New Features

Launch Control provides Lion users with an application selector much like the interface on iOS, rows of icons, arranged in pages which the user can swipe through either using the mouse or a track pad, Natural Scrolling is Apples attempt at reversing the way we scroll using the mouse, literally. It basically swaps the direction around, whereas before you would swipe down to scroll down, now you swipe up as if you were ‘pushing’ the content up. So these features set the groundwork for a touchscreen Mac but what about Retina?

High-Res Imagery

When the new Mountain Lion beta came out, developers were quick to explore the inner goodness that lay within it. It became quickly apparent that Apple may be moving to Retina Displays, or at least paving the way for them, as double resolution images for major user interface elements were found alongside their current, less crisp versions. These image pairs work similar to the current method of handling Retina Displays in apps on the iOS platform. The system chooses the correct image for the target screen, so it appears that the new Macs will soon be utilising this feature also.

Hi-Res Panel Production

Recent reports from panel manufacturers have also furthered this speculation with reports that their is current activity in the production of two different types of panels, both a 13.3 inch and 15.4 inch, funnily enough the two panel sizes currently employed in the MacBook Pro range for their 13″ and 15″ models. The current 17″ model seems increasingly likely to be shelved with the next release, so it is no surprise that there is a lack of 17″ panel here. The shelving of Apples behemoth of a laptop also seems to confirm the Retina Display rumours, as it is quite likely that the technical challenges surrounding producing a 15.4″ Retina Display are high enough and that 17″ is simply a step too far.

The Future

It is certainly an exciting time in mobile and desktop computing and we personally can’t wait to try out a Retina Display MacBook Pro (should one surface in the near future), if only so that we can work on our Retina graphics for the new iPad without having to constantly pan around the screen!

The thought of a mid-sized device, to sit between the iPhone and the iPad, is an interesting one, but I can’t help but question the need for a device in this space. I have an iPhone and an iPad (and more recently a Kindle, but that’s another story), and I don’t find myself wishing for something a tad bigger than the phone but not quite as cumbersome as the pad. I am sure I will be proved wrong, and I will undoubtedly buy one which is a perk of running an app development agency, but it remains to be seen how useful this scale of device will actually be and the customers requirement for such a device. The most interesting aspect to consider is whether Apple will allow calls from the device, making it a hybrid between it’s two siblings.

One thing is for sure, we certainly hope that Tim Cook puts on a show worthy of the new device if it ever surfaces, something in line with the now legendary PadFone announcement…

Until now the iPad has been seen as a high-tech luxury device for the style-savvy user, and whilst there have been countless protective cases made for it, this will undoubtedly be a true test of Apple engineering!

If this trial is successful, it could pave the way for using more consumer-based tablets (both iPad and Android) in harsher environments, freeing it from the chains of the coffee tables and meeting rooms it has so far been tethered to.

Links

More on the Manchester FD decision here…

Manchester FD trying iPad in trucks

More information on the Panasonic Toughbook it is replacing…

Panasonic Toughbook

It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it – Benjamin Franklin

We have clients come to us after using these quick-fix products and the story seems to be the same time and time again. We appreciate that the more tools there are, the more choices businesses have (especially when on a tight budget) but we cannot stress enough how much damage you can do to your brand by releasing a poorly created app.

Whilst appearing to be a cost effective solution for the budget-conscious business owner, such products do in fact end up costing more both in terms of the actual cost in having a more tailored app created but also in the brand re-building that inevitably comes after launching a simple automatically-created app.

The myth that software development is expensive is perpetuated by those wishing to cash in on the businesses who need such services, blinding them to the damage that taking a cheap route can cause.

Everything comes at a cost, even if it’s not obvious at first.

Links

Read more about AppsBar.com launch here…

AppsBar.com press release

ZDNet have a comprehensive roundup of app building sites and frameworks here…

14 DIY App Building Websites

What’s the most amazing thing you’ll see on iPhone? Everything.

What Exactly IS Retina?

So what is a Retina Display? Well a Retina Display is simply the term Apple used to define the ultra-high density screen introduced with the iPhone 4 in 2010. Many people confuse it with the screen resolution, when in fact it is the actual pixel density that is being defined here. As an example both the iPhone 4 and New iPad have retina screens but both have different pixel dimensions.

