Keep It Naked

I've been contemplating the concept of iPhone cases since I got the iPhone 5 a couple weeks ago. I never put a case on my original iPhone, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, or iPhone 4S. I'm not putting one one the iPhone 5. One of the greatest things about every iPhone has been the beautiful design of the device.

I'm obviously in the minority of iPhone users. It seems like 9/10 iPhones I see in the wild are wearing a case. The argument being, spend $30 to protect your investment. Many people go the extra step of adding a $10-$20 screen protector as well. Complete 100% protection for $50. You'll never see the beauty of your iPhone till you give it to someone else or sell it.

That may have been a valid argument up until the iPhone 4, but starting with the iPhone 4S, Apple solved this problem in a way that should allow everyone to enjoy a beautiful, naked phone. Beginning with the 4S, Apple converted AppleCare into AppleCare+. Everyone should be purchasing this $100 insurance and warranty extension option for their phone since it allows you to replace a broken phone twice in two years for $49. The same price as your protection would run.

The iPhone 5 is, by a country mile, the nicest device I've ever owned. The thought of covering it up to protect it just seems wrong. With a little thought, you don't need to.

Banish Newsstand

Macstories has a post today detailing a method of throwing Newsstand into a folder on iOS devices if you never use that capability. They verified that it works, and I've now done this on my iPhone 5. I use Newsstand sparingly on the iPad, and have no problem with it being there on my home screen. I find Newsstand to be absurd on my iPhone and am happy it's gone.​ Thanks to Cydia developer Filippo Bigarella for devising this easy fix.

This issue brings up a larger point, and that's the inability to rid yourself of Apple's preinstalled apps and services. ​It's great that new iOS devices come with some apps from the factory. It gives new users an opportunity to explore the capabilities of the device. It would really be nice if Apple would trust it's users enough to delete some of the non-critical apps or services like Newsstand or Game Center. I'm not going to hold my breath.

Better App Store Search

​Renee Ritchie takes a look at the way search results are presented in iOS 6. I'm not happy with the new search results, and believe the list presentation of iOS 5 and prior releases was better because it was more information dense. In practical terms, it just takes forever to browse results now.

I hadn't expended a lot of mental energy to think about how things could be better, and now I don't feel the need to. Rene did it for me. I like everything he's suggested.