Apple Event on 15 September 2020 Announcements

[OtinG]

I was following MacRumors on Twitter, and as soon as they tweeted that the updates were finally live I tried again and it started downloading. In past years if I waited too long the servers would get overloaded and I would have to wait a long time. I had been following #iOS14 release on Twitter and all around the globe people were getting upset because the updates were not yet available. No one had reported getting it to download, so I knew it wasn’t just an overloaded server system.

Apple must have had last minute issues to deal with because they had originally posted that they would make it available at 10am PDT, then later they posted 12:30–1:00pm PDT. It was a little after 1PM PDT when it finally went live.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Apple must have had last minute issues to deal with because they had originally posted that they would make it available at 10am PDT, then later they posted 12:30–2:00pm PDT. It was a little after 2PM PDT when it finally went live.

It went live around 1PM PDT. You actually posted on 1:08PM PDT that it’s downloading.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

It went live around 1PM PDT. You actually posted on 1:08PM PDT that it’s downloading.

You are correct. Long day and I typed that wrong. I just corrected my post to reflect 1pm rather than 2pm. At any rate it went live a few minutes after the ending of the adjusted time range in which Apple said it would go live, and about 3 hours later than the time Apple initially posted it would go live.

[OtinG]

I haven’t had much time to explore iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, but I do like the new widget options, especially the one for the Clock. It is nice to have a larger analog clock to view with second hand. The single clock view of the widget is about four times larger than the clock app icon, so it is a lot easier to read.

iOS 14 has more options for widgets than iPadOS 14. I hope they extend the options in iPadOS 14 one day.

[kyteflyer]

WatchOS7... wish I had waited til tomorrow. 4 hours to download (and its still going) and not even yet installed.

[drofgnal]

If the device lets me I usually wait for the .1 release. There will always be bugs to fix.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

If the device lets me I usually wait for the .1 release. There will always be bugs to fix.

This is why I install first and occasionally test betas on secondary devices (basically old iPads and iPhones) before I upgrade my primary devices.

[pwalker8]

For the most part, Apple tends towards incremental improvement rather than radical changes. I'm not a huge text/twitter sort so I don't notice a lot of the social media oriented changes that Apple talks about.

I do like the new widgets. My biggest hope is that they will improve the sync in Big Sur so that I can sync my audiobooks by selecting specific categories rather than have to select them on a book by book basis. I suspect this is a "well of course you ought to be able to do that" thing that has a low priority since not that many people would use it and Apple is focused on audiobooks you purchase from Apple (which are in the cloud) rather than audiobooks you purchase from 3rd parties like audible.

[OtinG]

Apple released Safari 14 for macOS to accompany the other releases from yesterday. I installed it this morning. It only took a few minutes since it doesn't require a restart.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

For the most part, Apple tends towards incremental improvement rather than radical changes. I'm not a huge text/twitter sort so I don't notice a lot of the social media oriented changes that Apple talks about.

I do like the new widgets. My biggest hope is that they will improve the sync in Big Sur so that I can sync my audiobooks by selecting specific categories rather than have to select them on a book by book basis. I suspect this is a "well of course you ought to be able to do that" thing that has a low priority since not that many people would use it and Apple is focused on audiobooks you purchase from Apple (which are in the cloud) rather than audiobooks you purchase from 3rd parties like audible.

Yes indeed Apple usually stays away from radical changes in iOS and now iPadOS, with the exception of the introduction of iPadOS 13 last year, and several years ago when they radically changed the old UI from the original "3D candy" look. Unfortunately Apple has been known to move menu options around so we sometimes have to search for them in the new OS releases. I haven't noticed any major changes to menu options yet with 14.

I do use Twitter to track certain things like Hurricanes Laura and Sally, it is a really great tool for that if you learn how to build useful Twitter Lists. But otherwise I’m not a big user of Twitter. I don't use it in a socializing manner in other words.

I do a bit of text messaging with a couple of friends and a handful of relatives, but not that much. Unfortunately, most of the handful of people I regularly text with don't have iPhones, so no iMessaging is capable with them, only a less option-rich form I will simply call texting. There are some nice features in iMessage, or whatever Apple calls it, but they only work between Apple devices. That is rather aggravating, but no big deal I guess. I do occasionally have trouble getting an image or video to attach to a text message I send to a non-Apple device. I did briefly look at the new messaging capability via a intro web page, but I doubt much, if any, of the new capability will be something I would use very often.

I’m somewhat disappointed that the widgets are rather limited in iPadOS 14 compared to iOS 14, at least that is what I’ve noticed so far. For example, a widget can be placed on an iOS 14 Home page, but not on an iPadOS 14 Home page. In iPadOS they can only be placed on the Today View portion of the Home page, or at least that is the only place I’ve been able to place one. I’m still learning though.

[OtinG]

Apple User Guides for the OS Updates

Here are the links to the Apple User Guides for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, tvOS14, and watchOS 7.

iPhone User Guide

iPad User Guide

Apple TV User Guide

Apple Watch User Guide

(Note: I have copied these links to the first post of this thread to make them easier to locate.)
.......

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I’m somewhat disappointed that the widgets are rather limited in iPadOS 14 compared to iOS 14, at least that is what I’ve noticed so far. For example, a widget can be placed on an iOS 14 Home page, but not on an iPadOS 14 Home page. In iPadOS they can only be placed on the Today View portion of the Home page, or at least that is the only place I’ve been able to place one. I’m still learning though.

This was already announced in WWDC. I think the consensus was iOS 14 was more of an iPhone-oriented updated while next year will probably be iPad improvements again.

Iirc, 13 was focused more on iPads rather than iPhone.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

This was already announced in WWDC. I think the consensus was iOS 14 was more of an iPhone-oriented updated while next year will probably be iPad improvements again.

Iirc, 13 was focused more on iPads rather than iPhone.

Thanks, I watched the first part of the WWDC, but not all the other bits. I really didn't keep up with 14 while it was being developed.

I can see where Widgets are more useful and beneficial on the smaller iPhone screens as opposed to the bigger iPad screens. I'm going to play around with Widgets today and see if I can de-clutter my many Home screens on my iPhone XR. I really like the 4x bigger single analog clock on the first screen!

....

[OtinG]

Memoji Create/Edit Updates in iOS 14

I looks like they added more options to make your Memoji look better. Well at least from when I originally created mine, and that was likely back in iOS 12. I think I updated in iOS 13 though. At any rate, there are many more options now, including aging options. The aging options still don’t add enough age for someone my age though! But it least my Memoji now looks like a 40 something guy with grey hair rather than a 20 something guy with grey hair!

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Thanks, I watched the first part of the WWDC, but not all the other bits. I really didn't keep up with 14 while it was being developed.

I can see where Widgets are more useful and beneficial on the smaller iPhone screens as opposed to the bigger iPad screens. I'm going to play around with Widgets today and see if I can de-clutter my many Home screens on my iPhone XR. I really like the 4x bigger single analog clock on the first screen!

I think widgets would actually be more useful on an iPad given the much bigger screen real estate. Anyway, I expect it'll be added eventually.