In iTunes store at the moment there is not one "fart" or Flashlight App in any of the three Top categories available, which you would know if you bothered to check.
You'll be pleased to know that the same fart and flashlight applications are also available in the Android market, including "Pull my Finger" the App that was originally rejected from the App store by Apple and later accepted after howls of protest over Apple's dictatorial approach.
No doubt you were relieved that phone owners rights to fart Apps won out in the end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by g3pro
Just because a lot of people download a fart app or a flashlight app does not make it a "must-have".
Even going so far as trying to ban fart Apps (see above).
Quote:
Originally Posted by g3pro
At least you have the option and choice to do so on other phones. The iPhone is locked in.
Not sure about making an even more rigorous approval process, since the one already being used is severely mishandled and non-transparent.
I don't think that iTunes is advantage for majority of Pc owners.
I don't know yet how Nexus sync with PC, but if it has simple active-sync-like tool that links it with Outlook, WMP, web browser (for downloads), I'd consider that big advantage over iTunes I am forced to use for my iPhone.
Android phones don't sync with computers. they are up in the clouds.
I also don't know if there is a specific sync software for Android but it seems that Google wants the user to sync their stuff via the Google account. But while you can use the Nexus One as a regular external drive it shouldn't be a problem to sync with WMP or even iTunes.
Can you show how they sync with computers? I don't know of any Android phone that can do that.
The lack of multitasking didn't annoy me much until I recently subscribed to Spotify. Now it's a MAJOR pain in the ass. There I am listening to music and to do anything requires the music to stop. Want to read an incoming text? The music stops. Want to check Google Maps? The music stops. Want to browse the web or play a game? The music stops. The music doesn't even resume once you've finished doing the task - you have to reopen the Spotify app.
I can live with a lot of the iPhone's fault. The positives far outweigh the negatives. However, I'm likely to buy a different brand of smartphone if it isn't fixed by the time I renew my contract in Q4 2010.
One way some of the "radio" web-streaming apps work around this is that they have the app call up the website in Safari and continue streaming from there when the app quits. Yes, you can't visit another webpage while this is happening but you can do the rest of the stuff that you mentioned. It's a partial solution.
As I wrote in October, if the sheer number of apps available for a platform is inherently an advantage, we?d all be using Windows. It is good for Apple and good for iPhone users that there?s so much developer interest in the platform. But what matters most is quality. I think the iPhone wins there too, but there?s no easy way to make that comparison numerically
AT&T's service is absolutely terrible. Just listen to the millions complaining about drop calls and atrocious 3g coverage.
and listen to millions ?? really now
lovely post
great lyrics for a song
the iphonians crashed the 3g network with incredible data useage
a
you may want to read the ....past.. 500 posts about this ..
we settled what you have stated here months ago
you have brought up out hat
the multi task would crash the phone . SJ wants a smooth UE,
and if you hate the iphone so much then go forth young man and get the PRE
any way you seem like a nice person so i will try to help you
to complain about ATT or VERIZON is like complaining about a stop sign or a side walk . ATT is only a gatekeeper you give them way too much credit /and or power to think that they understand anything or if they did could possibly fix it .
ATT and their ILK have scores of thousands of miles of fiber being lit and or being laid down. THE SW is a million yrs ahead of the cables in the ground . 30 to 40 bn dollars will be spent creating these systems .The greedy flucklers decided to duplicate 3 or 4 times over the same wires in the ground .Insuring for yrs to come poor service in big cities and no service in tiny towns . SOOOOO dude one day your smart phone will have true 4g/7g connection . 2014 maybe ..until then all service will be spotty and upsetting.
in 2016 you will have a video chat wristwatch phone that dick tracey would pine for .
or some pimple face kid will write code to bypass the whole gatekeeper system and free up the airwaves for free
OR apple will create the MVNO system reliving the carriers of there data shortages ]
Yep, it will make no difference at all. Why, you ask, because Mac OS X is resolution independent.
As for your other comments: do you have an iPhone?
Of course you don't, if you did, you would know the difference.
J.
If I remember correctly, the introduction of Android's 2.0 video states that the SDK will automatically compensate for the change in screen resolution.
I've also seen another post here from an Android developer who stated that it's only a hour or two extra work compensating for the different hardware.
I don't agree with that. He misses some major points.
The most important of which is choice. What he's saying is as though it wouldn't matter if iTunes had only 4 million songs, or 2 million, or 500 thousand. After all, most aren't great, and we aren't interested in most of them anyway. Let's have just the top dozen love songs, after all how many does one need?