The purpose of a Retina Display is to provide a higher-quality image than previously available on mobile devices, whether that be an iPhone or iPad. Apple makes the claim that the Retina Display’s resolution is so good that it makes it impossible to distinguish individual pixels. This increased density and image quality is most noticeable on text and other images which have fine detail, on previous generation models these items would appear blurry, now they are pin-sharp.

The quality of Retina Displays is due to the following features they exhibit:

1. A greater density of the pixels that make up the iPhone’s screen
2. Higher contrast ratio than previous models for brighter whites and deeper blacks
3. In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology to improve viewing angles
4. Chemically treated glass over the screen and LED backlighting to improve the quality of the image

This new technology provides us with a much richer experience and higher quality visuals than previously available, and with the advent of the new iPad, things look even more glorious than ever!

The Joys

The benefits of a Retina Display to consumers and app developers are significant. As developers we can produce more detailed user interfaces, present media in unprecedented detail and present information in ways that would have been hard to distinguish on previous models. For the consumer the experience is almost unreal, the quality and definition of the imagery so high that sometimes it is easy to forget you are looking at a digital screen and not a high-quality, glossy print.

The Retina Display, as used on the iPhone and iPod touch, offers a resolution of 640 x 960 pixels (in portrait), compared to the previous 320 x 480 pixels. As the physical screen size hasn’t changed, remaining at 3.5-inch diagonal), this means the more pixels are squeezed into the same are, upping the pixels-per-inch to 326 versus the previous 163 PPI.

Apple makes the claim that at 326 PPI, the resolution density is the same as the human eye. Such a density was achieved on a relatively small screen thanks to pixels that are just 78 micrometers wide, according to Apple.

The new iPad has a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels (in portrait), compared to the previous 1024 x 768 pixels. Again, due to the same screen size, this results in an increase in PPI from 132 to 264.

The Woes

So this all sounds wonderful, so where’s the catch? Well, to really make use of the extra density, designers and developers have to produce artwork which is now double the size than the previous models. This in itself is quite interesting as only top end monitors can truly show a 2048 x 1536 resolution at 1:1 ratio meaning panning around or zooming in and out to work on imagery.

The increase in resolution also means the files themselves are larger, resulting in packaged applications requiring more bandwidth to download. In fact due to the larger sizes Apple increased the 20mb limit of downloading via 3G to 50mb. The problem becomes even worse if you want to support older devices as you generally include two sets of images, one at the new double size and one at the original size. If you decide to release a Universal App, one that runs on both iPad and iPhone, and you decide to support both resolutions for each device type, the problem is compounded.

What’s Next?

The current method of app packaging and delivery required all resources to be included for all devices the app can run on. If you create a Universal App then you download a single package to your iPhone which contains both the iPhone resources and the iPad versions, regardless of the fact they are not required for that device. We think an overhaul of this approach is needed, as with newer device launches, and increased resolutions, the fragmentation which is so prevalent in the Android landscape will also start to affect the iOS devices more and more.

Perhaps the solution is a Universal App but with device specific resource bundles? Who knows, but for now the large download issues are overshadowed by those pixels, and they really are gorgeous.

The iCircuit Fitness project came to Locassa as an established piece in need of some TLC. Locassa’s team of experts reworked some of the basic interactions to give the app a new and improved look and feel.

The True Cost

Whilst for many consumers the cost of an iPad deems it a considered purchase, for many business owners the savings this kind of device can make above more traditional methods of customer engagement and proprietary hardware make it a very cost effective alternative. The potential return on investment with such an approach makes it a very desirable path to take, with little risk, and with an increased customer perception of being a forward-thinking company.

Rich Experience

Traditional sales techniques, both face-to-face and point-of-sale, are starting to be overshadowed with the use of media-rich devices such as the iPad and iPhone. Being able to let your customers, or potential customers, hold, move and touch a variety of information and media connected to your product or service is a very powerful thing. By enabling your customers to see the message you are trying to convey results in a much higher customer engagement and conversion and is something every business owner, salesperson or shop keeper should look at.

The Future

In the coming months and years we will start to see more and more of these low-cost devices used to augment existing sales processes and channels. With the impending widespread adoption of NFC (near field communications) and contact-less payments via smartphones, this will only increase and will benefit not only the businesses but the consumers being targeted. Businesses can expect better customer engagement, retention and satisfaction, in return their sales will increase as well as their brand confidence. For customers, having a richer experience whether face-to-face or point-of-sale results in a more user-friendly and informed process.

