iPhone/Zune/iPod & More Prediction Thread

[RenegadeRocks]

No GPS either, on the Touch.

I think local gaming is usually done through Wifi, not Bluetooth?

Hmm....I thought that local MP is done by Bluetooth and online using Wifi and 3G. I was afraid that getting a Ipod touch would not let me test local MP if we implement some. That solves my issue, coz Wi-fi is no issue.

But, then we won't be able to test camera based stuff, as well as compass based ideas.

Can I Import an Iphone 3GS from, lets say the US or Canada, the one that is not bound by contract (like $599 or something) and use it with my local networks? Or is it still bound to AT&T even if I pay extra for no contract?

Also, is the device usable if I don't insert a SIM, like some WinMobile based phones that work as a PDA even if u don't insert a SIM? Will it refuse to bootup without a SIM?

Very simple questions, but I can't get my hands on it here, so can't know for sure.

 

[wco81]

Think you'd have a better chance importing an unlocked phone from Hong Kong or some European countries like Italy.

But they're more than $599. More like 600-700 Euro if not more.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

There are rumours of Hong Kong phones getting locked again on syncing with itunes. Is it true? All this makes it pretty scary, coz I will end up paying $700 and if the phone gets locked as soon as I connect to my PC, then its all gone to waste .

IS the Itunes syncing locking issue just a bug or does it sense from ur IP that you are out of HK, or something?

I have a relative in HK, so might be able to get the phone from there, but I need to be sure .

 

[wco81]

Hadn't heard that but which country would they lock it too?

Doesn't the SDK have some kind of iPhone emulator? Maybe it simulates GPS and compass functions? Maybe not, without the actual hardware.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Emulator exists, but you can't really implement camera based apps without an iphone with you. Algorithms need to run on the video feed provided by the camera.As for compass, yes, maybe the emulator will let you work on pseudo data, yes.

More exploring reveals, that iphones from Hongkong can work, technically speaking, as Apple stores the Locked/Unlocked status according to the IMEI no. of the phone. Which means it should keep working even if I update it or take it elsewhere, but there have been cases of Iphones locking initially, but those people might have bought it from some operator. Buying directly from Apple store, I guess, should ensure that the correct status of the IMEI no. gets recorded in their data base.
The other issue is no warranty services in countries other than HK, if bought from HK, but I guess one can live with that. I am just worried about Itunes screwing up the phone, as there have been reports of such incidents .

Also, I hope the cellular tech is the same for HK and India. I am not sure of that either. Gotta find more about that.

 

[Arwin]

Does anyone use a HTC Hero or something like it by the way? It looks interesting, and seems to perform quite well. I would like an Android phone at some point, because I'd like to try developing for it, and the Hero seems the first one in Europe that has reasonable price/performance (you can just simply buy the Hero for 399) and a nice basic user-interface.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Regarding Android, Is every cell phone with Android gonna come out with a different version of Android suited for that hardware? coz its linux based, and with hardwares changing for every phone, how's a dev gonna make something for it and hope it runs on all Android phones properly?
Will we need Low/medium/high settings for phones now ?

 

[flynn]

Regarding Android, Is every cell phone with Android gonna come out with a different version of Android suited for that hardware? coz its linux based, and with hardwares changing for every phone, how's a dev gonna make something for it and hope it runs on all Android phones properly?
Will we need Low/medium/high settings for phones now ?

The Android framework runs on top of the kernel, so a normal Android developer will never touch the hardware.

Having said that there are differences between the phones. The G1 I have lacks FP hardware and the GPU is pretty crappy as well, so a developer doing 3D will have to test on different phones and maybe include some benchmarking code when the application launches or target the lowest performer. That's the price you pay for having a hardware agnostic platform.

If you really want the best performance you have to write a native code library and call it from the Dalvik code.

 

[wco81]

Google may have to have different minimum HW profiles that they revise as new HW comes out.

Or else the apps. will have to disable certain features or have disclaimers without certain HW features present.

