Tag: iPhone

Droid or iPhone?

Yes, I have them both.  Of course both are fine.  I use my Droid because I want to be like my son, or is it that I don’t use an iPhone to not be like my Dad.  From the Mercury News:

New studies highlight app gap between Apple, Android: As Google and Apple continue their battle for mobile dominance through their Android and iOS operating systems, a pair of new studies report some interesting findings.

The first, a report by Xyologic, finds that “iPhone is for games, Android is for apps.” It found that of the top 150 downloads in November from the Apple App Store, 100 were games, and game downloads outnumbered app downloads by nearly a 3-1 margin (71.5 million to 25.6 million). Only one app developer (Instagram maker Burbn) was on the list of top 25 publishers of 2011 — the rest were game-makers.

On the Android side, 85 of November’s top 150 were apps, and those outnumbered game downloads by an almost mirror image 3-1 ratio (91.5 million apps to 33.4 million games). A number of game-makers were among the year’s top 25 publishers, but that list was topped by Google and Facebook, and included app developers such as Adobe, Skype and Yahoo, all of whom were missing from the Apple list.

(Personal note: That sounds about right — I have significantly more games on my iPad than on my Android phone.)

What’s it all mean? That the Apple platform is more friendly to game developers, for one, reports Venture Beat. Xyologic co-founder Matthaus Krzykowski tells them that payment issues have kept developers from the Android market, which tends to monetize more through advertising, while Apple games lean toward the booming free-to-play model where users purchase upgrades within the game. But Dan Rowinski at RedWriteWeb wonders if there’s a more sociological reason — are Apple users more affluent and do they have more free time on their hands?

Apple users certainly spend more money on apps. That was the finding in a second study, by analysis firm Distimo, that compared the top 200 apps in both the Apple and Android markets. Based on those sales, the combined App Store for iPhone and iPad reaped six times the revenue of Google’s Android market despite Android’s wide lead in smartphone market share. Distimo co-founder Remco van den Elzen tells Wired that he attributes the difference to ease of use — “Google Checkout is considered to be more cumbersome than iTunes.” With Apple, “the threshold for purchasing the first application is lower,” he said.

While none of this data is particularly new or groundbreaking, it is interesting to note the differences between the two platforms, and where future opportunities may lie.

Your Own Personal QR Code

This is mostly just information from the wonderful Gina Trapani and her article on How to Make Your Personal QR Code read it for a more thorough take on the entire subject and great comments.  I am mostly just saving the links to the generators so I can find them in a hurry.

I see QR codes everywhere and I wanted one of my own. 

A QR (“quick response”) code is a square barcode that makes getting URLs, location coordinates, any text or contact information onto a phone quickly. With a barcode scanner app installed, you just point your phone’s camera at the code to read its contents.

To find a scanner application, Google “QR Reader” and the model of your phone.  There is a short review of them for an iPhone, the model I own, here at splitbrain.

This QR code generator can embed a URL, text, a phone number, or an addressed and ready-to-send SMS message into a QR code.

If you Google “QR code generator” you’ll find others, but beware of generators that force a redirect through their site when someone scans the resulting code and gets a URL.

Maker Faire

An amazing list of project at Maker Faire where I went to volunteer last weekend.  I had a great time and worked hard.  I have a number of stories to tell from the faire and pix to upload and they will all come in a rush over the next week.  I would have been sooner, but it is the last week of the school year and I have projects to grade.

I did get an iPhone immediately before traveling down to Maker Faire and the Apps were a huge hit with my engineering partner and myself.  We used Yelp, Google Maps, Facebook, Mail, Twitterrific, Pandora and more in the small and the big towns.

I installed a Case-Mate Screen Protector on my iPhone.  Good thing too, I left the phone on the roof of the car on the trip and when the phone landed it landed face down on the road.  Look at the Screen ProtectorDamaged Screen Protector.

But NO damage to the iPhone face at ALL!  These guys got the protection right.  I am sold.

I will post more on Maker Faire in a day or two.  Peter is home, so off to play in the shop.