But here’s the thing I wanted to highlight, that I saw in the article:

Developers shouldn’t find the new screen size too problematic either, Faust writes. “Developers wouldn’t need to provide Apple with a third distinct set of layout parameters; the iPad mini would simply (and automatically) resize their iPad apps to fit its smaller screen.”

Apple has never, ever, released an iOS device where the content is re-sized, except it in the 2X mode that iPhone apps can run in on the iPad. But that was a simple doubling of the pixels, and isn’t making the screen smaller, but bigger. This scaling to 7″ is totally different, and Apple would never do it. It means that a screen layout that has been optimized for a 9.7″ screen would have to get squished down to a 7″ screen. All the hard work the developers put into making sure the app looked and behaved just right for the 9.7″ screen size would get thrown out the window. There’s no way Apple would do this. All the buttons would be smaller than they should be, for one. Apple has guidelines as to how large a button should be for optimal pushableness (yeah, I’m going with that). They have many other similar guidelines as well. Those guidelines would be violated if an app were to be squished to a different size. This just ain’t gonna happen.

The only real solution is for developers to rework their apps for the new screen size. The question is: are developers willing to do that? I am currently creating an iPhone app, and a friend asked about an iPad version. Right now I’m just concentrating on getting the iPhone version done, because I don’t want to expend the effort on an iPad version unless the app does well enough. Now if Apple adds a third screen size to the mix, I’d have to create a third set of layouts – even more work for the same app. I just don’t see developers being very happy about this. I don’t think Apple will foist this on developers until it becomes clear that a new screen size will significantly increase revenue for the developers.

My employer didn’t get me an iPad 2, which is fine, but he was kind enough to provide me with an iPad 3 new iPad. It was a big step for me because not only did I get the awesome retina display and better camera and more memory, but I also got all the improvements the iPad 2 had made that I never got to see.

So what do I like most about my new iPad? That’s easy. Two things: the retina display (of course), and the rounded aluminum edges. The iPad 1 had rather sharp edges which made holding the device a little uncomfortable. It is much nicer to hold the new iPad (and iPad 2 I guess). And the retina display! What can I say about the retina display! It is gorgeous.

What do I dislike about the new iPad? Same thing I disliked about my previous iPad: it’s too heavy. I’m not sure, but I think that even though the new iPad is slightly heavier than the iPad 2, it’s still lighter than the original iPad. But it’s still too heavy. I’d like to handle it easily with one hand, and I can’t.

So am I using the new iPad more than the previous one? Yes, actually, I am. I’m using it quite a bit more. I downloaded TweetBot for iPad, and am using the Tweet Marker service to keep it in sync with my iPhone’s TweetBot. Other apps I’m using a lot are Reeder and Flipboard. Oh, and Safari of course. All in all I’m quite pleased with the new iPad, and I plan on using it a whole lot more than I ever used the original.

So with my mind full of Nokia Windows Phone offerings, is there any more room in there for LG or HTC to make room? Right now, the answer is no. This post is probably the first and last time I’ll think about the LG phone unless LG can really do something to make me remember it. I know that the picture that was included in the article linked above was of a totally unremarkable phone.

The iPhone has always had a distinctive design. I think the iPhone 4 and 4S are the two most beautiful phones ever designed. But the new Nokia Lumia 800 and 900 are also very nice and memorable. The sleek designs definitely stick in my mind. The new LG? Not so much.

If LG really wants to sell Windows Phone smartphones in any decent quantity, it has to step it up when it comes to design. Apple has changed the discussion here. Nokia has entered the conversation with a strong offering, but LG is still wondering what everyone is talking about.

The large amount of press Nokia is garnering, plus the design of the phones themselves, is putting Nokia on the map again. It is generating buzz that looks to be working. If other manufacturers hope to compete against that, they have to bring something big to the table.

mTableView.tableFooterView = [[[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero] autorelease];

And that’s it. Happy coding!

Finally I found DDMenuController, which seemed to fit what I wanted to do. I experimented with it a bit, and it was easy enough to use. I could also tweak the source code to change how much of the “underneath” controller would show. This was important because I only wanted to show a narrow strip of controls, which isn’t very wide. But soon enough I discovered bugs. Often on a swipe, the underneath controller wouldn’t show at all, but rather it would just be black. I fiddled with the source code a bit and finally got that to happen a lot less often. But when I added a second underneath controller on the right side, the problem came back with a vengeance, and at that point I just gave up.

I looked around again, and found a library I didn’t find the first time. It’s called ViewDeck. So far, I haven’t encountered any bugs, which is good. But I haven’t yet found a way to change how far the main screen moves over. Well, that’s not quite true. I did find something for that, but when I set it to a value I like, the main screen just bounces back and doesn’t stay in the slid-over position. So I’m going to play around with it a little bit and post an update with what I found.

