Tag Archives: Apple
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Not a Worthy Update

22 Sep

There’s no life in my iPad

Apple recently released iOS9 and I for one, don’t usually update my devices immediately. I would wait a couple of months, read some reviews before I make any decision to update.

Now this time, I don’t know why I decided to update my iPad Mini. Oh boy. Upsets the hell out of me!

Both my iPhone5S and iPad Mini are still on iOS7.12, foregoing the last release iOS8 and I was happy with things the way they were. So again I must say I really don’t know what got the better of me and updated the iPad Mini.

It left me annoyed, upset and frustrated because my iPad crashed, died and was rendered useless, if only for a few hours. Yes, I was lost without my games. Somewhere along the download, either the connection line dropped or the jump from iOS7.12 to iOS9 was not stable, it caused the update to be disrupted. My iPad initially looked fine but it was not.

It jumped between its state of being turned on to the Apple icon and the download bar but the bar was frozen; it did not move. Unstable in other words. Initially, I could still play my games, read some news but when the switches occurred again, I thought if I did a complete shut down and switched it back on again, maybe things would right itself .

Hah. That was where I got it wrong. I could not even turn it on, reset, continue to update or restore. Uh oh… What have I done?

So I fixed it in the office thinking the home connection could be the culprit. To cut the technicalities, I managed to revive my iPad but at a price. Lost everything on it but thank goodness, the photos and whatever notes I had on it were not that critical, so I can live with this. The most annoying was the hassle of putting back my games and music. And Mail setup was the most tedious and now, after all that hassle, I find the iPad laggy. It’s so slow!!! Aaargh… so annoying when the candies drop in almost a slow motion.

Hrmph… looks like I won’t be updating my phone just yet and will definitely let things be for now. No more unnecessary updates if I can help it!

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Feeling Incomplete

13 Aug

Although I hardly use my laptop for work, I feel incomplete. Every morning when I have my coffee, I would launch my laptop to read the news, go into Farm Heroes especially to collect my daily awarded beans (something I can’t do on the iPad) and play Level 1101 of Candy Crush because the game has yet to update for the iPad. Now I can’t do any of these because my laptop is not back yet.

A friend sympathized with me and reasoned that if my laptop went in to be resurrected, it should just take three days. I am not convinced. It definitely isn’t a situation of biblical proportions; furthermore, it went in on a Sunday and not a Friday, you know what I mean?

Thank goodness Candy Crush Soda updated for the iPad by Tuesday night, so I had my candy fix back. But still, I feel agitated and incomplete. By Wednesday night, Candy Crush finally updated for the iPad but I have been stuck at Level 1101 for sometime now, feeling incomplete suddenly becomes inept! I can play yet I can’t play. Aargh…

Anyway, Apple did not call on Wednesday but emailed a quotation over for the repair cost. I almost fell off my chair! It will cost a third of a brand new MacBook Air if I went ahead with the repair. This is the first time one of my Apple devices is causing so much grieve.

Now, on top of feeling incomplete (and inept) I am upset too. Hrmph. 

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Be Sad and Eat Oats

10 Aug

Sunday morning my laptop died. It can’t turn on. My MacBook Air. Gone. Kaput. I was not in the least upset but more worried that I could not play my games! Aargh…

Hubby declared, “Do not touch my laptop!” killing off any hopes of using his device to play my games.

Oh dear. What should I do?

We googled up tips and tried everything possible to resuscitate my laptop but to no avail. The laptop just cannot turn on after I shut it down the night before (instead of putting it to sleep).

So after lunch, we went to the mall and sent it in to Apple for service and was advised to leave it for two days. Two days without my laptop. How to progress for my Candy Crush and Candy Crush Soda? The two games that I now have no choice but to play on the laptop because there’s no updates yet for my iPad.

I felt miserable thinking about my options. And wanted to buy something, anything to drown my sadness. 

Walking pass every shop and retailer, I itched to buy the travel bag, eat gelato, buy a Thermos flask (I already have two) and drink Starbucks or a juice, an impulse reaction at being a loss.

When we walked into the pharmacy, M2 pointed to the oats on the shelf and suggested I “be sad and eat oats”. Cheeky girl, goading me on.

Boo hoo hoo… 

I hope the laptop will be fine.

We ended up eating a choc vanilla waffle and drank a Starbucks frappuccino.

Comfort food

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Should I or Should I Not?

