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Hey, Angry Birds Fans: Check Out This App!
In a quest for new content for my iPad 2, I came across Chicken Balls HD today. It’s a new physics-based puzzle game for the iPad (any generation) that combines elements of two successful iOS gaming predecessors in one fun (and frustrating) new package.

It’s clear that Chicken Balls HD developer Endlooop Studios had Angry Birds in mind when it created the game. The main character is a spherical chicken named Crash that you launch via a jeep-mounted slingshot-type weapon in order to free captive baby chicks who’ve been abducted by aliens. So for those keeping score, you’ve got birds, you got slinging, and you’ve got abduction in common between the two titles.

But Chicken Balls HD is no simple clone. It’s apparent from the start screen that the developers behind this game took a lot of time with the visual style of the graphics, and playing beyond the first few levels reveals that gameplay goes beyond the Angry Birds formula of just smashing things.

Visually, as I say, Chicken Balls is quite distinct. It sort of resembles Kirby’s Epic Yarn for the Wii, if there are any console gamers out there. Characters, scenery and objects all look as though they were cut out of fabric or materials and affixed to the backdrop. It’s an appealing look, and it carries over the game’s general UI, too. I especially love how you can use iOS’ pinch-to-zoom function to get a closer look at the finer details of the level and character designs.

Five levels in, you’ll be able to activate “Farmageddon!” mode, which lets you activate a scoring bonus that fills the screen with falling farm animals. It’s a frenzy that will have you furiously tapping away at your iPad’s screen amid visual chaos to try and rack up the highest score possible. It takes skill to activate “Farmaggedon!”, especially in later levels, so don’t go thinking it’s easy after a few early successes.

It’s not long before gameplay becomes even more interesting with the addition of pinball-like bumpers and obstacles that bring a distinctive Peggle-like feel to Chicken Balls. It definitely adds a greater degree of difficulty and, in fact, you should probably prepare yourself for a bit of frustration. But it’s the kind of frustration that will have you coming back for more. Tossing Crash into a maze of pegs that send him bouncing around at crazy angles adds an element of absolute chaos that Angry Birds doesn’t provide.

Chicken Balls HD is now available in the App Store for a limited time launch price of $2.99. It currently boasts two separate level packs with 50 levels in total, and Endloop promises to deliver more periodically as well as GameCenter support and other new features. There’s also an iPhone version on the way, though it’ll be a separate purchase, not a universal app. If you’re looking for a new gaming fix for your iPad, Chicken Balls HD definitely provides.
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Apple Backs Up Its In-App Purchasing Ultimatum With iPad 2
Apple had a tremendous opening weekend for the iPad 2, regardless of which analyst estimates you choose to believe, and that success could translate into another win in the company’s next big battle. I’m talking about the in-app purchasing showdown scheduled for the end of June.

As of Jun. 30, Apple will require apps that offer content for use in an app through an external store also offer it through in-app purchasing. Apps must also refrain from providing a link to their own external stores, and hand over the same 30 percent cut to Apple that the company makes from all App Store purchases. Likely the most high profile app that will be affected is Amazon Kindle for iOS devices, which currently handles all its e-book sales through the Amazon web store, but it’s far from alone.

So why did Apple give apps until Jun. 30 to comply with the policy, especially when it already barred the Sony Reader app from even entering the App Store beginning in February? It probably had at least something to do with giving publishers time to get their act in order and figure out how best to comply and rework apps without feeling rushed, but there’s no way that Apple’s release timeline for the iPad 2 didn’t figure into its scheduling in this matter.

The iPad 2′s inability to stay on store shelves serve as a blunt, effective reminder that, when it comes to the tablet market, Apple has the game safely in hand. Essentially, it’s a way of saying “you could opt to walk away, but remember, this is what you’re walking away from.” Amazon may have a hit on its hands with its own Kindle hardware, and apps for every major platform, but walking away from the App Store means turning its back on millions of potential paying customers. It was true before the launch of the iPad 2, but the success of that device serves to underscore the point in a way that’s impossible to logically argue against.

