Posts tagged ipad apps
Facebook Video Player for iPad
Apr 14th
CTA RATING: 
The name really says it all. Facebook Video Player for iPad is a new app from Kemal Taskin & Elma DIGIT@L. This app is — I mean this seriously — one of my favorite apps on the iPad. I guess I would consider myself a Facebook junkie but my wife is a lot worse so I don’t feel that bad. Love you, babe.
One of the biggest complaints about the iPad, iPhone and/or iPod touch is its lack of Flash. I’ve been brainwashed into thinking that Flash sucks by Apple (in truth, it really does… at least on the Mac) but so much of our lives are spent viewing Flash. This is not by choice. This is by some stupid necessity because of dumb industry standards. We’re really happy that the industry is responding well to the iPad and other Apple products. Countless websites are going flash free for HTML5 alternatives that are just as powerful and completely compatible with the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch… and in return, they’re compatible with many other mobile devices.
Contrary to popular belief, Flash has not become a standard for the mobile industry: very few phones have it. It’s no wonder that websites are throwing Flash out for other options. Every day, more people begin using their mobiles instead of their computers… every day people drive themselves insane by grumbling at websites that use Flash. So why is the transition so slow? Ask the website you’re reading, we don’t really know.
Facebook is one of the worst offenders in the anti-Flash campaign. Many websites are using the excuse that it would be difficult to offer the features of their Flash video players with HTML5. Facebook can’t use that excuse: it’s video player is probably the worst looking, least feature-rich video player on the web. Play, pause, volume and fullscreen. Wow. There is no reason for Facebook to still be using Flash for their videos when one developer could code the same player in HTML5 with very little effort. Boo!
Thanks to the new Facebook Video Player for iPad… I can watch videos on my favorite web browsing device. There really is nothing else like browsing the web on your iPad and my Facebook addiction is a little more than healthy. The app helps out by bringing up the regular Facebook website and allows you to browse like you would normally. Whenever you run across a video of your college roommate passing out while he’s walking down the street, just tap the video TITLE and the video will play. You cannot actually tap the video as that will just bring up a Flash error. Once the video opens, you can add it as a favorite for later viewing. The interface is a little awkward and not very intuitive, but it works and that’s what we really care about. The developer will be including a help video in the next version. In general, it’s really quite slick and definitely a sanity saver for the people (like me) who are obsessed with Facebook.
We did ask the developer about upcoming features and improvements for the app… this is what will be coming in the near-future releases:
- French, Italian and Turkish language support.
- Video Thumbnail Support: you’ll actually be able to click the thumbnail instead of the title.
- Help Video
- Video Download Manager: will allow you to save movies for offline viewing.
- Advanced Search
With those features, this app will be the easier way to watch Flash Facebook videos on your iPad. If you’re an avid Facebook junkie, this app is a must-have and definitely worth the $2.99 for the iPad version. You can also hop down the road a bit and grab the iPhone version for $1.99
- Facebook Video Player
- Facebook Video 2
- FBVideo Click for iTunes
Sorry for the default pictures, my iPad crashed and dumped the ones I captured. :/
The iPad doesn’t break the bank, but the apps do.
Apr 6th
Paul Miller, we hate you… not really. We’ve been putting off this post until this evening so we could give it the full attention it deserves. During our evening rounds, we spotted this post over at Engadget. Thanks, Paul. We want to be a little more blunt with our writing but at least we know that we’re not alone.
One thing that we’ve noticed since the introduction of the iPad App Store: app prices are ridiculous. We’re not saying that developers don’t deserve to be paid for their efforts, but the trends that are dominating the App Store need… to… stop… now. There are a few different ways that we’re getting screwed, so here goes.
Most everyone was expecting apps to go “universal” so they could run on your iPad or your iPhone/iPod touch. Our worst criticism of the iPad App Store is that most developers decided to avoid that model completely. There are a few who decided to go universal with their apps — one being Oceanhouse Media, the developer responsible for the Dr. Seuss books and one whom we’ve written about in the past — and to all of you who have gone universal… we THANK you.
Other developers, including the ones who build the games in the graphic to the right, have decided that we have to pay for the same content twice. Take a look at the graphic — click it to make it larger — and you’ll notice that developers are choosing to double their app prices for the iPad. Most developers are going more than double… we’ve seen some apps that started at $0.99 and are now selling for $9.99 on the iPad. That’s outright ridiculous.
Let’s look at Fieldrunners… we paid more than the current $2.99 iPhone pricing for the app to begin with and have purchased all of the expansions for more playability but yet, we still have to pay another $7.99 for the exact same application. Granted, the iPad app has prettier graphics, but there’s no difference in the gameplay: no more spaces, no more towers… nothing. They do have a new map listed as coming soon, but they’ll probably charge us to play it when it’s released. Awesome.
