Cutting the Cord
By Joe Puckett, director of recruiting and training at PC Helps
The Rave:
Can the day be far off when there are people who find the notion of connecting one device to another with a wire as strange as buying music on a vinyl album is to today’s high-schoolers? It is a wireless world, and iOS 5 makes it more so with iTunes Wi-Fi Sync. Connect the computer running iTunes to the same network your iOS device is connected to wirelessly and synchronization happens without wires. This has turned out to add more convenience than I expected it to.
With iOS 5 iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, wires are no longer needed.
The Rant:
One of the things you could count on when conversing with an Apple aficionado was hearing, “Apple products just work.” iTunes Wi-Fi Sync has taken some of the shine off that apple. Getting it to work, especially the first time, can be very quirky. Things tend to get more seamless once it has worked over some network, but can still require more human intervention than we are used to with Apple products. It also exceeded its advertised performance in a rather disconcerting way. I had seen in numerous places that the device had to be plugged in to recharge for iTunes Wi-Fi Sync to work. It was a little surprising to see it working with my iPad 2 not plugged in. To prove that I’m human, I was then disappointed that my original iPad worked as I had been told to expect, which was for iTunes Wi-Fi Sync to not work unless the iPad was plugged in to recharge.
The Conclusion:
Reducing the need to connect your iOS device to anything by wire is a positive step. It would be nice if there were fewer rough spots to stumble over on that path, but maybe we needed a reminder about how spoiled we are that things just work. iOS 5 and Wi-Fi Sync have managed to do both.
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Read Part 1: iOS 5 is Like Going to the Gym — No Pain, No Gain.
Read Part 2: iOS 5 Lets You Cut the Cord, Maybe.
Read Part 3: Separate Checks, Please.
Read Part 4: Are We There Yet?
Read Part 5: Are You a Member of the Club?
About the author: Joe Puckett is PC Helps’ director of recruiting and training. He grooms the talent here, and creates our internal and client-facing corporate training courses. A 15-year PC Helps veteran, Puckett is the one to ask if you ever have a software question.
This week, PC Helps Blog is featuring Puckett’s series of “iOS 5 Rants & Raves” geared to end-users. Last week’s posts were geared to IT leaders and professionals. He has been researching and testing the new operating system as part of his ongoing efforts to build new iPad training modules for PC Helps productivity consultants.
About Joe Puckett
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