This is all well and good.

It’s just a bleedin’ annoyance.

I no longer require the iPhone 4. I still require the 3UK service. So we’ve a natural way ahead, right? Why don’t you just give me the new iPhone 4S, charge me a reasonable amount and take the old one — the iPhone 4 — back and credit me the 200+ pounds of value from that.

No.

3UK isn’t built to work in this manner.

So I took out the new contract, got the new iPhone 4S in return for about £279 up front.

Then I got the iPhone 4 valued by Envirofone at about £218 if memory serves.

So that means it cost me £61 to upgrade to a new iPhone 4S, effectively — if I ignore the outstanding line rental on the existing iPhone 4 I’ve committed to.

Why couldn’t 3 have just charged me £61 to upgrade? Because their accounting and financial bods don’t view it this way. It’s not a big problem. I’m just highlighting the arse required to play the contract game.

I’m now going to use the £218 to pay off the outstanding line rental on the old iPhone 4.

This will involve quite a lot of heartache speaking to their call centre who will be horrified. I wonder what they’re going to say when I explain that I’m not actually leaving, that I’ve already got a new contract and I just need to kill the existing one? Perhaps they will be content.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Thank you to reader Iain Mercer who emailed this morning about Starbucks. As a loyal fan of Starbucks filter coffee, Iain has using their reward card enthusiastically along with the hundreds of thousands of other caffeine addicted Brits.

For a while now Iain’s been using the Starbucks iOS app to easily locate his nearest shop during his regular travels across the UK.

Now, however, things are going to get even more exciting from a geeky mobile perspective: Starting tomorrow, the update to the Starbucks iOS card will enable customers to use their iPhone to pay directly for drinks at all Starbucks outlets.

The email update that Iain forwarded me over from Starbucks contains this revealing sentence:

The good news keeps coming. If you have an iPhone, be sure to download our new app tomorrow. You’ll be able to scan your iPhone to pay for your favourite drink.

We’ll need to wait until tomorrow to see how Starbucks have integrated payments into the app.

This is rather exciting. It’s a potential landmark moment, I think, provided they make it super-simple to use. I’m sure they will. It’s Starbucks, after all.

If you sit back and think about the millions of iPhone users in the great metropolitan cities of the UK, a large proportion of them will regularly visit Starbucks. I don’t think it will take long for even your normob iPhone users (“normal mobile users”) to catch on to the coolness and convenience of simply waving/scanning your iPhone to pay for your coffee.

If correctly implemented, I think this could be a runaway success.

Paying for coffee is a flipping arse. You have to CONTINUALLY make sure you’ve got some sort of shrapnel (“coins”) or paper money on your person at all times lest you miss out on a caffeine fix. Or, you have to walk to the sodding cash point. And even if that’s just 15 seconds away, that’s a big no-no for lots of people when they’re working.

I hope that the payment mechanism will enable you to swiftly pay — there could be substantial efficiencies in the Starbucks queues if all you need to do is a quick 1-second scan to pay. Both you and the coffee chappy won’t need to mess around counting coins.

Let’s wait and see what tomorrow brings.

And if you’re a big Starbucks fan, make sure you get hold of the app. I think it’ll be this one (iTunes link) that’s updated tomorrow morning.

Remember the Milk (“RTM”) is an online todo list service (and it’s available on multiple platforms including mobile). I’ve recently adopted it as my default to do list service and I’m pleased to report I’m getting a lot of value from it.

What’s rather cool, though, is that you can connect Siri to RTM.

This is particularly useful for me. Throughout the day I am forever remembering stuff that I need to do. Sometimes they’re stupid little tasks, other times they’re important points that I don’t want to forget. I usually do. Unless I write them down. Or email myself. Or use some todo app that I never read again.

So I’ve committed to RTM. And I’ve got Siri. I’ve connected them both so all I do now is tell Siri (words to the effect of):

“Remind me to buy some sausage rolls” *

Siri then brilliantly translates your text, asks for confirmation and then pushes the reminder straight into your RTM todo list.

I’ve been using it loads this week. Brilliant!

Here’s the RTM video demonstrating the functionality:

* You can read all about these sausage rolls here.

As I commented in my initial post on the matter back in October, Photo stream was a total screw-up. A joyous concept that arrived half-baked. Or, not even that — it was still frozen, waiting for the oven. Being unable to selectively delete photos from your device photo stream made it either unusable or highly frustrating for most right-thinking users.

I commented as such on my post.

Predictably, I received a barrage of shocked Apple people who defended the 5.0 implementation, pointing out that my feelings and instincts were completely wrong.

Suck it.

I’m right. I knew it. Apple either didn’t put the resources into the first version or decided to let the community do the testing and evolution for them.

Either way the next release should fix the primary problems. This is great news.

Technobolt has the full details on what’s coming with 5.1. Here’s the bit about Photo Stream:

Photos taken using iOS 5.1 can be deleted from Photo Stream on your device and will be removed automatically from Photo Stream on your other iOS 5.1 devices. Older photos can be manually deleted from your iOS 5.1 devices.