Unless you have been living under a rock, or indeed outside of a suitable 3G or WiFi network, you will have heard of Draw Something. This ubiquitous little app from a relatively unknown publisher recently shot to the top of the charts before being bought a mere two months later by Zynga for a sum of $200 million. So what is it that made this app so popular and what effect did this explosion of users have?

The Ingenious

Let’s first look at what made this such a pull for people to use. The key to Draw Something is in its social element, you can play against random Facebook people but the real fun comes when you play against people you know. When you invite a friend to play, there is already a level of brand confidence, after-all, you trust your friends and if they use it then it must be good! This approach works very well and is the key reason people put social sharing features in their iphone apps, it’s the easiest form of marketing there is. But Draw Something took it one step further, an ingenious if a little annoying step.

Each game on Draw Something consists of a watch-guess-draw combination. You first watch the other player guess your last move, then you guess the other players drawing and finally you draw your own for them to guess. The clever part here is that once you enter this cycle with a player you can’t get out until you complete the three steps, this results in a game ALWAYS being in play. Clever huh.

These clever approaches to user engagement meant that more and more people were invited, and subsequently locked-in, to Draw Something and is one of the major reasons it shot to the top of the charts. But with such a meteoric rise to fame comes the inherent issues of scalability, and sadly Draw Something were no exception.

The Not-so-Ingenious

When developing iPhone apps, or indeed iPad apps, where server-side elements are required, deciding on the requirements is a tricky thing. The optimist would opt for a rack of ten or more servers, redundant power supplies, banks and banks of storage and the best processors and memory available. A costly enterprise. The pessimist would attempt to run the server on a home-grown PC in their bedroom with a mediocre internet connection. A positively cheap alternative. The simple fact is that it is very hard to know up front how successful an app will be. If it were that simple we would avoid the apps which we knew would fail! Getting it wrong can be costly, as Draw Somethings creators soon found out.

Underachievers Can Leave Now

When Draw Something exploded, the back-end systems were simply not able to cope with the demand. People who had just downloaded the app were faced with timeouts, crashes and a poor user experience. In this case the tech guys were diligent enough to rectify the issue within a day or so, but for others the issues are left untouched and the customers perception of the app, and conversely the ratings, drop considerably; and once they drop it is very difficult to regain them. Underestimating the potential success of your app can be disastrous, so think carefully before installing that server your the bedroom!

All Better Now?

So now that Zynga have bought Draw Something this situation must be better right? Well, no, not quite. You see with any tech buy-out comes a hash of teams, approaches, technology and ideas, and this mash-up was no exception. With Zynga being stalwort Facebook developers, the extent to which the app was integrated increased exponentially, and increased very quickly. The rush to get this integration work done has caused many users to become frustrated with the longer process to play, the crashes which cause them to lose points and the more in-your-face tie-in with Facebook. The user base for Draw Something has dropped significantly since the buy-out, so perhaps it’s time to roll-back some of those changes…

Our iPhone CFD trading app is equipped with lots of useful features that give you more control over your investments, and it’s all at the tip of your fingertips.

Use the product library to find all the products that you want to trade. If you know the name, simply type it into the search box. Otherwise, you can use filters to browse by type, sector, region, country, performance and even volatility. You could even go straight to the products in focus to see our top products that are getting a lot of attention in the market place.

Just touch, tap and trade! It’s easy to use our different order types, which include market, limit, stop loss, take profit and even trailing stop loss orders. We even offer transaction based stops as default on the iPhone CFD app, which automatically attaches a stop loss to every trade, giving you even greater protection.

This single use app will help teachers and visit organisers scope out and plan for safety on an educational school visit. Maybe you are a Newly Qualified Teacher, a Trainee teacher or this is the first visit you have planned for a while and you want to make sure that you have thought of all the health and safety aspects of the visit.

Users enter the likely or planned date for your trip and this generates a series of calendar prompts to double check key tasks before your visit.

Answering a series of multiple choice questions about your trip generates a PDF download of advice that can be e-mailed to an address of your choice, or printed from your phone. This PDF will help you consider all the health and safety aspects as you plan your visit.

The PDF could be used in a portfolio of evidence to show how you have researched and planned a visit, or you could use it as a document to support your planning with a checklist.