I was reading on the internet last week about a problem with Siri and security. It got me to thinking about not only Siri, but also the Camera. Both of these functions are accessible from the lock screen now and both will provide access to your phone unless you take an easy step to correct it.
From the lock screen, if you double press the home button (under iOS5), you can activate the camera. After you take a photo or video and press the home button again, the default action is to return to the main home screen, efectively by-passing the lock screen. With Siri, the same thing happens except you long press the home button, ask Siri to do her thing and press the home button to stop. Default action is to again return to the home screen.
Unless you have a password on your lock screen. To set that, go into Settings –> General –> Passcode Lock.
Take a photo and pressing home will prompt you to enter your password before continuing to the home screen. Sweet. But what about Siri? If your phone is locked with a password, try to ask her to take you home or to locate a person. Siri will let you know, quite politely, that location services aren’t available while the phone is locked. Rad. You can also set Siri to not work from the lock screen when your iPhone is locked. Double Rad.
Another neat feature that I just discovered is the amount of intelligence that is built into the headphone jack. If I connect the aux port cable from my MINI to my iPhone, it knows to set the volume to full, even if the phone is on mute. If I plug in a headset (I haven’t tried multiples yet), then it remembers the volume level that was set before I disconnected the set. I don’t know if this is new with iOS 5 or not, but it’s a pretty neat feature.
I’m a bit more than week into using the iPhone and other than notifications, I have zero complaints. I keep hearing about users that are experiencing bad battery life which completely baffles me. For my use (light to moderate apps and camera), my shortest amount of time before having to get juice has been 12 hours. My longest was this past Sunday where I went from 3a until 10p without plugging in. That’s 19 hours and I still wasn’t getting the low battery notification. Granted, I didn’t do much short of a few text messages and Four Square checkins. This is still twice as long as the Dinc would have gone under the same useage.
So far, still very impressed. Comments are open if you have any questions.
Day 6 of my adventures in iPhone. The Ghost Armor has settled in and I’ve got a proper case on it, installing my carbon fiber MotoringBadges iPhone 4 Wrap later tonight. And I’m still digging it.
But I wanted to take a minute to be clear as to why I finally caved in and got an iPhone. And to start, it’s not because I hated Android. Because I didn’t. I quite liked it in fact. What I didn’t like about Android, and I get with the iPhone in spades, is the fact that 99.9% of all Android phones are completely, 100% controlled/limited, by the carriers that sell them. Unless you are lucky enough to be able to get a Nexus that is.
This means that ‘official’ updates* come from the wireless providers, sometimes months after they are released, if at all. My Dinc was stuck on 2.2 eventhough 2.3 was released back in April. There are also the crap apps that can’t be removed*, again put there by the carriers.
With this, my 17th cell phone since 2007 (look it up), I thought I would take some time to jot down a few notes. Now that I’m 5 days into it, I have a few.
The Good
The Bad
Apps
I’m not looking for suggestions or for any of you iPhone fans to jump to my rescue. I’m 5 days in with this device, and these are only my observations so far. Considering that I’m re-learning how to use a phone again, I’d say I was doing ok. Overall, I’m still super happy with the iPhone, just need to work through the things that I’m either not familiar with or require a different way to do them.
Sure, you were expecting words about the iPhone 4s. Don’t you worry friends, you will get them in due time. But first, let’s bring it back to me for a minute.
Tomorrow (or Monday, October 17th) I’m going to be presenting to a group of facilitators in Arizona about Podcasting. This will be the first talk that I have given since the last Podcamp AZ and it will serve as a warm-up to this years event.
Unlike last year where I gave one talk and that was that, this year I’m giving a talk and leading a session about Podcasting. The talk will be similiar to last years, hopefully with a little more polish and dotted-t’s. Unlike last year, I’m co-hosting a session in which the participants will actually make a podcast! That’s right, recorded audio, with a proper intro and closing, uploaded to a web site and available for download in iTunes.
For this weeks talk, I’m going to be giving a hybrid session. Talk about podcasting and a demonstration on how to actually create said podcast. I will be recording it as well, just like last year, and my new, handy dandy, the The Flip Mino HD.
The biggest part of my talk is to avoid distractions. We, as proper nerds know, that nothing kills time and draws focus away from something quicker than a fussy process. Sweating themes, microphones, plugins, and the lot take much away from the actual record-something-and-uploading-it process of podcasting. To show how non-fussy of a process it can actually be, I’ve created a site for this purpose: IMadeAPodcast.com. I know, I can hardly believe it was available too.
That site is as close to a bone-stock installation of WordPress as one can have to run a podcast. There are only 3 plugins running and I’m using the stock theme. In fact, the show that is there right now was even uploaded using the WordPress media uploader.
No fuss, no muss.
In order to be a podcaster, one must create a podcast. In order to create a podcast, one must be a podcaster. Not a nerd. Not a developer. Just someone enthusiastic about something, anything, enough to want to spread the word to others that are equally enthusiastic about the same thing.
Podcamp this year is happening November 12-13 at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe. Full details can be found at podcampaz.org. If you are looking to get into podcasting or want to learn more about Social Media, this is definitely the conference for you. Best part is the price. FREE!
If anyone is interested in attending the session on Monday night, hit me up in the comments and will see about getting you in. It’s happening in Downtown Phoenix at 5:30pm.
This week’s location was in Downtown Mesa, an area that has been recently renovated. Lots of unique shops and architecture all centered around the brand new Mesa Arts Center. The building is amazing, and the architecture surrounding it is amazing, lending itself nicely to a beautiful morning’s photo walk.
I’ve shared what I think the best of the best are here. If you want to see the rest of the photos, you can here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Feel free to use my stuff, just Be sure to let me know.