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Archive for the ‘Hardware & Gadgets’ Category

According to AdMob, the iPhone operating system makes up 50% of the worldwide smartphone market, with the next-highest OS being Android at 24%. Sales projections for the Apple iPad run anywhere from one to four million units in the first year. Like it or not, the iPhone OS, and Safari in particular, have become a force to be reckoned with for Web developers. If you haven’t already, it’s time to dive in and familiarize yourself with the tools required to optimize websites and Web applications for this OS.

Thankfully, Safari on iPhone OS is a really great browser. Just like Safari 4 for the desktop, it has great CSS3 and HTML5 support. It also has some slick interface elements right out of the box, which sometimes vary between the iPhone and iPad. Lastly, because the iPhone OS has been around for quite some time now, a lot of resources are available.

I know that most discussion about the iPhone OS platform centers on native applications. But you can still create powerful, native-looking applications using HTML, JavaScript and CSS. This article focuses on three phases of building and optimizing your website: design, coding and testing.

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TomTom has updated its iPhone app, adding a much requested traffic updates and Google searches for local services.

TomTom for iPhone has been on sale since the summer of 2009, but the new release, version 1.3, is the first to make use of the handset’s pinch-to-zoom gesture, allowing users to zero in on map features and the pull right back without having to tap buttons or drag sliders.

But the key feature is Traffic HD support, though using the service isn’t free: punters pay 59p, £5, £11.50 or £38 to get the traffic data for, respectively, a day, a month, a quarter or a year.

We suspect the 59p for a day’s use will be popular for the more occasional traveller, and it’s good to see TomTom providing a cheap package for ad hoc use rather than forcing an annual subscription on everyone, whether they need it or not.

Still, the app’s not cheap. It’s £55, though that’s a fiver less than it was at launch. That’s for the UK and Ireland version – other territories are also available, separately and at different prices.

For a safer drive, the TomTom app now calculates local sunrise and sunset times to automatically adjust the screen brightness while driving, the firm added.

Finally, TomTom for iPhone now taps into Google to call up local shops and services, should you need to call on a cobbler in Kentish Town while passing through.

TomTom for iPhone 1.3 is available now.

The BBC has announced it will offer iPhone applications for its news and sport content from April 2010. The free apps will be followed by versions for BlackBerry and phones running Google’s Android software. The BBC said they had been developed because more people use “sophisticated handheld devices” to view content. Several other news organisations offer iPhone apps, including Sky and the Daily Telegraph – which are free – and the Guardian – which costs £2.39.

BBC to offer iPhone apps for news and sport

Analysts at research firm CCS Insight said the apps would “increase tension between publishers of paid-for content and those reliant on other revenue”.

The news industry is currently struggling to find a business model for the digital world.

“Whilst the BBC’s impulse to enter an already crowded news and sport apps market place is understandable, the move belies the fundamentally competitive nature of the Corporation’s approach to new services,” Emily Bell, director of digital content at the Guardian, told BBC News.

“Applications are a long way away from being ‘broadcast’ media, and, unlike the web, they form a market which the BBC is seeking to disrupt.”

In addition, she said, the “considerable cost” of developing apps for all platforms meant the BBC was in “territory most publishers could not afford to inhabit”. But Erik Huggers, BBC director of future media and technology, said the BBC audience “want to access the digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them”.

“Today’s announcement means that we are catching up with our audiences,” he told the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

‘Open platforms’

The news app, to be released in April, will offer content from the BBC News website, including written stories, correspondent blogs as well as audio and video. Users will also be able to send comments and pictures directly to the newsroom.

The BBC said the sports app will be released in time for the World Cup, which starts in June, and will initially focus on football. It will combine content from the BBC Sport website and 5 Live radio, including live commentary and scores, and will allow fans to watch sports matches live on their phone. The apps will be updated later in the year to include more content, including Formula 1.

A different version of the apps will be offered to international audiences, supported by advertising. The BBC said it was also considering releasing apps later this year for its popular iPlayer service. The on-demand video and audio player serves up 20 million requests for TV and radio programmes every week. The BBC has said that it will initially focus on building applications for the iPhone but follow with applications for Google’s Android operating system and RIM (BlackBerry).

It said it would also “work with other providers to enable these applications on their mobile devices”. However, the organisation did not mention specific plans for an app for Symbian, the world’s most popular smart phone operating system. According to figures from analysts CCS Insight, Symbian software is used on 47% of all smartphones. BlackBerry accounts for 21% of the market, compared with Apple’s 15%, Microsoft’s 9% and Android’s 5%. The BBC does however already offer a BBC iPlayer app for certain Symbian phones.

Jim Killock, of the Open Rights Group, said that the BBC should concentrate on developing “open platforms” rather than building apps for closed systems such as the iPhone. “That way everyone can access the content regardless of what device they are using,” he told BBC News. Several unofficial apps already exist on Android handsets and the iPhone.

Apple iPad

Apple has put an end to weeks of speculation by unveiling its tablet device, which it has called the iPad.  Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive unveiled the touchscreen device at an event in San Francisco. Mr Jobs described the tablet, which will cost between $499 and $829 in the US, as a “third category” between smartphones and laptops.

The device, which looks like a large iPhone, can be used to watch films, play games and browse the web.

The firm has also done a deal with publishers including Penguin, Macmillian and Harper Collins to allow e-books to be downloaded directly to the device through a new iBook Store. “You can download right onto your iPad,” said Mr Jobs. He also showed off magazines and newspapers on the device.

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