iPhone Gamer Blog » Features

Android Devices Begin Conforming to Apple’s Business Model

Cody Sharp — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:37:20 +0000

With the list of Android based tablets growing, so has manufacturer’s desire to lock down their tablet in the same way Apple has done with their iOS operating system. Over the last month, both Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Amazon’s Kindle Fire have released firmware updates that make rooting or hacking their devices more difficult and have led to a public outcry. The Android market has always been so open, and that openness was enthusiast’s main battle cry when they compared it to Apple’s proprietary iOS. However, with the new wave of company’s walling off their devices in order to make additional profit, how much longer will this selling point be accepted?

I think not long. In the case of Barnes and Noble, their device was already shipped with a stripped down version of the Android marketplace and only had app’s approved by B&N. It is no surprise that there are very few ‘free’ apps in this list and even games that have been free for a year or more on the official Google App Store cost $1.99 or more on B&N’s store. Amazon has it’s own app store as well and with its recent Kindle Fire update has also heavily pushed its users to its app store over it’s competitors.

It is understandable that these companies are trying to profit wherever they can. That is their responsibility to their shareholders but if the main selling point for the devices is openness, shutting doors at every corner is not going to win them any prizes with the public. In the coming years, it will be interesting to see just how locked down these 3rd party devices become. In the end, one wonders if it will become what it was before an open source operating system hit it big in the first place where each device has one app-store available, one version of the OS that is specific to the games and apps that are made, etc. If that happens, it won’t be good for businesses or consumers and will be a major step back.

iOS 5 is Incredibly Buggy – Nothing to See Yet

Cody Sharp — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:40:26 +0000

Having used iOS 5 for the last month, I have some thoughts about what it means as a new operating system, how it helps Apple, how it hurts Apple and how it affects the jailbreak community. Instead of being lazy and only writing a quick article that summarizes all of those things, I’ll break them up over the next week. Before I dive into all of those topics, I’ll write about one thing you may or may not have heard – iOS 5 has tons of bugs! In fact, I can’t remember being on a beta of any other software or operating system with as many bugs as iOS has.

To qualify that last statement, I have worked on beta versions of all Microsoft OS’s and in some cases, alpha builds in the last 10 years. I have also beta tested many software packages for the PC and even a few for Mac. The only real comparison to an entire operating system though, is running all of the Windows builds back in the day.

Some of these issues make it seem like they had no internal testing of the iOS at all before releasing it to the developers. For example, I will be on a website and scroll down. Suddenly there is nothing on my screen. If I scroll up I now having nothing there as well. The only way to fix this – restart the application entirely. Another example is that any video you watch within Safari doesn’t have the ability to be fast forwarded, paused or even quit. Those’s right, if you currently watch a video in the iOS 5 Safari browser, you are stuck there unless you hit the home button, close out Safari, then re-open it and quickly switch to another page before the video loads back up. Safari is entirely busted in iOS 5.

The camera is really buggy as well and instead of noticing the speed of which the camera loads up (a touted new feature), I find myself noticing the speed in which the app crashes. Throughout the entire system, there are lots of these types of things. Having never been part of the beta process for an Apple OS before, I’m not sure if this is how they usually go or if the level of issues they are having is something new. What I do know is that it is hard to use as a main OS at this time.

In the end, I have no doubt these bugs will be cleaned up before the public release. I did want to let all of you who think they are missing something by not having access to iOS 5, that you are not. Well, you are missing a lot of bugs. I’ll try to keep you updated as new builds come out and during the next week, look for more posts about iOS 5.

iOS 5 Features Stuff Jailbreakers Want

Cody Sharp — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:08:30 +0000

There is no doubt that the WWDC conference yesterday pleased a lot of Apple users. However, it also brought to light how far behind iOS was in some areas compared to the competition and even the jailbreak community. The major components of yesterday’s announcement included things like updated mail, Wi-Fi syncing and notification improvements. It’s no wonder than that many in the Android community are having fun at Apple’s expense – these things have been with Android for a long while at this point.

Lately I have really been using a lot of jailbroken Cydia apps and I have to say that a lot of those apps (and the need for them) will be eliminated with iOS 5. Things like Wi- Fi Sync and notification improvement hit at the very heart of what were some of the more popular jailbroken apps. There are a ton of additional ones that come to mind as well. Even a small thing like using the volume button to take pictures eliminates a jailbroken app or two. One thing is for sure, since the first time since the release of iOS 4, I feel like I will be able to have a lot of the functionality I need without jailbreaking my phone. Time shall tell how long that feeling lasts.

Finally, I plan on getting my hands on a copy of iOS 5 for my iPhone even if that means joining the Apple development program for $99. I really want to start putting this new operating system through its paces. I’m hoping that all of the new additions add up to it being worth the late fall release and at least one of the reasons for the delay of the next iPhone. Once I get iOS 5 working I will be sure to post impressions and answer any questions I can.

iOS 5 has 200 New Features

Cody Sharp — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:44:41 +0000

Live Blogging and commenting:

1:46 ET

Notifications are first up on the list of things spruced up. You will now enter a notification center from anywhere on the iDevice by simply swiping down from the top (sounds a lot like a few Cydia apps I know).

1:47 ET

Lockscreen has a ton more information. Sounds like they took a cue from LockInfo and Intelliscreen. Not much use for them going forward I think.

1:49 ET

Now talking about the second feature; News Stand. Something to do with subscription based services. Not something I am interested in so I won’t comment much on that.

1:50 ET

Feature 3 is all about better Twitter integration. That should make a ton of people happy. No wonder Twitter was telling developers to stop developing Twitter apps. Apple is getting into the business… Twitter integrated into things like Camera and other Apple made apps.

1:52 ET

Feature number 4 is Safari upgrades. Already mentioned that Twitter works within Safari now. I’m glad something is being done with this because I spend a lot of time in this lite browser.

It now parses multiple pages into one entire story. i like that. I hate trying to click on those tiny numbers for the next page.

1:55 ET

Tabbed browsing is here (thanks to Opera, right?) and you can now email links to stories easily. That feature that parses pages…badass. It really will save a bunch of time when going through pages.

1:58 ET

Reminders are feature 5. Allows you to make a list with multiple dates you will be reminded of…like a calendar?