As Ryan notes, new reports have also surfaced that Apple’s lastest update renders web apps launched from the home screen slow and just generally worse than their native App Store. If Apple does indeed want to close the iOS ecosystem even further than it has already, it makes sense that it would do so now, when iOS has enough reach and mindshare to make even Apple’s biggest content partners think twice about disputing the Mac-maker’s terms.

Numbers may be in Apple’s favor going into the June showdown, but there’s still no guarantee that that means things will definitely work out in its favor when the gauntlet drops. Users, for their part, will likely side with the platform they’re most invested in, and for a vast majority, that’s going to mean Apple, although I’ve talked to at least a couple people who say if Amazon leaves iOS, they’ll likely follow. If it does come down to an either/or choice, which side are you on?
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Apple Reportedly Sandbagging Performance of Home Screen Web Apps

Web apps saved to the home screen of iOS devices run less than half as fast as the same apps launched from the Safari browser and don’t have offline caching access, according to a report by the Register. The site said web apps opened from the home screen are not able to take advantage of iOS’ updated Nitro JavaScript engine in 4.3, offline caching and asynchronous mode for better-looking apps. While this could very well be a bug that is yet to be fixed, it raises conspiracy suspicions of some who wonder if Apple is not in any hurry to have web apps on the home screen compete with native apps, which Apple gets a 30 percent cut of.

This comes not long after Apple also required publishers to use its in-app purchase system for subscriptions, which has prompted a lot of grumbling from some developers and publishers because it forces them to give Apple a 30 percent cut of revenues. One way to get around that would be to build web applications, which can be saved as bookmarks on to a home screen and can appear like a traditional native app. Apple has said it embraces both native and web applications built in HTML5 and other web standards. But if web apps launched from the home screen are slower or are crippled, it does give Apple’s native apps a better competitive edge. And it could be a big incentive for developers to stick with native apps rather than try and build web apps. That’s where concerns are popping up. A discussion on Hacker News includes suspicions that this is intentional.

“It makes web apps (that work with any platform) slower, while native apps are not penalized. That increases Apple’s revenue because it will encourage people to make native apps instead of web apps, which has a two-fold effect: one, they get 30 percent of the app’s revenue, and two, you have to buy an iPhone to use it,” said one commenter.

Now that is assuming the performance problem is purposeful. Again this could be a bug, though the Register quotes a developer who alerted the Mobile Safari team to the situation and said Apple indicated the situation will not be fixed. I have reached out to Apple and am waiting a response. In the meantime, here’s the details of the problem as reported by the Register:

The Safari browser includes a new Nitro JavaScript engine but that doesn’t appear to be available to apps launched from the home screen. That translates into web apps on the home screen running two to two and half times as slow as their Safari counterparts. Home screen web apps also can’t take advantage of web caching systems that allow an app to keep running even when offline. Web apps are also using an older “synchronous” mode of presenting content, instead of the new “asynchronous” mode which renders the screen better. The Register said that the issues also affect native apps that utilize Apple’s UIWebView API, basically native apps that are built in HTM5 and wrapped with a native wrapper. That means that native apps that lean heavily on web content can also see decreased performance.

If suspicions prove true and Apple is throttling the performance of some web apps, that would call into question its intentions behind supporting HTML5. Already, it has an advantage in promoting HTML5 and mobile web standards because they usually result in apps that are behind natively built apps. But the gap is closing and some developers are looking at building more applications built off the web, especially in light of Apple’s new subscription rules. I doubt though that Apple will leave this situation uncorrected, now that it’s come to light. If it wasn’t planning on fixing this quickly, it will now. It’s hard to see what the argument would be for leaving this situation in place except to boost downloads of native apps and hinder competition. Unlike the subscription rules, which can be argued are a big benefit to consumers, it’s hard to see how Apple could paint this as beneficial. So stay tuned for an update. Who knows, though, I could be wrong.

