Web Apps vs Native Apps

August 11, 2011

So, I thought I would write a little post on my views of a few apps I use a good bit. For starters, I feel I should say I use an iPhone 4 and DO NOT plan to switch to an Android device, even though I use several Google services. If I ever get an Android device, it will be a Nexus device and also a 2nd phone.

Google Reader – This is my main web surfing and article aggregating tool. I follow more than 50 blogs and this app is great for that. After trying several native apps, I have found that the easiest way to keep your read flags in sync with your Google Reader account, is to use the Google Reader webpage in a browser. I find the mobile version of the webpage very easy to use on a mobile device browser, and the site is even easy to use on a desktop browser. My main issue with the native apps is the polling they would have to do each time you synced the app. It would have to upload your read flags and started articles and then download any new articles. After several uses throughout the day, I would have my read flags reset, which was a huge pain.

Google+ – I have only been using the Google+ service for 2 weeks or so, and the few times I have used the new iPhone native app was frustrating. It takes longer to refresh than the Google+ webpage. Enough so, it is very noticeable. I think the update from the last few days, but the webpage does from what I can tell everything the native app does.

GMail – Well, the iPhone mail client is really good. I have recently figured out how to do GMail labels in it, as the app just treats GMail labels like IMAP folders. Once I get this down, I will likely be a lot happier. But, I have to say, managing your inbox, archiving and labeling are much easier to handle in the GMail mobile webpage than on the iPhone mail client.

Those are a few takes on a few apps I use on my mobile device.


Apple pulls antenna test page

August 1, 2010

I guess due to all the bad PR about the page, Apple has removed the page they put up with all the videos showing how various phone reacted to being held specific ways.

http://www.androidcentral.com/apple-gives-trying-make-other-phones-look-bad-pulls-testing-page

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/08/01/apple-removes-competitor-antenna-performance-comparisons-from-site/

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


Motorola and Samsung release open portions of Android OSes

July 30, 2010

Both Motorola and Samsung have released the open portions of their Android device operating systems.

http://www.androidcentral.com/motorola-releases-open-source-portions-droid-x-source-code

http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-releases-captivate-source-code-developers

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


Nice review of Froyo 2.2

July 28, 2010

If you would like to read a very good review of Froyo, aka Android OS 2.2, check out the following link.

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/07/android-22-froyo.ars/

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


Nexus One vs iPhone4 Benchmarks

July 26, 2010

I gathered these numbers from the following links.

Android link:
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/07/android-22-froyo.ars/5

iPhone link:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2010/06/iphone-4.ars/9

Sunspider – measured in secs (lower is better)
Google V8 (higher is better)

Nexus One – Android 2.1
Sunspider – 14,256
Google V8 – 65

Nexus One – Android 2.2
Sunspider – 5,795
Google V8 – 287

iPad
Sunspider – 10,100 (was listed as 10.1 millisecs)
Google V8 – 101 / 86.3

iPhone4
Sunspider – 10,900 (was listed as 10.9 millisecs)
Google V8 – 83.4 / 66.6

iPhone 3GS
Sunspider – 14,200 (was listed as 14.2 millisecs)
Google V8 – fail / 49.3

iPhone 3G
Sunspider – 41,400 (was listed as 41.4 millisecs)
Google V8 – fail / 23.0

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


Android App Stencil Kit

July 26, 2010

If you draw out and design your own Android applications, you should check out this nice stencil kit.

http://gizmodo.com/5595872/create-android-apps-cause-geeky-mischief-with-this-slick-stencil-kit

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


2010 Google IO Session Videos

July 26, 2010

I am new to Android development, and I have been developing for the iOS platform for over a year now. I am one of these people that buys and reads a bunch of books and watching a ton of how-to videos online. I found these 2010 Google IO sessions videos online the other day and thought I would share them.

http://code.google.com/events/io/2010/sessions.html

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


Android developer builds a video chat concept app

July 24, 2010

I saw this video on Engadget earlier today, where an Android developer is using Adobe Air to build an IM application.  This application allows connected phones to share their video camera.  The developer makes one interesting note in the video, where Adobe has AI to recognize when the video image changes or not.  So, if the video image stays the same when the phone is not moved, bandwidth is reduced because the video feed is not changing.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/24/adobe-air-peer-to-peer-video-call-concept-android-app-hands-on/

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


Great Post on how to get Root Access on an AT&T Captivate

July 24, 2010

Here is a great forum post with instructions on how to get Root Access on your AT&T Captivate, aka the Galaxy S on AT&T’s network.

http://forum.androidcentral.com/t-captivate/23618-everything-you-need-know-un-cripple-your-captivate.html

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


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