Here is a nice article on mashable that addresses many of the issues encountered when trying to develop content for multiple devices. While its a basic (high level for the most part) article it does point out some major points on computer vs tablet vs mobile design and is well worth the read:
http://mashable.com/2012/07/07/designing-for-multiple-devices/
A company called Bluestacks is trying to do just that. You can download the beta player now. While I could really care less about running an android app on my mac what I do care about is running them on my ipad/iphone and vice versa. Hopefully this is a step towards that.
Website: http://bluestacks.com/bstks_mac.html
Here are the major updates from the conference:
Nexus tablet will be released mid july. It is 7 inches and will cost $199. Seems like a big iPad/Kindle competitor imo. You can read about the exact specs here
Also, Android 4.1 Jellybean will be released mid july. It will be released on Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, and Xoom. You can read about the features here but honestly they are just minor updates. I believe that is why we are only going from 4.0.4 to 4.1 rather than to 5.0 at this point.
Yes, you can build mobile apps in HTML. You do not need to use Java or c-sharp (unless you want a complicated app). There are easier ways for the novice programmer. This is good as my students are not really programmers at all, we are designers:) So you can build standard native apps in HTML. My favorite tool for doing this is PhoneGap. PhoneGap is an opensource software package owned by Adobe. Here is a link to phonegap:
PhoneGap: http://phonegap.com/
Here is a review of PhoneGap and my thoughts on using it in the classroom: https://raypastore.com/wordpress/2012/05/phonegap-building-an-app-and-classroom-use/
Now, what is the advantage of using HTML to create a mobile app? One, its pretty easy and many people already know HTML. You can even use dreamweaver to make the app – although be careful because dreamweaver creates some bad code that might not work well on the mobile device. I really suggest hand coding in HTML5 all mobile apps. But the real advantage is that the apps will work on all mobile devices! You can publish to Apple, Google, MS, and Blackberry. Now in order to do so you need to be a developer for each and publish through them, so for Android its Eclipse and Apple is xcode – and as you read in my review blog post above, that is kind of difficult for the average user. However, for the developer, this is an awesome way to create one app that works on all devices.
One thing I do want to mention here and make sure this point is clear: HTML5 apps are simply not as powerful as apps developed in C-Sharp, Java, or Flash. HTML5 just doesnt have the power. So for simple apps, HTML5 is a great option and the best in my opinion. For a more complicated app that access a database and requires a lot of functionality, I would go a different route.
Just a quick note – there are other options besides phonegap, such as: titatium and genexus. I chose phonegap because they really seem to be the most popular, are opensourced, and now that Adobe owns them, I have a feeling they will be integrated with the next version of dreamweaver and will really own the HTML5 mobile market.
So what will happen to cell phones when there is wifi everywhere? Here is my prediction: No more cell or data plans from verizon, att, sprint, tmobile, etc. Instead we will buy the devices directly from manufacturers such as Apple, Google, Samsung, HTC, etc and use them just as we are now. I am not quite sure we will actually have phone numbers but may instead use Skype services and simply just use our usernames. If I were skype I would certainly be trying to make sure they are the preferred method of communication when this happens because I am sure both apple and google will promote their video/voice communication services. However since skype is cross platform, it could be the best. But just imagine, no more contracts or monthly fees….it would be awesome!
A group at UC Berkeley has developed an app called Carat that monitors your phones battery usage and then recommends what you can do to improve it. I just downloaded it last night and will report how well it works in a few days. Please note that this is different than battery saver apps which are designed to shut things down – those actually take up more battery.
Website: http://carat.cs.berkeley.edu/
Here are two Android Apps I created that are now available on the Google Market Place (Google Play). They are both free and both display surf reports for the states of NJ and NC. I created these apps in Eclipse using Java. They are the first apps I have created using Java. I actually believe it might have been just as much work as using the Google App Inventor. I will now be creating all of my apps via Java from now on and doing some more advanced stuff in the future as I have time.
While certain features of these phones are comparable, like the camera. There are just certain things that you cannot compare when looking at these devices.
For instance, while the 1.2 dual core processor or 1.4 quad core processor seem to blow Apple’s .800 dual core processor out of the water, this couldnt be further from the truth. Many forget that Apple runs a different OS. Meaning that Apple’s iPhone is built specifically for their OS. They didnt need a 1.5 quad core processor because their OS does not require or utilize it. Additionally, you cant really even compare the Gnex to the S3 for the same reason. While they both run ICS, the Gnex runs a vanilla version of the OS and was made to specifically to run the OS just as the iPhone was for iOS. The S3 contains TouchWiz, which is Samsung’s bloatware and thus needs that extra power that the Gnex does not need.
All in all, there are some things you can compare but overall you cannot compare these devices by just looking at the specs. The specs are not very helpful in really telling you much about the big picture, they are simply a small piece. Each of these phones is so different that it’s going to be a matter of preference which is better, not the one that has the best specs is king.
For more info: http://www.thenextgalaxy.com/
Galaxy S3 confirmed
– 4.8 inch screen
– 8mp camera (1.9 inch front camera)
– 2100 battery
– summer launch in America
– looks very similar to nexus
– 2 feature – s-voice and s-stay – both look ok but are bloatware.
– 1.4 GHZ Quad core processor
– MicroSD slot
– Runs ICS Android 4.0
– 1 GB Ram
My thoughts from what I have seen ( I have not touched the phone or seen it in real life): It’s a definite upgrade the S2 and GNex, however, it is not what I would call significant. It’s reminds me of the upgrade from the iPhone 4 to the 4s. Some specs are great, like the quad core, and microSD card. But the S2 has an 8MP camera already. And while Samsung is really pushing their bloatware – it’s bloatware, although I will admit that if you did not want the bloatware you already have a Gnex which has a vanilla version of Android 4.0 on it. Would I buy this phone? Well I have the Gnex so there is no way this is worth the upgrade. I personally do NOT want bloatware – but that is my big selling point. Additionally, I have the extended battery for the Gnex which is the same one used as default on this phone. Others really like the microSD card, that alone may be a huge selling point. If I had the S2 I would probably upgrade although honestly if you care about a better camera, phones will have 10-12mp by the end of the year.
This seems like a very useful device for educators. For only $99 you can display your iPhone on a projector:
Company website: http://thepopvideo.com/popvideo
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/03/pop-video-pico-projector-for-iphone-ipod-touch/
See the product demo here: