Handpick your iPad app developers to march into futuristic mobile devices

 iPad is the futuristic computing device and its potential must be tamed by SME’s as well.Read more

iPad has a created a dominance in the tab market. Thanks to its approach of presenting a whole new way to use tabs that rejuvenated the users. Part of the achievement can also be attributed to other manufacturers who jumped into the tab spree without contemplating the perceived value of their devices which they later sold at prices equivalent to glass and plastic. The iPad is going to become the most preferred device for organizational usage in the coming times however small and medium businesses are refraining themselves from going mobile and utilizing the iPad due to the development cost involved.

Well, let us tell you that the development cost to hire an iPad app developer can be high if you hire a fixed team of developers however there are iPad app developers who give you the authority to handpick your preferred team of developers. The foremost goal to provide such flexibility is to create an optimum group of developers that you handpick to balance your budget and the development talent you need to realize your app idea. This proves mutually beneficial to the client as well as the app development company. The client gets value for their money by trimming the development cost while the app development company can utilize the rest of its developers for some other projects.

According to a recent article featured on techcrunch it is implied that mobile web users across the United States have tried to go through the menus of various restaurant in their websites. But due to incompatibility of website with mobile devices they terminated their sessions. Infact, most of the restaurants and other small and medium businesses have a latent requirement to reach mobile users who are using iPads, iphones and android devices but due to incompatible mobile websites which does not support HTML 5, they are losing out a potential chunk of customer.

The fear of mobile app development cost must be eliminated and people should embrace future computing devices like the ipad to harness the potential customers in the market. And the one who wins makes the first move.

Shufflr Launches iPad App

Shufflr today announced the launch of their iPad app. Shufflr is a video discovery service that helps consumers discover videos that they would like to watch anytime, anywhere. Shufflr takes a unique (patent pending) approach of combining social signals with algorithms, creating a ‘Daily Fix’ of videos for a personalized TV like experience to its users.

“We recognise the shift to computing on mobiles and tablets as a game changer. For succeeding here, solutions must be designed ground up, easy to use and simple to understand,” said Kishore AK, Co-Founder and CEO of Shufflr.

 “Some people still think that the rise of social media is a fad. At Shufflr, we believe that the web is being rebuilt around people. It is re-orienting itself around how we interact offline. We use social data in unique and innovative ways to help our users discover the most relevant videos for them.”

Shufflr’s user base is growing rapidly in the last few months since the launch of re-designed apps for iPhone, Android and Facebook, anchored around the ‘Daily Fix’ theme. It has already clocked 3 million installs with users from over 160 countries.

 

Shufflr is attracting keen interest for its service from content owners, telcos and consumer electronics majors.

Shufflr is a path breaking social video discovery service, available as apps for Facebook, web, mobile and iPad. It is the new way to discover, watch and share videos on the web. It brings a personalized-TV like experience to online video. Shufflr is where videos find you.

Shufflr is created by Althea Systems, an Intel Capital funded company. Althea Systems is building technologies to fundamentally change the way people find and consume online video.

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ipad App Development

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2012/04/05/3865524/shufflr-launches-ipad-app.html#storylink=cpy

Apple Has a 7.85-Inch iPad in Its Labs

Ever since Apple launched the iPad in 2010, there have been rumors that Apple will launch a smaller and cheaper iPad mini.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball, who has a good track record when it comes to Apple related news, added yet more weight to the rumors claiming that Apple does have a 7.85-inch iPad in their labs during his Talk Show podcast with Dan Benjamin. When Benjamin asked Gruber if he thought a 7.85-inch iPad will ever be released, he responded:

“Well, I don’t know. What I do know is that they have one in the lab…a 7.85 inch iPad that runs at 1024×768… it’s just like the 9.7" iPad shrunk down a little bit. Apps wouldn't need to be recompiled or redesigned to work optimally on it. It's just the iPad smaller.

It has been speculated that the 7.85-inch iPad will come with a 1024×768 resolution, which is the same resolution as the original iPad and iPad 2. Some rumors have suggested that Apple is working with suppliers on the smaller iPad and could launch it later this year.

Jim Darylmple of The Loop who has an impecable track record when it comes to Apple related news had told us about the existence of a 7-inch iPad back in October 2010:

In a brief post on the website, he writes that Apple has been toying with tablets of various sizes and form factors all along and that the 7-inch iPad is not exactly a new thing. He further points out that Apple is in no hurry to release this new device simply because the company virtually owns the tablet market and the release of a smaller variant, which is expected to come at a lower price, could effectively cannibalize its own revenues. 

It remains to be seen if Apple believes that the time has come to launch a smaller iPad. Though a smaller and cheaper iPad will help Apple to compete with Android-based tablets like Amazon Fire that is available for $199, we feel that if Apple had any plans to launch an iPad mini this year, then it would have unveiled it alongside iPad 3. It seems highly unlikely that it will launch a smaller and cheaper version of the iPad after sometime as it would not go down too well with early adopters of iPad 3 who would feel robbed of the opportunity of buying a smaller and cheaper iPad.

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New iPad complicates life for HTML 5 developers

Apple’s new iPad, already a hit with consumers with its high-resolution display, is nonetheless underwhelming some HTML 5 developers. The tablet’s iOS 5.1 operating system complicates HTML 5 data storage, offers no expanded HTML 5 support, and the tablet’s Web performance is at best only at par with iPad 2.

Ten terrific apps for the new iPad 

It’s too much to call these “setbacks” and no one is saying Apple is reneging on its aggressive support for the emerging Web standards that will eventually let browser-based apps behave much like native apps. But for some, Apple’s decisions are a compromise they could live without.

Sencha, an HTML 5 tools vendor, last week posted its “HTML 5 Scorecard” for the new iPad and iOS 5.1, calling the results a “mixed bag” for Apple. The vendor’s scoring weighs two criteria: completeness – how much of the various HTML 5 elements are present – and correctness – how well it supports these elements, says Aditya Bansod, senior director, product management, for the Redwood City, Calif., software company.

The blogpost also included results of a pair of Web benchmarks testing the new tablet’s Web performance.

“It’s still the best HTML 5 platform on the market,” says Bansod. “But we had hoped for a bigger advance than this [in the new iPad]. Instead, we’re treading water and even slid back a bit. That’s a little disappointing from Apple.”

Complicating Web data storage

One change, first introduced early in 2011 with a beta release of iOS 5.1, limits some aspects of HTLM 5 local data storage. Data that’s locally stored using the HTML 5 data storage feature, is no longer regarded by the OS as persistent. That presented a problem for developers using that feature with either localStorage or WebSQL as the storage mechanism. Because the OS no longer sees this data as persistent but temporary, “iOS can destroy it at any time, without warning, including during low memory scenarios,” Bansod noted in his blogpost.

Web developers quickly picked up on the change last January, in various online forums, including the Phonegap forum on Google Groups, which had one developer posting about his troubles as recently as April 1.

