There was no wow factor with this year's release of new iPhones. There was no truly awesome feature in iOS 7 like Siri a couple of years back. But Apple still got everyone talking, whether you love the iPhone or admonish it. Many blind people who have never touched a computer were buying Apple devices because of the possibility of the promised land of accessibility. And new apps like Sendero's Seeing Eye GPS and the NLS BARD app made these devices even more powerful.
Joe has a slightly different take.
There are a few things of note here beyond the general "Apple does it again' remarks. Firstly, no one say a thing ever again to me ever about iOS nonfragmentation... ever! in one fell swoop, Apple not only fragmented the ecosystem more between iPad, iPad Mini, and iPhone, they went on to break the iPhone model of distribution too. The 5c seems, on paper, to be a good idea for those people [like me] who don't want their biometric data in the hands of any large monolithic companies. The hardware changes from it to the 5s, namely 64 bit support and the motion chips, due mean that we once again have a performance difference along the various devices that can run iOS. So, when you think about say iOS 7 testing you have to think along the lines of, ahem... iPod testing iPad 2 testing iPad 3 Collector's Edition testing iPad 4 testing iPad Air testing iPad Mini first gen testing iPad mini with Retina testing iPhone 4, 4s, 5, 5c and 5s performance testing mind you its still not as crazy as the average year of Samsung devices in Android, but still, the idea some clung to out there that Apple had no fragmented experience for users rates right up there with the classic denial of "security through obscurity", given that most of the world's malware comes from Adobe via both Windows and mac. Besides, those people end up putting Windows on the mac anyway making the hole "macs don't get viruses' thing kind of moot. As a whole, and you will be shocked, this doesn't really bother me. No really, my recommendation has always been to buy the Apple product you think you can afford then choose the next model up to avoid compatibility or memory issues later on when Apple votes your device off the "models we Support in version x" island. Long time watchers of Apple, and I do consider myself one of those, have known this for years. However, apple has many new devotees coming on board and to watch them all struggle with confusing messaging and multiple models was somewhat funny to see in what used to be a "pick up and go" purchase philosophy under Steve jobs. These days, if you aren't low vision, talking Apple got just a little more complicated as to what device would fit a person's needs. But if you are low vision, iOS7 did one heck of a number on you between the color scheme and the icon/motion in iOS 7. I have not been asked for Android tablet and phone recommendations more in any year than in 2013 due to many in the low vision Community having general frustration with what came about in the latest version of the Apple Mobile OS. The lure of larger screens, more customization and things like nova Launcher did much to sway some out of the land of the Genius Bar.
For this and many other reasons too verbose to print here, the latest generation of iphones and iOS 7 falls at number 4 on this year's list. What's in our top 3? Tune in later today to find out.
Category: ArticlesNo one has commented on this post.
You must be logged in to post comments.
Or Forgot username or password?
Register for free
J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.