Heard some talk about over 70 million Android phones in a couple of years (or was it all Android devices?). That would certainly make it rival the iPhone and draw a lot of developers. But if that huge installed base represents dozens of SKUs or different HW configurations and capabilities, then developers may choose to target the lowest common denominator, resulting in sub-optimal performance on the best hardware, kind of like how the PC gaming market developed.

That kind of Balkanization could turn off the mass market (as opposed to the more tech-savvy consumers).

 

[warmi]

But if that huge installed base represents dozens of SKUs or different HW configurations and capabilities, then developers may choose to target the lowest common denominator, resulting in sub-optimal performance on the best hardware, kind of like how the PC gaming market developed.

That kind of Balkanization could turn off the mass market (as opposed to the more tech-savvy consumers).

Well, there is no escape from that ... even Apple is already on their way there with 3 different iPhone/iTouch profiles with different performance characteristics.

 

[CEO]

Does anyone use a HTC Hero or something like it by the way? It looks interesting, and seems to perform quite well. I would like an Android phone at some point, because I'd like to try developing for it, and the Hero seems the first one in Europe that has reasonable price/performance (you can just simply buy the Hero for 399) and a nice basic user-interface.

I have the HTC Hero. I bought it from the UK on release day and got deliviered to germany within 3 days. you dont need an android device to develop for the android os, the SDK has a very nice emulator(with keys and stuff*). i used the sdk to play around with Android before (and connected my Hero to the dalvik debug monitor in developer mode to make screenshots) i made the decision of moving from my iphone3g to android devices.

I DONT REGRET IT AT ALL.

i got used to it very quick, htc did an outstanding job on the sense interface, btw. there is an rom update on the htc site for the gsm version of the Hero which speeds up the sense ui dramaticaly. also you get 7 screens for your apps or widgets instead of androids 3. Love the notification bar and the overall handling of the os.

btw. Htc announced that there will be an Android 2.0 Update for the Hero soon!

*=i fired up the emulator to show you what i was talking about (its running Android 2.0, HTC Hero has 1.5@the Moment, basicly you can choose on Emulator startup what Android build you want to use.):

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Bought an Ipod touch 32gb aweek or so back, been trying it out since then ! The App Store is HUGE and the tiny mobile screen isn't a very good way to be visible. What I mean is that it is pretty crowded and getting visibility in such an environment is a practical problem, especially since the device it is viewed on has a small screen(mobile device) which brings down the "number of apps a person would chk before giving up" really really down.
Anyways, would like to try it out, will start development soon. Need to make some Design Docs soon !

Also, the market is getting gobbled up by big players now, considering the "Top Grossing" section has mostly big players like EA and Gameloft in it. I guess, small games will still have their market, I hope so .

BTW, checked out Spider:The secret of Bryce Manor and Dungeon Hunter and both of these games feels extremely good !

 

[Tchock]

Does anyone use a HTC Hero or something like it by the way? It looks interesting, and seems to perform quite well. I would like an Android phone at some point, because I'd like to try developing for it, and the Hero seems the first one in Europe that has reasonable price/performance (you can just simply buy the Hero for 399) and a nice basic user-interface.

Bought a Magic PVT32A used for 550SGD in August.
The PVT32A board has the same specs as the Hero, so the only difference is the camera (3.2 vs 5 MP) and the 3.5mm jack.

Flashed unofficial Hero Sense UI ROMs (based off the official build that I daren't flash because of SPL lock-in), this-is-f***ing-kick-arse.

Performance is good. In a good way. Stay away from Flash in the browser (BBC iPlayer isn't fast enough, too bad) and you're really set. UI responsiveness is next to perfect, but occasionally you need to close apps/tasks that got too comfy in local RAM (Advanced Task Manager/Taskiller).

