Briefly: ProKit update; PlayStation phone; Display of the Year awards

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple issued on Tuesday ProKit 7.0 with fixes for a number of minor issues. Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play PlayStation phone is set to challenge the gaming appeal of the iPhone when it launches on May 26. Also, Apple won Display of the Year awards for the iPhone and iPad at this week's Society for Information Display conference in Los Angeles, Calif.



ProKit 7.0 and RAW Compatibility



The 15.7MB download for Apple's professional application interface software requires Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later and is recommended for users of Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro, iPhoto, Aperture, Final Cut Express, Logic Pro, MainStage, Logic Express and iAd Producer.



The update resolves several minor issues, including:

Improved support for PopOver style tooltips.

Improved support for Font Smoothing.

Addresses an issue with an unwanted gap between a menu and submenu.

Fixes leaks and improves stability for the color picker and timecode interface in Final Cut Pro and Motion.

Improved compatibility when importing assets from older versions of Soundtrack Pro.

Fixes an issue with the scrubber appearance in Logic Express and Logic Pro.

Addresses AppKit related crashes in Motion.



Also on Tuesday, Apple released Digital Camera RAW Compatibility 3.7, adding additional RAW support to Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11 for Mac OS X 10.5.8 and Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later. The 6.62MB update provides RAW compatibility for the following cameras: Fujifilm FinePix X100, Nikon D5100, Olympus E-PL2, Olympus XZ-1, Samsung GX-1S.



PlayStation Phone



The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play will go on sale on May 26, with pre-orders starting this Thursday, Wired reports. The smartphone will launch on the Verizon Wireless network for $200 with a two-year contract.



Details of the PlayStation phone emerged last year when sites published leaked photos and videos. The device was formally announced in February at the Mobile World Congress.



According to the report, the smartphone will run Android 2.3 on a 1GHz Qualcomm processor, while sporting a front facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facing clear. Control options on the device will include a slide-out gaming pad with PlayStation keys, a touch joystick and a D-pad.



Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play PlayStation Phone | Credit: Charlie Sorrel



The Xperia Play will reportedly ship with seven free games: Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, The Sims 3, Madden NFL 11, Crash Bandicoot, Bruce Lee DRagon Warrior, STar Battalion and Tetris. Verizon will offer 50 additional games on its mobile app store.



Earlier this year, Sony announced plans for an Android-compatible PlayStation Suite that will bring games and other content to Google's mobile platform. Sony is also slated to release its next-generation portable gaming system, which has taken cues from Apple's iOS, in time for the 2011 holiday season.



For its part, Apple has made substantial inroads into the gaming market. CEO Steve Jobs revealed last year that the iPod touch had become "the number one portable game player in the world." Guinness World Records recently awarded the iPhone 4 the title of "Fastest-Selling Portable Gaming System."



Display of the Year



Apple's iPhone 4 won the Display of the Year Gold Award from The Society for Information Display on Monday, while the iPad display won the Display Application of the Year Gold Award, The Loop reports.



Apple made a splash last year with the 326 pixel per inch iPhone 4 display. Dubbed the Retina Display, the device's screen sported four times as many pixels as previous iPhones in the same amount of space. "Once you use a Retina Display, you can't go back," Jobs said.







The display features a resolution of 960 by 640 pixels with an 800-to-1 contrast ratio. The LCD screen also utilizes IPS technology to improve viewing angles. According to SID, Apple "set a new benchmark for mobile display resolution, low power consumption and image quality" with the iPhone 4.



Apple's iPad was awarded SID's Display Application of the Year award because it "marks a new era of tablet computing, transforming the way people communicate, consume and create content, play games and learn." SID cited the combination of the multi-touch interface, excellent battery life and enhanced viewing angles via IPS technology as reasons for the award.



"The iPad?s fully customized design leverages the existing amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (a-Si TFT) infrastructure in an innovative, ultra-thin product with the unique LCD and an innovative power-management system that achieves maximum power efficiency ? 10 hours of battery life for WiFi web surfing and 9 hours for 3G web surfing," the society said.







The iPad features a 9.7-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology, a 178-degree viewing angle and a 1024x768 pixel resolution display at 132 pixels per inch.



Despite initial skepticism from analysts, Apple went on to sell 7.5 million units of the iPad in just six months. In March, Apple launched the iPad 2 to record lines, selling out within hours.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    And other companies hold OLED in such high regard
  • Reply 2 of 14
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    And other companies hold OLED in such high regard



    Except for the 4?+ displays where they were using cheap TN LCDs. But all that will be changing by next year.



    I know the anti-Apple crowd will claim that Apple?s Retina Display is now crap but they should thank Apple for pushing this envelope to change the industry? just like they did by offering the iPhone in the first place.



