Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat » IM Archives – Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat http://blog.fosketts.net Understanding the accumulation of data Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:40:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Quick Tip: iPhone/iPad Auto-Correction “im/IM/I’m” http://blog.fosketts.net/2010/05/13/iphone-ipad-auto-correction-tip/ http://blog.fosketts.net/2010/05/13/iphone-ipad-auto-correction-tip/#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 15:13:53 +0000 Stephen http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=3111 The Issue: Auto-Correction Not Learning

I was pulling my hair out. Every time I typed “im” the iPhone would auto-correct it to “IM”, rather than “I’m” which is what I meant.

Normally, if you tap the “x” popup on an auto-correction a few times the iPhone learns that that’s not what you meant. The same thing happens if you go back and fix the word manually. But I must have corrected this particular substitution 100 times and it always popped up wrong.

The Fix: Check Your Contacts

I finally figured out that the problem was in my contacts. No, not my corrective lenses; the issue was with my address book, of all things.

The iPhone OS always adds first and last names and job titles to the auto-correction dictionary. And these can’t be removed by tapping or manually correcting errors. See the problem here?

Some time in the past, I added an SMS bridge to my Yahoo Messenger account to my phone book. This synced to the iPhone with the first name “Yahoo” and last name “IM”. So every time I typed “im”, the iPhone OS looked at my contacts list and decided I was trying to type Mr. Yahoo’s last name. I changed this to “Messenger” and it’s all better now. I suppose I should just delete it, actually…

So there you have it. If you’re dogged by weird auto-correction issues, check your contacts list!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2010. | Quick Tip: iPhone/iPad Auto-Correction “im/IM/I’m”
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]]> http://blog.fosketts.net/2010/05/13/iphone-ipad-auto-correction-tip/feed/ 1 2.2 And Eight Things That Are Still Wrong With The iPhone http://blog.fosketts.net/2008/12/13/22-wrong-iphone/ http://blog.fosketts.net/2008/12/13/22-wrong-iphone/#comments Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:00:09 +0000 Stephen http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1236 Eleven months ago, I wrote about twelve things that were wrong with the iPhone in OS version 1.1.3. Now that OS 2.2 is here, I figure it is time to revisit my list.

What Was Fixed Since 1.1.3

Apple have made a lot of progress in the year and a half that the iPhone has been in existence. And the fact that they’ve rolled out just about every feature via software updates for every phone owner is a real breath of fresh air. The lack of updates was one thing that really made me dislike the various BlackBerry devices I had over the years…

Of the 12 issues I noted in my last post, three have been fixed:

  1. That darn headphone jack – The iPhone 3G no longer has a recessed jack. Good move!
  2. Calendar integration – OS 2.0 handles meeting invites and over the air calendar syncing pretty well, though I’ve had some issues keeping mine up to date. And the colored calendars are needlessly complicated.
  3. Hidden contacts – The addition of a Contacts app is a welcome change.

What’s Still Wrong

  1. Copy and paste – Please please please please please!
  2. SMS popups – These still “show through” every app (even the lock screen!), interfering with whatever you are doing. And whenever Apple pushes out their push service, it’s only going to get worse!
  3. Landscape email – I always want to rotate my mail to read it better. How about landscape everything?
  4. Notes – I want to save notes on my iPhone, but it’s a dead end. Please! The uselessness of the notes app is beyond crazy! I’ve started to use Evernote, however, so maybe Apple missed the boat on this.
  5. Persistent web data – Why does Safari lose its data all the time? This is incredibly frustrating – switch back to a Safari page you were viewing and it is gone from cache. The fact that Google Reader just marked the item that was showing as read makes this even worse.
  6. Actual IM – Please please please start supporting actual Gtalk, AIM, and Yahoo IM protocols. The web versions of these apps stink, and the apps so far aren’t much better. Maybe the push service won’t stink or guzzle battery juice.
  7. Device compatibility – My Belkin Auto Kit works just fine with the iPhone, yet it still nags me to go into airplane mode every time I plug it in! How about a setting so I can say “stop nagging me about this device?”
  8. Bluetooth support – Please let me stream whatever audio I want to my Bluetooth headset. A better Bluetooth stack could blow open the accessory market – GPS, stereo headphones, laptop sync, remote control, etc etc etc… As much as people love Apple’s iconic “headphone” ad images, we’d all love wireless headphones more!
  9. Improved iPod controls – The iPhone is the worst iPod ever made when it comes to the controls – they move around inconsistently between portrait and landscape mode, and some are lacking entirely. You can’t scrub forward, set stars, or access podcasts or movies, in cover flow?!? And these are all hidden even in portrait mode!  And how about video zoom – I want to be able to pinch in when I’m watching a letterboxed film.  Is that so wrong?

Don’t get me wrong here – I still think the iPhone is insanely great.  I bought two!  Consider this constructive criticism…

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2008. | 2.2 And Eight Things That Are Still Wrong With The iPhone
This post was categorized as Apple. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

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