5.1 is in beta right now and should be with us soon. Bring it on.

I’ve had my iPhone 4 from 3 for 16 months and it’s on a 24-month contract. The new iPhone 4S is out. I want it.

What do I do?

Well, I walk into the 3 store yesterday and I ask for an iPhone 4S. I was quite prepared to pay some kind of early upgrade charge or .. whatever, really. I didn’t care. I just wanted the iPhone 4S and — like the good Apple consumer I am — I was prepared to pay. My expectation was that the whole experience will cost a bit of cash.

The chap in the store recommended that I take out a new line instead of upgrading the existing line and paying the upgrade charges. I’m sure that this makes his figures look better. It also saved me money.

“Just don’t phone up and cancel your current one immediately!” he said.

Here, then, is what I did with Three.

1. I took out a new contract for an iPhone 4S. I paid £279 up front as I wanted the 64GB version. It’s a 24 month contract. [Interestingly the chap in the shop never ONCE mentioned the contract length. <s>He didn't ask if I wanted 18 months</s>.]

2. I’ve got 8 months left on my iPhone 4 contract.

3. I called up to find out how much it would cost for me to kill this contract today. Answer = £240 charge.

4. I went on to envirofone’s website to see how much they’d pay me for the iPhone 4. Answer = £215.

That’s almost cost neutral.

(When, errrr, you ignore the £279 up front I paid for the 64GB — the 16GB would have been free, I think).

My point is this: Why didn’t 3 just take my old iPhone 4 from me, terminate the existing contract and establish a new one?

Instead we went through the rigmarole of establishing an entirely new line. Great, their figures will be enhanced. That’s another contract customer! Until, that is, I give their retentions team heartburn by phoning up and killing the old contract, adding a churn to the figures.

Still, I’m happy. I’ve got the 4S now and it’s nice and fast.

I sat down with Ronnie at the o2 store in Richmond-Upon-Thames on Tuesday afternoon.

When I arrived into the store a few moments beforehand and said I wanted to lease an iPhone 4S, his colleague recommended him.

“Ronnie knows all about leasing, you should be speaking to him,” said the sales assistant.

Ronnie arrived, shook my hand, introduced himself and we sat down and he logged into his sales terminal. Both of us were definitely ready to do business.

We went through the various identification points. Mother’s maiden name. Postcode. Digits from the PIN and so on.

“Yes, you’re definitely due an upgrade,” said Ronnie, glancing at his screen.

“Do you have iPhones in stock?” I asked.

He nodded, “Just the 64GB today.”

Brilliant.

“I’d like to lease that one,” I replied.

And then we hit a roadblock.

Ronnie explained that the leasing deal was only applicable to the 16GB and 32GB iPhones.

Uh oh.

“Well, I’d really like the 64GB version,” I explained, “I travel often so it’s useful to have that extra space for music, video and apps.”

Ronnie indicated I could get the 64GB version on contract (i.e. normally) no problem at all. I could walk out the shop with it 5 minutes later.

I went through the rigmarole of explaining Mobile Industry Review and that the reason I wanted to ‘lease’ was, a) because the concept fundamentally appeals and b) because I want to tell people I’m doing it — I want to experience it. This is what I do a lot at Mobile Industry Review. I stick my head in the fryer and see what happens so that I can write about it.

(Plus, I don’t want to look like an analyst — you know, one of those seriously knowledgeable chaps you see on panels at events who knows everything in theory but has only ever actually used a BlackBerry.)

Alas we reached an impasse, Ronnie and I.

I can only assume that the o2 marketing chaps couldn’t make the lease figures work for a 64GB.

I thanked Ronnie for his time and exited the shop.

Now I need to consider what to do with the £35 I’m paying o2 every month on-going. I’m way out of commitment on that line so I either need to close it or get another phone. I think, unfortunately, I’m angling for just closing it. I’m not sure if I actually need that line any more.

Anyway, thank you for your patience Ronnie!

“Popular, eh?” I said to the chap serving me.

He nodded before observing that they’re selling almost 2 iPhones an hour at the moment.

Goodness me.

I have to say, every single mobile phone shop in Richmond (from the operators to the independent retailers) has got at least one massive window dedicated to the iPhone 4S. It’s going to be a good Christmas for Apple, I suspect.

I wanted to replace the existing iPhone 4 that I have with them.

This was not possible.

For whatever ridiculous reason.

Instead I’ve established a new contract.

Gaaah.

It really is getting silly with all these contracts and policies. I am looking forward to the time the operators can actually facilitate some kind of equipment re-supply deals. All I needed was a new device, not another line. I will sell the existing iPhone and that will pay off the outstanding line rental for the other contract. Why do *I* have to do all this rather than the operator sorting it out?

Still. Job done.

I’m off to Vodafone to get a 16GB one for my wife.