The point to more programs is that you have that great choice. Do we need more than one or two different programs in any category? Of course we do! We can use 6, or 10 or even 100. One person likes what another detests. and that's what makes the world go around.
How many categories should there be? An infinite number if possible!
The fact that most are free, and that the rest are so cheap, gives us the opportunity to try many different things before we settle on the ONE. Later, that might be a better ONE. Other platforms can't boast of that ability for their users.
Comparing this to Windows is an irrelevant amount of work. The two share nothing in common. Perhaps if most Windows programs were free or averaged $3 for the paid versions, it might matter. But they don't.
The mobile world is entirely different from the computer world. The devices serve different purposes, and that's what Microsoft doesn't understand, despite their great software catalog.
If I remember correctly, the introduction of Android's 2.0 video states that the SDK will automatically compensate for the change in screen resolution.
I've also seen another post here from an Android developer who stated that it's only a hour or two extra work compensating for the different hardware.
You can't do that automatically when the lowest resolution is too low to show all the needed information. Android developers are already concerned. It's not just the screen resolution either. It's the different form factors, different keyboards with different keys. The fact that hardware keyboards can't be changed for different languages, or have special characters available. Different hardware features on the same generation phones. This is a problem that Google has attempted to address in a letter to developers where they mention the five or so different versions of Android that are current, and the different interfaces that are already beginning to appear on different phones from different manufacturers, and even from the same manufacturer.
This will continue to get worse to the point in two years or so that there will not longer be "an" Android OS, but a half dozen, all non interchangeable, and not able to use the same software. This is what Unix became, is what Linux is, and what we say before the first IBM clones came out. It was a real mess, and with Android, unless Google takes the reigns tightly in their hands, will happen to Android.
I know Android fans don't like to read this, but it's happening already. Industry people are now saying this as well, so it's not just musings on my part, though I think I said it first, almost a year ago.
You can't do that automatically when the lowest resolution is too low to show all the needed information. Android developers are already concerned. It's not just the screen resolution either. It's the different form factors, different keyboards with different keys. The fact that hardware keyboards can't be changed for different languages, or have special characters available. Different hardware features on the same generation phones. This is a problem that Google has attempted to address in a letter to developers where they mention the five or so different versions of Android that are current, and the different interfaces that are already beginning to appear on different phones from different manufacturers, and even from the same manufacturer.
This will continue to get worse to the point in two years or so that there will not longer be "an" Android OS, but a half dozen, all non interchangeable, and not able to use the same software. This is what Unix became, is what Linux is, and what we say before the first IBM clones came out. It was a real mess, and with Android, unless Google takes the reigns tightly in their hands, will happen to Android.
I know Android fans don't like to read this, but it's happening already. Industry people are now saying this as well, so it's not just musings on my part, though I think I said it first, almost a year ago.
According to this documentation, it actually can work. Ever since Android 1.6 (I correct myself), multiple screen size support for apps was included.
About a 1/4 of the way down, it tells the three ways that the OS will render the app correctly. If I read the article right, as long as you code the app to one of the three "ballpark" screen sizes, it should work just fine.
About a 1/4 of the way down, it tells the three ways that the OS will render the app correctly. If I read the article right, as long as you code the app to one of the three "ballpark" screen sizes, it should work just fine.
That is an attempt to resolve one major problem but it?s still not ideal and it still doesn?t address the multiple other issues previously addressed. Android is not very old to have all this fragmentation.
Unless a vendor decides to pull in the UI and do a more structured evolutionary cycle it?s just going to be poor. Android is the Java of mobile OSes and it?s not pretty.
About a 1/4 of the way down, it tells the three ways that the OS will render the app correctly. If I read the article right, as long as you code the app to one of the three "ballpark" screen sizes, it should work just fine.
That's not the point. The point is that when an app is coded for a high amount of information density, it won't work properly on a much lower resolution screen. Not because it can't work, but because all that information can no longer be shown. Fine detailed text, for example, will be lost below the ability of the screen to resolve it. The program interface will have to be reworked for the different resolutions if they are too different. Apple will have a similar problem if they don't raise the rez on their iPhones and Touches in conjunction with a tablet release.
This means that the developer will need to have three different versions of the entire GUI for the program. Much more work, because the program was written and designed for that one resolution, and depending on the program, may not work well on a screen with a much lower resolution.