The issue affects a subgroup of iOS apps, sometimes called hybrid apps, which use an embedded WebView. “WebViews power HTML5 applications that live inside of native packages, such as PhoneGap or Sencha Touch native packaging,” Bansod writes. “They provide an embedded web browser that is hosted within a native application, permitting the distribution of web apps to native app stores. WebViews are a feature of all modern mobile operating systems.”

Until iOS 5.1, WebView apps could store data locally, and keep it persistent, using HTML 5 storage. “Specifically, if your application used localStorage or WebSQL, it was considered part of the application’s data,” says Bansod. If a new app version was released, this data was still present.

That’s no longer the case. “This is probably because Apple can’t reliably iCloud backup, or iCloud sync from anything that’s not stored in the native [iOS] CoreData storage,” Bansod speculates. One developer at the Phonegap forum say he was told by “an Apple guy” that the reason for the change was “they did that to save space, because with apps loading a lot of content into a UIWebView (like twitter), it takes a lot of space [being backed up to Apple’s iCloud service].....But they completely forgot us, poor phonegap dev[elopers], relying into LocalStorage or WebSQL to store users data.”

“For developers who relied on localStorage or WebSQL as their mechanism to store data in their app, breaking this mechanism is a big deal,” Bansod says in his blogpost. It’s not a showstopper: “There are various workarounds, such as using the PhoneGap-SQLPlugin which uses the underlying SQLite, or writing your own JavaScript bridge to CoreData.” For some developers, he says, it means recoding their apps.

In effect, apps without a workaround will “forget” data. Users might lose data too logging into a website repeatedly because their app which used use to store their relevant user data no longer does so, for example.

At least some developers hoped this change was actually a bug and Apple would fix it. On March 7, with the announcement of the new iPad, and iOS 5.1, they discovered that Apple had pushed them into some new territory. “They did it. Apple has released their app with that bug. I already got angry users that lose all their work on my app :-/,” posted Sam at the Phonegap forum.

The workarounds have not been simple, as you can see following a discussion thread for one Phonegap plugin, created by Shazron Abdullah, at the Apache Software Foundation.

No advance in HTML 5 features

Sencha’s scorecard also found an absence of any new HTML 5 functions in iOS 5.1 and the newest mobile version of Apple’s Safari Web browser. “No new features showed up between iOS 5.0 and iOS 5.1,” he writes. “iOS still features some of the best HTML5 support on any mobile browser, but this latest incarnation hasn’t increased the depth of Mobile Safari’s support for the standards.”

Safari 6 on the Mac, for example, supports a feature called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) regions, a way of making it simple to create and change digital magazine layouts. But it’s missing from the current Safari on iOS 5.1 devices.

“We were also looking to see if WebGL [a JavaScript API for rendering 3D graphics without a plugin], which is currently only available for Apple iAds, is available in the public browser,” Bansod writes. “haz.io [a Website that assesses your browser’s support for emerging Web standards] reports that WebGL is supported in Mobile Safari, but when we used the Khronos demo repository to test, we were unable to get any of the demos to work.”

Web performance

To assess, the new iPad’s Web performance, Sencha ran set of Web-specific benchmark tests, comparing a new iPad, an iPad 2 (both with iOS 5.1), a Motorola Xoom tablet with Android 3.0, and RIM Playbook with Tablet OS 1.0. Bansod’s team ran the SunSpider test and the V8 Benchmark Suite to measure raw JavaScript processing power.

As is well known, the new iPad uses a version of Apple’s dual-core A5 chip, with a new, quadcore graphics processor.

Overall, the new iPad (dubbed “Retina iPad” in Sencha’s test results) was somewhat slower in six of the 9 SunSpider tests. In the seven V8 tests,  the new iPad general matched the iPad 2, but both lagged the Motorola tablet.

For most Web browsing, Bansod says, users of the new iPad won’t see any problems. But there is a noticeable difference between the two iPads when it comes to drawing complex Web pages. For example, the new iPad was visibly loading new tiles at the bottom of one sample page as the page was being scrolled, something that rarely occurs with the iPad 2, according to Bansod.

He speculates that one reason for the performance plateau in the new iPad is that while Apple added the quad-core graphics processor and more memory, it didn’t make the memory faster. That would mean, he says, that pumping images and other graphic assets into the GPU is taking more time and bandwidth “than the device can handle in real time.”

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iPad App Development

IPad app is gift of techies to autistic kids

A group of techies has come out with an iPad app that would allow autistic children with extreme communication challenges to connect with the world around them.

The app, called Bhol (in Hindi), is specifically designed to “suit the requirements of autistic children in Indian conditions”.

Since autism is a developmental disorder that varyingly affects a person’s communication and social behaviour, care givers often find it hard to understand the needs of children with the condition.

“Especially when they are at the lower end of the spectral disorder, it is harder for them to communicate their needs. Technology such as the app comes in handy for such children,” said Kavita Sharma, executive council member of Autism Society of India (ASI), who worked with the group of techies volunteering from SAP Labs to create Bhol.

Created on the lines of a photo album, the app allows non-communicative autistic child to display a picture on the iPad accompanied by audio or text captions to convey his/her needs.

The picture book can be enhanced as the child can take pictures of things he needs and add to the app and index it based on the frequency of his needs. “If the child needs to eat dosa, for instance, he has to point to the picture of the dosa on the app. This can be customised to the extent that any specific variant of dosa he/she likes can be saved in the app for ready communication,” Sharma added.

Project Prayas Idea for the app was born when a group of techies volunteered with the ASI. The NGO had partnered with SAP Labs in Bangalore to establish Project Prayas, a technology lab for Autistic children. “There are several apps available for non-communicable persons, but they were either costly or were very difficult to use,” said Ruchit Mathur, a techie volunteer from SAP Labs.

“It then occurred to us that we can create an app which not only suits Indian conditions, but also is easy to configure and use for the autistic children.” The team of three senior techies spoke to the parents of autistic children at the labs to identify the requirements for the app.

Ruchit said the app will be initially released for children in the labs before the wider availability. “We want to ascertain the iPad apps work fine and then release it. Based on its success, we would make it available in other (mobile) operating systems like Android and Windows,” Ruchit said.

Good for early intervention Kavita Sharma said the app is particularly useful for early intervention.

“Using technology solutions at an early stage has an impact on the child’s communicative abilities. The younger children are certainly taken to an app like this much faster than the older ones.

Hopefully, it improves the way they communicate as they grow up,” she said.

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iPad App Development

Not just iPhone, but iPad too uses Wi-Fi more often

With unlimited data plans soon to be history, it seems Wi-Fi will soon become key to the growth of not just iPads, but also iPhones. A survey released by ComScore shows that of smartphone owners in the U.S. and U.K., iPhone users are far more likely than their Android-toting counterparts to take advantage of Wi-Fi networks when available.