Did you hear about o2′s new leasing programme for iPhones? It caught my attention because it’s almost something I’ve been banging on for quite a while.

My favourite operator innovation concept is that I just pay a flat fee per month and receive whatever device I want. The idea being that I finally divorce myself from the hardware. I don’t want to have to own anything. I want someone else to take the hardware responsibility. Just like I don’t own any servers any more. My businesses certainly use servers — mostly from Rackspace — but we don’t own them, maintain them, or have any responsibility for them whatsoever. I just buy the service. Rackspace deal with hard drive failures. [Or, actually, in most respects, everything is virtualised now so my company is never exposed to that issue any more.]

I’d like to do similar with my mobile phone hardware. I don’t want to have to keep on contracting for specific hardware that becomes out of date very quickly. I don’t want to have to arse about shopping around, negotiating and dicking about with contracts, up-front-payments, insurance, all that jazz. I just want it done. In one single fee, per month.

Interestingly, this is almost what o2 has introduced (full details on this page).

Here’s how it works:

The lease agreement is 12 months.

There is no hardware cost upfront so the phone is ‘free’.

Full insurance is included.

As a standard, you get 750 minutes, unlimited texts, 500mb data and unlimited wifi every month. (You can upgrade to 1GB/month for an extra £4.)

The phone is not yours. You do not own it. You’re obviously just leasing it. So at the end of the 12-month period, you must return it in ‘satisfactory condition’ or you ‘may have to pay substantial damages.’ Fair point. But remember insurance is included so if you drop the screen, they’ll sort it. It’s their handset, after all, not yours.

Now then that all sounds fairly reasonable so far, yes?

You’re probably going to take a step back from the screen when we get to pricing.

The 16GB iPhone 4S is £55/month. The 32GB is £65/month. And I presume the 64GB is ‘more’. It’s not listed on the screen though.

I think most readers will be reacting with shock and horror at 55 pounds per month.

But actually let’s remember:

1. This is for 12-months
2. It includes insurance (which is normally £12/month) or thereabouts

£55 x 12 months is £660.

The iPhone 4S 16GB retails at £499 from Apple unlocked, which leaves a balance of £161.

Now remove the £12/month insurance (£12 x 12 months = £144).

The balance is now £16. So the line rental is effectively £1.33 per month. If you follow my slightly warped viewpoint.

I know — I KNOW — I don’t actually own the phone. And across the year, I’ll have paid for the phone. And then 12-months later, I’ll have nothing to show for it. True. True.

But.

I don’t want the phone. I don’t want to have to try and flog it 12 months later when there’s a new iPhone (5) out.

I just want the experience.

I think it’s like buying and running a car: It’s expensive. It just is. It’s guaranteed to lose you money. You can, if you invest a TON of effort and time, minimise those loses a little — but it’ll still cost you money.

If you lease, it’s all up front. You’ve set your losses at a particular level. You’ve gone into it eyes open. There are no additional costs, everything is taken care of.

I think that’s what attracts me to the idea of leasing.

What’s the alternative? Well, sticking with o2, I can buy an iPhone 4S 16GB for £189.99 on a 12-month contract of £41/month. That gets me 900 minutes and unlimited texts (so slightly more mins than the 750 lease deal). That costs me: £189.99 + 12x £41 = £681.99.

It’s a valuable phone so I want insurance. 12x £12 = £144. Total cost across the contract? £825.99.

On fact value, that looks a lot more expensive than leasing.

BUT of course, after 12 months, I’d still *own* the phone if I bought it via standard contract. So I could theoretically sell the phone for at least £150, possibly £180. Maybe £200. If you assume I could flog the handset for £200, then actually, the costs are more or less the same.

Still. I like the idea of somebody else (effectively) managing my hardware. So I’m off to the o2 shop later today…

ARRRRGH!

I simply cannot stand it when someone shows me their iPhone for some reason or other. You know, to demonstrate an app, or to show me a photo — and then I end up seeing the front screen.

I can’t stand it.

Because invariably I am forced to see that the person has updates waiting — and it’s never one or two — it’s usually TENS of updates!

I can’t stand this!

It really winds me up.

When I point it out to people, they invariably respond with something like, “Oh.. yeah, I’ll need to update those.”

Now and again I meet people with crazy amounts of outstanding updates. It winds me up something chronic.

Let me tell you why: I remember, you see.

I remember back in the horrible old Symbian days when actually getting an application ON to a consumer’s phone was punishingly difficult. The attrition rate from the ‘download this app’ web page to actually getting the app installed on the phone was shocking. It was seriously difficult to imagine any normob (“normal mobile user”) actually using third party apps. It was SO difficult that Nokia executives used to line up to tell me that I didn’t understand the app ecosystem — that the best apps would rise to the top — and what they meant by this is that Nokia would preload them.

Geez it was difficult.

I used to meet developers all the time who had super ideas but who were continually beaten by the distribution problem. Getting apps on phones was nothing short of a miracle feat during the dark days.

And now… NOW! NOW it’s easy. Too easy. So easy that folk don’t bother updating apps!

