8 steps to making an app

Ever wanted to join the digital revolution by making your ideas into an app, but fear you don’t have the time or resources?  Well, put it off no longer, iTechnology has made you a guide to creating your first iPhone application in only six steps…

1)      The Seed

The beginning of all priceless apps comes from a solid developed and researched idea. It may serve a particular niche or purpose, but the truth is originality is the key in a store of over 350,000 applications, including the most obscure including concert lighters, whoopee cushions and more. If originality isn’t possible, we would suggest improving an existing app, but you will face plenty of competition. Sketch down your ideas on a 3.5-inch diagonal rectangle.

2)      The Tools

Writing your own application, as you can imagine, requires an expensive amount of hardware and software. Registering as an Apple Developer is relatively cheap at only £60 annually, and this will provide you with the official software-development kit and uploading software. It goes without saying that you will need access to an up-to-date Intel-based Apple Mac or a PC with Mac OS X, as well as an iPhone and iPod Touch.

3)      The Language

Unless you have already had experience in the languages C/C++ and Objective-C used by iPhone, you should probably team yourself up with a good programmer or get learning. iTechnology recommends reading Programming in Objective-C by Stephen Kochan for a clear introduction.

4)      The Designing

This is where the process becomes very real and very exciting. Reserve your app’s name as part of Apple’s app-submission process, after designing and planning every single detail. Draw up your PNG graphics and make sure the flow of your app screens is all written down to save yourself time and effort later on.

5)      The Test

We’d recommend you test your app before rushing to release it; you’ll be surprised how many difficulties you come across which will ultimately affect your ratings. Design a prototype of your app to test your work on the iPhone.

6)      The Code Writing

Get the coffee ready, it’s time to start transforming your ideas and designs into code. Apple make it easy to move the code you’ve written on your PC to the iPhone to test, so don’t be afraid of continually changing and altering your code to enhance the app’s user interface, navigation and speed.

7)      The last bits

Decide on a price for your app, depending on a number of things including whether it’s an impulse buy or has in-app purchases. As we’ve discovered in this edition of iTechnology, developers believe people have a warped view of prices in the app store – basically anything above 59p has to be justified as worth it. Decide whether you want to give your customers a taster with a free lite version. Set up a website for your app, and heighten customer awareness by sending out press releases, videos, free copies for reviewing and going to Apple conferences for developers.

8)      The Launch

You are ready! You’re eyes may permanently have the graphics of your app burnt into them, but it’s now time to let your creation fly. It takes about 10-14 days after uploading your application with marketing screenshots to Apple for approval. Keep your customers happy, good luck and happy developing!

The New MacBook Pro

I was excited when I heard Apple were releasing updated MacBook Pro’s… but now they are here! Apple have released their latest update to the MacBook Pro family with three new different sized models that are faster, clearer and better.

The MacBook Pro line-up is equipped with state-of-the-art processors, HD Facetime cameras and Apple’s latest I/O technology with a new speedy Thunderbolt expansion port. Visually they are still timeless laptops sculpted by the hands of Jobs, not looking much different from the previous ones to hit our shelves but with plenty of hidden treasures to top it all off.

The aluminium laptops are little pricey: a 13-inch model will start from £999, a 15-inch version from £1,549 and a 17-incher from £2,099. iTechnology suggests avoiding the 13-inch younger brother as it simply isn’t as powerful as the two larger ones, but does still have the majority of features. The main difference between the three is the processors; the bigger devices feature Intel’s quad-core i7 processors, whereas the smaller 13-inch only comes with a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 processor.

When it comes to features these MacBook’s are a treat.  All three versions contain an Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor, but the beauty of the two larger MacBook’s is that they automatically switch to the new high-performance AMD Radeon graphics processors giving out thrilling and fluid graphics when you start up demanding applications such as computer games, or high definition tasks such as FaceTime.

Each version comes with a 720p webcam built-in designed to connect the MacBooks with other Apple software such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to video call people using FaceTime.

