I had the unfortunate experience of actually falling for the iOS 4.0 update this morning. Released to great fanfare by Apple and supposedly compatible with my lowly iPhone 3Gs, the update has a number of glitches that I am extremely annoyed with.

Starting off, the update download took forever. Or it seemed like it did. Maybe that is because Apple just shoved it out to everyone at the same time, totally slamming their own servers. This seems like a plan of idiocy. Apple had advertised that the update was going to be on the 21st. For us here in Japan, the 21st came and went.

While the total update of my iPhone including download took about an hour, it seemed to take an extraordinary amount of time just to do the initial copy of the iOS 4.0 to the iPhone unit.

Now that the machine is updated, I am still not seeing what all the hoopla about new features is. I found myself playing one of my favorite time passing games and suddenly the browser started up and my game kept going in the back ground. It seems that the browser starts up without the usual tapping of browser link or an ad which would normally open it. I have had this happen on several occasions today and have been less than pleased.

Also, there seems to be a glitch that makes applications skip a beat. I only noticed it because it happened in the middle of a continuous screen game. Whether this is related to the new multitasking features of the phone or not, I am not sure but it would seem like the most likely culprit.

The cool screen updates, really are quite atrocious at best. Yes, you can change the background shot but I am not feeling it. The new default makes everything hard to see. Who ever created the color scheme should be fired for being the most annoying graphic artist in the world. (and for being color blind)

I still have yet to have figured out how to create the so called folders which Apple has hyped to no ends. It is not readily obvious in either iTunes or on the unit so i have basically given up on that feature until I find the instructions. (So much for the adage that we all ready know how to use the iPhone.)Finally figured out how to create folders on the iPhone unit.   It is not as intuitive as I would like and doing the folders in the iTunes App takes far too much time.  Luckily I am a bit patient with it but this is certainly not for the faint of heart or those who lack time to follow through on it.  For me, it took a good portion of an hour or so to complete the process of organizing my iPhone into three pages instead of the previous 10 pages.

One of the most inexplicable features of the new OS is the so called exact location services. I noticed that my navigation software which before the update was off by 1/4 mile is now off by almost a mile of my location. I am sure Apple will try to say it is the software developers fault, however, it is interesting that it mostly worked before the update and now is so bloody slow that I cant even use the navigation software for any actual navigation. The maps now take about 10 times as long to load. One other not so cool feature is the fact that on the navigation software, my location changes by almost 2 miles with me sitting at my desk writing this review!

Funniest of all was the fact that Google maps asked to use my location and then couldn’t even activate the maps within the app. So much for the usefulness of the Google maps application.

One more interesting little bit of bad news is that if you have news alerts from apps coming in, it will shut off the sound to what ever app or game you are in until the app is completely re-started.  This happened on multiple occasions and is more than a little annoying.

As for all the issues I am having after the update, initially I figured I must have done something wrong with the setup of my iPhone or that I had missed something. Then I started reading online and found that it was no phenomena, but instead seems more like a firestorm of criticism that is not limited to any particular section of the world.

For the amount of hype that went into this update, perhaps Apple should have put far more effort into solving the issues with the OS before they shoved it out to the world. Sadly, this is the first real OS issues I have had with Apple related products and it does not make me happy to write this. But alas, it must be said quite frankly this time around. “Fix the darned iOS Apple!!!” And yes, you can print that I said that!

The past few days, Engadget has been going around and around with photos of the supposed new iPhone 4G.  Supposedly the phone was “Lost” in a bar in San Jose, and of course, they just happen to have photos of it.  Number one, I doubt anyone would even have the phone outside of the Apple premises unless the phone was really close to release and they were testing it.  This just does not happen without Apple taking serious precautions to not “Lose” their equipment or have someone inadvertently  photograph the item.

Secondly, how would they have it long enough to take apart and get the specs on.  The new supposed iPhone 4G has 80gb and looks like another popular phone on the market.  Apple does not copy other people’s standards, they create the standards.

Now a story in Apple Incider is saying that Gizmodo paid $10,000 for photos of the phone and hands on time.  This is a more likely scenario that Engadget also paid for the same rights, since Apple’s legal department has not slapped them with a cease and desist order yet.  One only has to look at Engadget’s original story to know it is fully of holes.  At least the people behind Gizmodo had the guts to come out and say, “Yeah we paid!” after they had produced an elaborate back story on the “Lost” phone.

The traditional Apple style is just because they design something does not mean it is necessarily going to be released.  But of course, if people are willing to pay Apple for a look at something that they are going to release, I am sure Apple is glad to have them pay and then write their dribble to help Apple whip up the masses of Apple fans into a frenzy so that when the product is finally released, they sell a million in the first week!  If you ask me, all this fake story, paying for information smacks of the payola scandal journalism that have been wracking the blogosphere lately.  It used to be that journalists just dug in deep and asked the right questions to get the scoop.  Now they pay money to get the story!

A great new application for the iPhone, Siri, is not only an application that you can talk to, but it is one that essentially will listen to you and provide your every whim.  (Sounds like everyone’s dream of what a computer should be, right?).  This little app, takes your voice instructions, translated the input to text, confirms it, and follows your instructions, doing everything from checking the weather for tomorrow to making dinner reservations at your favorite restaurant.

While most apps that perform the basic tasks you need done each day provide you with the information, Siri does it on the fly and bases the information that it produces on your location or by your requested location.  If you ever wanted someone to take the load off of your shoulders when it comes to doing things, well that someone is Siri. ( http://siri.com/ )

The best part of the app besides being really useful (we dont say this about too many apps these days), is that it is Free!!  Yes, thats right, it is a free download from the Siri site.

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5