Google has no control over what these resolutions will be, or the cpu and gpu power behind them.
Apple has one standard for each entire generation of devices. So, at least, all currently selling devices will be coded for the same way. People owning older devices will understand that theirs will no longer be optimal. Apple will need to raise the rez, but likely only once, as there's no point going past a certain rez for such small screens.
It's why OS X's GUI couldn't work on a phone, and why, among other reasons, Win Mobile is so difficult to use.
But screen rez is only one among a list of differences between phones that Google will have no control over.
Palm is going to have a similar problem, but to a lessor extent. Already, the Pre and Pixi have different rez's. The Pixi can't display everything on the screen at once, or at a high enough rez. If they license the OS, as some have speculated they might, then they could be in the same boat Google is, unless they are stricter about how the hardware will be made.
That's not the point. The point is that when an app is coded for a high amount of information density, it won't work properly on a much lower resolution screen. Not because it can't work, but because all that information can no longer be shown. Fine detailed text, for example, will be lost below the ability of the screen to resolve it. The program interface will have to be reworked for the different resolutions if they are too different. Apple will have a similar problem if they don't raise the rez on their iPhones and Touches in conjunction with a tablet release.
This means that the developer will need to have three different versions of the entire GUI for the program. Much more work, because the program was written and designed for that one resolution, and depending on the program, may not work well on a screen with a much lower resolution.
Google has no control over what these resolutions will be, or the cpu and gpu power behind them.
Apple has one standard for each entire generation of devices. So, at least, all currently selling devices will be coded for the same way. People owning older devices will understand that theirs will no longer be optimal. Apple will need to raise the rez, but likely only once, as there's no point going past a certain rez for such small screens.
It's why OS X's GUI couldn't work on a phone, and why, among other reasons, Win Mobile is so difficult to use.
But screen rez is only one among a list of differences between phones that Google will have no control over.
Palm is going to have a similar problem, but to a lessor extent. Already, the Pre and Pixi have different rez's. The Pixi can't display everything on the screen at once, or at a high enough rez. If they license the OS, as some have speculated they might, then they could be in the same boat Google is, unless they are stricter about how the hardware will be made.
I'm not convinced that the appstore advantage is quite as big of an advantage as first made out. As been mentioned previously, the number of usable apps is small. The upshot of this is that while it might take a long time for a competitor to reach the sheer numbers that the app store has, it won't take nearly as long to build a critical mass of useful applications.
Secondly, the low cost of the apps in the app store is actually going to be a disadvantage in this case. Many people wouldn't move over to the Mac not necessarily because of the volume of software they have on their pc's, but rather the financial investment in those apps. However, if you have 20 apps on your iphone of which you've spent $15 to acquire, you are far more likely to leave them behind for what you consider a better platform even if you were forced to spend another $15 to acquire those same apps.
Hopefully Apple is treading carefully here. The app store definitely gives them a leg up, but it's certainly not anything approaching an insurmountable lead.
I have to disagree on certain points. I do not believe that Apple's App store is only reason for being better than the competition (Android), but it is the overall user experience that makes it a runaway success. A post on http://accessoriesforiphone.com/blog...he-iphone.html makes the same points I make. Basically it says this:
iPhone is a success not because of App Store alone, but because each consumer is treated with ease of use for downloads of new apps, no confusion, unlike the hurdles Android phones are seeing now. E.g. Droid runs Android 2.01 (upgraded recently) Nexus One runs Android 2.1, HTC Eris runs Android 1.5! For all iPhone owners (unless jailbroken), we all run the same OS version. The engineers only have to adhere to one screen size, etc. The same is not true for Android, hence why they will not succeed in quality.
Multi-tasking might be Apple's Achilles heel once again as Android offers this. But I wonder what the real-world affect on battery charge would be? If not multi-tasking, I would really like to be able to pop back and fourth to the previous app once I close the current app. It'd be nice if that were configurable somehow.
Its interesting to see how many people think "multitasking=battery drain" just because Jobs said so, even if it is same category of half-lies as "phone needs 3rd party apps coming from us-controlled monopoly store, otherwise its insecure".
