I just tried the new Phonegap online service, and it’s pretty impressive. I already had a mobile html website handy, so all I had to do was upload it as a zip file. Within minutes, I was running it on my Android phone. It had also built iPhone, Android, WebOS, and Symbian apps. It would have completed one for Blackberry too but it found some compatibility errors which it kindly pointed out to me.
Here are screenshots:
Amazon continues to change the game with the launch of the new Kindle tablet. I’ve posted further about this over at Good Screens Media.
The technical details of the new Silk browser are fascinating. Silk is a custom webkit browser that routes page requests through an Amazon proxy server. Pages get optimized within the proxy server. Information gets cached on EC2 servers to speed up DNS lookups and file downloads such as images, CSS, and JavaScript. EC2 will keep permanent connections open to popular sites like Facebook and Google to reduce latency.
Going still further, Amazon will monitor a user’s web traffic and intelligently pre-load pages on their actual device if it’s likely the user will soon visit that page. And like the Android world (and unlike the crazy world of iOS), Flash is supported.
At the Internet protocol level, the new browser improves performance further through the use of SPDY, short for “speedy”, that was developed by Google to enhance HTTP internet speeds through a combination of compression, optimization, and request prediction.
The Nerdiacs report great success using Marmalade to port games to Android and iPhone. They say:
“When we started development on our first title, the first thing as usual was to find our needs and select an engine in accordance to them. After considerable debate, we knew what we really needed was a cross-platform engine for mobile phones which should have solid 3D apis and support as many platforms as possible. This hunt coupled with our naivety as it was our first title, led to us the EdgeLib Engine. Our experiences with it was scarring to say the least, but definitely a huge learning experience which we will leave at that for a post in the future. This made us hunt for a new stronger solution, that we can call our base, our motherland, and that is exactly what we found with Airplay SDK now called Marmalade.”
Marmalade’s strength is in taking iOS games to Android. They allow the use of full-featured C++ and support both Microsoft Visual C++ and Mac XCode.
Marmalade is fully owned by Ideaworks3D Limited. Learn more on their website.
Google has announced that they’ve acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. No doubt this will shake up the mobile landscape as Google goes from software licensor into a full-on equipment manufacturer.
Amusingly, Google has posted quotes from their other Android partners on their website. Of course, what choice do they have but to pretend this is a good thing for their handset business.
“We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.”
– J.K. Shin, President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division“I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Bert Nordberg, President & CEO, Sony Ericsson“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.”
– Peter Chou, CEO, HTC Corp.“We welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D, President & CEO, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company
This is what we love about mobile. It never gets boring.
Very creative idea, Amazon. Give away free games to anyone who installs your app store. Excellent technique to get around the OEMs, Carriers, and OS maker.
Also clever to pop up in the notification bar every time your app needs to be updated.
The downside is I’m installing more games on my phone. I liked having that obstacle of a paywall to reduce my casual gaming.
During 2010 we heard a lot about HTML5 and its possibilities and capabilities. The new updated version of the web standard HTML was at the spotlight and everyone was pretty interested in learning more about its features and techniques. HTML5 has lots of new and interesting tags that allow you to easily incorporate videos, use drag and drop and do hundreds of cool effects and interactions. Here we will show a list with 20 examples of websites using HTML5 and their developers. Almost all examples are developers/designers pages, what show us that several professionals are already adepts of this new trend.
We also checked how are the websites reacting in mobile versions, we tested the iPhone and Android (G1) environment. The Android was tested via emulator, so maybe some results are not 100% accurate.
Beautiful background image and hover effects.
Designer/developer: Cameron Moll.
iPhone performance: everything looks good, the video from the header was removed at the mobile version.
Android performance: everything looking good, even the video.
Simple and elegant layout with nice hover effects.
iPhone performance: text look good and centralized but the background looks a bit out of place.
Android performance: everything ok
Super clean and beautiful layout.
Designer/developer: Jeroen Homan.
iPhone performance: main content and images are ok, footer is not loading properly.
Android performance: everything looking good.
Nice image transitions and subtle menu hover effects.
Designer/developer: Keyzo IT Solutions.
iPhone performance: works fine but could make more use of media queries instead of loading a static version to adjust the screen size.
Android performance: looks good.
Clean and minimal layout with beautiful hover effects.
Designer/developer: Rui Mollar.
iPhone performance: also looks good but loads in the static size of the screen.
Android performance: ok
Subtle shadow when hovering menus and a nice image showcase and transitions.
Designer/developer: Superhug.
iPhone performance: looks good and works fine.
Android performance: looks fine.
Nice effect on header’s menu and framed links with hover effects.
Designer/developer: Ricardo Saavedra.
iPhone performance: looks good, also adjusted to fit the screen.
Android performance: everything working.
Designer/developer: Yellowhammer Creative.
iPhone performance: perfect!
Android performance: also perfect!
Nice header and search box fade effect. Also nice text shadows.
Designer/developer: TheFella.
iPhone performance: great!
Android performance: also great!
Great colors, design, navigation, images disposition and simplicity.
Designer/developer: Cazinc Web Development.
iPhone performance: perfect!
