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Posts tagged with "iPhone"

3do: A Reminder App with a 3D Twist

There’s no shortage of reminder apps on the iPhone: from the excellent Due app that also works on the iPad with Dropbox synchronization of alerts and tasks to Notificant, a cloud solution that fires off notifications on iOS devices, Macs and web browsers, one could say reminder apps are the new Twitter clients or GTD apps of the App Store ecosystem. As the iPhone is always with us, being able to be easily reminded of important things has become a priority for iOS software developers. 3do, a new app by Cleversome, aims at reinventing the mobile notification space by offering an innovative interface based on swipe gestures that, instead of forcing you to switch between multiple screens to get your alarms and due dates going, allows you to do everything in one screen thanks to beautiful 3D animations within a single menu.

3do is made of two screens: the reminders you set up, and the settings, accessible with a pull-up gesture from the main screen. Think of Twitter’s popular pull-to-refresh gesture, only applied at the bottom and aimed at opening a new window. It works pretty well, though it may be unintuitive at first. The easiest way to get how 3do works is by adding a new reminder: tap the + button, and begin typing to add a description. Once the reminder is written down, swipe on it to rotate the view and get to another menu with icons to mark a reminder as complete or favorite, share it via email or SMS, or delete it. If you swipe again on the reminder, the view rotates a second time to reveal the alarms you can assign, and I deeply appreciate the fact that you can set up two by default – say one 15 minutes before and one “on time.” But there’s more: keep swiping and the cube rotates to show due settings like “due once”,  “due daily”, “due weekly” and “due monthly”, which are pretty useful to create repeating timers and reminders for the future. One last swipe, and the 3D view gets you back to the original screen. Is 3D a gimmick in 3do? Maybe, but at least it works well. I’ve been beta testing the app, and whilst there’s no doubt the whole thing has fancy effects to capture your attention, I believe using animations to save space and put everything in a single window is actually quite clever. Like I said, using 3D effects surely isn’t “necessary”, but in this app is functional to the main purpose.

3do has also got an intelligent implementation of alarm notifications and snooze options. Besides letting you assign multiple alarms and due dates, when a reminder is due you’ll get the standard iOS notification that brings you to app; but once a reminder nears its overdue time, 3do displays a menu telling you that’s the last alarm, and you can choose to set up a new one in 15 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or just mark it as complete.

You can download 3do at $4.99 from the App Store. The app might be a little pricey for the average iOS user looking for a simple reminder solution that works across devices (3do doesn’t have iPad or web counterparts at the moment), but if you’re looking for an innovative way to manage and schedule reminders on the iPhone 3do has got you covered. Check out more screenshots below. Read more

China Telecom Working with Apple To Get CDMA iPhone

Reuters reports China Telecom, the smallest mobile operator in the country with 17.84 million 3G subscribers as of April 2011, is “in touch” with Apple to get the CDMA version of the iPhone, currently only sold by Verizon Wireless in the United States.

China Telecom Corp Ltd, the smallest of the country’s three wireless carriers, has contacted Apple Inc to introduce the popular iPhone based on CDMA (code division multiple access) technology, Chairman Wang Xiaochu said on Friday.

“We’re not denying that we’re in touch with iPhone (Apple), but I cannot comment on the progress,” Wang told reporters after a shareholders’ meeting.

As the exclusive agreement between Apple and China Unicom, the largest carrier in China, expires later this year, China Telecom is looking forward to revamp its CDMA infrastructure to be able to offer the CDMA iPhone to its subscribers. No additional details have been provided by Reuters in the report, though a rumor posted back in January suggested Apple was on track to ship the CDMA iPhone 4 to China, Japan and Korea during 2011, with international carriers getting a version of the device produced by Pegatron, with Foxconn remaining the sole supplier for the CDMA iPhone to Verizon Wireless in the US. The release of the CDMA iPhone in more countries would certainly help Apple address more market segments and subscriber bases.

PhotoForge 2 Released, Brings Powerful Image Editing to iOS

Announced last week as a successor to the popular lightweight image editing software for iPhone and iPad PhotoForge (which we reviewed here), PhotoForge 2 is a complete rewrite of the original app, sporting a completely new UI, more image editing features, new export options and a faster engine to bring semi-professional editing to the iPhone. In spite of the iPad version being advertised in the launch promo video, PhotoForge 2 is available today at $0.99 on the iPhone, with the iPad version coming in the next weeks as a Universal update. The GhostBird Software developers have decided to make PhotoForge 2 a standalone app, as the App Store doesn’t come with an upgrade policy and they felt that version 2.0 was worth paying a separate price. Indeed, the app sports several new functionalities and paying $0.99 now with the promise of an iPad update for free relatively soon sounds like a great deal. Plus, once the iPad update comes out the app will be priced at $2.99 for the remainder of May, although the full retail price is $4.99. That means you can get the app now and save $4, or wait for the iPad update and still save $2. The app has started propagating this morning in iTunes and is available here.