Gaaaaaaaaaah!

It’s fine for consumers. I don’t mind the normobs not quite understanding the importance of updating. But industry executives? Folk who’ve been around the block in mobile? Come on! You were there. You remember the utter pain of third party apps? Come on! Think about the poor developers. You OWE it to those who have struggled with signing certificates and buggy custom operator firmware to upgrade your apps whenever you can!

The United States Patent & Trademark Office this morning issued a patent grant to Apple pertaining to the familiar Slide to Unlock gesture. Remember, the now ubiquitous sliding move debuted on the original iPhone as a fun way to keep your device secured while in your pocket. “To unlock the phone, I just take my finger and slide it across. Wanna see that again? We wanted something you couldn’t do by accident in your pocket. Just slide it across – BOOM.”, Steve Jobs said entertaining the invitees at the phone’s unveiling in January of 2007

via Slide to Unlock? Patented! | 9to5Mac | Apple Intelligence.

And now the reality: Slide to flipping fracking tossing unlock is a total arse.

It was GREAT in 2007. Absolutely GREAT. Simply gorgeous.

Now though, I can’t tell you how fucking annoying it is. Every sodding time I want to do ANYTHING on my iOS devices.

I tap the button.

I wait for the device to light up.

And then I drag my sodding finger across the little slider.

GAWD!

Save me.

Someone save me from this shit.

EVERY TIME?

How many minutes a-day am I bollocking away sliding every time I want to switch on my phone?

Give me a BlackBerry one-button-unlock ANY day.

Admit it, iOS fans: Slide to unlock has got very, very old.

Right then, following on from my rather lukewarm experience at the Three store this morning, I am looking to buy an iPhone 4S — on contract. Half of me thinks, ‘wait and buy it outright in November,’ — the other half says do it, do it, do it today.

Normally Three is my default provider for smartphone style services. I wanted an iPad from them but they were diabolically slow with me and didn’t take any flipping hints at all — so I bought one from Vodafone in stead. I do really like Three’s price plans and their unlimited data offering for their smartphones. However I don’t quite feel like doing business with them at the moment.

Therefore I’d welcome your suggestions.

Who should I get my new iPhone 4S from?

My primary provider is Vodafone. That’s what my BlackBerry 9900 runs on. My wife has an iPhone 4 on Vodafone. I’ve got about 4 other accounts with Vodafone. If they offered me a two-for-one (unlikely, but, you know) for myself and my wife, I’d probably buy 2x iPhone 4S devices from them.

Or perhaps I should be looking at Orange? Or o2? In fact I’ve got a free o2 line that’s due an upgrade. Or maybe I should — finally — revisit T-Mobile and give them the business?

What do you think?

iCloud is something else. From the rather anecdotal conversations I’ve had with a few “CSOs”, iCloud is a substantial threat on quite a few points:

1) Corporate data is now likely to find its way quickly to the iCloud — and remain there through the use of all manner of apps (not least the iWork suite)

2) In most cases, the storage of data on iCloud is likely to be seamless handled, meaning the employee may well be unaware the data is being stored away from their device.

3) To make matters worse, the company doesn’t actually have access to its data stored on iCloud. No. The data has to be accessed through the independent employee owned iCloud account.

4) When the employee leaves, they take their iCloud credentials and all their data with them.

5) Policing the use of iCloud is likely to be substantially challenging. I’m sure there will be options available to switch this off as a policy, but I wonder how easy or widespread this will be.

6) It’s not as if iCloud is highly secure — the data is accessible with just an email and a password. In many cases, the employee’s 7-year-old is likely to know the access credentials — the same ones they use to buy level upgrades on Angry Birds.

7) There’s no visibility for the enterprise — they might have 5 employees each unknowingly storing the entire company customer record on iCloud. The enteprise can’t track or manage this.

The boundaries between enterprise and personal are seriously blurred with iCloud. I find this highly exciting as it forces a response. Indeed I’m not sure if a ‘kill it’ or ‘switch of iCloud’ mandate will be good enough — or be acceptable. I imagine that as apps and services develop they’re likely to want to depend more and more on the likes of iCloud. Reversing the dependence on iPad/iPhone as a result will be quite a challenge.

What’s the way ahead? Well I wonder how long enterprise will continue to tolerate ‘consumerisation’. I think it’s been fine up ’til now, with the odd exceptions. But can you really approve and allow your Chairman to (perhaps unwittingly) store draft acquisition papers or similar market moving data on his personal iCloud account?

As iCloud becomes even more integrated into the experience (think iOS 6 or iOS 7), will it be possible to explain to the Chairman that he has to give back his 4th generation iPad and stop using it?

Or will we see a radical adjustment to the current definitions and approaches we have surrounding enterprise security?

We just need one CEO to lose his iPad — well, actually — we just need someone to successfully crack the CEO’s ultra simple “david1978″ password and log on to the CEO’s iCloud account to gain access to a crazy amount of data. One big meaningful headline and there will be pandemonium.