The study shows that in the U.S. 71 percent of iPhones and 32 percent of Android phones connect to Wi-Fi and cell networks. In the U.K., the divide was a little narrower: 87 percent of iPhones and 57 percent of Android phones connect to both types of networks.

ComScore points to increasingly scarce spectrum and, of course, carriers moving away from unlimited data plans as reasons for this behavior:

“The scarcity of unlimited data plans and higher incidence of smartphone pre-paid contracts with a pay-as-you-go data model likely contributes to data offloading among users wanting to economize their mobile usage. In addition, the current lack of high-speed data networks in the U.K. might also lead users to seek out higher bandwidth capacity on Wi-Fi networks. In the U.S., the increased availability of LTE, 4G and other high-speed data networks currently make it less necessary for smartphone users to offload, but it’s also possible that the diminishing availability of unlimited cellular data plans will eventually push more usage to Wi-Fi.”

Wi-Fi’s popularity among mobile devices isn’t limited to iPhones: Tablet users are overwhelmingly in favor of Wi-Fi use too. Two weeks ago mobile analyst Chetan Sharma released a report noting that in 2011, more than 90 percent of tablets in the U.S. connected to Wi-Fi instead of mobile broadband. While sales of tablets shot up last year, the percentage of 3G- and 4G-capable tablets stayed relatively low. And it’s safe to assume that the iPad is what we’re talking about when it comes to tablets: It accounted for roughly two-thirds of all tablets sold in the U.S. in 2011.

So while iPhone users are relying heavily on Wi-Fi, so are iPad users. It’s not clear what exactly accounts for the difference in behavior between iOS and Android users — it could be something as simple as that Wi-Fi is just easier to set up on iOS devices.

But it also may have something to do with the amount of content users are downloading. And with the new iPad, it’s likely that this reliance on Wi-Fi will only increase. Its shiny new high-definition display makes watching videos on it easier on the eyes than ever — and that can eat through monthly data plans pretty quickly.

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iPad App Development

5 great-looking apps for your new iPad

The biggest selling point for Apple's newest iPad is its high-resolution screen, which packs more pixels in a 9.7-inch tablet than you've got in that big HDTV in your living room.

But if you ran out and bought the new iPad, you may notice that not all of your apps look as good as you thought they might. That's because the programs designed to run on the original iPad and the iPad 2 have graphics scaled for the lower-res displays on those tablets.

It's up to the developers of those apps to update them so they look better on the latest iPad. But even when they do, there may be other issues.

For example, The Guardian Eyewitness is a wonderful app showcasing the best news photos from around the world. The app's buttons and menus have been updated, but the photos are not being dispatched in high-res format. They looked beautiful on the older iPads. On the new one, not so much.

Here's a look at five apps that show off what the new iPad's so-called retina display can do. Some of them aren't new, but their high-res updates inspire a second look.

iTunes Movie Trailers - Free, Apple. One of the biggest threats to your productivity is now even more of a temptation for epic time-wasting. The Trailers app, which features both movies available in iTunes as well as those now playing and coming to theaters, now delivers movie previews in high-definition video on the new iPad.

The new hardware can display up to 1080p HD video, but the quality will vary depending on the speed of your Internet connection Find a zippy WiFi or 4G connection before you settle in to watch.

Flipboard - Free, Flipboard. One of the best things about the new iPad's display is how good simple text looks on it. Flipboard, which is easily my favorite iPad app, is even more readable with its razor-sharp fonts. The app uses social media and RSS feeds to generate a customized digital magazine.

Flipboard recently added cover stories - highlighted content with large photos - and these look beautiful on the new iPad. The app won't do much for low-res images coming out of Twitter and Facebook, but when the content providers offer high-res pictures, they really shine.

iPhoto - $4.99, Apple. While the iPad 2 had a notoriously lame rear camera (and the first iPad had none), the camera on the new iPad is quite good. For that reason alone, you'll want to get this beautifully designed image editor that's easy to use and pretty to look at.

The iPhoto name is about all it shares with the original OS X version for Macs. It uses lots of analog references for tools - colorful paintbrushes to designate tweaking of images and negative strips to signify various effects. The overall look of the app is richly detailed, and you'll find yourself staring at its components as much as you will looking at your own pictures.

ABC Player - Free, ABC Digital. More and more networks and cable channels are letting iPad owners access their content through apps, and the ABC Player is a standout. It's fast, responsive, with a rich look and slick animations.

The shows are the stars here, playing in full HD when, of course, the speed of your connection allows for it. But it's a great way to get your "Grey's Anatomy," "Dancing With the Stars" or "Modern Family" fix.

Tweetbot - $2.99, Tapbots. If you're a Twitter user with a new iPad, you'll want to investigate this app, which has been a big hit on the iPhone for a while. Tweetbot makes innovative use of multitouch taps and swipes to provide access to a slew of useful ways to work with tweets. It's also gorgeous to look at, with textured backgrounds, borders and buttons.

Now that you've got some things to put inside your new iPad, next week I'll concentrate on the tablet's outside with a case roundup.

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iPad App Development

Ex-Microsoft group creates hit iPad app

 

A tablet app born out of a project at Microsoft became an instant hit when it debuted last week. Too bad for the software giant, Microsoft had nothing to do with it.

The app, called Paper, has been the most downloaded iPad app since its launch on Friday. It's also No. 3 on the list of top-grossing apps, behind Angry Birds Space HD and Quickoffice Pro.

Paper was co-founded by Georg Petschnigg, who worked at Microsoft for 11 years. He led development on a project called Courier. That was Microsoft's code name for a touchscreen computer that folds like a book. Courier was regularly in the news in 2009 and 2010 because of leaked videos and screenshots that were received favorably.

Concept videos showed a touchscreen operating system that worked with fingers or a pen, allowing users to clip Web pages by outlining images or create to-do lists from handwritten notes.

Then Microsoft said in April 2010, just weeks after Apple released the iPad, that it would not build Courier.

Today, five of the folks who worked on Courier are at FiftyThree, the New York-based startup that makes Paper. The six-person, year-old company doesn't have any outside investors, not even Microsoft, Petschnigg said.

"You're starting to see new consumers emerge and new problems," he said. "It doesn't always make sense for a large corporation to go after those customers."

A spokeswoman for Microsoft declined to comment on FiftyThree, but said in a statement that the Redmond, Washington-based company "is always looking at new ideas, and testing and incubating them, and Courier was an example of this."

Petschnigg, FiftyThree's CEO, dresses like a Microsoft executive but speaks in the grandiose style more typical of the Apple faithful. "We think productivity should be beautiful," he said.

When asked about Courier, Petschnigg referenced an Oscar-winning comedy that starred Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell.

"In 'Little Miss Sunshine,' the quest failed," but the experience was rewarding, he said. "Sometimes projects don't work out. That's the name of the game, but that's the path. We have to look forward." 

