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If you haven’t already read my previous post regarding my iPhone battery experiment, for one weekend (Fri, Sat, Sunday) I reduced my iPhone to the simple role of making phone calls and receiving SMS messages. The task was to see if I could get the device to last a weekend of normal phone use without needing re-charged. Today, I’ll summarize the results and talk about some great battery saving tips for those of you with iPhones that may occasionally require long-distance trips between charges. Firstly, the phone made it.  By 10:30pm on Sunday night I was left with 19% charge. Impressive enough, but it must be noted that I turned the phone off at night while I slept.                                               This shows that an iPhone can indeed be used for a weekend-long trip away from power, great news for festival goers, campers and hill walkers alike. So how did I coax this extended marathon out of such a normally power hungry device like the iPhone? 1.    Screen Brightness Probably the most effective means of reducing power needs, turning the screen brightness all the way down goes a huge way to extending battery life. If nothing else, this should be your first port of call if your running low – but still need the other data services the device provides. 2.    Turn off Wi-Fi Fairly self-explanatory, but any time the device or any application requests a data connection the wifi is fired up to search for available networks. This is made worse in a situation where you are likely to be away from power as the antenna will be boosted and amplified when the device struggles to make a connection – further increasing power drain. 3.    Disable Push Notifications Push notifications generally work by keeping a persistent connection open to Apples servers. This causes CPU overhead and requires constant connection to a data service, sucking valuable volts in the process. 4.    Disable 3G 3G networks are great for awesome data-rates but good old fashioned 2G wins hands down. In fact, using 2G over 3G can actually half the power used when making a call. Also, as 3G networks are generally more sparse than 2G the phone will constantly try and boost its 3G signal draining power. 5.    Disable Email Fetch Having emails arrive in your pocket is nice, but not entirely essential. Simply disable this to stop unnecessary data connections and save some juice. 6.    Disable Bluetooth As I’m sure its becoming clear by now, wireless connections drain power. While Bluetooth is an incredibly power-efficient wireless protocol, it’s hardly an essential when your out of power. 7.    Disable Location services Location services use a combination of GPS and carrier triangulation. Both of these methods put drain on power, neither of them are required to make phone calls. Not a big sacrifice, and a fairly attractive power saving. 8.    Switch off in low signal areas If your in the middle of nowhere and there isn’t a signal, don’t waste power trying to search for one. As I have mentioned power usage for any radio system is increased many times if the device has to continuously boost the signal both incoming and outgoing. If you are in a low signal area, the iPhone will boost the signal many times in an attempt to keep a working connection open. 9.    Disable Vibrate A tiny saving, but none the less helpful. Also, keeping the volume low may also help if your desperate. Apple also says to disable the iPod EQ. But seeing as your unlikely to be using the iPhone as anything other than essential communication by this point, I didn’t make a big deal out of it. 10. No Facebook Apps drink juice. Unfortunately, data centric apps such as Facebook are even worse. And need I say it…Don’t even think about playing games!

This seemed to slip underneath the iPad hype radar last week, but one glaring omission from its feature set is the presence of a camera. New speculation suggests that the iPhone OS 3.2 (the same operating system that the iPad uses) will provide software hooks for supporting video calling. This could indicate that Apple is planning to integrate support for video in an updated version of the iPad. As we recently discussed, rumors suggest that the iPhone 4G handset, due to hit shelves in the early part of 2010, will support phone-to-phone video conferencing functionality. Some of the code indicates that the user will be able to toggle between full screen and a minimized chat window when utilising the video chat feature. What makes this exciting, is the idea that both the iPhone 4G and an updated version of the iPad will support multiple processes, enabling the user to have more than one application running at any one time. This will enable users of the iPad and iPhone 4G to handle multiple applications, whilst using video chat functionality.   There are a number of reasons why Apple may have chosen to hold back certain functionality in version one of the iPad. One theory is that existing 3G cellular networks are not adequately equipped for bandwidth intensive tasks such as video chat. Another theory suggests that Apple simply wanted to hold back certain features of the iPad to keep costs down until version two is available. In any case, both video chat and the ability to run multiple applications should be a feature in forthcoming versions of the iPad and the iPhone 4G. Waracle Ltd is a highly skilled team of software application developers for mobile and web, based in Scotland, UK. Waracle provide a dedicated development resource to take your idea from concept to the app store. Waracle specialise in the creation of apps for web, iPhone, Google Android and Windows Mobile. If you would like to discuss the development of an application to enhance your business, please contact Waracle today on (01382) 529528.