Can you imagine the social engineering involved in cracking the Coke CEO’s iCloud account? I’d imagine all you have to do is turn up at home to help fix the HiFi. Ask his wife for the iTunes password to check the sync is working (or some sort of nonsense) and boom, you’re in.

I’m particularly interested in whether I could theoretically ‘clone’ a device if I had their iCloud credentials and performed a restore?

In terms of the way forward, do you think we’re about to enter a more enlightened period where we extend trust and responsibility to employees (especially with the buy-your-own trend)? Or do you expect enterprises to get even more obsessive about their data control and management policies?

If so, where do we go with the consumerisation of IT trend?

When the company introduced the reverse scroll in OS X Lion, so that all of a sudden I had to drag downwards instead of up (or whatever), I did have to think twice about the validity of it. I eventually trained myself, but I know quite a few people who just switched off the function.

Full screen apps and all this swiping got confusing. Genuinely confusing. I more or less get it, but I’m willing to bet that my parents won’t have a damn clue.

I think it’s a screw-up from Apple. I think they’ve made things more difficult that they need to be.

Which brings me to the Photostream.

I’m delighted that it works.

I did some experimentation with my iPhone, my MacBook Air and my Desktop back in the UK. I took a rubbish photo on the iPhone and seconds later it appeared in the photostreams of both machines. Woop!

I took a few more shit photos just to see it working. I beamed with delight.

Then I tried to delete them.

I couldn’t seem to delete them on the ‘photostream’ bit of the iPhone. So I deleted the photo from the gallery on the iPhone. I figured that must be the master copy. I waited a few moments. Nope.

Piece of flipping bollocks.

I tried to go into the photostream on iPhoto on my Mac to delete. No. No option to delete.

What?

Who?

I’m in a strange place at the moment. That is, Apple stuff DOES NOT WORK.

I am supremely, supremely pissed off. The whole flipping reason I pay stupid, STUPID prices for this shit is so that it works.

“It just works” — that’s the mantra the whole thing is meant to live by, right?

So how do I delete a photo?

I can’t believe I am even having to THINK. I pay the Apple tax so that I don’t have to think.

There’s probably a very simple explanation.

I’m willing to bet there’s probably an option or a tick box or some command that I’ve totally missed.

But hold on a moment, I am pretty good at this stuff. I am a bit of a geek. I have programmed quite a few successful, scalable systems architectures in my time. If I don’t get it — immediately — then what about the rest of the population?

Surely it’s not unreasonable to assume that if you DELETE a photo from the device you took it, it should therefore remove itself from the photostream?

This is actually a rather important feature, n’est pas?

I logged into iCloud.

Fat lot of fucking use that is at the moment. I logged in looking for the photo gallery.

Well, again, it’s a reasonable expectation, right? Remember I am paying through the flipping nose for this whole experience. And that’s all fine as long as it works. So imagine my annoyance when there’s no online gallery.

I presumed that since these photos are being placed on the iCloud that when I log into it, I’ll see some sort of online-picasa-style gallery. I thought perhaps that’s where I would do the deleting.

Nope.

That, er, doesn’t seem to be there.

So now… now I have to do the flipping unthinkable. I now have to do a sodding Google search to find out the answer to something that should have been FIXED, Apple.

Oh guess what?

Read this paragraph from the iCloud page:

1000 of your latest photos. With you all the time.
iCloud manages your Photo Stream efficiently so you don’t run out of storage space on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you have Photo Stream enabled on your iOS device, every single photo you take appears in a special Photo Stream album that holds your last 1000 photos. You can’t edit or delete photos from your Photo Stream. If you want to touch up a photo or keep a favorite shot permanently, simply save it to your Camera Roll. iCloud stores new photos for 30 days, so you have plenty of time to connect your iOS device to Wi-Fi and make sure you always have your most recent shots handy.

Massive, massive FAIL Apple.

That’s fucking useless.

So every photo I take — EVERY PHOTO — whether it’s a blurred shot of my foot or a throw-away screenshot, it’s going to be WITH ME for 30 days? And I can’t delete it?

So you’re telling me, Mr Apple, that I could grab my friend’s iPhone, visit some dodgy adult sites and take some screenshots (which will go straight into his photostream) and he’ll have to live with that for 30 days? And so will his parents whose iPads are sharing the same account?

Oooof.

Now then. That’s a problem.

Update: I negated to point out that the reason this is a problem is that my expectations have been entirely mismanaged. I presumed. I assumed. I thought it worked differently than it actually goes. I was given the impression — or, more likely, I applied my assumptions to the raw information I was given, most likely during the Steve Jobs iOS 5 keynote earlier this year. Am I expecting way too much of Apple or is this genuinely a stupid, stupid fail point?