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ipad App Development

Facebook For iPad Gets Retina-Ready

Facebook rolled out an update this morning that adds support for the new iPad’s Retina display to its iPad application. According to the release notes in iTunes, users with the new iPad will now see “a crisp, high resolution interface.” The update (version 4.1.1) brings other bug fixes, too, as well as support for additional languages.

The Retina-ready version of the app was hinted at last week, when someone spotted a teaser for the upcoming app in the iTunes App Store’s “New and Noteworthy” section. The message displayed at the time read “Enhanced for the New iPad,” presumably meaning it would soon add support for Retina graphics.

As sure enough, that’s just what it did.

The update brings a number of other bug fixes, too, including the following:

• You can go offline in chat
• The right profile picture appears for everyone
• Your list of friends always includes all your friends
• In sets of photos, your name is displayed correctly
• Photos of people who like Facebook Pages load correctly
• Your friend-request notification only lights up if you have a request

In addition, Facebook users can now change their language to Czech, Danish, Greek, Indonesian, Malaysian, Norwegian (Bokmal), Portuguese (Portugal) or Thai in the updated app.

However, as much as new iPad owners may be excited to see one of their most heavily used apps updated with Retina support, perhaps a more highly anticipated feature (or rather feature request) is support for the Facebook Timeline. As the boldest revision to the Facebook user interface to arrive since the News Feed, the Timeline offers a new way to both display and consume Facebook content. And given the iPad’s screen size, it doesn’t seem like it would be a problem to migrate that interface to the iPad.

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ipad App Development

Air Display for iPad and Android: Great cheap 2nd monitor (review)

Turn your iPad or Android tablet into a wireless second monitor for any laptop for just ten bucks.

Air Display Android setup

Having enough screen real estate while working on laptops can be challenging, especially for those used to multiple monitor setups back in the office. Having a second monitor can be especially beneficial when working on laptops on the go. Owners of iPads and Android tablets have a cheap method at hand to turn those slates into wireless monitors for both Mac and Windows laptops.

The Air Display app is available for the iPad for $9.99, and the Android version costs the same. Both apps turn the appropriate tablet into a second monitor for Mac and Windows that connects to the laptop via Wi-Fi. Once the app is installed on the tablet, it directs you to the appropriate web site to download either the Mac or Windows app for the laptop.

After only a couple of minutes, the Air Display local service can be toggled on which initiates a search on the local Wi-Fi network for tablets running Air Display. The tablet running Air Display is selected from the search window and Air Display connects the laptop to the tablet.

The iPad or Android tablet is treated by either OS X or Windows 7 as an external monitor, with full OS control over the display. This allows user control over the location of the tablet in relation to the laptop. The tablet display can either mirror the laptop screen, or extend it to provide additional display space.

There is a slight lag due to the Wi-Fi connection, but it is so small to not be a factor. You probably won’t be streaming video to the tablet due to this latency, but everything else works very well.

Displaying Sparrow (Mac) on the iPad

Air Display turns the tablet and laptop into a two monitor setup without compromise. It provides a second monitor for ten bucks, and that is an outstanding value. The benefits are fully realized when working in a hotel room at night as productively as back at the office with the two monitor configuration.

I use both the iPad and the Android versions of Air Display regularly, and have experienced no problems with either. The iPad with the Retina Display is especially impressive used as a second monitor with Air Display. Using this next to the MacBook or Windows PC shows without a doubt how superior the new iPad display is compared to that of the laptop.

Air Display permits rotating the iPad or Android tablet at will, and reconfigures the display on the fly. I find it particularly useful to put a document on the tablet in portrait for easy reference while working on the laptop.

TweetDeck Mac (Transformer Prime) and MacBook

I have tested Air Display for Android on both the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Transformer Prime without problems. Other Android tablets may not work as well according to the people behind Air Display.

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ipad App Development

New iPad vs. iPad 2: Which is the Better Deal?

Should you go with the new model and its better screen and processor, or save some cash on the smaller, lighter iPad 2?

We've raved about the new Apple iPad's display. We've gauged its graphics prowess in benchmark testing. But it's not the only iPad in town: Apple continues to sell brand-new iPad 2 models, and at a very compelling price--$399 for a 16GB model. So if you're in the market for a tablet, which one should you buy?
The right answer to that question depends on who you are. See if you can find which camp (if either) you fall into in our two lists below.

Buy the New iPad If…

 
High-quality images are important to you. The foremost argument for the new iPad is its gorgeous, high-resolution display. It's sharper and brighter, and offers more compelling color and detail than the display on the iPad 2. If you appreciate the difference in image quality between standard-definition and high-definition content, you'll want a new iPad.
You love to play games. The new iPad blew its predecessor away on our PCWorld Labs graphics tests.
You need to use a fast connection everywhere. The new iPad is the first Apple tablet that can connect to 4G networks. (You can buy a new iPad that works on either AT&T's 4G network or Verizon's 4G network.) If you go with Verizon, you can also use the iPad as a hotspot, allowing other devices to piggyback on its wireless connection. And Apple now sells only the Wi-Fi version of the iPad 2, so if you need an anywhere connection, the new iPad is your only option among Apple tablets.
You like to keep lots of video and music on your tablet. The iPad 2 is available only with a 16GB capacity. If you need 32GB or 64GB, you're looking at a third-generation iPad.
You love to take pictures with your tablet. The new iPad's camera may not replace your point-and-shoot, but it is far superior to the camera that the iPad 2 carries.

Buy the iPad 2 If…

Weight and size are important to you. The iPad 2 is slightly lighter than new iPad: 1.33 pounds to 1.4 pounds. Though that difference may not sound like much, but it's noticeable when you hold the tablet in one hand.
You hate recharging. In PCWorld Labs tests, the iPad 2 lasted 7 hours, 37 minutes while playing a video continuously. That's nearly two hours longer than the new iPad, which held out for just 5 hours, 41 minutes on a charge.
You're, well, frugal. You'll save $100 by buying a $399 iPad 2 instead of the baseline new iPad. That Ben Franklin can buy apps, music, movies, and then some; or you can sock the extra bucks away for the next version of iPad, which is likely to arrive in 2013.

The App Conundrum

You might expect apps to look much better on the new iPad than they do on the iPad 2. But in most instances they don't. If you're viewing an app that hasn't been optimized for the new iPad's high-resolution Retina display, your experience may range from acceptable to unsatisfying.
So far, few of the 200,000-plus iPad apps have been optimized for the new iPad. And Apple doesn't make finding these apps easy; you just have to hunt for ones that brag about being redesigned for the new tablet. It may be months before most app developers catch up with the new iPad's hardware capabilities. So that's a reason to buy an iPad 2 and save some cash, right?
Not so fast. When developers do update their apps, the revised versions will have higher-resolution images and more-demanding code. The images will eat away at your iPad 2's limited storage, and the apps will feel more sluggish running on the iPad 2's older processor. Buying the new iPad today means you'll be less likely to feel that your year-old tablet is obsolete 12 months from now.