If you look at Android, there are many ways to multitask. For example you can listen on some system events. So if you have an app that needs to sync with the server, you listen to "data connection" event and do your update at that time - it means user just opened data connection (which is most expensive operation, battery wise), possibly by opening the Browser, so sending a few bytes over the network won't cost much. Also, if you need to track you location, you can listen to the "GPS" and "net cell" events. Your app is completely idle, consuming no power, but if the user fire up GPS or just move from one network cell to another, you run a small snippet of code to store location and current time with virtually no battery penalty. Even if you enable multitasking by Jail-breaking iPhone, without such system available to developers, it is a day and night in battery usage for the background apps. Android is really strong there and iPhone will play catchup game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pembroke
Also, the number of downloads also needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. I have loads of apps on the Mac which haven't been on my iPhone for well over a year - and most of those were free apps I downloaded out of curiosity.
Agree. I wonder how many of those 3 bil. of downloads are free apps. Why Apple won't tell ?
...unlike the hurdles Android phones are seeing now. E.g. Droid runs Android 2.01 (upgraded recently) Nexus One runs Android 2.1, HTC Eris runs Android 1.5! For all iPhone owners (unless jailbroken), we all run the same OS version. The engineers only have to adhere to one screen size, etc. The same is not true for Android, hence why they will not succeed in quality.
End-users really pay no attention to what OS version they have. It is not that hard to write application that works well across different versions as the differences aren't that big.
Its not true that all of iPhone OS users have the latest version either. iPod Touch users are reported to stay to ancient versions as they have to pay for update. Plus the iPhone HW, despite being from one manufacturer, is quite different between models (GPS, Compass, Camera), where Android phones are not.
End-users really pay no attention to what OS version they have. It is not that hard to write application that works well across different versions as the differences aren't that big.
Its not true that all of iPhone OS users have the latest version either. iPod Touch users are reported to stay to ancient versions as they have to pay for update. Plus the iPhone HW, despite being from one manufacturer, is quite different between models (GPS, Compass, Camera), where Android phones are not.
Not to mention the coming release of the iTablet. The best assumption is that it will tie into the same App Store and the iPhone and iPod. But then that means Apple is walking further down the fragmentation road. Different screen size, different hardware, and maybe even a different OS for the iTablet. Obviously, developers will now need to develop two or more versions of their app if they want it to run on all products.
Or Apple will have their own separate App Store for the iTablet. But that would mean that that store will have to start from scratch. And that would disappoint many buyers expecting to have access to the same 100,000 apps.
As for the Android phones, the majority of them seem to be settling on the 800x480resolution screen, 3.7 inches, 3D chip, accelerometer, magnometer, relatively the same onboard storage, and running around the 1 Ghz area. And as many of the older phones are getting a 2.0+ update and many of the newer ones are releasing with 2.0.1, they're all within the same "generation" of OS. It seems to me that 2.0.1 to 2.1 is like going from Vista to Windows 7. An app written to run on 2.0.1 should run with no problems on 2.1.
[QUOTE=Brainless;1545694]Its interesting to see how many people think "multitasking=battery drain" just because Jobs said so, even if it is same category of half-lies as "phone needs 3rd party apps coming from us-controlled monopoly store, otherwise its insecure".
If you look at Android, there are many ways to multitask. For example you can listen on some system events. So if you have an app that needs to sync with the server, you listen to "data connection" event and do your update at that time - it means user just opened data connection (which is most expensive operation, battery wise), possibly by opening the Browser, so sending a few bytes over the network won't cost much. Also, if you need to track you location, you can listen to the "GPS" and "net cell" events. Your app is completely idle, consuming no power, but if the user fire up GPS or just move from one network cell to another, you run a small snippet of code to store location and current time with virtually no battery penalty. Even if you enable multitasking by Jail-breaking iPhone, without such system available to developers, it is a day and night in battery usage for the background apps. Android is really strong there and iPhone will play catchup game.[quote]
Reviews of multitasking phones have mentioned battery drain and sluggishness. It varies from phone to phone, but it's there.
Quote:
Agree. I wonder how many of those 3 bil. of downloads are free apps. Why Apple won't tell ?
Most are, but a smaller percentage than downloads from the Android store.
I don't have the numbers right now, but paid apps are about a 50% higher level than that of Android as a percentage of all their downloads. There have been commentaries that Android has a problem with conversions to paying customers.
Comments
You'll be pleased to know that the same fart and flashlight applications are also available in the Android market, including "Pull my Finger" the App that was originally rejected from the App store by Apple and later accepted after howls of protest over Apple's dictatorial approach.
No doubt you were relieved that phone owners rights to fart Apps won out in the end.
Just because a lot of people download a fart app or a flashlight app does not make it a "must-have".
Even going so far as trying to ban fart Apps (see above).