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The iPad 2 on Video: Smart Covers, Apps in Action and Android
Kevin got his iPad 2 a day earlier than I did, so he got to have his say on video earlier, too. Luckily, I managed to one-up in at least one regard, and I also shot some video of some iPad apps in action on the new device. Since Kevin’s never content to leave well enough alone, he responded with maximum snark and obviously couldn’t help but mention his beloved Android. Check out both our takes in the video below:

Watch this video for free on GigaOM

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These Are the Apps That Really Show Off the iPad 2
Now that you have an iPad 2, you can be excused for wanting to share it with (read: rub it in the face of) those that don’t. But how best to show off the iPad 2′s specific advantages, especially at this early stage in the game? There are a few apps that should do the trick nicely.

FaceTime and Photo Booth

Let’s look first at the apps that come pre-installed on the iPad itself. FaceTime and Photo Booth are both new to the iPad, and Photo Booth is new to iOS altogether. Both take advantage of one of the most notable changes to the iPad in this hardware revision: the addition of a camera. Both also show off two major reasons why people want an iPad in the first place: for fun and for communication.

Neither app is particularly amazing from a technical standpoint (although it is cool to see nine simultaneous live feeds being displayed on the iPad screen at once with no visible stutter or slowdown in Photo Booth), but both demonstrate key reasons Apple is doing so well in the tablet market. They provide simple, clean user interfaces that are easy for anyone to pick up and use right away, and do so with a minimum of visual distraction. And regardless of how often you use FaceTime in real life, there’s no denying that video calling has that distinctive “the future is now” vibe.

iMovie

Apple at this point has a huge head start on developers in terms of making apps for the iPad 2, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that many of these apps are put out by the company itself. iMovie is especially a stand-out for the iPad 2 since it’s exclusive to that device, and again shows off the new camera. But it also shows off the device’s impressive processing power (iMovie seems to hang more on my iMac then it does on my iPad 2) and its creative potential.

GarageBand

I’ve already talked about how much I enjoyed this app when I tried it out on the original iPad. But iPad 2 brings a little bit more to the GarageBand mix, thanks to its boosted internal specs. And it almost stole the show at the iPad 2 unveiling, so it’s likely to impress anyone who might be interested in the device, even those who aren’t particularly musical to begin with.

Infinity Blade

If you’re into gaming at all, you probably know about Crysis, a game which was basically the standard by which all PC hardware was measured for quite a while. Infinity Blade from Epic Games is pretty much the Crysis of the iOS platform. It’s the first iOS game to use the Unreal Engine, and it really shows off the graphics capabilities of the new A5 system-on-a-chip. The iPad 2 is said to offer 9x better graphics performance over the previous generation, according to official Apple info, and it’s not hard to believe when you see the improved textures, lighting and shadows in the game running on the new tablet. If you have an original version to run side-by-side with the new one, your audience will be even more amazed by Infinity Blade on the iPad 2.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

Another game, the Lego Harry Potter title for the iPad, is one of the best examples of a console/PC/iOS titles I’ve ever come across. It was great fun to play on the original iPad, and it runs even better on the iPad 2, with much less visual stutter and fewer performance slowdowns. Basically, it looks great and gives a hint at what the iPad 2 can do for iOS gaming.

Google Earth

This is another graphically intensive app that really shows off the iPad 2′s raw power. Using Google Earth on both the first and second-generation iPad devices reveals that the iPad 2 finds and zooms to searched-for locations much faster and more smoothly. Images seem to resolve more quickly, too. Google Earth may not be an app I find myself using every day, but for illustrating the advantages of the iPad 2, it’s definitely a good choice.

