So it turns out that I was on to a good idea with my iPhone app. The problem is that on the 6th Feb someone else released exactly what I had in mind. They even used the same open source libraries as I was going to use. That’s the second time in recent months when someone else has beaten me to it. Unfortunately there isn’t much opportunity to differentiate my app from what exists, with a similar approach and functionality the only room for improvement is simply charging less. The underlying problem with accuracy is the quality of the iPhone camera and it’s lens, but that’s something only Apple can really fix. The amateur (me) going after the software company with a “me-too” product isn’t going to work, so it’s back to the drawing board.
Tag Archive for 'iPhone'
I didn’t do much art at school on account of not being very good at it so I appreciate a cheat when I see one. Recently I’ve been learning to programme Objective-C with a view to creating my own app for the App Store. Through that I decided that I should mock up the various stages of my application, and although I’m not trying to impress any investors I though I’d make use of an iPhone GUI components file for Photoshop.
The end result looks pretty good and didn’t take much time or effort. Sure, it’s just the unlock screen but I don’t want to give my idea away!
Objective-C seems to be quite fashionable at the moment and it’s something I’ve been meaning to learn for a while. Objective-C is an extension of the C language and so allows you to do normal C programming but with added extras like Objects. If you’ve done any programming before you might have heard of Object Orientation (OO). I’m not going to explain it here but it’s not a new idea and is implemented in a number of languages such as Java and C++. I’ve never done C++ but at uni we were taught Java and then introduced to the more utilitarian C (of which many languages, including Java, are descendants). Objective-C is the language of choice for the various Apple platforms (including iPhone) and as a hardened Apple fanboy with the desire to create iPhone apps; Objective-C is a prerequisite.
What I’ve found to be helpful to getting my head around Objective-C quickly (making use of the OO languages I already know) is a series of screencasts and a book called Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X. I watched the screencasts first to see if I could get interested in it enough to stick with it and found that they were created in such a way that you can get stuck straight into the code. They’re US$5 a time but I found the first 2 very helpful (at the time of writing there was only 2 of the series). Apple also has a number of resources available for free (requires registration) on the Developer site. From my perhaps limited experience of development environments I’d have to say XCode is one of the best I’ve used and makes coding a very logical and easy process. XCode, various other applications and even an iPhone simulator are available to play with through your free developer membership.
I’m still working my way through the book but I hope to be making my own apps for the iPhone soon. All that remains is to actually by one!
To people who don’t know (cave dwellers perhaps), an iPhone is a phone made by Apple (except when it’s made by Linksys) and on Monday, Apple brought out a new one. I’m now torn between 3 phones (I class blackberries as one phone). The blackberry (probably the Pearl 8100 because it comes on a £25 contract on o2), the Nokia N95 which a few of my friends have and the new 16gb iPhone. I’m happy to admit I’m an apple fanboy. I own an ipod (well it’s one of the three I won but the only one I haven’t sold), an old PowerBook G4 laptop and a brand new MacBook Pro (not to mention 2 old towers, 7200 and an 8200 but they’re going in a skip soon) and I even have a t-shirt with “Mac Daddy” written on it. I’m cool.
I’m currently using my old 7210 as my business mobile phone. I got a free Virgin Mobile sim online and it came with a free £5 balance and a decent number. So once the money’s gone I’ll move the number to o2. I much prefer o2, other than being an ex shareholder (before they were bought by Telefonica), I actually get a signal in the house.
The iPhone is tempting but it has a few missing features/problems in my view:
- It’s only got a 2 megapixel camera (no flash and no video recording)
- Can’t do video calls
- No MMS (which even my old 7210 from 6 years ago can do
but damn it’s shiny.
The Nokia N95 is a very good phone and keeps with a similar interface that I’m used to (I’m a long time Nokia user). It seems to have all the features a smartphone could ever have but:
- No push email
- OS is prone to crashing
- It’s a bit of a brick
It’s a tough one but I’m impressed by it. Only problem is I don’t want to get the same phone as my friends!
The Blackberry Pearl 8100 is Rim’s attempt at making a business phone appeal to more than just business users. I’m not convinced they do it very well. Problems in my eyes include:
- No 3G
- An even worse camera than the iPhone (1.3 megapixels) and again no video recording
- No wifi
- No GPS
It’s a good phone for what it does, phoning people but I kinda want more. It’s more just a status symbol. “Yes, I have a Blackberry and when I go abroad on international business I still receive those emails advertising viagra”.
Right, well this sorted out nothing. Maybe I’ll get the blackberry for business and the iPhone for pleasure (and the N95 for dirty weekends in Blackpool).