RECCE ROOM

For this week's installment of iFails, let's talk about the Zoom app on iPhone and what it cannot do.  Zoom became a major market force during the "pandemic" as it offered a reasonable platform for communication via internet when people were sheltering inside. This author prefers Teams due to functionality, but Zoom is certainly a fine platform and has been used many times to communicate with persons of all sorts.  A network outage beyond this author's control forced attendance on a Zoom meeting with a client. As it was one of the first Zoom meetings since being hired by this employer, the name displayed was this author's first initial and last name. When the attempt was made to change the name displayed (usually using the triple dots on a laptop/desktop or on an Android), it was discovered that there were no triple dots. Nor did the iPhone have any other buttons available to mute, unmute, turn camera on/off, or any of the other rudimentary functions the app h...

This is a documentation of iPhone failures. The company iPhone will not make any sort of notification if the phone is ringing. All volume levels have been checked and re-checked. All settings are in the suggested setup. No active ring. No active vibrate, either.  And for the inevitable clown who won't read and thinks I'm just missing calls or hard of hearing, etc. - I have verified this by calling the device from my Samsung Galaxy A51. A phone in each hand. There was no way to miss the call.  The Samsung has no issues ringing, vibrating, or making whatever notification it is set to.  Also, this iPhone will not hang up if I call someone. The option to push the red button to disconnect the call goes away after 30 seconds, or if I change screens. It cannot be pulled back up by any standard method. And this cannot be corrected via any fix located on Google.  This might be why my kids never answer when I call (they both have iPhones - albeit more modern versions). But the...

This is a documentation of iPhone failures.  As I near my upper 40's,  my arms are "getting shorter." Admittedly, I have had to increase the size of the font on my phone so as to be able to read texts, etc.  On a recent business trip, I was having great difficulty adjusting the size of the font on the company iPhone. A well-meaning coworker grabbed the phone and fumbled around for a few moments, eventually making the font larger.  It was too large - and I didn't know how to make the adjustment myself, so I went to work, figuring it out. The coworker gave a few simple directions, and left a lot of the rest to be desired. Through a combination that cannot be recalled, the font became so large that I could only see a part of the screen at any given time. A few moments of fumbling on my part and the coworker again grabbed the phone. This time, the coworker couldn't get it to decrease in size, either!  The main problem was that since only part of the normal screen co...

This is a documentation of iPhone failures.  The afore-mentioned company iPhone has normal iPhone issues. This time, it is with the Calendar. My boss recently shared her calendar with me. Nothing out of the normal. Except my iPhone calendar now shows me all of her updates, as well as my own!  As usual, off to Google to look up that make of iPhone and possible fixes. The results are spectacularly predictable - a plethora of suggestions, and NONE OF THEM WORK. (they never do!) Oh, well, I can just completely ignore my company phone calendar. One more item that is useless on that device. And I did actually use that one a little. 

New blog category - iFails. This is a documentation of iPhone failures.  In 2012, my company issued me an iPhone. I lamented on FB that I didn't like it because it was an inferior platform than the Blackberry I'd had for so long. Of course, many well-meaning friends who cannot read came along to assure me I'd like it "once I learned how to use it." Problem was - I already knew how to use it, hence the reason I did not want one!  Fortunately, they did away with the iPhone mandate a couple of years after. They realized their errors in using an iPhone only app and went to a different service that supported Android, as well. I switched and have never looked back.  Fast forward - I got a new job, and they issued me an iPhone.  Let the games begin again.  First installment - pictures.  My boss wanted to see pictures of folks Halloween adventures. This past weekend, my son turned 18 and we took him and several of his friends to Lake Winnie . My brother and sister ...