19 Sep

Apple recently launched its new phones and OS. Now I am wondering should I upgrade (so soon again) when I had just upgraded not too long ago to my current iPhone5S? Several months back, my iPhone4 gave up on me and I had no choice and couldn’t wait for the new phones. How can one live without a phone?

Looking at the situation, it is most likely I will not change as I have already gotten used to my phone. But I am wondering whether to update the OS or not. I recall griping over the OS and how ugly it was especially over the message bubbles but in time, I have gotten used to it (the bubbles) and the OS. It was radical then the jump from OS6 to OS7 but with the new OS8, reviews have said it is not that radical an update but there are features that are promising, so maybe… perhaps it’s best to let the few million Apple users be the guinea pig first before I make a decision.

Then again, with Farm Heroes’ latest update, it seems to be rather unstable especially on the iPad. Although the fix was for a notification bug and nothing related to preparing it for the new OS8, it’s acting up and causing unnecessary loss of lives to play. If this continues, I may not wait for the millions of guinea pigs’ feedback and just update the OS on the iPad.

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79 is Not 80

22 May

Mid-year exams are around the corner and motivation needs to be provided for the girls. Unlike M1 whom I am proud to say can achieve her targets, M2 needs a little bit of encouragement. So I offered my old iPhone4 seeing that the need for a mobile phone had cropped up again recently.

There was no tussle over the iPhone4 for ownership after I upgraded because I did not allow a tussle to occur. Although by hierarchy, M1 is entitled to my old phone, she is pretty contented with her hand-me-down Android phone from hubby.

But since M2 has been grousing for a phone, why not just dangle the iPhone to entice her to do well? After all, the iPhone4 is just sitting there collecting dust. All she needs to do is to achieve the 80 percent average target for all her subjects.

M2 is hesitant because firstly, my old iPhone4 was problematic (that’s why I changed) but I convinced her ever since I upgraded, the old phone seems to be okay. The choice was tough: a smartphone or no phone. The second reason being, she wasn’t sure she could achieve the 80 percent overall. So she negotiated with me.

“79? Can ah?” she asked me several days before the exams started.

I merely raised my eyebrow and commented. “79 is not 80. Does it look like 80 to you?”

She cringed. Silence.

Then she tried again.

“What if it was 79.6? Cos if you round up the point six, it would be 80!” she sensed victory in putting her mathematical skills to good use!

Hrmph. We shall see…

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Staying Connected Anytime, Anywhere

20 May

The mobile phone is truly a wonderful must-have device today, keeping us all connected 24/7. With the variety of smartphones available now and with apps like Viber, WhatsApp, Facetime and iMessage to name the ones I use, we are always connected, be it the normal telco connection or via wifi/3G. During the dinosaur era when I was 17, mobile phones were unheard of and I would be hogging the house phone for hours to continue conversations from school with my best buddies.

But of course, you don’t see that with the children of today, hogging the house phone that is. They tweet, Skype, Instagram or status update on Facebook. However, with more and more social app choices available, it is hard to keep up. All I know is my girls are using something that I am not!

When M1 turned 12, both the hubby and I decided maybe it was time for her to have her very first mobile phone. But being only 12, we felt the phone shouldn’t be very expensive yet has all the cool functions. We got her a Sony Ericsson and put her on a post-paid plan instead of pre-paid. The rational was to monitor the calls instead of capping the usage at a monthly fixed pre-paid cost.

That first year, she must have discovered the wonders of staying connected anytime, anywhere. Ten months into ownership, her bill came to a whopping figure, it shocked the daylights out of dear hubby! The amount was more than what he and me uses—combined—for a month! My goodness, you could see smoke coming out from his ears… The punishment: deductions from the daily allowance to settle the bill.

Since then I guess M1 must have learnt her lesson for whenever I try to call her, it is so difficult to get her. She hardly or never picks up or answers the call promptly and will always go to message, which annoys the daylights out of me. Everytime. Hrmph.

When M2 turned 12 last year, the thought of getting her a mobile phone never crossed our minds after our experience with M1. So we left the situation as it is although she had hinted for a mobile phone every now and then. Whenever the situation arises, and in order to justify her need for a mobile phone, I would gently remind her by asking where is the old Samsung phone that she had inherited from me. Knowing full well the reply would be “I don’t know…” it was a practical reminder to her that she is not ready yet to own a mobile phone.

