iPhone owners holding out hope that OS 3.2 would bring some of these fancy new iPad spoils to their devices might be in for a disappointment, because two of the big ones — split view and popovers — are both referred to in Apple’s updated human interface guidelines as “iPad-only.” Realistically, this shouldn’t come as a surprise; both of these UI elements were built to shine on larger displays, and it’s hard to say how you could make either one of them work on HVGA — but it’s important for devs to note that heavily investing in these are definitely going to make it difficult to make their apps compatible across all iPhone OS-powered devices. Considering that iPhones will almost certainly continue to dominate iPads for sales volume, we know how we’d be developing.
In other news, running the updated iPhone simulator in iPad mode gives you the option to take photos, which doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense considering that it doesn’t have a camera. There are plenty of plausible explanations for the muck-up, but our guess is that Apple’s left the vestigial capability on-board since the framework’s already in place for the iPhone and there could very well be iPads down the road that have a cam (or two). Follow the break for a shot of the iPad’s Address Book imploring you to take a photo — and savor it, since it’s probably the closest you’ll actually get to snapping a shot on the device any time soon.
[Thanks, iPhone Dev and Eric]
Continue reading iPhone SDK calls out nonexistent iPad cam, confirms split views and popovers are iPad-specific
iPhone SDK calls out nonexistent iPad cam, confirms split views and popovers are iPad-specific originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In quite a few ways, Apple’s iPad and iBooks announcement today was a shot across the bow of Amazon’s Kindle. Sure, Apple played nice, even saying that Amazon has done a “great job of pioneering” the e-book space, but you can’t help but think that Apple thinks of itself as the evolution of the Kindle, not mere competition. Steve Jobs says that Apple is going to “stand on their shoulders,” and that doesn’t sound quite as benign as perhaps he meant it. So, how do the devices stack up, specifically as book consuming devices? Well, for starters, one of these things costs a whole lot more than the other… let’s break it down after the break.
Continue reading iPad or Kindle: will our wallets decide?
iPad or Kindle: will our wallets decide? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The NFL has announced that it’ll be bringing its all-action, all-the-time RedZone content to cellphones in time for next season, offering tons of game-day coverage on the go to anyone willing to pay the price. Thing is, said price hasn’t been announced — but if it’s reasonable, it could put a pretty big dent in the value of Sprint’s existing relationship with the NFL, which brings free live and archived content to subscribers of its Simply Everything plans. Also worried, of course, are the NFL’s traditional content distribution partners — the major networks like CBS and FOX — but realistically, we can’t see ourselves choosing to watch a whole game on a 3-inch display over a 50-inch in high def. With one hand holding the phone, how are we going to hang on to the beer and grub?
[Thanks, Colin]
NFL bringing RedZone channel to phones next season originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Remember that history of Apple tablet rumors we concocted for you just the other day? Well, we’re here to take score now, folks. As you can see from the handy (and magical) chart below, Taiwan Economic News came pretty close to nailing the iPad‘s specs back September: built-in HSDPA, custom P.A. Semi system on a chip (with the fancy new name Apple A4), 9.6-inch size, February unveiling, and hey — they were pretty close on that $799 – $999 pricing too. And while iLounge was wrong about some things, they certainly hit this one out of the park: “It’s a big iPhone, but it’s not a big iPhone.” We’re going to let you dig into the chart here for yourselves to see who got what right — and who was terribly, terribly wrong.
Here are just a few of the no-shows today, however — no camera, no multitasking, no phone, no Verizon, no iPhone OS 4.0, and no Flash anywhere to be seen. There were also no MacBook Pro spec bumps in sight, and no iLife to be found. Well, let’s just try to be happy with what we did get, okay? The chart is after the break.
Continue reading Apple iPad tech specs: rumor vs. reality scorecard
Filed under: Tablet PCs
Apple iPad tech specs: rumor vs. reality scorecard originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Apple_iPad_first_hands_on’; Here it is folks, the Apple iPad. The screen is gorgeous, tilting is responsive, and the thing is super thin. Still, if you’ve used the iPhone before — and you can see the two devices side-by-side here — there’s not a lot of surprises here so far. Here are some initial thoughts on the iPad:
- It’s not light. It feels pretty weighty in your hand.
- The screen is stunning, and it’s 1024 x 768. Feels just like a huge iPhone in your hands.
- The speed of the CPU is something to be marveled at. It is blazingly fast from what we can tell. Webpages loaded up super fast, and scrolling was without a hiccup. Moving into and out of apps was a breeze. Everything flew.
- There’s no multitasking at all. It’s a real disappointment. All this power and very little you can do with it at once. No multitasking means no streaming Pandora when you’re working in Pages… you can figure it out. It’s a real setback for this device.
- The ebook implementation is about as close as you can get to reading without a stack of bound paper in your hand. The visual stuff really helps flesh out the experience. It may be just for show, but it counts here.
- No camera. None, nada. Zip. No video conferencing here folks. Hell, it doesn’t have an SMS app!
- It’s running iPhone OS 3.2.
- The keyboard is good, not great. Not quite as responsive as it looked in the demos.
- No Flash confirmed. So Hulu is out for you, folks!
Update: We’ve got video, head after the break to check it out!
Continue reading Apple iPad first hands-on! (update: video!)
Apple iPad first hands-on! (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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