Update 2: A few Apple apologists are really worried that you, dear reader, will arrive at this post and having read my above tantrum, conclude that there is indeed no way to ‘delete photos’ from Photo Stream. There is. You can clear out all the photos if you want using a command on iCloud. Unfortunately that dumps the whole stream, lock stock. So if you do find your friend has uploaded some naughty photos to your Photo Stream as a joke, and you need to delete them, you can.

It’s not actually THAT simple though. You’ll find the full details on the Apple knowledge base. Once you’ve dumped them from the iCloud command, you’ll then need to go sequentially through each flipping iOS device you own and reset the Photo Stream. Here are the specific instructions from that Apple support post:

How do I delete photos from my Photo Stream in iCloud?

Individual photos cannot be deleted from your Photo Stream. You can, however, delete all the photos in your Photo Stream by clicking the Reset Photo Stream button in your account at icloud.com. The Reset Photo Stream button will instantly delete all Photo Stream photos stored in iCloud, but it will not remove any Photo Stream photos that have already been pushed to your devices.

How do I delete photos from my Photo Stream on my devices?

After deleting the photos from your Photo Stream in iCloud, you can remove the Photo Stream photos from your devices as follows:

On your iOS devices, go to Settings > iCloud > Photo Stream and turn Photo Stream off. This will delete all the photos from your Photo Stream album. If there are any photos you want to keep on your device, make sure to add them to an album or save them to your Camera Roll first.

FAIL, FAIL and thrice FAIL Apple.

The other half of the time, I’m furious that, in order to find anything out, I have to keep on pulling down at the top of the screen.

I don’t know if I’m sold on it.

It is *nice* to see, for example, Instagram notifications collected in one place. It’s good to have somewhere to view upcoming calendar entries. I do think that it would be far more useful to have this information surfaced on the main screen of the phone. I do wonder if the Apple obsession for UI neatness has resulted in a bit of a fudge.

Ah.

I could go either way on it, I really could.

How are you finding it?

Apparently it’s going to kill everything on the phone apart from the contacts and email messages. Joy.

Hardly useful when I’m thousands of miles away from my main computer. I think I’ll need to wait a few weeks before upgrading my main iPhone. I can’t afford the disruption. Plus it’s not as if I can ‘re-download’ the movies. At least, not yet.

I have, however, brought my Orange iPhone 4 that I use for testing — so I shall be updating that one. Although I’ve just realised that’s got a whole TV series on it that I was planning on watching. Typical. I’ll give that some thought.

Meanwhile, have you done the update to iOS 5? Are you liking it?

Update: I tried to upgrade the Orange phone — that didn’t go too well:

It’s flipping ridiculous.

Buy a 2GB movie for £9 and unfortunately it’s now your problem to manage the file. I want to buy the license and not have to mess about managing my own data infrastructure.

If you have a disk crash and you lose all your movies, hard luck.

I reckon you *might* be able to appeal to Apple for the right to download some/all of your purchases in that instance. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple declined to assist. Every time you download something they’re pretty good at pointing out that you should keep a backup.

A backup of my 960GB of iTunes content?

No thank you.

I just don’t want that problem.

You know and I know that Apple has a record of my purchase and that it’s stupid-simple for them to enable download on demand. I’m sure the company has wanted to look at offering this for sometime but licensing issues may have prevented it. Or perhaps the sheer data volume implications.

So I’ve been flying fast and loose. I don’t bother to back up all those TV shows, movies or music.

That’s a problem.

But perhaps a bigger problem — or massive frustration — is not being able to access the data because it’s stuck on my primary iTunes library. If I want to watch Top Gun when I’m in Houston next week, I need to plan ahead. I need to put that file on the devices I want now. It’s unrealistic to sit in a Houston hotel room and transfer a 2GB file at 15k/sec from my home machine.

The chances are the Houston hotel will have a pretty good connection to the iTunes server though. So I’d like to be able to pull down that content as I wish.

It looks like we will certainly have this feature enabled next week — although I saw no mention of movies yet. Did you? I might have missed that. Still, the ability to stop having to worry about the location of my data (and the fact that it’s backed-up — or that I have a license to access it as I need) is rather reassuring.

I particularly like the concept of iTunes Match as well: All the other music I have in my library now becomes accessible on any (Apple) device.

What are you thinking about iTunes in the iCloud?

It’s far too easy to forget that the glue that makes the iPhone such a fantastic experience for many is the service element, the fact stuff “just works”. That’s only going to get better. The array of iCloud offerings are set to make the iPhone, iPad and Mac work together like magic. The ability to snap a photo on your iPhone and then see it immediately on your other devices will be revolutionary for most users. For me I will finally be able to stop thinking. I don’t want to waste precious brain resource dicking about managing my media, syncing it, copying it.

The quickest way to get a photo to my desktop right now? Email. A full sync involves a bit of hassle — and it’s out of the question if I’m using a different machine (that I don’t use as the primary sync source). The total arse of having to create a new email with the photo the send it has always wound me up. I knew there was a better way. So I’m very much looking forward to actually using this feature regularly.

The other vendors out there are going to have to work hard to replicate or enhance the iCloud offering.