At least you have the option and choice to do so on other phones. The iPhone is locked in.
Not sure about making an even more rigorous approval process, since the one already being used is severely mishandled and non-transparent.
I don't think that iTunes is advantage for majority of Pc owners.
I don't know yet how Nexus sync with PC, but if it has simple active-sync-like tool that links it with Outlook, WMP, web browser (for downloads), I'd consider that big advantage over iTunes I am forced to use for my iPhone.
Android phones don't sync with computers. they are up in the clouds.
I also don't know if there is a specific sync software for Android but it seems that Google wants the user to sync their stuff via the Google account. But while you can use the Nexus One as a regular external drive it shouldn't be a problem to sync with WMP or even iTunes.
Can you show how they sync with computers? I don't know of any Android phone that can do that.
The lack of multitasking didn't annoy me much until I recently subscribed to Spotify. Now it's a MAJOR pain in the ass. There I am listening to music and to do anything requires the music to stop. Want to read an incoming text? The music stops. Want to check Google Maps? The music stops. Want to browse the web or play a game? The music stops. The music doesn't even resume once you've finished doing the task - you have to reopen the Spotify app.
I can live with a lot of the iPhone's fault. The positives far outweigh the negatives. However, I'm likely to buy a different brand of smartphone if it isn't fixed by the time I renew my contract in Q4 2010.
One way some of the "radio" web-streaming apps work around this is that they have the app call up the website in Safari and continue streaming from there when the app quits. Yes, you can't visit another webpage while this is happening but you can do the rest of the stuff that you mentioned. It's a partial solution.
http://daringfireball.net/linked/201...number-of-apps
As I wrote in October, if the sheer number of apps available for a platform is inherently an advantage, we?d all be using Windows. It is good for Apple and good for iPhone users that there?s so much developer interest in the platform. But what matters most is quality. I think the iPhone wins there too, but there?s no easy way to make that comparison numerically
.
There is no multi-task on the iPhone.
AT&T's service is absolutely terrible. Just listen to the millions complaining about drop calls and atrocious 3g coverage.
and listen to millions ?? really now
lovely post
great lyrics for a song
the iphonians crashed the 3g network with incredible data useage
a
you may want to read the ....past.. 500 posts about this ..
we settled what you have stated here months ago
you have brought up out hat
the multi task would crash the phone . SJ wants a smooth UE,
and if you hate the iphone so much then go forth young man and get the PRE
any way you seem like a nice person so i will try to help you
to complain about ATT or VERIZON is like complaining about a stop sign or a side walk . ATT is only a gatekeeper you give them way too much credit /and or power to think that they understand anything or if they did could possibly fix it .
ATT and their ILK have scores of thousands of miles of fiber being lit and or being laid down. THE SW is a million yrs ahead of the cables in the ground . 30 to 40 bn dollars will be spent creating these systems .The greedy flucklers decided to duplicate 3 or 4 times over the same wires in the ground .Insuring for yrs to come poor service in big cities and no service in tiny towns . SOOOOO dude one day your smart phone will have true 4g/7g connection . 2014 maybe ..until then all service will be spotty and upsetting.
in 2016 you will have a video chat wristwatch phone that dick tracey would pine for .
or some pimple face kid will write code to bypass the whole gatekeeper system and free up the airwaves for free
OR apple will create the MVNO system reliving the carriers of there data shortages ]
they promised you something yrs away
they all lied to you and me
all of them including JOBS
get over it
buy a mbp and join me is soMe DOD4
FTW
peace
9
Does anyone know how changing screen sizes and resolutions will affect coding for applications?
Yep, it will make no difference at all. Why, you ask, because Mac OS X is resolution independent.
As for your other comments: do you have an iPhone?
Of course you don't, if you did, you would know the difference.
J.
The two biggest detractors would be AT&T only (in the US) and no hardware keyboard.
I disagree. Maybe AT&T's reputation could be a problem, but thats all.
The virtual keyboard is one of Apples biggest 'inventions', it is essential for the iPhone and as easy to use as a physical keyboard of the same size.
J.
Yep, it will make no difference at all. Why, you ask, because Mac OS X is resolution independent.
As for your other comments: do you have an iPhone?
Of course you don't, if you did, you would know the difference.
J.
If I remember correctly, the introduction of Android's 2.0 video states that the SDK will automatically compensate for the change in screen resolution.
I've also seen another post here from an Android developer who stated that it's only a hour or two extra work compensating for the different hardware.
