PVR Panel, the app that lets you manage your recordings on the go, has been submitted to the App Store for Approval. This version brings with it a few new features:

• iOS7 compatibility
• Sorting recordings by name or date.
• Auto refresh on start
• Complete redesign and updated graphics

In the meantime, the current version of the application should continue to work on iOS7 with no major issues. Stay Tuned. read more

Apple just announced their iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c phones, but I have to admit that these events are not nearly as exciting as they were before. This is not entirely fault of Apple’s though, as images and details get leaked. The products themselves, and the predictability of the schedule itself are also factors here. There was also the expectation that Apple would announce new iPads, and perhaps event a new iPod, but neither of these happened. About the only surprise for me today was the performance bump of the new iPhone 5s. Rumours mentioned that the bump would not be a 2x bump this year and Apple had peaked out in performance, but that did not pan out to be true. This is partly because Apple’s iOS7 now is 64 bit as well, so it can take better advantage of the all new A7 processor. To sum the event up, Apple announced a new iPhone 5c with a plastic back that has the specs of the old iPhone 5 and is about $100 cheaper on contract. There is also the iPhone 5s which has all the usual specification bumps, including an a new M7 core for motion detection and a finger print reader for authentication. The latter will ease unlocking and purchasing new items from the iTunes store. All in all, the cheaper iPhone that everyone was expecting is not really that cheap, unless the iPhone 4s continues to be sold at $0 on contract. $100 price difference was way below expectations for a cheaper, more affordable iPhone, unless the price difference is more when bought unlocked. You can pre-order the new iPhones on September 13th, and they will be available starting September 20th. Have a look for yourselves now that the Apple website has been updated: www.apple.com. read more

You have to love the hype around Apple’s products. Every year around February and June, the rumors start about cheaper iPhones and smaller iPad’s. Every year, they are wrong but it does not stop the same rumors from spreading. IN every case, there are insiders and suppliers close to Apple that have relayed this information, but yet it never comes to pass. This time is the WSJ that has an article on a smaller iPad coming out. The only thing believable is that it will have the similar screen resolution to the iPad2. But it doesn’t add up. Cheaper iPhones:

• The cheapest iPhone is currently $0.99 on contract.  How much cheaper should it get?
• You have to pay more than that for a decent Android phone and you know how crappy they are.

Smaller iPads:

• Apple is doing just fine dominating the tablet market with a one-size-fits-all iPad.
• The iPad was meant to have a different user experience than the iPhone, so why would Apple muddy the waters?
• Like the iPhone, every new iPad will make the older iPad the cheaper alternative, so a smaller iPad is not necessary for a cheaper version.
• One of iOS’s greatest strengths is that it has limited the screen resolutions to ensure that development for iOS is easy.  Look at the mess Android is in and you know Apple will never go there.
• Last but not least, The Apple lord himself (yes, Steve Jobs), commanded that there will not be a smaller iPad.

IMHO, these rumours are not true, but that will not stop them from recurring every year.  Eventually, as technology advances and its easier to fit more in smaller sizes they will be true and those spreading them will claim they said it first. read more

According to the internets, all of them, HTC is about to concentrate on making fewer, better phones. If so, other phone makers should follow suit to save themselves. Yes, its true that most people do not want to have a phone that everybody else has, and this is the exact reason why some have chosen iPhone alternatives (of which there are none….but I’m not biased at all). Because, lets be honest, as flexible and configurable as Android may be, it is no where as user friendly as the iphone, nor as responsive or usable. In fact, my own Nexus S is just collecting dust since it was an absolute pain to deal with… inaccurate clicks…inconsistent UI, slow, etc, etc. So the only reason anyone would get any other phone than an iPhone would be not to have the phone everyone else has. Case and point, a very close friend admitted to this very fact, but finally reason took over and he got an iPhone. Back to the point here…as I mentioned in an earlier post, one of Apple’s successes with the iPhone, IMHO, is that it concentrates on fewer hardware, and supports said hardware for at least 2 years. The other phone makers, just roll out newer versions of their phones instead with different screen sizes which has been another pitfall for Android….and don’t get me started on BlackBerry. As for Nokia’s refocus……..it is about to release the Lumia 900 Series only a few months after releasing the 810 and 710. In fact, all these phones have been released in less than a year. What do you think will happen with the older phones, when there is new hardware out? They’ll be forgotten and de-prioritized. Lets hope HTC is serious here and gets back to its roots. read more