Next I’m going to look at iTunes…

Well that was underwhelming.

I’m rather surprised by the total mismatch between expectation and reality with today’s iPhone launch event.

When you’ve got billions upon billions of dollars sitting there at your disposal, expectations naturally run high.

As I’ve written before, the company does need to occasionally justify it’s huge valuation. Justification is delivered through delighting consumers.

Consumers are, I think it’s fair to say, not delighted this evening.

Where’s the iPhone 5?

Where’s the next iteration to the cool stuff?

Where’s the redefinition of the mobile platform as we know it?

No.

What we saw tonight was an exercise in steady-as-she-goes.

The new announcement — the iPhone 4S — is a complete and utter disappointment. There is no single magnet draw to the device for the consumer beyond it being broadly ‘better’.

Services? Well. They are impressive. Mightily so. iCloud, iMessage — I’m looking forward to seeing them hit the marketplace fully. The problem today is that it’s nothing new. They’re old. Indeed if you happen to know any semi-geek, they’ve probably had a version of iOS 5 running for a few months now.

Siri — the voice recognition system — that is smart. Again, it’s nothing new at all. That’s not to take away from the technical innovation, that is impressive. I am very much looking forward to using it, provided the service can handle my semi-Scottish, semi-British accent.

What we missed today was Steve Jobs. If he’d led the line up today, I think the reality distortion field would have held up nicely. I don’t think many people would have questioned the strategy. But when you start reading posts like this one from the FT (“Apple’s iPhone 4S disappoints investors“) you can clearly see something was missing from today.

Price pressure on the rest of the industry is going to be quite exciting to behold. Just what kind of damage will a highly competitively priced iPhone 3GS do to the mid and semi-low-end markets?

Given that there’s clearly an iPhone 5 coming at some point, how many people will be upgrading to the 4S? How many people will be queueing?

Me? I’ll definitely upgrade. But in an orderly manner. I won’t be queueing. I don’t see any particular need to do so.

It’s going to be exciting to see how consumers adopt the various iServices. I’m keen to see if iMessage begins to take attention away from SMS. I’m particularly delighted that finally the ‘frustrating’ issue of having to dick about with physical iTunes files appears to be coming to an end.

By failing to seriously delight the market, Apple has made it rather easy for the rest of the market to compete. Tonight’s event has given a lot of breathing space for the likes of Nokia — their big announcements on Windows Phone are due at the end of the month. There was a danger that some amazing statements from Apple could have overshadowed everything Nokia, RIM and the Android community put out this quarter.

Let’s be clear though: Apple certainly shouldn’t be underestimated.

Is it fair to say the shine has come off though? Quite possibly. We’ll need to wait until the next few big announcements to say for sure.

Have you been sick of the sodding iPhone rumours? They’ve been never-ending, they really have.

Tomorrow at 6pm London, the industry will take a collective deep breath and hold it for 90-odd minutes.

Well, I presume something like 90 minutes. I haven’t actually looked at any timings. I can’t be bothered.

I’ve had enough of it. Just tell me the news already.

It is exciting, though.

Let’s insert a period of self-reflection. I’m only ever satisfied with grand announcements at this level. I’m hoping for big things. I’d like to see a repetition of that original iPhone keynote when my mind expanded with excitement at the prospect of people being able to write ‘apps’ for this platform — and be able to distribute them easily, well, actually, have Apple do the distribution for you, via their new ‘App Store’.

I’d like to see some big NFC news. Facebook and Twitter integration should be stimulating to consider.

I’d like to see some good, smart, expansive thinking from Apple.

I really don’t want to see iPhone 4.1. You know, better camera and a few cosmetic bollocky additions — and a new price point. That, I’d like to take as read.

I want to see the next generation from Apple. I hope we will get a glimpse, at least.

I’m keen to hear more about iCloud. Can I finally free myself from the rather shit limited iTunes/iPhoto ‘desktop’ experience? I hope so. I’m also looking forward to playing with iOS 5.0 properly — I hope it’s actually released tomorrow.

What else?

It’ll be interesting to see how the company presents itself (without, we presume, Mr Jobs on stage at all).

I do wonder how the reality distortion field will bear up without the man himself. He’s always been closely associated with these keynotes so I’m keen to see how the rest of the team come across.

My preferred way of doing consuming these events is to follow along with a few liveblogs — loosely — and then watch the whole keynote, end-to-end, later on that evening once it’s hit the Apple site.

Above all the most exciting part of a keynote announcement is the knowledge that whilst you and I are evaluating the new kit/service offerings, hundreds of massive companies are hastily convening board meetings to collectively do some unplanned ‘brick shitting’ (as one executive described the experience) as a result of the news. Bring it on!

And then disaster struck. For some silly reason I lost grip on the iPhone — my fancy 3 iPhone, no less — and boom, it had slapped on to the floor.

I knew it was bad news as I picked it up from the floor. I could see tiny crystals of glass spread all around the phone…

Arse. The phone still works. The touchscreen is still operational, it’s just the glass that is screwed.