    Also, the iPhone is already 326ppi so there is a no real gain for nearly all users to increase the DPI and something other vendors can lose in GPU processing and battery life if they start trying to trump each other in the pixels-per-inch.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    Sony concocted a story about a major launch delay due an entire shipment of Xperia Play phones "being stolen". http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/17/x...e-launch-dela/ Desperate PR much?
  • Reply 4 of 14
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    And other companies hold OLED in such high regard



    I've seen bigger and brighter screens in Android phones, to be honest. They've mostly been non-OLED though.



    Now of course whether bigger and brighter translates to an overall better experience in those Android phones, is another question... I didn't play around with them too much.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    nobodyynobodyy Posts: 377member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    I've seen bigger and brighter screens in Android phones, to be honest. They've mostly been non-OLED though.



    Now of course whether bigger and brighter translates to an overall better experience in those Android phones, is another question... I didn't play around with them too much.



    IMO, bigger and brighter does not mean it's better.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    rokradrokrad Posts: 143member
    Personally I don't see the use of a retina screen in the iPad yet because both battery and graphics processors would struggle way to much... Perhaps maybe 2 years at least, but I definately want to see that ppi pushed to above 200. After using the retina screen the pixels are very noticeable on the iPad now... Just my 2 cents
  • Reply 7 of 14
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    Sony concocted a story about a major launch delay due an entire shipment of Xperia Play phones "being stolen". http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/17/x...e-launch-dela/ Desperate PR much?



    Did they? All the reports refer to VodafoneNZ, not Sony. Even the page you linked to says it was Vodafone that made it up
  • Reply 8 of 14
    shigzeoshigzeo Posts: 78member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    I've seen bigger and brighter screens in Android phones, to be honest. They've mostly been non-OLED though.



    Now of course whether bigger and brighter translates to an overall better experience in those Android phones, is another question... I didn't play around with them too much.



    I wonder how many people with phones bigger than the iPhone (they have to be bigger in order to have bigger screens; or they have to have wall-to-wall screen) use them, or can use them one-handed. The iPhone's screen already is large enough that when apps have controls on both the bottom and top, the phone can become precarious.



    I don't want bigger, I want better. Bigger phones are just cumbersome devices with nice screens. If a phone was designed from the beginning to be used two-handed, why not? but phones are great as one-handed devices so you can still hold the train railing, or umbrella without losing your great-big-ass-screen-phone beneath someone's shoes.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    According to the report, the (Sony Ericsson Xperia Play) will run Android 2.3



    Wonder if it's 2.3.4, if not, enjoy getting your authTokens stolen if you use open WiFi.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,755member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rokrad View Post


    After using the retina screen the pixels are very noticeable on the iPad now... Just my 2 cents



    Yup. I'm hoping the next rev of the iPad has a higher resolution display. It's the biggest thing that prompted me to stick with my original iPad.



    I was using the Kindle app on my iPhone and the text on it is just so sharp and crisp! I would love to have that on the iPad.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,755member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shigzeo View Post


    I don't want bigger, I want better.



    Amen!



    Luckily Apple has a demonstrated history of ignoring those who slavishly focus on features and checklists and instead focusing on making decisions that have a meaningful and positive impact on usability. I don't think we have much to fear about the iPhone changing in size just because others are doing it (thank goodness!).



    I personally think this is why Apple is so successful. That other companies can't dare to be so bold as to actually design products for their users instead of feature checklists is a rather sad commentary on the rest of the industry
  • Reply 12 of 14
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jfanning View Post


    Did they? All the reports refer to VodafoneNZ, not Sony. Even the page you linked to says it was Vodafone that made it up



    Yes, to be fair, it could be VodafoneNZ not Sony... You're in NZ, right? Would VodafoneNZ orchestrate this kind of thing on their own volition or would Sony be complicit in it somehow? What's the feedback on the ground to this PR stunt? Is it just something to get people queueing up for it for media hype, etc?
  • Reply 13 of 14
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Urinal Mint View Post


    Wonder if it's 2.3.4, if not, enjoy getting your authTokens stolen if you use open WiFi.



    This is probably why Picasa Web (among I'm sure many other reasons) is recommending you to use https when embedding your Picasa Web pictures in other websites, etc. The link they give you to your pictures is https.



    I recently embedded a few pics on forums, etc. using the image links they provided, taking out the "s", thinking that might screw up the embedding. Hmm.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    Yes, to be fair, it could be VodafoneNZ not Sony... You're in NZ, right? Would VodafoneNZ orchestrate this kind of thing on their own volition or would Sony be complicit in it somehow? What's the feedback on the ground to this PR stunt? Is it just something to get people queueing up for it for media hype, etc?



    I imagine Sony would have known about it, they would have given Vodafone a discount on the devices they are giving away (the fake theft is part of a competition). Most of what you read about it is people abusing Vodafone for the way they made the initial claim, and the fact they are carrying on with the compeition
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