Menneisyys
02-22-2009, 09:51 PM
IMPORTANT NOTES:
1. a cleaned-up, much improved version of this report will be published in the forthcoming iPhone Life (papermag) issue. As it'll be a joint effort on my and the mag's part (cleaning up the English, making the text as easy to digest as possible by adding additional references / explaining things etc.), I won't be able to post it online, unlike this (initial) version, which is (still) entirely my work. Sorry about this.
2. the article not only refers to the iPhone; for example, the games section (Gameloft) equally applies to Windows Mobile and Java (including Symbian and, probably, even BlackBerry) as Gameloft releases its games to all these platforms as well, not only the iPhone. The same stands for some hardware manufacturers (chargers, cases, or, Parrot with their car kits) and TV broadcast solution companies. That is, you might want to read it even if you don't have an iPhone or an iPod Touch.
3. as usual, a. you can click most shots to get a much bigger and higher-quality version; b. if you download the additional video clips I provide (outside YouTube) and your media player can't play it back, use the free and excellent Videolan VLC to play them. (They use the highest-quality H.264 for video.)
Several software companies developing for the iPhone have attended the Mobile World Conference this year; also, there have been some very nice hardware accessories for the device. First, I introduce some of the software and, then, the hardware news.
1. Generic software
1.1 Gaming
Thanks to the business model of Apple's AppStore and the more or less (the only problem is the lack of a directional pad) gaming-friendly, 3D accelerated hardware, the iPhone enjoys the most game releases with some really high-quality titles. At MWC, some of the gaming companies were also present.
1.1.1 Gameloft
Gameloft is one of the biggest players in the iPhone gaming industry. It’s they that published titles like Asphalt4, the racing game I recommend to everyone. The company has other, excellent titles like Guitar Rock Tour, Real Football 2009 (which has also been awarded a GSMA 2009 award) and CSI:NY (a detective game; not as sophisticated as real text/puzzle adventure games like those of Legend Entertainment or, as far as the iPhone is concerned, 1112 (AppStore link (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=298071041&mt=8); quick review (http://www.smartphonemag.com/iphone/blog/87/great-game-rebates-and-other-news)) a complete rewrite of the very popular, quality Windows Mobile title, Fade).
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/TH/IMG_9342.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/IMG_9342.JPG)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/TH/IMG_9345.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/IMG_9345.JPG)
In addition to their recently released simple 2D shooter game "Wild west Guns”, they also showcased their forthcoming (it should hit the AppStore in early March) golf title "Let’s Golf!” Compared to the other golf title, RESETgame’s "Par 72 Golf”, I’ve played a bit ago, it was much-much faster. The game is excellent in other respects too; for example, it has nice, non-repetitive in-game music in stereo.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/Letsgolf4.png.jpg
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/Letsgolf5.png.jpg
(presskit screenshots; I wasn’t allowed to take direct shots / videos of the game as it's still a work-in-progress)
I’ve also played their Prince of Persia remake, POP HD, on the Windows Mobile platform (more precisely, the forthcoming Toshiba flagship and 3D powerhouse, the TG01). It turned out to be a really well done game, which, hopefully, is very soon ported to the iPhone. Please see our blogs for a game video (http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/blog/9/were-first-publish-mwc-new-hi-res-videos-gameloft’s-forthcoming-3d-accelerated-prince-persia-).
As far as the Windows Mobile ports of Gameloft are concerned, as is explained HERE (http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/blog/9/were-first-publish-mwc-new-hi-res-videos-gameloft’s-forthcoming-3d-accelerated-prince-persia-) (the PocketGamer.org link is also worth checking out for David's additional thoughts on the issue), while the company does port its games to Windows Mobile (that is, this one will too be ported), it only offers them thorugh mobile operators, not via traditional, well-established channels like ClickGamer, Mobile2Day (or even Handango). I really hope they do change this as, for example, their forthcoming Prince of Persia HD really rocks on 3D hardware accelerated phones. (Their big hit on the iPhone, Asphalt4 Racing, wasn't accelerated on the Samsung Omnia, though - it used software rendering, meaning ugly, pixelizated and very slow graphics.)
1.2 Remote desktop control
iPhones can not only be used to play games and make phone calls, but also remote control any desktop computer to, for example, quickly look up data you’ve left on your office or home computer. (You might want to check out THIS (http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/blogs/3/access_your_desktop_pc_from_your_pocket_2) Windows Mobile-specific roundup for more info.) There have already been some implementations of doing this - for example, VNC clients like Veency (in Cydia) or Mocha (in the AppStore) - or the RDP client Jaadu.
1.2.1 LogMeIn Ignition
LogmeIn Ignition is pretty similar to previous remote controller solutions: it makes it possible for you to remote control any desktop Windows PC. It, however, entirely builds on the LogMeIn framework, which has some advantages over "traditional” access methods like VNC or RDP; for example, it allows for gaining access to any desktop computer even through firewalls, without having to remember the Internet address of your computer – which is particularly useful when it’s dynamically changing. LogmeIn has a very easy-to-use interface you’ll quickly familiarize yourself with.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/TH/IMG_9497.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/IMG_9497.JPG)
Some goodies, like file transfer, already implemented in the desktop (or the Windows Mobile) client are (still) missing from the current version; nevertheless, the developers promise they’d look into implementing at least file transfer.
1.3 Adobe Flash
One of the biggest problems with the Web browser of iPhone, Safari, is the lack of Flash support. While Adobe announced last November they have created an iPhone version of Flash and all they did was waiting for AppStore approval. At MWC, they have only announced support for alternative platforms (Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android). Many analysts consider this as a revenge on Apple for not allowing the official client to be entered in AppStore.