So after what seems like years, the worst kept secret in technology history is here and it’s called the ‘iPad’. Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the iPad in San Francisco to a fanfare of media hype. Having hinted at the underwhelming performance of the average Netbook, Jobs has long articulated his desire to bridge the gap between the smart phone and its larger web-browsing companion.  But what is the significance of the arrival of the iPad for app developers and is it a game changer? Here are some of the stats: At first glance, the Apple iPad is slim, speedy and lightweight.  Notice it utlises an Apple chip as opposed to Intel. Memory: 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB  models available. Screen: 9.7-inch IPS LCD screen. Resolution: 1024×768 pixels. Dimensions: 9.5 inches x 7.5 inches x 0.5 inches. Weight: 1.5 pounds (1.6 pounds for 3G). Chip: 1 GHz Apple A4 chip. Size: 0.5 inches thin. Battery Life: 10 hours (watch out for results of our experiment from last week on this!).                            This guide will provide you with the 5 essential things you should know about the iPad: 1.) iPad: An Overview Lets start off with the basics.  At first site, the iPad seems to do three things well: games, movies and books. These are the areas where although sufficient, the smaller screen on the iPhone may pose certain constraints.  What we have in the iPad is an iPhone on steroids. It’s bigger than its communication focused younger brother, but does it have a bigger bite?  With a 9.7-inch screen and different memory options ranging up to 64 GB, the iPad offers application developers a plethora of opportunity.  In addition to handling every single application in the app store with the help of a dedicated iPad SDK, the iPad also connects via USB to any PC or Mac and can stream movies and video in full HD. This means that developers can port existing apps on the iPhone and iPod Touch to the iPad with relative ease. Weighing in at $10 less than the Amazon Kindle, the Apple iPad will retail initially at a comparable $499.  2.) iPad: Email and Web Browsing Predictably, the iPad utilises the safari browser and flash will not be enabled on the device. As we have already discussed on the Waracle blog, flash is a plug-in that Steve Jobs simply does not like. Many developers have argued that languages such as Objective C are better equipped to produce good results. Anyway, the iPad browser is essentially the same as an iPhone, but bigger. Both the Email and Map features on the iPad essentially run in the same way as the iPhone, with a few very minor tweaks and improvements. As Steve Jobs was keen to point out, one feature on the iPad that has undergone extensive cosmetic surgery is Photo, now offering a multiple galleries view amongst others.                               3.) iPad: User Interface Design The interface of the Apple iPad is based largely upon that of the iPhone. Based on the iPhone 3.2 OS, your four main applications appear on the springboard (or home screen) and users have the ability to swipe left and right between screens to browse their apps. Comfort in familiarity it seems for the millions of existing iPhone and iPod Touch owners. Lets get one thing clear, all existing iPhone and iPod Touch apps will run in the iPad. However, Apple has produced a dedicated SDK for eager iPad developers. Developers can utilise double pixel mode to view existing apps in full screen or simply run the app at a normal resolution in the centre of the iPad by pressing a button.  Certain apps will run reasonably well on the iPad in double pixel view.  What developers can now do with the iPad, is optimise and enhance existing applications and games to take advantage of the hardware improvements and modifications. The iPad means bigger, faster, shinier apps essentially. 4.) iPad: E-Books, Newspapers and Magazines This is potentially the biggest ace up the sleeve of the Apple iPad and represents a game changer for the entire global publishing industry. Amazon executives will be perspiring at the arrival of the Apple iPad as it encroaches on a growing yet until now quiet market.  Where the Kindle DX has Amazon, the Apple iPad has ‘iBooks’. The literary younger sister of iTunes has entered the building.  Announced during the Jobs keynote speech, iBooks has already signed up five of the worlds largest book publishers to start deploying paid content online. As the issue of introducing paid online content zones in the newspaper industry rumbles on, the New York Times look set to focus on the iPad. This could be the platform all publishers have been waiting for. 5.) iPad: Movies, Video and TV Offering full HD capabilities, the iPad screen looks sharp and bright.  Again, millions of iPhone and iPod Touch owners will feel at home with a similar an identical view and controller screen on offer. On a rather underwhelming note, the iPad does not provide full screen viewing mode, something that Apple will surely have to address. Waracle Ltd is an approved Apple developer based in Scotland, UK and provides software applications for iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices such as Google Android. Waracle’s team of skilled project managers and developers can guide your iPad or iPhone concept from the drawing board to the app store. If you are interested in developing a software application for the iPad or iPhone to enhance your business, please contact us directly on (01382) 529528.