Apps are slightly lacking for my Singapore regionale, no paid apps and even apk downloads from the web are unexciting for my current prepaid usage (no 3G data). But for my usage- Gmail, Engadget/XS/B3D on the run, Texts to the girl and other guys, annoying alarm clock, Astrid (super useful) and Music player, this is a heck of a deal for 550SGD (or 400 Euro in this case).

BTW Sense integrates your contacts with Facebook. Hypernifty.

 

[wco81]

Heard there are actually companies which will help you market your product in the App. Store or claim to know ways to raise the profile of an app.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Heard there are actually companies which will help you market your product in the App. Store or claim to know ways to raise the profile of an app.

Elaborate !

 

[wco81]

That's all I've heard, they give you strategies for getting an app. on the hot list or some other sections of the front page of the App. Store. Don't know if they work or if they're just trying to fleece desperate developers.

The big name publishers like EA, it remains to be seen if they will continue to develop, because $10 games are suppose to be much harder to sell than 99 cent games. They're putting out all their games this year but the key is whether they do it year in and year out, since they also put out $30 and $40 games on the DS and the PSP.

Can a shrink-wrap quality game be made and sold for $10 or even less? It seems to be an experiment at this point.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Hmmm.... Featured list is a mystery to me, and how to get there, is not really clear. I guess smart pricing, fluctuating the price with demand play important role in getting ur App/game up there on the Top 25 list.

I dunno about the $10 games, the $5 Dungeon Hunter I bought is helluva lot of fun and very very long considering the price. I am midway somewhere and it has been long enough now for the price tag. I am more concerned about the 99 cents games. How much content is expected from a 99 cent game? The polish required is of the same quality as a $10 game, as no one wants a ugly looking thing on their Iphone, but how much content?

Also, if we decide to give our game for free, what are the in-game ad options we can explore? Whats the way to earn that indirect way?

Visibility is a big issue there, as such a awesome concept as "Spider: The secret of Bryce Manor" was nowhere to be seen. I only came upon it due to the genius feature which suggested the game to me. Otherwise, there was no way I could even know that such a good game existed in that crowded place.

Good ideas alone aren't enough, one needs to be visible there.

 

[Arwin]

But for my usage- Gmail, Engadget/XS/B3D on the run, Texts to the girl and other guys, annoying alarm clock, Astrid (super useful) and Music player, this is a heck of a deal for 550SGD (or 400 Euro in this case).

BTW Sense integrates your contacts with Facebook. Hypernifty.

Thanks for the impressions! I'm definitely planning to go Android at some time, and I installed Eclipse and the emulators to have a peak at how to develop for them. I'm going to wait a little while yet though until the next batch of android phones have been released by the other companies. Was very, very close to getting the Hero though, and at least I've had the opportunity to have some hands-on time with it this last week.

Bought an Ipod touch 32gb aweek or so back, been trying it out since then ! The App Store is HUGE and the tiny mobile screen isn't a very good way to be visible. What I mean is that it is pretty crowded and getting visibility in such an environment is a practical problem, especially since the device it is viewed on has a small screen(mobile device) which brings down the "number of apps a person would chk before giving up" really really down.
Anyways, would like to try it out, will start development soon. Need to make some Design Docs soon !

Let me know how you get on. I just bought us an iPod Touch 8GB as a Christmas present today and I must say I'm hugely impressed by it. First I was worried that because it has lesser hardware than the 32Gb model (which has the same chips as the iPhone 3GS I believe)

One of the things my wife had long wanted and was on this years Christmas list was to have internet radio in the kitchen, so this was it's prime goal but man is it good at so many other stuff! But even the experience with just the internet radio is tell-tale for the quality of this product. Went like this:

- set it up by hooking up to iTunes. This is a bit annoying but all I had to do was install iTunes and then it was just a matter of signing in - I was signing up until I realised (because iTunes told me) I already had an iTunes account from like 2003 ...

