopover in Munich, and it never once connected to a network.

I still have to find out from AT&T why that is. If I can't roam, I might as well look at Straight Talk.

 

[braumeister]

Well I took my iPhone 5S to France this past week, along with a brief stopover in Munich, and it never once connected to a network.

I still have to find out from AT&T why that is. If I can't roam, I might as well look at Straight Talk.

I think you just have to tell them and buy a month of European roaming. I've had no trouble using my AT&T iPhone in Germany and Belgium.

I also wonder at all the folks who seem to need huge data allowances. I've never gone over 2 GB in a month, no matter how much I travel and use my phone.

 

[explanade]

Yeah I don't get good reception at my house and I have Wifi for data anyways.

But I can see maybe tethering my laptop and updating my iTunes podcasts can use up several hundred megabytes, maybe 1/6 of your monthly 2 GB data allotment, in a matter of minutes.

Obviously not the best use of data but it's just an example of how quickly you can use up the data.

In Europe, they have bundles and when you use up the bundle, instead of charging you overages, they throttle your speed to something barely useable.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Just saw that Apple has pulled back today's 8.0.1 update that was supposed to fix the problems in IOS 8: Apple Pulls iOS 8.0.1 Update Due To Issues With Dropped Calls - Forbes

 

[FIREd]

I just tried to install iOS 8.0.2 on my iPad 3. Total crash. It's in recovery mode right now and it is taking forever.

The install went fine on my iPhone 5s. When I set up the new iCloud drive, I was urged to install OSX Yosemite on my iMac so that I could access my iCloud files from my computer. Like an idiot, I assumed that Yosemite had been released at the same time as iOS8 (why mention it otherwise?). So I went ahead with the setup. Only problem is, Yosemite will only be released sometime in the fall so now I can't access my iCloud files from my computer anymore.

 

[Midpack]

Since my downgrade to iOS 7.1.2 has been such a mixed bag (OS works, but some apps need to be reinstalled and iTunes sync won't work at all ), I may have to download iOS 8 again, but I am going to wait until there's a version that seems to be well received. We'll see how 8.0.2 fares, though the post above doesn't bode well. This has been very disappointing for me and my old iPad 2. If I have to wait until next Spring for the iPad "Pro" it's going to be pretty grim...

 

[W2R]

Since my downgrade to iOS 7.1.2 has been such a mixed bag (OS works, but some apps need to be reinstalled and iTunes sync won't work at all ), I may have to download iOS 8 again, but I am going to wait until there's a version that seems to be well received. We'll see how 8.0.2 fares, though the post above doesn't bode well. This has been very disappointing for me and my old iPad 2. If I have to wait until next Spring for the iPad "Pro" it's going to be pretty grim...

That's awful! Thanks for posting about your experience downgrading to iOS 7.1.2, because I was thinking about doing that. For some reason my iPad 2 slowdown, while noticeable and annoying, isn't as bad as it has been for some so I will just leave iOS 8 on it for now.

If I have to get another iPad eventually I think I will look for one that is the same size as the standard iPad (9" or whatever it is), but lighter. Really I am so fed up with Apple at this point but there are some thoroughly mindless, simplistic, braindead games that I play on my iPad and would miss....

 

[Midpack]

If I have to get another iPad eventually I think I will look for one that is the same size as the standard iPad (9" or whatever it is), but lighter. Really I am so fed up with Apple at this point but there are some thoroughly mindless, simplistic, braindead games that I play on my iPad and would miss....

The more I read, the more I think I may do the same. Though I've been stuck on the rumored 12.9" iPad, it's going to be more expensive (that I expected) but it sounds like they're going to target business users and make it into a near laptop with detachable keyboard, more evolved office suite type apps, etc. That sounds like more more than I need. So maybe the iPad Air 2 (9.7") will be all I need. It's supposedly being announced in a few weeks and starts delivering soon after.

iOS 8 looks nice with some nice added features, it just crippled my iPad 2.

 

[W2R]

OMG, my iPad2 is suddenly telling me that it wants to upgrade to iOS 8.0.2 now, for the first time.