Android performance: yeah, perfect here too!
Beautiful header background images and hover effect on menus.
Designer/developer: Planetperki.
iPhone performance: looks and works good, even the background transitions.
Android performance: also good.
Really nice and smooth image transitions and hover effects.
Designer/developer: Planetperki.
iPhone performance: looks and works good, even the background transitions.
Android performance: same here.
Nice single page layout with vertical slider navigation, cool hover effects and images disposition.
Designer/developer: Michael Acevedo.
iPhone performance: perfect!
Android performance: also perfect!
Awesome user interaction at navigation. Attention to details and beautiful interface.
Designer/developer: Nerd Communications.
iPhone performance: great!
Android performance: not working at all, probably because it’s an iPhone / iPod Touch app. 
Really nice transitions and background effects.
Designer/developer: Julien Etienne.
iPhone performance: not loading properly, broken background and text.
Android performance: apparently everything works fine.
Single page design with nice vertical slider navigation and effects. Good user interaction.
Designer/developer: Vision 18.
iPhone performance: perfect!
Android performance: also perfect!
All HTML5 game.
Designer/developer: Michiel Van den Anker.
iPhone performance: not working.
Android performance: not working.
Really nice shadow effects and image/information boxes.
Designer/developer: ZingChart.
iPhone performance: works good, the only effect missing is the shadows, everything else is ok.
Android performance: works fine.
Another HTML5 game.
Designer/developer: Kate.
iPhone performance: not working.
Android performance: not working.
Clean and elegant layout where we hover around to check browser readiness for HTML5 & CSS3 features. Really nice interaction and effects.
Designer/developer: Paul Irish and Divya Manian.
iPhone performance: not working. The site loads broken and you can’t navigate it properly.
Android performance: looks good but doesn’t have the same interaction and effects.
A new report from eLance provides some metrics about how quickly the demand for mobile developers is rising:
Demand for experts in mobile technologies continues to grow at an impressive pace with demand for iPad programmers growing 15% quarter-over-quarter, and iPhone programmers growing 10%. However, Android developers experienced even higher growth in Q4 thanks to a 20% rise in demand quarter-over-quarter. Demand for iOS and Android programmers is unlikely to slow down anytime soon, as Verizon and other carriers start selling Apple products, and a flurry of new Android devices announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show hit the market.
As the technology “wars” continue to rage onward, some underlying trends remain the same: With a huge 48% growth quarter-over-quarter, demand for HTML5 programmers continues to skyrocket as businesses look to not only revamp existing websites, but also create a presence on increasingly popular tablet and mobile devices. On the other hand, despite showing no significant growth in Q4, Flash continues to hold steady as a sought-after skill, indicating that businesses are not dropping the proprietary technology anytime soon.
Read the full report on eLance.
If you are a celebrity and you want to build a mobile app, we recommend MobileRoadie. We also recommend it for anyone seeking a slick but simple app that runs on iPhone and Android.
Mobile Roadie is a self service mobile app platform. With a number of celebrity clients and a focus on the music industry, Mobile Roadie has seen some big successes. They currently support iPhone and Android. While expensive with a setup fee and monthly subscription, MobileRoadie has a well-designed interface and solid list of reference apps.
Sample:
Taylor Swift (Apple Android)
Having acquired the knowledge assets and customers of three competitors (Vettro, Dexterra, and Vaultus) Antenna has established itself as key player in the Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) market. Catering to large, global enterprises, Antenna will transform any business processes by extending the access to enterprise systems to high powered smartphones for service technicians and other mobile employees.
The Sybase Unwired Platform is a leading Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP). Enterprises and software vendors can build native applications for a variety of devices with familiar tools while leveraging common business logic, shared management and security tools, and other Sybase technology components. SAP’s acquisition of Sybase was a defining move in their mobile strategy, although the Sybase platform can still tap other third party and proprietary software.
Technical features include integration tools for back-end data sources such as databases, web services, files, SAP applications, and other SOA enterprise applications. The platform enables development of mobile applications across iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows 32 (laptops/tablets), and Windows Mobile devices. Development is done through Visual Studio or Eclipse. Sybase also promises enterprise-grade features such as scalability, security, and remote administration of software and user profiles on the device.
Sample App created with Unwired Platform:
Download sample code and documentation
Other notable mobile offerings from Sybase include:
Mobile CRM provides mobile customer relationship management with specialized components for coupons, marketing, and sales support.
Mobile Messaging provides SMS integration (formerly Mobile 365). Mobile Payments provides tools for financial institutions create mobile offerings. iAnywhere Mobile Office provides email support for Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange on Windows Mobile, iPhone and Nokia Series 60 devices.
Pros and Cons:
Enterprise scalability, security, and remote administration.
Ability to integrate into enterprise backend systems.
Relatively simple interface builder that doesn’t yet support all devices.
Enterprise price.
Google experts talk about the process of developing Android handsets.Watch the video.
Looking forward to seeing how this works. From their
Read moreThis is pretty neat. Use an online dashboard to create a nice looking mobile theme, and export the css.
Read moreI just tried the new Phonegap online service, and it's pretty impressive....
Read more
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