The new iPhone firmware is going to bring many magical things to the iPhone loving masses. We all know that, and there is no doubt about it. This little gem though, makes it even sweeter. There are rumors, that the latest build of the iPhone SDK, suggests that handwriting recognition may be included in the 2.0 firmware. Unfortunately, as of now at least, it is not for English.
Yes, oddly enough the ability is only supported for Chinese. While it is not confirmed the ability actually even exists. According to one source, the new iPhone firmware, build 5A258F, has several Chinese input methods. It is rumored, that one method is this fabled handwriting recognition. If the feature does come to fruition, hopefully it will make it to an English version.
Handwriting recognition for the iPhone presents one major problem. The iPhone, does not use, or support a stylus. This is because the iPhone uses a capacitive touch screen, and not a resistive touch screen, such as is found on Windows Mobile devices. While it would not be a far leap to write on the screen with a finger, it would be a different experience to say the least. Hey, it is a step in the right direction though.
[Via iPhone Alley]
Written by Chase Higgins on May 5th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Apple iPhone Rumor and SDK and iPhone SDK and iPhone archive and rumor.
In a sit down with Jonathan Schwartz, the CEO of Sun Microsystems, Engadget Mobile’s Ryan Block discussed the process of porting the Java platform to the iPhone. Overall, Schwartz seems very confident that Java is going to be in the future for the iPhone. He says they are having no problems on the technical side of things, but may face a few on the legal side.
“Well I think the only difficulty will be what Apple presents through its EULA. But I think that I think EULA is a bit of an oxymoron to me. They’re end users, they have the freedom to choose what they’d like to do, so I think we are going to leave it up to users to decide how they want to use the technology.” -Jonathan Schwartz, CEO Sun Microsystems
While bringing Java to the iPhone is obviously a huge ambition for Sun, they do not know when they will be able to deliver. Schwartz did emphasize they they have “redoubled the focus and activity”, that this is not “simple stuff”, and that it takes companies time to get these kind of things to the public. He touched on the fact that there are countless Java applications out there, and that bringing them to the iPhone presents developers with more opportunity. Really, the whole interview conveyed a very deep concern for the interest of developers by Schwartz.
Schwartz became an iPhone owner himself recently, and says that he is liking it. Maybe with an iPhone himself he will have the process of getting Java to the iPhone expedited. It will take as long as it takes I guess, but hey you never know.
[Via Engadget Mobile]
Written by Chase Higgins on May 3rd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on SDK and iPhone 3rd Party Apps and iPhone SDK and iPhone archive.
McAfee’s anti virus solution for the iPhone, called Stinger, would be the first of the of it’s kind. A version of it was leaked to the public recently, and the official statement from McAfee is that the software is a proof of concept and is not ready for the public to use yet. This is very clear when you consider the application was not built with the SDK, and would have to be written over again for use on iPhones using the SDK.
Though McAfee has not announced any plans to follow through and actually get this software out the door, they are pleased with the reaction they have gotten from the iPhone community. All this means that contrary to earlier reports that said this software could be malicious, it seems that is not the case. Either way, be careful, as leaked software has a tendency to become infested with malware.
To some, it may seem that it is not necessary to have anti virus on the iPhone, or mobile phones in general for that matter. This is not true, the iPhone firmware 1.1.1 was jailbroken and subsequently unlocked thanks to an exploit, that with anti virus software may not have worked. While that was a case where the exploit was good, it could have just the same been used to execute malicious code. With mobile phones becoming more and more advanced, you will surely be seeing more of this type of software.
[Via WinAndMac]
Written by Chase Higgins on May 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on SDK and Software and iPhone 3rd Party Apps and iPhone SDK and iPhone archive.
Unless you have been living under a rock the last few months, then you know that the 3G iPhone is one of the single hottest news items being discussed right now. This week is no different. One rumor of it may offer a little light at the end of the tunnel though. The 3G version of the BlackBerry has been pushed back. The reason is not confirmed, but the BlackBerry was supposed to launch in June. Some are speculating the delay is due to AT&T not wanting to launch two competing devices at the same time.
A new feature was unlocked for the iPhone this week, the ability to record videos. DreamCatcher has brought their recording application to the iPhone. The feature is much sought after in iPhone circles. DreamCatcher is not bringing this service to the iPhone for nothing though, and is going to be charging $20 for the application.
iPhone developers were treated to a pleasant surprise, when the iPhone SDK beta 4 was released earlier in the week. The new SDK brings OpenGL ES functionality to the included iPhone emulator, which was a much requested improvement asked of Apple by the developers. Apple also took the opportunity to release a new build of the 2.0 firmware beta, called build 5A258f.
This week we also found out that not only can can images be saved from Safari with the new firmware, but so can images sent through email. The feature was discovered right here on iPhone Buzz by Vincent. It works in much the same way as saving images from safari, you hold your finger over an image in the email for a moment, and then you are presented with an option to save the image.
Finally, after much speculation it turned out that the supposed black 3G iPhone photo well-circulated during the past few weeks is, in fact, simply a case for the current handset. Still, apparent confirmation (as if anything is ever confirmed until Steve Jobs announces it to be the case!) of the upcoming device having 3G, GPS and more should make up for any photograph disappointment.
Written by Chase Higgins on April 27th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 3G iPhone and Apple Firmware and BlackBerry and Featured and Software and Weekly Rewind and iPhone 2.0 and iPhone SDK and iPhone archive.
The new iPhone SDK is going to give developers another tool in their arsenal. The new iPhone SDK has a sort of semi background process support that has been discovered. It is important to note that this is not background process support, at least not in the true sense of the word. Also, the documentation that comes with the SDK still says only one application can run at a time. So what is all this you are hearing about background process support?
The whole discussion around this is because a certain method of allowing an application to gain or lose active status. This would suggest that applications could have the ability to run in the background. It is misleading though. In actuality, it will just allow an application to continue to run when the device is locked, or if a window opens over the current application. Just as now, if you hit the home button, or open a new application, the current one exits. The documentation of the SDK says it very well.
“When an application is inactive, it is executing but is not dispatching incoming events. This occurs when an overlay window pops up or when the device is locked.â€
This is at least a step in the right direction. While we can only hope for true background process support, the iPhone developers have seemed to do very well without it. With it’s broad scope of applications and powerful interface, the iPhone already is a hot platform for developers, background process support or not.
[Via iPhone Atlas]
Written by Chase Higgins on April 26th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on SDK and iPhone 2.0 and iPhone 3rd Party Apps and iPhone SDK and iPhone archive.