And I don’t bother with insurance, generally.

So it’s up to me to fix it. Which I think will be an interesting exercise. I’m going to try and have the screen replaced by one of those online repair shops.

£79.99 I’ve been quoted. Let’s see how we get on. I shall tell you all about the experience.

After the initial hive of activity back in August, it’s gone all quiet on the iPhone 5 front.

There’s been the odd story now-and-again, but I think it’s fair to say that all the ‘it’ll be September 15th’ (or whenever) speculators have quietly looked the other way as last week came and went.

It shouldn’t be long now though.

If things go to plan, we’ll start hearing about a launch event as invitations are sent out to the Valley’s tech press. That will get the tech planet buzzing toward fever pitch. Then we need one of the chaps at the Wall Street Journal to make ‘an informed prediction’ or something like that — ideally on the Thursday to give us all the weekend to wonder, before a Monday launch event.

We’re long overdue a bit of fever pitch now.

Given the fact BlackBerry DevCon is coming next month along with Nokia World, I think Apple will want the product out the door — or at least live, to overshadow those companies — pretty soon.

I’m looking forward to seeing how they present the device and the (new) strategy to the market.

And you know what, I’m tired of the iPhone 4. I’m getting bored looking at it now.

Is it just me?

Martin Fichter, acting president or HTC America makes a stimulating market observation as Chris Taylor at Mashable points out:

Speaking at the Mobile Future Forward conference in Seattle, Fichter related a story about taking his daughter to Reed College in Portland, where he took an informal survey of her dormitory buddies. “None of them has an iPhone,” Fichter said, “because they told me: ‘My dad has an iPhone.’ There’s an interesting thing that’s going on in the market. The iPhone becomes a little less cool than it was. They were carrying HTCs. They were carrying Samsungs. They were even carrying some Chinese manufacturer’s devices.”

Now whilst it’s highly anecdotal, I think he’s got a point. You need money to own an iPhone. To have the right amount of disposable income to afford the iPhone, you are probably going to skew older than your average student who might not want to commit to say $60 a month for two years.

$60 buys a good amount of beer.

Mashable’s Chris reckons that portraying the iPhone as uncool is a rather risky strategy, given the iPhone 5 is en route.

I’m not sure if I agree.

I don’t think the iPhone is at all cool any more. Indeed the shine wore off pretty quickly last year when I got on the train and found a Vicky Pollard (see above) look-a-like with an iPhone 4. I was still using a 3GS that I hadn’t bothered to upgrade. (Read: “Vicky Pollard has an iPhone 4; You are not cool any more“)

iPhone is increasingly vulnerable when it comes to ‘coolness’ because, well, anyone can have one nowadays. Provided you pass the credit check you can have an iPhone 4 for zero cash up front here in the UK on a 24-month contract. It’s the tightrope any brand walks in this situation. I’m keen to see how Apple handle this with the next generation of devices.

Will the iPhone 4 16GB move to a much more accessible £249 up-front, whilst the iPhone 5 moves into the £500 slot? Or will we see a controlled price drop across the quarters? e.g. £349, £299, £249.

Bring it on…

Yes! The chaps at Dexim have created an iOS-controlled ‘vehicle’ — a Monter Truck. It’s described as ‘the first product offering’ but I can also see a remote controlled racing car available too.

You can control the truck either from the touch sensor controls on your iPhone, or — and this is the wickedly cool science bit — you can use the iOS gyroscope to direct the truck’s movement. Love it.

Here are the details from the Dexim product page:

Compatibility: compatible with iPad 2, iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone3GS/3G,iPod touch 4G, 3G, 2G (iOS4.0 or later).
US Frequency: 2.4GHz
Effective range: 12-15m
RF output power to 10dBm@3.3V
Car charging time: 10-15minutes

2.4GHz — that’s WiFi right?

This kind of stuff tickles me pink. I really did like the concept of the Parrot AR.Drone but with a mini-me at home who, aged 15 months, doesn’t quite get the concept of ‘delicate’, that would be a potential disaster.

But the Monster Truck? I’m thinking of buying one just to entertain him.

Here’s what it looks like:

And here’s how the app looks on your iPhone:

I really like the concept of steering using the gyroscope.

Dexim report that you can control the truck as far away as 50ft. You can also engaged some pre-set modes that zig-zag or spin the truck — or, if you want to really show off, you can make it dance.

A must for every office and kitchen!

The truck will retail for $69.99 — so about fourty quid or so. The app is available free from iTunes. Job done. When are you buying one?

Having a look on the Dexim site, it appears operator o2 are one of the UK distributors so you should be able to pick one up there soon. If I can find one, I’ll buy it and do a quick review. Then I’ll spend hours entertaining the toddler with it.

Update: I heard from Dexim PR — the truck comes with a transmitter that plugs into your iOS device and communicates with the truck. So it’s not using Bluetooth of WiFI connectivity.