iphone | Wolf Paulus

Write once, run anywhere, Web vs. App – Same argument, different outcome?

Posted by Wolf Paulus on Sep 28, 2010 in Software

Developing native applications for mobile devices is expensive, especially when considering that at least two (iPhone, Android) if not more (BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, Palm WebOS, Nokia Maemo, Samsung Bada) versions have to be created. Sounds like a mobile Web Application, i.e. a Web site that is optimized for viewing on the iPhone, Android, etc., is an easy, inexpensive, and quick way to avoid costly mobile application development. Moreover, on the Desktop, the Rich-Client-Application versus Web-Application debate was decisively won long ago, by AJAX powered WebApps like gmail.com, mint.com, etc

It’s the Mobile User, stupid

What is it with these mobile phone users, why aren’t they getting the message that web-apps are cool and native-apps are a lame remembrance of the past?

The mobile experience is still hampered by an unreliable and often slow cell-network, which at times (inside Airplanes, geographic location / coverage map) may not be available at all. Even more importantly, size, performance, battery-life, and data-input capabilities, significantly influence the usability of a mobile device. And much more than on the Desktop, Privacy, Data-transfer Costs, and Power-consumption are always on the mind of the mobile user.

What’s not good enough needs to be optimized; and only what’s already good enough can be disintegrated and modularized

Web applications have come a long way and (at least on fast Laptop and Desktop machines) Web browsers perform stunningly. Web applications have been disintegrated, following the principal of separation of concerns. I.e. the content it stored in HTML document, the presentation is defined in CSS cascading style sheets, and the interaction and validation behavior is defined in JavaScript files. All these kinds of documents are downloaded and interpreted by the Web browser at runtime. Additionally AJAX with the information being encoded in JSON or XML before transfer, allows the Web browser application to communicate with the Web server at will.

All this works beautifully on the Desktop, with a fast multi gigahertz processor and multi megabits per second constant Internet connection. However, mobile users prefer a different approach, one that is optimized instead of prematurely disintegrated.

A mobile application once installed is immediately available. Like the gmail application or the usatoday application for instance, it may have cached information from the last session i.e. it is useful even before connecting to the server. Since connectivity must still be considered unreliable and not constantly available, the mobile experience gains greatly from information caching. Providing a useful experience without requiring a constant connection to the server also address two other concerns: data-transfer cost and power-consumption.

User Interaction

The User Experience however has to be optimized above all other concerns. Given the still cumbersome data entry procedure (gestures, keyboard, virtual keypad, voice recognition), mobile users need to be empowered to get to their information destination with as little input / interaction as possible.

Content versus Service

When on a Desktop, users perceive the Web as source for content, when using a mobile phone, the Web becomes the source for services.

Only native mobile application have full access to the inherent features of the mobile device, features important enough that the user chose that particular device over any other. That alone however doesn’t explain why users, if given a choice, overwhelmingly prefer applications over web-apps

Moreover, recently some great solution for Web developers (like PhoneGap) became available, to Web-enable native device functionality with HTML, CSS and JavaScript,

Still, native application can address the mobile user’s concerns as well as the shortcoming of the mobile experience much better than mobile web applications. Native applications are (much) more expensive to build but you are giving your mobile users what you paid for.

Tom .. you’re still holding it wrong!

Posted by Wolf Paulus on Jul 18, 2010 in Android

“That wizard is just a crazy old man. Now, tomorrow I want you to take that R2 unit to Anchorhead and have it’s memory erased. That’ll be the end of it. It belongs to us now.”

After seeing the Nexus-One receiving the Android 2.2 a.k.a FroYo update last week, I decided to not wait for Motorola and Verizon any longer and take matters into my own hands, upgrading the Motorola Droid to FroYo. But before going into details, Tom and I made a short field-trip yesterday.

While we don’t currently have an iPhone 4 and we are not really in the market to buy one in the next couple of weeks and months, after watching Steve Jobs’ Antenna Gate press conference Tom and I still wanted to see it for ourselves that “Phones aren’t perfect”. Fortunately, we live in an area with a high Apple-Store density, so off we went to the nearest one, checking out the newest iPhone.

Holding it wrong?

At the store were plenty of iPhones to play with and we really enjoyed FaceTime, a beautiful application for making video calls over WIFI networks. The Retina Display was not as overwhelming as all the media hoopla wanted to make us believe. Maybe it’s because I’m using a Motorola Droid, which too has a pretty incredible display or maybe it was the lighting inside the store – the display looks great but not overwhelming.

While playing with the new iPhone, we of course noticed the quickly disappearing bars. Even with the updated iOS4, no matter how we were holding the iPhones, starting from all 5 bars, bars were dropping to a single one or disappearing altogether in a matter of seconds.

Taking the DROID from Android 2.1-Upd.1 to Android 2.2

After installing the flashing tools on Windows, the whole update process can be done in the matter of minutes. Starting with an Motorola Droid running stock Android 2.1 -Update 1, putting Android 2.2 on the device is a two-step process, requiring a Windows (XP or later) host computer - a Windows VirtualMachine, using VM-Ware-Fusion for instance, does suffice.