John Gruber said it best in regards to the number of apps.
http://daringfireball.net/linked/201...number-of-apps
.
I don't agree with that. He misses some major points.
The most important of which is choice. What he's saying is as though it wouldn't matter if iTunes had only 4 million songs, or 2 million, or 500 thousand. After all, most aren't great, and we aren't interested in most of them anyway. Let's have just the top dozen love songs, after all how many does one need?
The point to more programs is that you have that great choice. Do we need more than one or two different programs in any category? Of course we do! We can use 6, or 10 or even 100. One person likes what another detests. and that's what makes the world go around.
How many categories should there be? An infinite number if possible!
The fact that most are free, and that the rest are so cheap, gives us the opportunity to try many different things before we settle on the ONE. Later, that might be a better ONE. Other platforms can't boast of that ability for their users.
Comparing this to Windows is an irrelevant amount of work. The two share nothing in common. Perhaps if most Windows programs were free or averaged $3 for the paid versions, it might matter. But they don't.
The mobile world is entirely different from the computer world. The devices serve different purposes, and that's what Microsoft doesn't understand, despite their great software catalog.
Apple does.
If I remember correctly, the introduction of Android's 2.0 video states that the SDK will automatically compensate for the change in screen resolution.
I've also seen another post here from an Android developer who stated that it's only a hour or two extra work compensating for the different hardware.
You can't do that automatically when the lowest resolution is too low to show all the needed information. Android developers are already concerned. It's not just the screen resolution either. It's the different form factors, different keyboards with different keys. The fact that hardware keyboards can't be changed for different languages, or have special characters available. Different hardware features on the same generation phones. This is a problem that Google has attempted to address in a letter to developers where they mention the five or so different versions of Android that are current, and the different interfaces that are already beginning to appear on different phones from different manufacturers, and even from the same manufacturer.
This will continue to get worse to the point in two years or so that there will not longer be "an" Android OS, but a half dozen, all non interchangeable, and not able to use the same software. This is what Unix became, is what Linux is, and what we say before the first IBM clones came out. It was a real mess, and with Android, unless Google takes the reigns tightly in their hands, will happen to Android.
I know Android fans don't like to read this, but it's happening already. Industry people are now saying this as well, so it's not just musings on my part, though I think I said it first, almost a year ago.
You can't do that automatically when the lowest resolution is too low to show all the needed information. Android developers are already concerned. It's not just the screen resolution either. It's the different form factors, different keyboards with different keys. The fact that hardware keyboards can't be changed for different languages, or have special characters available. Different hardware features on the same generation phones. This is a problem that Google has attempted to address in a letter to developers where they mention the five or so different versions of Android that are current, and the different interfaces that are already beginning to appear on different phones from different manufacturers, and even from the same manufacturer.
This will continue to get worse to the point in two years or so that there will not longer be "an" Android OS, but a half dozen, all non interchangeable, and not able to use the same software. This is what Unix became, is what Linux is, and what we say before the first IBM clones came out. It was a real mess, and with Android, unless Google takes the reigns tightly in their hands, will happen to Android.
I know Android fans don't like to read this, but it's happening already. Industry people are now saying this as well, so it's not just musings on my part, though I think I said it first, almost a year ago.
According to this documentation, it actually can work. Ever since Android 1.6 (I correct myself), multiple screen size support for apps was included.
http://d.android.com/guide/practices...s_support.html
About a 1/4 of the way down, it tells the three ways that the OS will render the app correctly. If I read the article right, as long as you code the app to one of the three "ballpark" screen sizes, it should work just fine.
According to this documentation, it actually can work. Ever since Android 1.6 (I correct myself), multiple screen size support for apps was included.
http://d.android.com/guide/practices...s_support.html
About a 1/4 of the way down, it tells the three ways that the OS will render the app correctly. If I read the article right, as long as you code the app to one of the three "ballpark" screen sizes, it should work just fine.
That is an attempt to resolve one major problem but it?s still not ideal and it still doesn?t address the multiple other issues previously addressed. Android is not very old to have all this fragmentation.Unless a vendor decides to pull in the UI and do a more structured evolutionary cycle it?s just going to be poor. Android is the Java of mobile OSes and it?s not pretty.
According to this documentation, it actually can work. Ever since Android 1.6 (I correct myself), multiple screen size support for apps was included.
http://d.android.com/guide/practices...s_support.html
About a 1/4 of the way down, it tells the three ways that the OS will render the app correctly. If I read the article right, as long as you code the app to one of the three "ballpark" screen sizes, it should work just fine.
