So, I am considering learning how to develop for either android phones or for the iphone. I have done some research as far as the difference from my view as a developer, but I am more curious as to how many of you in the unicycle community have ipod touches or iphones and how many have android phones?
Would the uni community benefit more from an android app or from an iphone app?
I have an ipod touch, but I think my next phone will be android based (the new google phone that will not be tied to any carrier).
Are you a developer ?
I’m an iPhone developer. I’ve developed an opensource 2d game engine for the iPhone called cocos2d ( http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org )
I always wanted to make a unicyclist game, but I didn’t have the time to do it (yet).
I know little about Android, so I can’t say much about it, but regarding the iPhone:
huge market.
“consumer friendly”: Most iPhone users are willing the pay for games/applications
Easy to maintain: You don’t need to test your game/app in several devices.
iPhone development requires that you use a Mac to run the development tools. I personally wouldn’t be willing to buy a Mac just to be able to develop for the iPhone. iPhone development in in Objective C. I’m not keen on learning Objective C. I’d rather do real C++ where the code you write and the things you learn about the language are more applicable to things outside of Mac and iPhone land.
Android development is Java. Lots of Java tools available and it doesn’t look like Google locks you in to using any one particular tool. Java isn’t my favorite language, but it could be dealt with.
Besides just the Android phones, it will be interesting to see what comes of Android based media players that would be similar to the iPod Touch. Will they be able to run the apps? What will the capabilities be?
Restrictive approval process, which can delay or get in the way of deployment and patches/updates
Only one market for your apps
Of course that market is the biggest one out there for now. Not only will it be interesting to see what the Android does (give it time), it could also be interesting to see what Apple does if Android starts taking away its market share. Will we see the iPhone “unlocked” or a less-restrictive system for getting new apps to market?
You made cocos2d? Thats amazing, I just started a new job at a game design studio doing iPhone development and we work almost exclusively with cocos2d. I’m extremely thankful for the work you’ve done, its definitely made things so much easier than it would have been otherwise.
Halfway through the first cocos2d tutorial I read, I realized the tutorial was written by my ex-girlfriend’s father and now I find out a fellow unicyclist made the library itself! What a crazy little world.
EDIT:
Also, John, picking up Objective-C is incredibly simple. I hadn’t programmed in C or C++ for a couple of years and within just two days I was already comfortable with the syntax.
Unlocking is easy now with Blackra1n. I had to do it for New Zealand. Just make sure you run the blackra1n app on your iphone once you have it installed.
iPod/iPhone, bigger market and you can develop multi touch apps, which from what I understand most android phones dont have multi touch. Also the ipod and iphone can be jailbroken so if your app doesnt get accepted for somereason you can send it to the cydia store.
Bah. The iPad is just a larger glorified iPod Touch. Can’t run multiple applications at once. Can it even cut and paste from one app to another? Can you open a chat or browse the web while listening to music?
Remains to be seen how much it will actually be able to do beyond a Steve Jobs demo. How much additional connectivity will you be able to get using it’s dock thingy? A real USB port would be nice.
The iPad gets a giant meh from me. I don’t get it. Too limited.
I agree, it isn’t very exciting yet. But chances are they’ll be able to improve it later on.
The things that disapoint me the most are:
-no OSX
-64GB max
-no camera
-no multitasking
-no flash support
-no usb
-no stylus
-no handwriting recognition
-no mic
-no real creative apps
But still it has some very nice features. I won’t be getting one anytime soon, though. But actually I’m kind of relieved that it isn’t great enough that I really feel the need to get one.
Are you sure you don’t work for Microsoft? If you do, I’d like to talk to you about all those winmail.dat attachments my Windows friends with Outlook keep sending me…
But they already have that, it’s called a MacBook. I think the iPad does have USB though, but it’s through a (yet another) proprietary port which will probably require an adapter as a separate purchase. Yesterday I finally got my “Firewire-800-to-Common-Firewire-Perhipials” adapter. That’s because recent model iMacs have only one Firewire 800 port. My older one has two 400 and one 800. Thanks a lot, Apple…
I don’t work at MS. I can assure you that I also have plenty of issues with how MS does some things and some of the directions they’ve gone with some of their consumer software apps have made me scratch my head.
I’m still trying to go over usage scenarios where the iPad would be the right tool for things I do. It’s not something that I see as the right tool except for contrived situations. It could certainly be fun and useful. But the use of it out in the real world seems to be a little out of place. Kind of like a netbook. But for my use a netbook would be more suitable and useful, but not nearly as cool or fun. I see reports of the iPad being a netbook killer. I don’t see it as such. Not at all.
The iPad is too big to carry around casually while out and about. You’d need a man purse for it. Same as carrying a netbook around casually while out and about.
When it gets released I’ll have to see for myself what it is like. How is it for actually reading as an ebook? How does it compare to e ink for reading book type things?
As a bigger iPod, I wonder if it would work with the Wadia iTransport? If it works it could be a cool thing for audio geeks willing to spend such money on such things. The bigger screen and additional capabilities could make the combo more useful.