PhotoForge 2 is a full-featured image editing app for iOS, perhaps the most powerful available on the App Store. Whilst I can’t go through all the features now as I’ve played with the iPhone app for less than an hour (but we’ll make sure to have a full review once the iPad app is released), I can say there’s a notable difference when using the PhotoForge 1 and this 2.0 update. PhotoForge 2.0 has got a whole new interface revolving around the concept of “docks” (like the standard OS X one) that are basically a list of icons and buttons to navigate through the various image editing functions. Once you load a photo from your Camera Roll and start a new project,  you can tap on the FX button in the bottom toolbar to scroll through a series of effects to apply to your photo in real-time, most of them being similar to the ones offered in apps like Instagram and Camera+. In PhotoForge 2.0, photos fit to screen by default, but you can double-tap them to edit them at full resolution looking at all pixels on screen. As I said effects are applied in real-time, with a loading bar at the top showing progress – on the iPhone 4, everything is quite smooth and responsive, though I expect the iPad 2 version to be a little snappier given the A5 processor. There’s lot of stuff to play with in PhotoForge 2.0, including layers, exposure control, brightness and contrast, or standard RGB levels. It feels like a mini Photoshop version, ported to a smaller screen with controls rewritten for multi-touch. Of course, you can’t expect all the functionalities of Photoshop to be available in PhotoForge 2.0, but this thing does undoubtedly have more options and settings than the average iOS photo editor. You can tweak opacity and blend modes, create and duplicate layers or fill a new one with color, copy and paste masks or apply sharpening and noise reduction.

Because the feature list is huge and I’ve only been playing with the app this morning, here’s a list of functionalities for comparison’s sake:

  • Curves & Levels with RGB, CMYK and LAB colorspaces.
  • Sharpening & Noise Reduction
  • HSL & Channel Mixer controls
  • Brightness & Contrast, Exposure, Vibrance
  • White Balance, Shadows & Highlights
  • Auto Exposure & Auto White Balance
  • Precise Image Cropping and Resizing
  • Customize your film, lens, flash and much more to create amazing looking photographs with the Pop! Cam add-on
  • Great Black & White and Sepia filters
  • Lomo, Gothic, Dreamy and 3D
  • Crystallize, Pointallize and Impressionist.
  • Bulge, Pinch & Twirl

PhotoForge 2.0 is meant for both for professional and casual users (thanks to an intuitive interface), and I have a feeling the iPad counterpart, with larger real screen estate, will make image editing even better as I’ve noticed editing on the iPhone can be sometimes a little frustrating because of the smaller screen – meaning, when applying some effects or setting other options there’s a chance you won’t see the full image in front of you, and the iPad should fix this issue. However, I was impressed by the sharing functionalities of PhotoForge 2.0, which include Flickr, Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter sharing, FTP and Dropbox uploading, or standard emailing and saving to the Camera Roll. The selection of services is really impressive and the Dropbox addition quite welcome, though I’d like to see direct CloudApp integration as well.

As it stands now, I think PhotoForge 2.0 is the most powerful and beautiful image editor for iPhone. The iPad version is something I’m really looking forward to, and while you wait you should get the app here at $0.99. It’s simply a great update.

China Mobile Claims It Reached A Consensus With Apple Over A 4G iPhone

In a report on MarketWatch, China Mobile states that it has reached a consensus with Apple regarding the use of 4G technology on future iPhones. The iPhone 4 currently uses 3G technology, 4G is the ‘next-generation’ technology for mobile data which promises even faster speeds.

Wang Jianzhou, China Mobile’s Chairman, didn’t specify many details about the agreement but says that they will be beginning 4G trials in China beginning next year and that discussions with Apple are continuing. Bloomberg today also got some additional details from Jianzhou, but in that report, the consensus with Apple was not mentioned.

The company may also be able to offer Apple Inc. (AAPL)s iPhone with the shift to TD-LTE, Wang said. While Apple has decided not to make a version of the phone for the third-generation TD-SCDMA system that is used only by China Mobile, the Cupertino, California-based company may produce one for the TD-LTE system, he said.

It follows yesterday’s report from DigiTimes that this year’s iPhone was originally meant to have LTE capability (a 4G technology) but was scrapped after it was discovered Qualcomm was having problems producing chips in large enough quantities. In that report it was said that China Mobile was expected to reach a deal with Apple soon to offer the next iPhone on it’s network this year – contradicting the Bloomberg report.