1. a cleaned-up, much improved version of this report will be published in the forthcoming iPhone Life (papermag) issue. As it'll be a joint effort on my and the mag's part (cleaning up the English, making the text as easy to digest as possible by adding additional references / explaining things etc.), I won't be able to post it online, unlike this (initial) version, which is (still) entirely my work. Sorry about this.
2. the article not only refers to the iPhone; for example, the games section (Gameloft) equally applies to Windows Mobile and Java (including Symbian and, probably, even BlackBerry) as Gameloft releases its games to all these platforms as well, not only the iPhone. The same stands for some hardware manufacturers (chargers, cases, or, Parrot with their car kits) and TV broadcast solution companies. That is, you might want to read it even if you don't have an iPhone or an iPod Touch.
3. as usual, a. you can click most shots to get a much bigger and higher-quality version; b. if you download the additional video clips I provide (outside YouTube) and your media player can't play it back, use the free and excellent Videolan VLC to play them. (They use the highest-quality H.264 for video.)
Several software companies developing for the iPhone have attended the Mobile World Conference this year; also, there have been some very nice hardware accessories for the device. First, I introduce some of the software and, then, the hardware news.
1. Generic software
1.1 Gaming
Thanks to the business model of Apple's AppStore and the more or less (the only problem is the lack of a directional pad) gaming-friendly, 3D accelerated hardware, the iPhone enjoys the most game releases with some really high-quality titles. At MWC, some of the gaming companies were also present.
1.1.1 Gameloft
Gameloft is one of the biggest players in the iPhone gaming industry. It’s they that published titles like Asphalt4, the racing game I recommend to everyone. The company has other, excellent titles like Guitar Rock Tour, Real Football 2009 (which has also been awarded a GSMA 2009 award) and CSI:NY (a detective game; not as sophisticated as real text/puzzle adventure games like those of Legend Entertainment or, as far as the iPhone is concerned, 1112 (AppStore link (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=298071041&mt=8); quick review (http://www.smartphonemag.com/iphone/blog/87/great-game-rebates-and-other-news)) a complete rewrite of the very popular, quality Windows Mobile title, Fade).
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/TH/IMG_9342.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/IMG_9342.JPG)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/TH/IMG_9345.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/IMG_9345.JPG)
In addition to their recently released simple 2D shooter game "Wild west Guns”, they also showcased their forthcoming (it should hit the AppStore in early March) golf title "Let’s Golf!” Compared to the other golf title, RESETgame’s "Par 72 Golf”, I’ve played a bit ago, it was much-much faster. The game is excellent in other respects too; for example, it has nice, non-repetitive in-game music in stereo.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/Letsgolf4.png.jpg
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/Letsgolf5.png.jpg
(presskit screenshots; I wasn’t allowed to take direct shots / videos of the game as it's still a work-in-progress)
I’ve also played their Prince of Persia remake, POP HD, on the Windows Mobile platform (more precisely, the forthcoming Toshiba flagship and 3D powerhouse, the TG01). It turned out to be a really well done game, which, hopefully, is very soon ported to the iPhone. Please see our blogs for a game video (http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/blog/9/were-first-publish-mwc-new-hi-res-videos-gameloft’s-forthcoming-3d-accelerated-prince-persia-).
As far as the Windows Mobile ports of Gameloft are concerned, as is explained HERE (http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/blog/9/were-first-publish-mwc-new-hi-res-videos-gameloft’s-forthcoming-3d-accelerated-prince-persia-) (the PocketGamer.org link is also worth checking out for David's additional thoughts on the issue), while the company does port its games to Windows Mobile (that is, this one will too be ported), it only offers them thorugh mobile operators, not via traditional, well-established channels like ClickGamer, Mobile2Day (or even Handango). I really hope they do change this as, for example, their forthcoming Prince of Persia HD really rocks on 3D hardware accelerated phones. (Their big hit on the iPhone, Asphalt4 Racing, wasn't accelerated on the Samsung Omnia, though - it used software rendering, meaning ugly, pixelizated and very slow graphics.)
1.2 Remote desktop control
iPhones can not only be used to play games and make phone calls, but also remote control any desktop computer to, for example, quickly look up data you’ve left on your office or home computer. (You might want to check out THIS (http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/blogs/3/access_your_desktop_pc_from_your_pocket_2) Windows Mobile-specific roundup for more info.) There have already been some implementations of doing this - for example, VNC clients like Veency (in Cydia) or Mocha (in the AppStore) - or the RDP client Jaadu.
1.2.1 LogMeIn Ignition
LogmeIn Ignition is pretty similar to previous remote controller solutions: it makes it possible for you to remote control any desktop Windows PC. It, however, entirely builds on the LogMeIn framework, which has some advantages over "traditional” access methods like VNC or RDP; for example, it allows for gaining access to any desktop computer even through firewalls, without having to remember the Internet address of your computer – which is particularly useful when it’s dynamically changing. LogmeIn has a very easy-to-use interface you’ll quickly familiarize yourself with.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/TH/IMG_9497.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022009MWC/IMG_9497.JPG)
Some goodies, like file transfer, already implemented in the desktop (or the Windows Mobile) client are (still) missing from the current version; nevertheless, the developers promise they’d look into implementing at least file transfer.
1.3 Adobe Flash
One of the biggest problems with the Web browser of iPhone, Safari, is the lack of Flash support. While Adobe announced last November they have created an iPhone version of Flash and all they did was waiting for AppStore approval. At MWC, they have only announced support for alternative platforms (Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android). Many analysts consider this as a revenge on Apple for not allowing the official client to be entered in AppStore.