I upgraded an iPhone X to iOS 12 earlier this week. The best feature is that Google Maps will work via Apple CarPlay.
The software is terrible at figuring out when to use WiFi calling. With full-strength 75 Mbits symmetric WiFi and 1/2 to 1 bar of service (the only thing that the Millionaires for Obama hate more than Trump is cell towers) the phone decides “well, let’s just keep using that quality Verizon mobile network”.
iMessage has been reconfigured for teenagers. If you want to send a photo you have to go through a screen in which you are prompted to take a new photo (selfie?) before you can tap on an obscure button to get to the taken-an-hour-earlier-or-whatever photo that you actually want to send. Worse, this “instant camera” app has the “old photos” icon in the top left corner, not to be confused with the “regular camera” app in which the “review old photos” is in the lower left corner.
Summary: a weak effort for suburbanites; due to the incompetently handled WiFi calling situation, the phone is barely usable as a phone.
Related:
- Is “data scientist” the new “programmer”? (all the people who could have made iOS 12 functional and consistent are working as data scientists)
I was annoyed about the “camera then photo album” change, too. Then I noticed that there is a new button at the bottom of iMessage that takes me directly to the photo album.
Of course, I’m not sure if that row of buttons at the bottom of iMessage was something optional that I turned on somehow…
Rob: Thanks! I hadn’t even noticed those.
Are you sure that wifi calling is turned on? I just checked and mine was off, even though I had it enabled before. I’m not sure if that was due to the iOS 12 upgrade, or because it is a new phone.
Jin: WiFi calling is on. And it will sometimes show “VZW WiFi” in the top left of the “swipe-down status” screen.
Voice calling will probably be deprecated completely in a couple more years. None of the cool kids use it. If it had any thickness or ports it would be gone already.
> Of course, I’m not sure if that row of buttons at the bottom of iMessage was something optional that I turned on somehow…
That’s for Messages apps. There’s not much useful there. In addition to the Photos “app” that’s built-in, apps can offer up in-Messages functionality. While you can use Apple Pay to send money to people and Dropbox to send files to people, most apps with Messages apps just make sticker packs available.