[Via MacRumors]

Final Fantasy Tactics for iPhone Launching This Summer, Coming to iPad Too

Originally announced at E3 2010, Final Fantasy Tactics for iPhone (a porting by Square Enix of the PSP game that was another porting from PSX) has gone through a series of “misunderstandings” and delays regarding the release date, which apparently was initially confirmed for September 15, 2010, but was later denied by Square Enix, who went on to say the game would come in Spring 2011. With June approaching and the game still nowhere to be found in the App Store, it looks like Square Enix won’t make it for a Spring launch, but this time the company has posted an update on the app’s official Facebook page, reassuring everyone that Final Fantasy Tactics will land on the iPhone between June and July, and that an iPad “HD” version is also in the works, although it will launch after the iPhone porting.

Assistant producer Shiina writes:

But now the development reaches the final step and we can see the actual schedule. Thus, YES, finally I can tell you when it will be released.

FFT: WoL will be on sale somewhere between late June - mid July. We have announced “It’s coming Spring 2011” last year so we’re now working pretty hard for the release in June because July is not spring anymore.

We’re also making the iPad version which supports 1024x768px HD resolutions.

No details on pricing have been revealed yet, and information on the iPad version is scarce. It’s good, however, to see the game finally approaching public release after a year of waiting – I played both the original FFT on my PSX and FFT:WOL on the PSP, and I can’t wait to see how Square Enix will redraw controls for multitouch, or simply add new content for iPhone owners. [via TUAW]

OmniVision Introduces 5 MP Sensor With 1080p Video Recording

Earlier this morning we reported on some rumors from DigiTimes regarding the production timeline of the upcoming iPhone 4S and rumoured components that it would include. In their report, DigiTimes claimed that it would contain an 8 MP camera from OmniVision Technologies, and to some degree it makes sense. Sony’s CEO in April made a fleeting comment suggesting that it would be supplying Apple with an 8MP camera for the next iPhone. However, those same comments were later suggested to have been largely “invented” by bloggers attending the event.

OmniVision today introduced a new 5MP image sensor, the OV5690, that was developed to produce the “best-in-class image quality” whilst being an effective solution for slimmer mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers by reducing the size of the camera module. With contradicting reports on whether the next iPhone will contain a 5 MP camera or an 8 MP camera, this new product certainly lends weight to the suggestion that it could have a 5 MP camera. In recent times Apple has been ferocious in crafting its devices to be as thin and light as possible, and this latest component by OmniVision could enable Apple to deliver on that goal with improved image quality (and 1080p video recording at 30 fps) whilst fitting into a smaller package.

With industry sources placing 5-megapixel CMOS image sensors at more than 15 percent of the overall sensor market today, we view 5-megapixel sensors as occupying as a sweet spot in the market. (Emphasis Added)

The iPhone 4 currently sports an older OmniVision camera component that is also 5 MP but only records video in 720p. Apple may well choose to stick with OmniVision and deliver a slightly improved camera in its next iPhone – which may be in line with reports of just small, evolutionary, improvements for the next iPhone. Although interestingly, OmniVision also revealed in early January that it had introduced a 10MP camera sensor that would similarly enable 1080p video recording at 30fps.

iPhone and iPad Win “Display of the Year” Awards→

iPhone and iPad Win “Display of the Year” Awards

As noted by Jim Dalrymple at The Loop, Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad have been awarded the Display of the Year prizes by the The Society for Information Display. Apple devices were mainly awarded for the usage of In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology, which provides greater viewing angles and brightness quality than other displays found on phones and tablets. The iPhone 4’s Retina Display, packing four times the pixels in the same old iPhone screen, was also mentioned for setting a new benchmark in mobile display solutions, as well as new standards in power consumption and image quality.

iPhone:

Utilizing Mobile IPS (in-plane switching) technology, the iPhone 4 Retina display achieves a viewing angle superior to conventional mobile LCDs, providing an enhanced viewing experience for the end user in virtually any application. The display features a host of technical advancements: customized LTPS TFT backplane with organic passivation and optimized pixel design; user-customizable, auto-adjustable brightness using ambient light sensing; advanced IPS compensation polarizer technology for high contrast (800:1) and color consistency regardless of viewing direction; 8-bit color depth; an ultra-thin, tiny-footprint driver IC; and patent-pending mechanical integration.

iPad:

The iPad display provides a superior viewing experience with a minimized gamma shift over viewing angles, enabling designers to create innovative apps that further enhance the viewing experience. The iPad’s fully customized design leverages the existing amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (a-Si TFT) infrastructure in an innovative, ultra-thin product with the unique LCD and an innovative power-management system that achieves maximum power efficiency – 10 hours of battery life for WiFi web surfing and 9 hours for 3G web surfing.

I’m no display expert, but in my experience with smartphones and tablets from other brands, I can say I haven’t found another screen that matches the quality of my iPhone 4 and iPad 2. The iPhone 4, despite being almost one year old, still manages to impress with its Retina Display.

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