That's not the point. The point is that when an app is coded for a high amount of information density, it won't work properly on a much lower resolution screen. Not because it can't work, but because all that information can no longer be shown. Fine detailed text, for example, will be lost below the ability of the screen to resolve it. The program interface will have to be reworked for the different resolutions if they are too different. Apple will have a similar problem if they don't raise the rez on their iPhones and Touches in conjunction with a tablet release.
This means that the developer will need to have three different versions of the entire GUI for the program. Much more work, because the program was written and designed for that one resolution, and depending on the program, may not work well on a screen with a much lower resolution.
Google has no control over what these resolutions will be, or the cpu and gpu power behind them.
Apple has one standard for each entire generation of devices. So, at least, all currently selling devices will be coded for the same way. People owning older devices will understand that theirs will no longer be optimal. Apple will need to raise the rez, but likely only once, as there's no point going past a certain rez for such small screens.
It's why OS X's GUI couldn't work on a phone, and why, among other reasons, Win Mobile is so difficult to use.
But screen rez is only one among a list of differences between phones that Google will have no control over.
Palm is going to have a similar problem, but to a lessor extent. Already, the Pre and Pixi have different rez's. The Pixi can't display everything on the screen at once, or at a high enough rez. If they license the OS, as some have speculated they might, then they could be in the same boat Google is, unless they are stricter about how the hardware will be made.
That's not the point. The point is that when an app is coded for a high amount of information density, it won't work properly on a much lower resolution screen. Not because it can't work, but because all that information can no longer be shown. Fine detailed text, for example, will be lost below the ability of the screen to resolve it. The program interface will have to be reworked for the different resolutions if they are too different. Apple will have a similar problem if they don't raise the rez on their iPhones and Touches in conjunction with a tablet release.
This means that the developer will need to have three different versions of the entire GUI for the program. Much more work, because the program was written and designed for that one resolution, and depending on the program, may not work well on a screen with a much lower resolution.
Google has no control over what these resolutions will be, or the cpu and gpu power behind them.
Apple has one standard for each entire generation of devices. So, at least, all currently selling devices will be coded for the same way. People owning older devices will understand that theirs will no longer be optimal. Apple will need to raise the rez, but likely only once, as there's no point going past a certain rez for such small screens.
It's why OS X's GUI couldn't work on a phone, and why, among other reasons, Win Mobile is so difficult to use.
But screen rez is only one among a list of differences between phones that Google will have no control over.
Palm is going to have a similar problem, but to a lessor extent. Already, the Pre and Pixi have different rez's. The Pixi can't display everything on the screen at once, or at a high enough rez. If they license the OS, as some have speculated they might, then they could be in the same boat Google is, unless they are stricter about how the hardware will be made.
wow
what a mess
I'm not convinced that the appstore advantage is quite as big of an advantage as first made out. As been mentioned previously, the number of usable apps is small. The upshot of this is that while it might take a long time for a competitor to reach the sheer numbers that the app store has, it won't take nearly as long to build a critical mass of useful applications.
Secondly, the low cost of the apps in the app store is actually going to be a disadvantage in this case. Many people wouldn't move over to the Mac not necessarily because of the volume of software they have on their pc's, but rather the financial investment in those apps. However, if you have 20 apps on your iphone of which you've spent $15 to acquire, you are far more likely to leave them behind for what you consider a better platform even if you were forced to spend another $15 to acquire those same apps.
Hopefully Apple is treading carefully here. The app store definitely gives them a leg up, but it's certainly not anything approaching an insurmountable lead.
I have to disagree on certain points. I do not believe that Apple's App store is only reason for being better than the competition (Android), but it is the overall user experience that makes it a runaway success. A post on http://accessoriesforiphone.com/blog...he-iphone.html makes the same points I make. Basically it says this:
iPhone is a success not because of App Store alone, but because each consumer is treated with ease of use for downloads of new apps, no confusion, unlike the hurdles Android phones are seeing now. E.g. Droid runs Android 2.01 (upgraded recently) Nexus One runs Android 2.1, HTC Eris runs Android 1.5! For all iPhone owners (unless jailbroken), we all run the same OS version. The engineers only have to adhere to one screen size, etc. The same is not true for Android, hence why they will not succeed in quality.