Apple has also enhanced control of the new laptops with a glass multi-touch trackpad described by Apple as ‘the most natural way to interact with what’s on your screen’ by letting you zoom, flip and rotate by different gestures.

The ‘breakthrough high speed I/O’ described by Apple is just that, up to 20 times faster than a USB 2.0 port this Thunderbolt technology will connect high-performance peripherals to this high-performance computer. What’s more, seven hours of battery life mean this is one of the longest lasting laptops available, and can provide this for to 1,000 full charges, nearly three times longer than a normal notebook. And this is all whilst giving out state-of-the-art graphics, high-sensitivity control and professional speed.

Is the iPad 2 better than the original?

The iPad 2 hit our shelves in March this year and surprised everybody with inbuilt cameras, an all new A5 processor chip, and a lighter, thinner design. In competition with the likes of Motorola Xoom, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Dell Streak 7, HTC Flyer, LG Optimus Pad, Blackberry PlayBook and more, we’d say Apple are so far ahead in the tablet race. But does it match up to our predictions, and is it worth the 10-month wait?

iTechnology predicted last year that the iPad 2 would be slimmer, have better performance and include better speakers…but we also predicted it would be high definition, with a bigger screen and a decent camera. So we got some parts wrong, but we don’t think there will be a long wait until the future models turn into everything we’d hoped.

Although Apple have not given any specific sales numbers, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicts about 70% of iPad 2 buyers are new users which Apple will be more than pleased about. Apple spokesperson Trudy Miller said in an interview with The Loop: “Demand for the next generation iPad 2 has been amazing. We are working hard to get iPad 2 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible.”

But despite months of distribution planning Apple reportedly sold out of the iPad 2 within the first weekend. Why? Apart from rumours of stock shortage due to it going on sale in America weeks before us, we’re not sure. As far as we’re concerned the original iPad has just had a facelift and a kick up the backside. The 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution is exactly the same, you can still only get it in 16, 32 or 64GB and the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hasn’t been upgraded.

But it does get better. The first obvious improvement is how slim and light the iPad 2 is. At just 8.8mm wide and weighing 1.33 pounds the new device is 33% thinner and 15% lighter than the original. This, along with angled edges to reduce weight, seemed like a brilliant transformation until we realised how flimsy it made it.

Also, brand new to the iPad is not one but two cameras. A front-facing VGA camera and rear-facing 5MP camera allow users to take photos, 720p HD video recording and use the new FaceTime feature to connect the iPad to other Apple products such as the iPhone. Although the cameras aren’t iPhone 4 quality, it’s more than the original offered and it’s a nice addition that can be worked on.

The new Apple A5 chipset was something we had hoped for given the original iPad’s tendency to crash and stall on some applications. Apple claims the 1GHz dual core application processor is twice as fast as the original A4, meaning “multitasking is smoother, apps load faster and everything just works better.” The clock speed of the A5 processor is described by Apple as nine times better on graphics whilst still being able to maintain a 10-hour battery life. This, along with the doubled RAM size of 512MB compared to 256MB in the first iPad, means these tablet generations are moving fast in the right direction. Apple have also greatly improved the browsing experience on the iPad 2 by an  iOS 4.3 upgrade which shows 80% better performance than the first iPad, also loading pages at around 35% faster.

Other additional features such as the HDMI capability, parental control restrictions, wireless keyboards and docking stations push the iPad 2 to the top of the tablets chart… but the colourful covers that are being sold to protect the delicate device are feeble and not sufficient enough for us. Whatsmore, we can appreciate the benefits of the iPad 2 knowing your whereabouts by combining the gyroscope, accelerometer and compass to navigate maps and play games, but with recent news of Apple’s secret hidden files tracking our every move…we’re just a little cautious.

So the answer to our question is yes it is better, but certain ‘improvements’ are half-hearted and will see further improvements when the highly rumoured iPad 3 is released!