Here goes! I wonder if this upgrade will help. It says, "This release contains improvements and bug fixes". I hope it doesn't crash like FIREd's iPad 3 did when he tried to install it.

Thanks for the info about the iPad Air 2 being released shortly. That's the one I'd want (but I had no idea that a new model was being released, so thanks).

 

[W2R]

Installation of 8.0.2 done. All is well, but it did nothing to correct the slowdown on my iPad 2 as far as I can tell. My iPad 2 is the wi fi only and 16 GB model. Slowdown is not terrible but still a little annoying.

 

[explanade]

It's working okay on my iPad Mini with Retina but one of the games I've been playing for years crashes ...

 

[M Paquette]

FWIW, the initial x.0.1, x.0.2, x.0.3 etc releases of software are to correct serious failures in a new software release, and do not concentrate on features or performance. They're more for issues like "phone dead"/"WiFi doesn't connect"/"iDevice is bricked!" problems.

I tend to wait until the x.1 release has been out for a week or so before I update a production or daily user system. I'll only roll the shiny new x.0.0 releases onto a development system where I have to use the new software for work. But what do I know, eh?

 

[FIREd]

Installation of 8.0.2 done. All is well, but it did nothing to correct the slowdown on my iPad 2 as far as I can tell. My iPad 2 is the wi fi only and 16 GB model. Slowdown is not terrible but still a little annoying.

Noticeable slowdown on my iPad 3 as well. Lots of stuttering. The iPad was restored from iCloud overnight.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I haven't seen any Apple haters yet, so I'll jump in...I haven't had any issues with my Kindle. Ever. DWs Samsung Tab? Works great.

But...I do own a sizable amount of AAPL, so I do hope that they get this resolved and people continue to sleep outside for nights at a time for the next, best thing!

Seriously, I'm sorry everyone is having such issues. I did go buy me an Apple iPod for the car, but I had so many issues with syncing, I gave up. Now I purchase all my tunes through Amazon and load them onto a flash memory card that I plug in the dash. So much simpler.

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.

 

[explanade]

Well the Kindle does a lot less.

And Android devices don't get upgraded to the latest OS. After the sale they don't' bother to support further.

 

[steelyman]

The Kindle does what it does very well.

One of the problems in the field in which I worked was a tendency for people to try to pack every possible thing into their product, resulting in a difficult, hard-to-maintain thing.

 

[Meadbh]

Thanks Midpack for this PSA. I was traveling when iOS8 first came out and waited till I returned home, but your OP led me to postpone installation indefinitely. I have a 2011 iPad 2, which I love dearly and do not wish to replace anytime soon. It appears that this iOS is very buggy. Version 8.0.2 has downloaded itself on my device and has reminded me to instal it. Very pushy!

If Apple insists on ruining a perfectly good device and causing major hassle for users with its updates, how is it different from Microsoft? Wasn't ease of use supposed to be Apple's differentiating characteristic?

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Well the Kindle does a lot less.

And Android devices don't get upgraded to the latest OS. After the sale they don't' bother to support further.

I will agree with you on the Kindle...it doesn't do much. Books, magazines, movies, music, apps, weather radar, streams to my TV, etc. It's quite the useless device.

As for Android devices not being supported? Where do you get this idea? I have a 3 year old Galaxy S3 that has the most up-to-date available OS for Android devices. How far back does iOS 8 go? To the iPhone 4 that came out 4 months ago?

Sorry, not wanting to derail the thread, but your assertions are incorrect. Look, I am an Apple fan...as an investor, not as a consumer. They *used* to have the best products out there, but since Steve Jobs has been out of the picture, most of their new products have been mediocre at best. It used to be that I saw many people leaving their Android devices in the garbage to go with the Apple that "works everytime without fail" but more recently it has shifted significantly to Android.

 

[explanade]

Kindle or Kindle Fire?

Monochrome Kindle isn't going to be too useful for movies.

Here is the Android OS distribution:

Distribution | Droid Life

It's well known a lot of manufacturers drag their feet on putting out later OS releases for their devices. The numbers speak for themselves.