Multi-tasking might be Apple's Achilles heel once again as Android offers this. But I wonder what the real-world affect on battery charge would be? If not multi-tasking, I would really like to be able to pop back and fourth to the previous app once I close the current app. It'd be nice if that were configurable somehow.
Its interesting to see how many people think "multitasking=battery drain" just because Jobs said so, even if it is same category of half-lies as "phone needs 3rd party apps coming from us-controlled monopoly store, otherwise its insecure".
If you look at Android, there are many ways to multitask. For example you can listen on some system events. So if you have an app that needs to sync with the server, you listen to "data connection" event and do your update at that time - it means user just opened data connection (which is most expensive operation, battery wise), possibly by opening the Browser, so sending a few bytes over the network won't cost much. Also, if you need to track you location, you can listen to the "GPS" and "net cell" events. Your app is completely idle, consuming no power, but if the user fire up GPS or just move from one network cell to another, you run a small snippet of code to store location and current time with virtually no battery penalty. Even if you enable multitasking by Jail-breaking iPhone, without such system available to developers, it is a day and night in battery usage for the background apps. Android is really strong there and iPhone will play catchup game.
Also, the number of downloads also needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. I have loads of apps on the Mac which haven't been on my iPhone for well over a year - and most of those were free apps I downloaded out of curiosity.
Agree. I wonder how many of those 3 bil. of downloads are free apps. Why Apple won't tell ?
...unlike the hurdles Android phones are seeing now. E.g. Droid runs Android 2.01 (upgraded recently) Nexus One runs Android 2.1, HTC Eris runs Android 1.5! For all iPhone owners (unless jailbroken), we all run the same OS version. The engineers only have to adhere to one screen size, etc. The same is not true for Android, hence why they will not succeed in quality.
End-users really pay no attention to what OS version they have. It is not that hard to write application that works well across different versions as the differences aren't that big.
Its not true that all of iPhone OS users have the latest version either. iPod Touch users are reported to stay to ancient versions as they have to pay for update. Plus the iPhone HW, despite being from one manufacturer, is quite different between models (GPS, Compass, Camera), where Android phones are not.
End-users really pay no attention to what OS version they have. It is not that hard to write application that works well across different versions as the differences aren't that big.
Its not true that all of iPhone OS users have the latest version either. iPod Touch users are reported to stay to ancient versions as they have to pay for update. Plus the iPhone HW, despite being from one manufacturer, is quite different between models (GPS, Compass, Camera), where Android phones are not.
Not to mention the coming release of the iTablet. The best assumption is that it will tie into the same App Store and the iPhone and iPod. But then that means Apple is walking further down the fragmentation road. Different screen size, different hardware, and maybe even a different OS for the iTablet. Obviously, developers will now need to develop two or more versions of their app if they want it to run on all products.
Or Apple will have their own separate App Store for the iTablet. But that would mean that that store will have to start from scratch. And that would disappoint many buyers expecting to have access to the same 100,000 apps.
As for the Android phones, the majority of them seem to be settling on the 800x480resolution screen, 3.7 inches, 3D chip, accelerometer, magnometer, relatively the same onboard storage, and running around the 1 Ghz area. And as many of the older phones are getting a 2.0+ update and many of the newer ones are releasing with 2.0.1, they're all within the same "generation" of OS. It seems to me that 2.0.1 to 2.1 is like going from Vista to Windows 7. An app written to run on 2.0.1 should run with no problems on 2.1.
If you look at Android, there are many ways to multitask. For example you can listen on some system events. So if you have an app that needs to sync with the server, you listen to "data connection" event and do your update at that time - it means user just opened data connection (which is most expensive operation, battery wise), possibly by opening the Browser, so sending a few bytes over the network won't cost much. Also, if you need to track you location, you can listen to the "GPS" and "net cell" events. Your app is completely idle, consuming no power, but if the user fire up GPS or just move from one network cell to another, you run a small snippet of code to store location and current time with virtually no battery penalty. Even if you enable multitasking by Jail-breaking iPhone, without such system available to developers, it is a day and night in battery usage for the background apps. Android is really strong there and iPhone will play catchup game.[quote]
Reviews of multitasking phones have mentioned battery drain and sluggishness. It varies from phone to phone, but it's there.
Agree. I wonder how many of those 3 bil. of downloads are free apps. Why Apple won't tell ?
Most are, but a smaller percentage than downloads from the Android store.
I don't have the numbers right now, but paid apps are about a 50% higher level than that of Android as a percentage of all their downloads. There have been commentaries that Android has a problem with conversions to paying customers.