If we were to upgrade all four of those applications, we’d spend $50 between the iPhone and iPad versions… and that doesn’t include the in-app purchases. Let’s make it $60+. Four apps > 10% of the device cost. Not okay. We’re unfairly attacking Fieldrunners here. Most developers suck just as bad as Subatomic Studios. PopCap, we really expected better from you… in fact, we expected better from all the developers. We definitely expected better from Apple.
As Paul points out in his post on Engadget, developers are not solely responsible for this BS. Apple still hasn’t given us a way to properly demo an app that we’d like to purchase. Sure, developers can do a free version and make their money in-game, but that business model gets annoying. We, just like everyone else, would like to see a demo of the full apps we’ll be purchasing (please make it mandatory for all paid apps). If we can’t see what it’s going to do, we’re definitely not going to spend $9.99 to find out. $0.99 was a reasonable waste if we don’t like the app… but $9.99 is going to keep us from buying a lot of apps.
We’re not sure what to think about “Things.” It looks like a complete waste of money. $9.99 for the iPhone app, $19.99 for the iPad and $49.99 for the desktop version. $70 bucks is a lot of money to stay organized with one app. Cough.
What can we learn from this? Doubling your app price is stupid. Charging your loyal customers twice for the same thing is stupid. Thinking we’ll support your ridiculous prices is stupid. Get the hint?
We like most of the developers out there, but you’re going to get bad reviews and fewer sales if you leave your prices where they are now. The iPad isn’t a “premium” device. It’s supposed to be mobile computing for the masses. Suck it up, lower your prices, write good software and let us buy it from you.
Developers, submit your iPad apps now… seriously, go.
Mar 19th
Apple sent out an email this morning to all of the developers in the App Store giving them the green light on their iPad apps. It’s a very interesting move… most developers haven’t even seen an iPad and have only been able to test their apps in the iPad simulator. TUAW’s Erica Sadun presents an interesting point of view, explaining that “the simulator uses many Macintosh frameworks and libraries, offering features that are not actually present on the iPhone. Applications that appear to be completely operational and fully debugged on the simulator may flake out or crash on the device itself. You simply cannot fully debug any program solely by using the simulator and be assured that the software will run bug-free on the iPhone.”
We’ve recently heard that Apple shipped several key developers iPads but has a 10-page contract about its use, storage and other restrictions so that information doesn’t leak out. While that’s great for those developers, it’s really showing Apple’s lack of connection with everyone else. The iPad simulator is not perfect; even the current iPhone simulator has its issues… so what makes Apple think that releasing applications without testing them on hardware is a good thing?
Well, the review team will test the apps on hardware, and that makes it good enough. If you submit your app now, the review team will test it and hopefully approve it for the launch of the iPad App Store (we’re guessing April 3rd, obviously). Developers are at a huge disadvantage here. If the review team finds an error when the app is running on hardware, they’ll deny it and tell the developer to fix it and re-submit. That’s not going to work well… at all. First, the app could run just fine in the simulator. Second, how are you supposed to replicate a hardware error without hardware?
Do we really see an alternative? No. There have to be apps available on launch day, but we’re not too excited about running glitchy apps for the first couple of weeks while developers fix the unexpected errors.
Apple ups the app size for 3G downloads
Feb 19th
In a somewhat surprising move, Apple actually increased the 3G download size to 20MB from the previous 10MB.
If you were out and about trying to download applications on your iPhone, you were only allowed to download it if the app size was 10MB or smaller. That size was increased to 20MB today. It appears that it’s not world-wide. Some countries are still reporting the 10MB cap, but thank goodness U.S. AT&T customers are good… otherwise we might see some serious uproar.
This is great news for those of us who are away from Wi-Fi a lot. We tend to do most of our app updating and downloading while we’re waiting for stuff to happen. Waiting in line at the grocery store, check for app updates. Waiting for the guy at Starbucks to detail his no-whip venti double mocha triple espresso slim (whatever), browse the top downloads. This applies to iTunes content as well: download the latest music video while you’re in the bathroom at the movie theater. Apple is obviously working with wireless providers to make our experiences better.
This also comes at an important time before the iPad launch. Keeping an iPhone application under 10MB isn’t necessarily an easy task. Now imagine doing that with nearly triple the screen resolution. In order to make things pretty, you’re going to bump up the graphics, thus increasing the app size. It’s still going to be difficult to keep feature-rich apps under 20MB for the iPad.
Before you worry, we’re not concerned about the increased size blowing up the data networks… most people don’t pay as much attention to app updates as they should. I sometimes check my wife’s phone and she has 15-20 app updates that she’s never done. Me: umm… why? Her: it takes too long. This change won’t necessarily speed up the process but, updates or new installs, this will make a lot of people a bit happier with AT&T (and Apple).