Bottom Line

I strongly believe in the value of the high-resolution Retina display. The visual improvement over iPad 2 is visceral and significant, and a great reason in itself to buy a new iPad. Overall, the new iPad is the best tablet on the market today.
Nevertheless, the iPad 2 is a strong lower-cost choice. In a few months it may start to feel underpowered, but by then the rumor mill will be talking up the even better 2013 iPad refresh. And with the $100 you saved, you might be in a better position to afford the new model.

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ipad App Development

Australia's iPad problem exposes LTE roaming challenge

Well, here's a new one on me: An iPad app based on a concept from Microsoft, but developed by a pair of (non-Microsoft) Seattle programmers, with the help of Kickstarter funding. That, in a nutshell, is Zanther's Taposé.

The £1.99 app draws its inspiration from a Microsoft concept video that surfaced in 2009, which documented a proposed tablet device dubbed "Courier." Sadly, Courier was doomed never to become anything more than a prototype, as Microsoft canceled the project in spring 2010.

The controversy over Apple's third-generation iPad not working on Australian LTE networks may be just one signal of problems ahead for international LTE roaming.

Apple said Tuesday it would give refunds to Australian owners of the iPad 3 if they were disappointed that the tablet couldn't tap into LTE in that country. The company had come under fire from Australia's competition authority for promoting the iPad 3 as a 4G device even though it's not compatible with any Australian LTE networks. iPad owners there have no option but to rely on 3G.

That case involves consumers using a foreign-designed product in their home market, but it reflects a looming problem for travelers who want fast services in other countries, according to industry analysts: The scramble for spectrum to feed mobile-data appetites is fragmenting the frequencies used for LTE. This is likely to make international roaming harder and relegate some users to slower speeds than they are used to at home.
Growing diversity
In the age of 2G, four bands were enough to qualify a handset as a "world phone." The 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz bands were used by most carriers in Europe, Asia and the Americas, or at least those on the globally dominant GSM standard. With 3G, roaming remained fairly simple at least in Europe, where the European Union prescribed certain bands for the new mobile data technology. But elsewhere in the world, frequencies started to diverge as carriers deployed 3G.

Even now, some 3G subscribers have to fall back to slower standards such as EDGE when they leave their home countries. "It happens all the time," said analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. For example, a "world phone" equipped for both the CDMA and GSM standards may not leave you stranded without Internet access, but it's no guarantee of consistent speed, he said.

Now, individual European countries want to reuse some of their 2G and 3G spectrum for LTE, and many other bands are being adopted elsewhere in the world for the new technology. In the U.S., Verizon Wireless and AT&T bought 700MHz spectrum for their 4G networks, Clearwire plans to deploy LTE on 2.5GHz, and more new solutions are being explored all the time. The 3GPP (Third-Generation Partnership Project) standard for LTE specifies more than 30 different frequency bands in which the technology can be deployed, though not all of those will necessarily be used, according to the 4G Americas industry group.
Even discounting bands that are only used for a single, isolated network, that still leaves a long list of frequencies, said analyst Peter Jarich, also of Current Analysis.

"If we start with this assumption that operators need more spectrum, then you end up with fragmentation," Jarich said. "The one is just going to follow from the other."

Two forms of LTE
Adding to the complexity, LTE can be implemented in two different variants, which use either paired spectrum bands (FD or frequency-division) or a unified band (TD or time-division). Which one a carrier will use depends on what kind of frequencies it can get. On top of that, many of the LTE networks set to come on line aren't built yet, and some of those don't even have frequencies assigned.


"It's going to be a problem for quite some time," said Tolaga Research analyst Phil Marshall. There are simply too many possible combinations of LTE variants and locally assigned frequencies to practically sell mobile devices that work with all of them, Marshall said.
While it's theoretically possible to build a phone, tablet or portable hotspot that could be used on all the LTE networks in the world, the task grows more difficult as bands are added, Greengart of Current Analysis said. In addition to including many radios, the universal device would have to have an antenna that could be tuned well to all those LTE frequencies. Plus, high-end handhelds today include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well. "That's an awful lot of frequency bands and antennas," Greengart said.

Qualcomm says its Gobi 4G/LTE modem chipset supports most of the frequencies being used for LTE, and it is up to manufacturers to decide which bands to support in a given device. The second generation of the chipset will support all the LTE bands, as well as 2G and 3G bands, in the 3GPP standard, Qualcomm said. The greater challenge in designing multi-frequency devices is fitting in the radio-frequency components for each band, according to Qualcomm.

Handset makers and carriers aren't focused on making devices to run on all the world's LTE networks, Greengart said. "They're interested in the least expensive device that works on their network and, in some cases, works on common networks that their customers demand compatibility with."
The way out

Over time, mobile operators may be able to settle on one or two frequency bands available in most countries to allow LTE roaming, Jarich said. Two possibilities might be TD-LTE in the 2.3GHz or 2.5GHz bands, he said. But a carrier in each country would have to build and operate a network to make that solution a reality.
The better answer for global high-speed roaming may come from Wi-Fi, Jarich said. Cellular carriers and Wi-Fi hotspot operators are working on making it easier for phones and tablets to roam between mobile and Wi-Fi networks worldwide. The GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) Association and the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) said earlier this year they expect to have a framework available within nine months to make roaming to Wi-Fi as smooth as it is between cellular networks.

Wi-Fi, which runs on unlicensed frequencies that are fairly consistent around the world, with a few exceptions, can offer even more speed than LTE. The new roaming techniques will also improve the security of hotspots, the GSMA and WBA said. But they cautioned that easy roaming may take a few years to be rolled out.

 Original Source

New iPad battery life: Not as good as iPad 2

In spite of Apple's claims, PCWorld Labs tests show that the new iPad doesn't match the iPad 2 in battery life

 Apple has said that the third-generation iPad should equal the iPad 2 in battery life. However, PCWorld Labs battery-life tests show that, in a controlled environment, Apple's claims don't hold up: The new iPad lasted just 5 hours, 41 minutes, nearly 2 hours less than the iPad 2, which logged 7 hours, 37 minutes.

We conducted our tests while repeatedly playing a short video ("Big Buck Bunny" at 320 by 180 resolution, with a running time of 9 minutes, 56 seconds) on the iPad's built-in video player. We left Wi-Fi on and connected, and set the brightness to maximum; auto-brightness remained disabled.

The new iPad's score was better than what we've seen from many of the Android tablets we've tested, but it certainly wasn't comparable to the iPad 2's results. It was also a far cry from the all-day performance we had hoped to see. Apple estimates the battery life at up to 10 hours; the company says its estimates are based on mixed audio, video, and Web-browsing use, over Wi-Fi or cellular networks.

As you can see in the chart below, several noteworthy Android contenders surpass the new iPad in battery performance. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime survived for 7 hours, 7 minutes, the Motorola Droid Xyboard 10.1 ran for 6 hours, 19 minutes, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi lasted for an extraordinary 10 hours, 42 minutes.