- went into the App Store and searched for shoutcast. Found the official AOL Shoutcast client. Searched for Paradise (www.radioparadise.com is one of our favorite channels) and found it. Plugged in the all in one (third party) dock into the kitchen radio and power, and done! Some devices didn't quite pick up wireless that far into the kitchen, but fortunately the iPod had no problems (I later downloaded a speed test and got 10Mbit downstream, which I'm perfectly happy with for this device!)

But then importantly it didn't stop there. I thought the sound quality could be better so I fiddled around with the settings and noticed that the shoutcast app had a setting that filters out higher quality streams (to work better with 3G enabled iPhones on the move I'm sure). So I found a 128k mp3 stream. But then I went to the radio paradise website, where I could select a better sounding 128k AAC stream.

And THEN I found the radio paradise iPhone app, which offers me 128k AAC+ ... perfection achieved!

But that's just the basic stuff. Then there is all the youtube stuff, the facebook (or rather hyves, which is much bigger here in the Netherlands) apps, the chat clients, etc. And the not small fact that I can give it to my wife and she can do everything without me ever having to explain a single thing. She was also hugely impressed.

Also, the market is getting gobbled up by big players now, considering the "Top Grossing" section has mostly big players like EA and Gameloft in it. I guess, small games will still have their market, I hope so .

BTW, checked out Spider:The secret of Bryce Manor and Dungeon Hunter and both of these games feels extremely good !

They're on my list to try, as is Civilisation Revolution and I already downloaded but not yet tried ZenBound, and TheDeep Pinball (which is pretty good!)

Visibility I think comes not just through the App Store, but also the internet. You can just go to sites that recommend new stuff, and if you do so with Safari on the Touch/iPhone, it can conveniently directly link to the AppStore, so that works very smooth - that's how I got the Radio Paradise app for instance. And of course the search works really well too.

Also, the recommended applications are in fact localised, so I got for instance our national TV guide application from the public broadcasting companies from the top 25, as well as the Hyves client, local weather sattelite images, etc.

 

[Tchock]

Dilemma!

Zune HD 16GB or iPod Touch 8GB (same priced)?

Already have a 8GB Android phone for social media/internet, got a bit annoyed at HTC's music player and the microUSB jack. Most importantly I realized that battery life on music and comms should definitely be separated- convergence is NOT welcome here .

iPT has the awesome app store, but in some ways it really is kinda irrelevant as I don't have network data everywhere and Wifi although quite popular in Singapore is still spotty.


Zune doesn't have the limitless nice games (Tap Tap looks awesome) but it's available in a capacity I want (8 is kinda too small), looks nicer (personal opinion), and the software is just leagues apart. Doesn't hurt that the Windows version of Audiosurf's my favorite game But I'm kinda worried at the limited potential of the device.

I would love to get a 32GB Touch, but the Zune (one-time opportunity to get it imported) seems like a fun experiment, especially with the Zune Pass that I've wanted to get in on for a long time.

 

[CEO]

Dilemma!

Zune HD 16GB or iPod Touch 8GB (same priced)?

Already have a 8GB Android phone for social media/internet, got a bit annoyed at HTC's music player and the microUSB jack. Most importantly I realized that battery life on music and comms should definitely be separated- convergence is NOT welcome here .

iPT has the awesome app store, but in some ways it really is kinda irrelevant as I don't have network data everywhere and Wifi although quite popular in Singapore is still spotty.


Zune doesn't have the limitless nice games (Tap Tap looks awesome) but it's available in a capacity I want (8 is kinda too small), looks nicer (personal opinion), and the software is just leagues apart. Doesn't hurt that the Windows version of Audiosurf's my favorite game But I'm kinda worried at the limited potential of the device.

I would love to get a 32GB Touch, but the Zune (one-time opportunity to get it imported) seems like a fun experiment, especially with the Zune Pass that I've wanted to get in on for a long time.

Go with the Zune. If you dont like it, you could still get yourself an iPod! I have the ZuneHD Platinum and the iPod Touch 32GB (3Gs Hardware) If your are big into Games/Apps the iPod is your Choice, do you want Music and Video->ZuneHD(OLED+HD Playback).