Step 1

The first step uses RSD-Lite to install a new recovery image onto the phone. This replaces the stock Android recovery image and allows the installation of new ROMs, e.g. ROMs with root access. This process is demonstrated nicely here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9udWx-KXwGY

Step 2

The second and last step is much simpler (no Windows needed here):

Download the FRF84B-Released file to your SD card root folder and rename it to update.zip.
Reboot into recovery mode (hold the power and “x” button at the same time).
Using the volume up/down switch highlight “Wipe data/factory reset” and select with the camera button.
Choose “Wipe cache partition.”
Choose “Install.”
Choose “Allow update.zip installation.”
Choose “Install /sdcard/update.zip (deprecated).”
After the install process finishes, select “reboot”

This process is demonstrated nicely here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL167EAIYjc

Andorid 2.2 FRF84B on the Motorola DROID

After working through the two steps, a stock 2.2 rooted ROM has been installed and all accounts need to be set up again. However, after the google account has been set, all previously installed applications will install automatically, it’s just going to take a few minutes.

There are still quite a few shortcoming with this release. Only USB Tethering (which is not supported on OS-X) has been implemented, i.e. Tethering over WIFI is still missing.

Booting up the DROID seems to take longer than it used to and not all applications seem to be available in the Marketplace, but the DROID certainly is a lot snappier now!

Downgrading back to Android 2.1

Since the hacked Android 2.2 version will not be able to pick up over-the-air (OTA) updates, the phone will not receive the official Android 2.2 update once Verizon makes it available. I.e. if you want to put the official Android 2.2 on the phone, it needs to be run stock Android 2.1 again.

You need to download VZW_A855_ESD56_QSC6085BP_C_01.3E.01P_SW_UPDATE_03 .sbf and use

RSDLite 4.6 again (just like we did in step 1 above) to flash your phone.

This will bring it back to Android 2.0.1. Once it’s reactivated, OTA update will kick in and the phone updates itself to Android 2.1. All what’s needed now is installing all the apps.

VZW_A855_ESD56_QSC6085BP_C_01.3E.01P_SW_UPDATE_03.sbf

Instructions:

Install RSDLite 4.6 AND the 32-bit or 64-bit Motorola USB Drivers (Depends on your system most will need 32-bit some will need 64-bit)
Connect your phone to USB and turn it off then while your phone is booting hold up on the DPAD.
Run RSD Lite 4.6 as Administrator.
Set the .sbf file mentioned above.
Hit start and below it should give you completion progress and all of that.
Once your phone is done being flashed (It may take a while so don’t unplug it) it will reboot and you will be back at stock 2.0.1.

After 2.0.1 is back on the phone it needs to be reactivated, which is a pretty much fully automated process. However, if it does not kick-in automatically you can initiate it by dialing *228.

Motorola Droid – 1st Impressions

Posted by Wolf Paulus on Nov 8, 2009 in Hardware

“I would much rather have gone with Master Luke than stay here with you. I don’t know what all this trouble is about, but I’m sure it must be your fault.”

The Motorola droid is probably the first 2nd generation Android phone and after playing the the HTC Hero and Motorola Cliq, I now had the chance to take a much closer look at the Motorola Droid.

Connectivity

There are two sockets on the droid, a standard headphone jack, which surprisingly works well with iPhone ear-buts (i.e. on/off switch mutes the mic.) and a mirco-usb data access and charging socket. While I have plenty of mini-USB cables, I didn’t have a single micro-usb cable; the one the Motorola has included is short and very inflexible.

Display

The 3.7″ WVGA display (480×854 pixels) is impressive but unfortunately Android’s UI is not really build for it, at least not yet. The icons (48×48 pixels) appear to be way too small now.

Keyboard

I understand that Motorola put a lot of time and energy in getting the Cliq’s keyboard right. Unfortunately, nothing of the teams must not have been talking too each other. The droid’s physical keyboard is hardly more useful than its on-screen virtual keyboard and most droid users will not be able to type as fast on the physical keyboards as iPhone users type on the display.

Buttons

The phone has four physical buttons, and four touchscreen buttons just below the display. As one would expect, the physical buttons are the power button which is way too small, tho. A volume rocker, which is on the wrong side (right), and a camera shutter button. The touchscreen buttons the made possible by extending the touchscreen beyond the display and their haptic feedback really rocks.

Camera

The 5MP digital camera is probably the weakest part of the Motorola droid, delivering 5 mega-pixel of noise even when used at best lighting conditions. Some unedited iPhone and Moto Droid shots can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfpaulus/sets/72157604509087860/

Conclusion

The Moto droid is most likely the best Android phone currently available and geeks and developers will love it. However, when compared to the iPhone, the droid lacks basic functionally and user-friendliness we are now so accustomed to. If Google really wants to push Android, it needs to continue to develop the basic applications like mail, calendar, etc. to a point where they are at least as good at what Apple includes with the iPhoneOS. Like it or not, the iPhone OS and the included apps are the baseline now and basic everyday Android applications like Mail and Calendar are plain ugly.

iDay in NYC

Posted by Wolf Paulus on Jul 3, 2007 in Life

Hard to believe – I know. However, it really was not planned and merely a coincidence, but on June 29, 2007, the day Apple launched the iPhone we were there, at Apple’s flagship store in New York City.
The media was all over the place, interested only in interviewing people who stood in line to eventually sell their spot. I guess that makes a better story than taking about the new phone or why not only geeks would be waiting in long lines to get their hands on one.
On June 29th, the store was closed between 2 P.M. and 6 P.M. However, we spent a little while in the store a couple days earlier and the all glass stair case really is impressive!