For years Web App developers have dreaded the browser fragmentation and having to support IE. It required a lot of extra finess in both Web frameworks and Web App code to make sure things worked close to intended across all browsers specifically IE. Now that the focus has shifted to the mobile web, history is repeating itself. While HTML5 is generally supported on all modern Smart phones, and the most popular browsers are Web-kit based, it seems that those in charge have not learnt from the lessons of the past. In my personal experience with various mobile web frameworks, the Android platform in general and the fragmentation between Android devices is a huge problem. Once of the current best mobile web frameworks, Sencha Touch, works like a dream on the iPhone, but the same code on Android is unpredictable at times. This is exactly why with its second release, Sencha is concentrating on addressing performance and specifically for Android. Needless to say, this is only part of the issue with The Android platform and its fragmentation. Writing native apps, or even working with ubiquitous frameworks like Appcelerator Titanium is also a nightmare when it come sto Android. Don’t get me wrong, I think Android has potential, but as I have said before, if you can’t control the Hardware and Software, you cannot reproduce the experience of the iPhone. Here is hoping that with its aquisition of Motorola Mobility, Google can create a better Android, cuz the alternative is to suffer the same fate as IE has. read more

My phone finally arrived yesterday, but that is just when things got even more interesting. Here I am with a brand new iPhone, but no internet, and no micro SIM. Of all the days in the year, my cable provider decided to do maintenance on the one day in the past three years that I have a new iPhone….and to do it all day. To boot, the micro SIM cutter that I had ordered off eBay had still not arrived. So the big question was how do i activate my new phone and start using it? I had waited enough.

Cutting your own SIM

The first step was to cut the SIM I had so that I could even get the phone going. This was much easier than I thought. Using a box cutter and a co-workers iPhone 4/SIM I only had to go over each line a couple of times, before the SIM would just easily break on that side. The measurements were rough, but it fit in the SIM holder.

Activating without internet

This was a little harder, but tethering is not as restricted in Canada as it is in the US so I used the second iPhone 4 to setup a personal hotspot. The issue was the with the update to iOS 5, somehow the personal hotspot feature was not available any more, so I had to reset the networking to get that going. Now I had a new micro SIM and connection to the internet to activate the phone.

Success! … sort of

After activating the phone and restoring it, I ran into another issue that I could not resolve. The phone just refused to receive cellular signal. Even though this worked just fine during activation and restoration, all i got now was No Service. It all worked out in the end after a long visit to the Apple Store to replace my brand new phone:)

Lessons learnt

1. Cutting a SIM down to a micro SIM is relatively easy (my SIM cutter finally arrived today)
2. Resetting the network settings will get you back your Personal Hotspot settings
3. Typing diag:// in Safari will bring up a diagnostics window that will send info to Apple. You won’t see the diagnostics, but I did not know about this feature
4. Siri is absolutely the best feature of the iPhone 4S, but its rather useless in Canada

read more

Today’s Lets Talk iPhone event was met with mixed feelings. I think given the fact that the phone was released later than expected not to mention that this was Tim Cooks first product release, everyone expected a bit more wow. Here is a look at some of the rumours that were expected.

Updated hardware

Minus an outer shell redesign, the new iPhone will have:

• The A5 dual core processor
• An updated 5-element 8 Megapixel camera
• HSPA+ for faster downloads
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Updated antenna design

This is quite considerable given Apple’s conservative upgrade path.

A cheaper iPhone

While there was no new cheaper iPhone, Apple is keeping the iPhone 3GS around as a free phone with contract.

The rest

The rest of the innovation is in the software which has been covered before, plus the new Siri application which sounds more impressive than it is practical. Having said that, Apple did change my mind about a hard keyboard, so I would love to believe that they can do the same with a voice input. Regardless of all of this, it’s the iPhone and you know people are gonna line up for it. It will be ready for pre-order on Octover 7th, and for sale on October 14th. read more

Looks like apple has finally confirmed the rumors and announced their iPhone event for October 4th at their headquarters. This must also mean that they have iOS ready for release as well. via engadget read more

PhoneGap just released version 0.9.5, but it still does not fix the issue with getting a project started with Xcode 4. Here is what I did to get my project going:

1. Make sure Xcode is closed.
2. Install the latest version of PhoneGap
3. Go to Xcode prefrences -> Source Trees -> Add a new entry PHONEGAPLIB = /Users/<your username>/Documents/PhoneGapLib
4. Either get create_script.sh, or use PhoneGap’s build system to get you started.

create_script.sh

This is harder of the two routes, and it may have just been my experience due to point #1, but all you have to do is provide two parameters: a) the project name b) The path where it needs to be installed.

PhoneGap Build

This is easy as cake. Just put in your project name and in 30 seconds or so you get a project zip file you can download and get started. Happy coding! read more

I have recently shifted to Android since I had to do some development for it and I had to see for myslef if the phone was really as bad as the simulator on the Mac.

The short story is that it is impressive in its own way, but it is not an easy switch from the iPhone.

As I get more time I will be posting my experience with it, along with what I liked and disliked.

read more