Undeterred, she found a way to overcome this. Proudly she tells me she has been saving her pocket money to buy one, sharing her dreams to have the latest Samsung models or the Apple iPhone5S. I even encouraged her to keep up the good saving trait. But my child being my child, she daringly pestered me to upgrade my phone to the iPhone5S so that she could inherit my old iPhone4; thus her saved funds can be used for something else! Behind the efforts taken, she was worried the fund was very slow to grow and lamented that by the time it became sufficient, she would be looking at probably, an iPhone10! While I did not budge on the upgrade idea, circumstances had me changing my phone this year. So now I have a spanking new iPhone5S and the old iPhone4 is just laying around, doing nothing but collecting dust waiting for new ownership.

And the lure of owning a phone has cropped up again with the 13-year old M2 who aspires to stay connected anytime anywhere with her friends, more than her parents. It remains to be seen whether the old iPhone4 remains to collect dust or be adopted.

So the house phone still has its usage after all.

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I Officially Migrated

21 Apr

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Like a child giddy with excitement over a new toy, I could not tame the butterflies in my tummy as I fiddled with my spanking new Apple iPhone5S. Yes, last Friday I officially migrated to the new device, opening the present ten days before my birthday.

Goodbye iPhone4, I loved you and you served me well but you chose your destiny and I didn’t have a choice; and hello iPhone5S, this is the beginning of a new love. I hope we will have many wonderful moments, build lots of memories and fun together despite my short fingers needing to stretch to reach the top row of apps and the home button on the half inch longer phone.

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It’s Deciding for Me

18 Apr

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I thought all was fine with my iPhone4 after the last few scares; maybe it could last and I don’t have to give it up so soon. But I guess I spoke too soon! Last week, it blacked out on me again at a critical Kodak-moment! I was right about to capture the amazing birthday cake presented at an uncle’s birthday dinner when the phone froze and the Apple icon appeared before a black screen! Aaaargghhhh…. the cake was cut and I do not have a picture of the amazing cake intact. Hrmph…

I was annoyed to say the least. Hubby was sympathetic and suggested that night I should just have the new iPhone5S charged up, ready to be used instead of having to wait until my birthday to open the box.

My dear iPhone4, I love you but you chose your destiny.

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Hubby Insisted

14 Apr

As you know, my beloved iPhone4 has not been very nice to me lately, being cranky and acting up for no reason. Getting old or tired of serving me, I have learnt to deal with it. But I complain. To hubby, to the girls and to no one in particular.

Maybe the hubby is tired of me complaining or he can’t stand the crankiness in me when the phone pulls a fast one, so he insisted to just buy the iPhone5S champagne model for me. While in my heart, the spirits soared with this new toy, much desired in one way, I feel it shouldn’t end this way with my cranky iPhone4. Sniff…

So I am holding on to my cranky phone until it acts up again or at least until my birthday comes along in two weeks, then I open the box to the new phone and feign surprise to receive the present. After all, if the hubby insists, how could I refuse?

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At a Crossroad

10 Apr

I love my iPhone4. It doesn’t matter that it is three years old and has a screen smaller than those gargantuan Samsung models, I love my phone. But lately, I think my phone does not love me anymore.

It has been acting up, as if in revolt and hinting at retirement. Why? Why do this to me? It’s not as if I have overworked it to a pulp, playing games and draining its battery or stabbing at the screen to death. I do that only with my iPad Mini. The phone is strictly for taking pictures, checking emails, sending text messages and occasionally skimming the headlines. So I really don’t understand.

It would blackout and the Apple icon would appear. Stays this way for awhile then reverts back to its standby mode as though it’s perfectly normal and nothing unusual. This occurred several times. Then the clincher came last week… I had 50 per cent of battery life left when it suddenly pulled the blackout act. Then a new revolt! The battery icon appeared, followed by the charging icon! Eeeeks! What is going on? Showed I was zero, nil, zilch in battery life and I needed to charge it up.

I was stumped yet amazingly calm unlike the first time it blacked out on me, I freaked and felt as if my arm got ripped from my body. Maybe I have gotten used to its antics by now?

At this point, I feel I am at a crossroad: I love my phone but do I stick with it still or should I just upgrade to the iPhone5S? A friend suggested that I should wait until the launch of the next model, rumored to be towards the end of the year with a bigger screen and such but can my beloved last until then? I can wait but my phone may not last with its mind of its own acting like this. Alternatively, I could have it fixed or diagnosed to right the problem.

Whatever I decide, hubby and the children knows I have been eyeing the 5S champagne model since its launch but I am in no hurry to get it yet. Then again with my silly phone pulling such stunts lately, I may decide sooner than later.

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