The new iPad's result is intriguing. One possible factor: The high-resolution, 2048-by-1536-pixel display on the new iPad is brighter than the 1024-by-768-pixel screen of the iPad 2. On a Minolta Luminance Meter LS-100, the new iPad's display registered a luminance of 434 candelas per square meter, to the iPad 2's 400 cd/m2.

How much of the new iPad's battery drain is attributable to its beefier processor and how much is due to the brighter, higher-resolution display is unclear. Our colleagues at Macworld performed battery-life tests at full brightness and at 150 cd/m2, and the new iPad consistently ran for a shorter period than the iPad 2 did. In Macworld's tests, the new iPad at full brightness ran for one-third less time than its predecessor did, lasting 5 hours, 40 minutes to the iPad 2's 8 hours, 30 minutes. At 150 cd/m2, the difference was a bit smaller, but still significant--the new iPad's battery lasted 10 hours, 10 minutes, versus the iPad 2's running time of 13 hours, 20 minutes.

It's also unclear whether Apple may be having battery-management problems with the third-gen iPad that go deeper than the charging issues we've seen, including the tablet's failure to charge while in use, and its showing a full charge when it may still need additional juice (as some reports have indicated, but Macworld's testing didn't show).

What is unmistakable, however, is a 25 percent decline in battery performance in our tests from the iPad 2 to the new iPad--and this is something we hope Apple will investigate further and address through software updates.

 Original Source
ipad App Development

Resolution only revolution in Apple's latest iPad upgrade

IF you're buying Apple's new iPad for its better screen -- well and good. If you're upgrading to enjoy other improvements such as faster operation, there may not be much difference from the iPad 2.

Certainly, Apple is on a winner with the quality of its new screen. It's the first thing customers will notice in retail stores. It's clearer, colours are richer and deeper, and text looks razor sharp. You see the difference when you place the new and older iPad side-by-side.

Technically, the iPad has gone from having 786,000 pixels with iPad 2 to 3.1 million pixels on the same-sized 9.7-inch display, a fourfold increase. Its 2048 x 1536 pixel display with 264 ppi puts it ahead of pixel density on rival tablets such as Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 Tab, which has 1280 x 800 pixels over 10.1 inches.

The net effect is everything: photos, video and web pages rendered by Safari look better, and this lifts the overall user experience. The gadget's screen quality is rivalled only by the iPhone 4S, which has an even denser 326 pi, but on a much smaller screen.

Where the iPad 2 did video at near 720p resolution, the latest iPad displays full 1080p high-definition video.

To drive the higher resolution screen, the latest iPad has a faster A5X processor with quad core graphics, which Apple says offers a fourfold increase in graphics capability. This performance increase is exactly what's needed to drive four times the number of pixels to the screen in each frame of every second of video.

So, despite the fourfold resolution, video playback is still smooth. Using our graphics benchmark, the new iPad delivered 6767 frames at 60 frames a second, compared to 6078 frames at 59 frames a second for the iPad 2, which is comparable. But the new model returns four times the number of pixels per frame.

Despite this vastly increased graphics capability, there seems to be little grunt left over from the new A5X processor to improve general performance. So don't expect the loading of web pages or apps to be faster than before.

Our benchmark, which measures computational speed, returned 850-890 megaflops a second (millions of floating point operations a second) for iPad 2 and upward of 890 megaflops a second for its successor. That's not a big difference, so buyers moving up from the iPad 2 will see little improvement in responsiveness and application execution.

The back-facing camera on the iPad is now a respectable 5 megapixels instead of about 0.92 megapixels, and it can shoot full 1080p HD video. Image and video quality seemed fine. Of course, you can import your even higher resolution 8-megapixel iPhone 4S snaps to the iPad if you want to use iPhotos and iMovie on the bigger screen.

Despite the fourfold increase in screen resolution, battery life on the new iPad works out at about the same as the old one, thanks to a higher capacity battery in the new iPad. An hour of watching video on the iPad 2 consumed 7 per cent of its battery; on the new iPad it was 9 per cent. The new iPad delivers 10 hours of video in a single charge, but the iPad 2's battery lasts longer.

We noticed that the new iPad can get warm on the back with prolonged use. It's 8 per cent heavier than iPad 2 (652g to 601g for WiFi models) and thicker, 9.4 mm compared to 8.8 mm.

Despite this increased thickness I could still use many of the same accessories as iPad 2, such as Belkin's wireless keyboard. It fitted snugly in the sleeve.

The SIM-enabled version of the new iPad is branded as WiFi + 4G, but it does not connect to Australian 4G LTE networks, only 3G ones and faster HSPA and HSPA + variants.

The new iPad's ability to use dual channel HSPA+ on Telstra's 3G network should return up to 20Mbps download speed. We managed to get download speeds of 12-13 Mbps and upload speeds of 0.5-1 Mbps but this was inconsistent. In our first tests we were lucky to register more than 5Mbps download in several Sydney suburbs.

The inconsistency seems more a network issue. The iPad seems capable of higher 3G download speeds.

However Apple's decision to confine its 4G upgrade to mobile networks in the US and Canada that use the 700 Megahertz frequency has not helped. Otherwise download speeds could be up to 40 Mbps, based on HTC's Velocity 4G on the Telstra network.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said last month that with $91 billion to dip into, the company had more money than it needed. It's a pity it didn't use a fraction of this to roll out an 1800Mhz 4G regional model that could be used in Australia and parts of Asia, as Samsung has done for its 8.9-inch tablet.

Of course, the benefits of tablets go beyond hardware, and Apple has done a great job optimising some apps for the HD screen. These are available for the iPad 2, but not at full HD splendour.

At $5.49, the iPhoto iPad app is a steal. It's an extremely intuitive photo management and editing app and Apple has gone to considerable lengths to make editing photos with your fingers intuitive yet powerful.

My only criticism is that you need iPhoto on your Mac to make full use of it. For example, to add events from older photos you need to add them first to your Mac then sync to your iPad. This is cumbersome if you have a Windows PC. Full management functionality should be available independently of syncing these days.

I liked a new feature in iMovie that lets you create movie trailers from your clips. You chose a pre-defined template such as a Bollywood Movie or Expedition preview, add your clips, write some text and press the button. Garage Band has a function to compose melodies using a full string orchestra. You'll love this if you're a classical music buff. Connect your iPad to speakers to enjoy the full effect.

The upgrade of iOS includes a dictation key on the keyboard that you can use in all apps offering text input: email, Notes and word-processing apps included.

I found the dictation accuracy a bit flaky, but Apple says the text-to-speech engine improves as it learns the user's voice: we'll have to wait and see.

In the end, if you love a higher resolution screen on an iPad, you won't be disappointed. It is exceptionally good. But if you're looking for faster mobile network connectivity or a quicker iPad then, on our testing, the new iPad doesn't seem to perform much better than its predecessor, but that may be of little import.

In any case, the new iPad offers a high quality and well-designed user experience that is ahead of the competition.

