Today Geeksphone has started selling its first Firefox OS phones: the Keon and the Peak. As the online store opened its virtual doors, I was first in line. Not because I believe that the €119 Keon or €194 Peak will be the ultimate replacement for my €750 iPhone 5, but because I’m buying into aContinue reading “Firefox OS: It’s All About the Apps”
Tag Archives: Mobile
FirefoxOS: Beyond Idealism
My former colleague Sergi Mansilla, now working on FirefoxOS, wrote a nice article about the promise of FirefoxOS: But Firefox OS will not be directly battling against other mobile platforms. Its main objective is to change the way the world develops mobile apps, and even in the unlikely event that Firefox OS itself disappears inContinue reading “FirefoxOS: Beyond Idealism”
Facebook’s Project Spartan
While Facebook released its (http://www.facebook.com/videocalling) yesterday, something much more interesting may be coming, possibly later this month. It is called [Project Spartan](http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/15/facebook-project-spartan/). Our interpretation of [TechCrunch’s posts](http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/15/facebook-project-spartan/) about Spartan is that Facebook will do for mobile what it did for its regular web version before: upgrade its “application” status to “platform”. A few years agoContinue reading “Facebook’s Project Spartan”
Google’s New Mobile Tab Interaction
It’s always interesting to observe how regular desktop web interactions can be translated to mobile. With the launch of Google+ with accompanying mobile web app, Google has changed the tab bar along the top of their mobile web apps. At first sight, they seem to have shrunk significantly: When looking more closely you notice anContinue reading “Google’s New Mobile Tab Interaction”
Mobile Apps Are Bad At Mobile
David Singleton monitored his Internet connection while on a train journey. Most people have experienced what it is like using mobile Internet in a driving vehicle — it’s generally pretty unreliable. David found that the big issue is incidental latency. Latency can vary wildly, in his measurements between 100 milliseconds and 20 seconds. TCP does not dealContinue reading “Mobile Apps Are Bad At Mobile”
Are Web Apps An Insult To Users?
Web apps vs. native apps for mobile — this appears to be what everybody is talking about these days. I think native apps currently provide the best user experience, don’t you? As a user, given the choice between a web app and native app, which one would you pick? Unless you signed your life away to theContinue reading “Are Web Apps An Insult To Users?”
Web vs. Native On Mobile: The Never Ending Struggle
It seems to be an everlasting battle: what’s “better”: developing mobile nativeapplications or developing mobile web applications? Sadly, the answer is boring: it depends. What matters to you as the developer? Multiple-platform support. Web applications are a cheap way to go. Develop your application once, run on many platforms immediately. You can reuse the sameContinue reading “Web vs. Native On Mobile: The Never Ending Struggle”
Augmented Reality RPG
Last week, for the first time, I had some time to play some of the games I had been buying over the past months on my iPad. The one that made most of and impression was Aralon, a role-playing game (RPG). I spent several hours running around in its virtual world, shooting bad guys withContinue reading “Augmented Reality RPG”
Is the Mobile Pendulum Swinging From Apps to the Web?
[GigaOM](http://gigaom.com/2010/05/12/is-the-mobile-pendulum-swinging-from-apps-to-the-web/): > The number of mobile-friendly websites is increasing faster than expected, according to the latest data from Taptu, a touch-focused mobile search company. Not only is the touch web growing, it’s growing at a faster rate than Apple’s iTunes App Store, which currently has an annualized revenue rate of nearly a billion dollars.
The Future of Mobile is the Web App
It was January 9th, 2007, a highly anticipated date for many. Steve Jobs got on stage of MacWorld and, for the first time, pulled an iPhone out of his pocket. He showed off the device and spoke: “We figured a really great way to develop applications for this amazing device, and we call them ‘webContinue reading “The Future of Mobile is the Web App”