UPDATE 1: I found the solution. It’s just a matter of making sure the rightLedge is large enough to trigger the left edge to stay in place. I’m hoping this works out later when I’ll want a small left underneath view and a large right underneath view.

UPDATE 2: As it turns out, trying to have a large right view was problematic. But I changed the source code to fix that. In (void)panned:(UIPanGestureRecognizer*)panner there’s a divsion by 3.0. I changed that to 4.0 and that made it work.

The second thing that struck me was how much Steve sweated the details. Every little detail had to be just right. Insanely great. The exact colour of beige used for the computer case. The perfectly fitted edges. The lack of (or at least minimal use of) screws. The control of the product from hardware to software and everything that entails. This has prompted me to take a look at my own attention to detail, and while I believe that Steve Jobs’ level of passion in this regard is not something I necessarily have to emulate, I think that I’ve been cutting the corners a bit too much in my work.

My oldest iPhone app that I have on the store, Crate 33, isn’t bad, but I know of a few areas that need improvement that I’ll be addressing. These include the terrible name and icon. I did a much better job on my second app, iBorrow. I’m quite proud of it. But I can think of at least one button that needs some TLC, and one function that should be removed. I’ve also started work on my next app, and I’m trying to make it even better. Since I’m not a graphic or UX designer by any stretch of the imagination, and I can’t afford to hire one, making the app look perfect is quite problematic. I’m learning, however, and I hope that I can come up with something really nice.

I really appreciate the polish and detail that my favourite apps have, and I’m going to strive much harder to do that in the iPhone work I do every day.

Before the iPhone 4S was released in Canada, I called up Rogers and asked if I could get it for the cheap price by putting it on my wife’s cellphone account. It didn’t have a data plan, but they said that was okay. So on the day Rogers made pre-orders available I got up at 5:55AM, put in my pre-order, and went back to bed. I was #47 in line for a 64GB white iPhone 4S. On release day I head over to the store to pick it up and they inform me that I cannot get the upgrade pricing without a data plan. So I’d have to pay almost full price for the phone on my wife’s account. And on my account I’d have to pay extra fees for wanting to upgrade partway through my contract. So I reluctantly told them to keep the phone, and I got my $30 deposit back.

A week later my boss tells me to go ahead and buy an unlocked one from Apple, which made my day. It only made sense. I’m the only iPhone developer at my company, which makes mobile apps, mostly on the iPhone. So I put in my order to Apple and a couple weeks later I got my iPhone 4S.

I think my eldest daughter is more in love with Siri than I am. She keeps wanting to ask Siri questions and show Siri to friends and relatives. I like Siri, but don’t use Siri every day. Siri is a great feature, however, and I do use it. The speech recognition is a lot better than I thought it might have been, especially given my past experience with Dragon Dictation. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good.

I also enjoy the better camera. I always have my iPhone in my pocket, so I use it quite a bit for taking snaps of my kids or whatever. The better camera is a boon to me, and the image stabilization for the video camera makes the video camera actually usable. I never used the video camera before, just because the videos were too shaky. Now, however, I plan to take more video. I wish, though, that I could specify that 720p is enough. I don’t need 1080p video.

I can’t really say that I’ve noticed much of a speed improvement over my iPhone 4 (which is now my wife’s). Maybe some things are faster here or there. But all in all it’s Siri and the camera that have me satisfied with the iPhone 4S.

I’m not the most eloquent of people, but I will say that as an iPhone developer who always has an iPhone in his pocket, and uses a Mac every working day, that much of my life has been defined by a man I’ve never met.

I’ll miss Steve Jobs.

R.I.P.

1) When I tried Dragon Dictation on my iPhone, it was terrible. This is supposed to be use one of the best technologies for voice recognition available, and I think that Siri uses the same engine underneath (correct me if I’m wrong). I tried dictating several sentences to this thing, and it got more than half the words wrong. Maybe my very very slight German accent is throwing it off …

2) Many of Siri’s features look quite useful to me. Many others, especially the oft-demod ones to do with interacting with other people and calendars, are for social butterflies. Which I definitely am not.

3) Now this one I’ll just have to see how well it works in practice. But the demo said that I need to hold the Home button down for several seconds to activate Siri. That’s a bummer. Can’t the iPhone just always be listening if there’s no active app and it’s not in sleep mode? Siri would know I’m talking to it because I would say “Siri, tell me why I’m not a billionaire yet.” (And then of course Siri would metaphorically roll her eyes and tell me what a dufus I am.)

Apple’s Info on Siri