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ipad App Development

Apple sells 3 million new iPads in launch weekend

 

Apple announced today that it has sold three million new iPads since its launch on Friday, March 16 — the most iPads sold in a launch weekend yet.

The figure comes after earlier reports of “record” sales from both Apple and AT&T. It’s particularly impressive given the remaining iPad stock that many stores had on Friday. For example, I was able to snap up a new iPad around 11 a.m. on Friday by just strolling into my local Radio Shack.

It’s not at all shocking that the new iPad has sold so well. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, and the only reason why you wouldn’t want to buy one is if you’re a satisfied iPad 2 owner, don’t have $500 (minimum) to shell out, or if you just don’t care for tablets. If you’ve been holding out for a tablet, however, this is definitely the one to get — especially as the Android competition continues to look slim.

Apple never revealed launch sales for the iPad 2, though analysts placed it somewhere near 1 million units. The company also notably sold over 4 million iPhone 4S units when it launched last October.

The big upgrade in the new iPad is its high-resolution Retina display, which blows away the screen of its predecessors, and pretty much every other computer display for that matter.

As I wrote in my initial hands-on with the tablet, the Retina display finally gives the iPad a feature that you can’t find anywhere else. Few consumer computer monitors reach near the new iPad’s 2048 by 1536 resolution (Apple’s 27-inch Thunderbolt display is one of the few, but it’s still not as dense as the iPad). The screen is also far beyond the 1920 by 1080 resolution of HDTVs.

 

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ipad App Development

Ten Apps Every iPad User Should Own

 

There are many thousands of apps available. (As Apple's advertising campaign says, "There's an app for that.") But some apps are simply must-haves--whether for their functionality, interface brilliance, or sheer entertainment factor.

With the third-generation iPad now on retail shelves, chances are there are a lot of newly minted iPad owners out there wondering which apps to download first. Here are my ten must-haves. Note that I left out Apple's own iOS offerings, though many--including the newly updated GarageBand, iMovie, and iWork suite and the just-released mobile version of iPhoto--are tremendously impressive and worth a download. (And if you're looking for even more download ideas, a few months ago, my colleagues came up with a list of 50 essential iOS apps, which include more than a few dandy iPad-optimized offerings.)

Reeder

Reeder is a $5 RSS reader, and if you're not yet on the RSS bandwagon, you should be. The app, which syncs via Google Reader, presents a gloriously elegant interface for reading the latest articles from your favorite Websites.

Tap on a headline, and the article slides into view. If the feed in question shows only a summary, Reeder's built-in Readability support can help: Reverse-pinch on the text (or tap the Readability button), and Reeder quickly loads the rest of the article automatically. Tap and hold on links to bring up a sharing window; Reeder makes it easy to email links, save them to Instapaper (see below), post them to various social networks, and more. There's a separate iPhone version of Reeder, too, but the iPad incarnation is simply glorious. You'll never want to catch up on your feed subscriptions with anything else.

Instapaper

Once you start relying on Instapaper ($5), you'll wonder what took you so long. The idea is simple: Reading on your iPad is more pleasant than reading on your Mac's screen.

When you come across lengthier articles online, you tap the Instapaper button--whether in your browser, RSS reader, or Twitter client, or in any of the many other apps that integrate with the Instapaper service. The next time you launch Instapaper on your iPad, it will pull down the text of that article, and any inline images, too--but it'll leave all the navigation, social networking modules, and Flash advertisements by the wayside. You're left with just text and images, and you control the font and brightness and all that other good stuff. The app also makes it easy to discover other good Web content to read, based on your friends' suggestions.

Tweetbot

 

Tweetbot for iPad.

Tweetbot began life as an excellent Twitter client for the iPhone, and the iPad version is even better. The $3 app's unique interface and brilliantly implemented gesture support make it not just a powerful app for reading and posting tweets, but a fun one, too.

Swipe to the right on a tweet to see the full conversation surrounding it; swipe to the left to see replies sent to it. Tap and hold--on a tweet, a hashtag, a username, or a link--to expose contextual options related to that element. With support for services like Tweet Marker (for keeping you in sync with your device or desktop Twitter client), Instapaper, and more, it's a full-featured Twitter app that's a delight to use.

Netflix

It feels almost like science fiction when you first use the Netflix app to stream movies and television shows to your iPad.

You can browse your Watch Instantly queue, search for other titles, and begin playing any of them in seconds. Netflix isn't the iPad's most elegantly implemented app; it feels a bit like a website crammed into a program. But it does what it's supposed to do, which is to let you stream movies! Over the Internet! Wherever you have a reasonable Internet connection. And it's a free download, to boot.

Flipboard

Flipboard takes content you're interested in and presents it in an impressive magazine-inspired layout. The free app connects to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader feeds, and also offers a variety of curated feeds in various categories like politics, technology, and entertainment.

Whether you're browsing stories from social networks or the curated feeds, Flipboard jettisons photos wherever it can, and makes it easy to swipe through story after story. Andof course,the app offers easy ways to share interesting articles via Twitter, Facebook, and email, and to save them to Instapaper.

 

PCalc Lite Calculator for iPad.

PCalc Lite Calculator

Though the iPhone's Calculator app works fine, such an app simply doesn't exist on the iPad. The free PCalc Lite works on all iOS devices, and it looks great on the iPad.

Beyond that, it adds tons of functionality beyond simple arithmetic: a scientific calculator, unit conversions, constants, Reverse Polish notation, multiple undo and redo, and themes. A $10 version comes packed with features, but if you start with the free Lite edition, you can add other options from the paid version with separate in-app purchases.

CNN

Other news apps exist, but no free news app offers quite the polish of CNN on the iPad. The app combines videos and cleanly displayed articles to keep you abreast of all the news that's fit to consume.

The CNN app is very visual, with lots of photographs, easily readable text, and high-quality video to keep you informed. Scrolling through headlines is simple, and the content is constantly updated to remain current.

Super Stickman Golf

Super Stickman Golf is a fun, fast-paced golfing game that has a lot in common with classic tank-shooter Scorched Earth: Pick the angle and power of your shot and let 'er rip.

As you progress, you'll unlock a variety of power-ups to enhance your game. But the real challenge in Noodlecake Studios's $3 app begins when you take on your friends in a fast-paced, frenetic free-for-all via Game Center or locally via Bluetooth: The goal here, unlike in real golf, is to be the first to sink your ball, no matter how many shots it takes. It's the most fun you can have on a golf course that doesn't have tiny windmills.

Dropbox

Dropbox for iPad.Dropbox, a free Web service, lets you create a folder on your Mac that syncs automatically with whatever other computers you tell it to.

The free iPad app isn't beautiful, but it does afford you access to all the files and folders you store in your computer's Dropbox folder. You can upload your saved photos and videos to your Dropbox folder, or open saved files in compatible apps on your iPad--including word processing documents, PDFs, images, and MP3s.

Toontastic

If you have kids, do them--and yourself--a favor by downloading a free copy of Toontastic. The app empowers kids to create their very own cartoons, walking them through the process of picking out scenery and characters (or drawing their own), adding built-in background music, and recording narration.

You can save and rewatch your kids' Spielberg-quality creations, and optionally share them online, too. The app is adorably designed, and simple enough for the typical four-year-old to master.

Lex Friedman is a staff writer for Macworld. Senior associate editor Dan Moren contributed to this story.

Original Source 

ipad App Development

Apple's New iPad: 10 Things You Should Do After Breaking It Out of the Box

Apple's new iPad is launching March 16. But according to the latest reports, Apple’s tablet has already sold out of its preorders, and those hoping to get their hands on the device on launch day will have little to no chance of it. Demand is so high for Apple’s new iPad that the company doesn’t anticipate having a new supply available to customers for two to three weeks after its launch.

But for all those who will be lucky enough to get their hands on the new iPad at launch day, it might be a good time to provide a refresher on what they should do to ensure the device is ready to go as soon as it’s home. From the simple, like applying the Smart Cover, to the more complex, like setting up iTunes, there are a host of things that new iPad buyers must know before they break the device out of the box.

1. Get the Smart Cover on it

The new iPad’s Smart Cover is not just any old thing to protect its screen. The cover, which latches to the side of the device, can act as a stand, turns the device on when taken off and powers it off when placed on it. This might be the simplest piece of advice in this roundup, but be sure to place the Smart Cover on the new iPad. Protection and added functionality are worth having.

2. Set up your email

One of the first things to do after powering on the new iPad is set up email accounts. Since the new iPad is designed to be a replacement for the PC, getting all your email accounts onto the device is an important step. Thankfully, Apple’s tablet supports all kinds of email accounts, including those from Gmail, Microsoft and others. You can even get your Post Office Protocol (POP) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) accounts onto it.

3. Set an access password

One of the last things new iPad owners think about when booting up their tablet is password-protecting the device. Without a password, anyone can pick up the tablet, open the Smart Cover and see just about anything they want. Although a system-wide password isn’t the only security issue to take into account, it’s arguably the biggest one.

4. Consider turning off location settings

Yes, today’s tablets and smartphones come with location features that help you get more from location-based apps, but consider the privacy ramifications of that. Do you really want everyone to know where you are at every moment? And if you snap a picture with the new iPad and share it on Twitter, do you want your current location to be shared? At least consider turning off location settings in the new iPad to preserve your privacy.

5. Set up iCloud

Apple’s iCloud service is arguably one of the more important launches it has made in years. And not having it running on all of the iOS-based devices you have would be a mistake. So don’t waste time trying to do everything else you can do with the new iPad, and set up iCloud. You’ll be happy you did once your music and apps start syncing.

6. Set up iTunes, too

If you’re new to the Apple world or you simply want to be able to download music and videos, be sure to set up iTunes on the new iPad. Apple, of course, won’t let you get much functionality out of the new iPad without inputting iTunes credentials, so it’ll become a near-necessity when you get the device up and running. But that’s just fine; iTunes is a key component in getting the most out of the new purchase.

7. Download your favorite apps

Applications are central to the experience of using an iOS-based device. So if you’re not currently using iCloud or you’re new to the Apple world, digging into the Apple Store to find out what sort of apps are worth downloading should be one of your first tasks. Tip: download iWork if you plan on making the iPad a work device.

8. Hook it up to 4G LTE

Although not all of Apple's new iPads are shipping with 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) capability, those who buy the versions with it shouldn’t waste any time setting it up. Unfortunately, Apple won’t let users switch between AT&T and Verizon at will. So depending on which version you purchased, sign up for the respective carrier’s service and head out to the mobile Web from your new iPad.

9. Pick up some accessories

Apple has been criticized for not offering a USB or Thunderbolt port in its iPads. That said, the device does support a host of accessories that connect via the Dock connector. So if you need a physical keyboard, consider buying one. And if you want a camera hook-up, you can get an accessory to help you with that. The new iPad isn’t necessarily incapable of allowing you to extend its functionality with third-party hardware.

10. Get acquainted with the basics

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, be sure to get acquainted with the basics of iOS 5.1. If you’re new to iOS, as many new iPad customers will be, try out the many touch gestures available. Also, consider opening different applications, trying out the voice dictation, and seeing how multitasking works. Doing all that should help you learn quite quickly what it takes to be an efficient iPad owner.

Original Source

iPad Application Development

New iPad Will Have Enough Retina Display Screens: Analyst

Apple's new iPad may already face lengthy ship times, but at least one analyst sees no supply issues for the tablet's future manufacture.

Despite lengthening shipment times for a new iPad with a high-resolution Retina Display—which now stand at two to three weeks—some analysts believe Apple will have relatively little trouble fulfilling orders for the new tablet in the months ahead.

"Despite widespread concerns, we believe there will be enough screens for the new iPads," Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies & Co., wrote in a co-authored March 13 research note. "We believe that builds of 12 [million] to 15 [million] for iPads in [the first calendar quarter] look reasonable, and our checks indicate that Apple is attempting to boost builds for [the second calendar quarter] from 15-18 [million] to 18-20 [million]."

Meanwhile, that prodigious manufacturing pace will drive the worldwide demand for NAND flash memory in media tablets, according to another research note by IHS. The firm predicts that Apple will account for 58 percent of tablet NAND purchasing by 2015.

"Apple's continued domination of the sales of NAND flash for media tablets reflects not only the iPad's commanding market share lead, but its extensive memory usage," Dee Nguyen, memory analyst at IHS, wrote in the March 13 note. "The iPad employs a larger density of NAND than its competitors. Because of this, Apple's iPad will continue to drive the growth of NAND sales in the tablet market for the next several years."

Apple's new iPad includes the aforementioned Retina Display, backed by a new A5X processor with quad-core graphics, and a 5-megapixel rear camera capable of shooting 1080p video. It weighs slightly more than the iPad 2, at 1.4 pounds, and offers comparable battery life. Those in the United States will have the option of purchasing the new iPad with 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) connectivity on either Verizon or AT&T.

In a move that maintains pressure on its competitors, the new iPad will keep the same prices as the previous model, starting at $499 for WiFi-only versions, and $629 for those with 4G capability. Prices top out at $699 for the WiFi-only, 64GB model and $829 for the 64GB model with WiFi and 4G.  

Whatever the new iPad's longer-term prospects, analysts have predicted the device will sell as many as 1 million units on March 16, its first day of release.

"We expect Apple to sell more than [1 million] iPads on 3/16, the day the new iPad hits retail stores," Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, wrote in a March 12 research note. "While the sell-through number is impossible to predict given uncertain iPad supply levels, sales of over [1 million] iPads on launch day would be a slight positive relative to the Street consensus at 10.1 [million] iPads in the Mar-12 quarter."

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iPad Application Developement