Sadly, there aren’t yet really any good quality third-party iPad apps that take advantage of the new camera on the iPad 2, which is a shame. There’s Cisco’s new version of WebEx for iPad which features two-way video communication, but that’s likely only going to impress the enterprise crowd. There’s also a fun and visually impressive app called DecoSama that lets you put stickers on your photos, much like the photo booths that first became popular in Japan, but in my tests it consistently froze when trying to take photos from the iPad’s built-in camera. Skype or Instagram or another popular iOS player that depends on the camera will inevitably throw their hat into the ring, but it hasn’t happened yet.

If you’ve already laid hands on a new iPad, what apps do think best show off the new hardware?
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Some Apple Stores Opening Early Tomorrow for More iPad Sales
If you haven’t got an iPad 2 yet, but you want one, then check with your local Apple Store to see if they plan on opening early tomorrow in anticipation of a fresh new batch of shipments. New units are reportedly on their way to store shelves after stock ran dry over the weekend.

The report comes from disappointed customers who showed up at stores today only to be told to come back on Tuesday, when certain locations will open at 9 a.m. instead of the usual 10 a.m. start. Staff apparently also revealed that even if stores do have stock today, they won’t be selling new iPads until tomorrow. A call to the Walden Galleria Apple Store in Buffalo, N.Y. confirmed the early opening is indeed the case, although staff can’t guarantee iPads will definitely be in stock at any given location. If you’re unsure about your own local store, a call should let you know whether or not they’re planning to open early.

Luckily, I’ve already got mine so I won’t be getting up early, but I’m curious to see how much more early demand exists after what may have been a million-unit opening weekend. Anyone think we’ll see lines again tomorrow?
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What to Expect From iPhone 5 — and When
Take heart, Apple watchers. The iPad 2 is no longer a mystery, but the iPhone 5 is still veiled in secrecy, and the rumor mill surrounding Apple’s smartphone is speeding up in anticipation of a not-so-distant June unveiling. Here’s an early picture of what to expect:

Dual Core Is Coming

The iPad 2 got a processor upgrade with the introduction of Apple’s dual-core A5 system-on-a-chip. If you think the iPhone will lag in this regard, you’re sorely mistaken. I’d say the inclusion of the A5 processor is just about the only guarantee when it comes to the iPhone 5. It won’t be the world’s first dual-core smartphone, but it will be the best. Recently, developers found evidence that the next iPhone will have the A5 chip in iOS 4.3 firmware code. Apple doesn’t talk about onboard RAM with its devices, but the iPhone 4 had 512 MB, and the original iPad had 256 MB. The iPad 2 got a memory bump to 512 MB so it’s very possible that the iPhone 5 could have 1 GB.

More Space, Please

Another big rumor is storage space, thanks to the discovery of Chinese engineering samples of the iPhone 4 with 64 GB of onboard flash memory. The samples show Apple was at least considering a higher capacity iPhone last year, and hardware limitations weren’t the reason it ended up going with a maximum of 32 GB internal storage. The iPad and iPod touch already offer this much space, and it’s high time the iPhone fell in line. I’d say this is another pretty safe bet for iPhone 5. I know I’d jump at the chance to grab a higher-capacity iPhone, since I live dangerously close to the edge of my current 32 GB.

Big Screen, Same Body

Kevin and I debated whether or not the iPhone 5 would have a larger screen, and I took the position that it would not. A new rumor suggests I might be wrong. A Chinese site is claiming to have received leaked engineering specifications that show a much larger screen for iPhone 5. I was at least partially right in my debate with Kevin, though, since it looks like if Apple increases the screen size, it won’t translate into a larger phone. According to the reports, the overall body design will remain the same, with a nearly edge-to-edge screen boosting display size while keeping the physical footprint the same. This one isn’t a lock by any means, but if Apple can fit a larger screen on the existing body design without sacrificing screen quality or complicating the development process by adding yet another resolution, I think it’ll go for it.

White Sale

There will be a white version of the iPhone, according to Apple and Phil Schiller, who recently tweeted a confirmation to an eager Apple fan. Apple appears to have gotten around any manufacturing issues with white-painted glass, since it released a white-bezelled iPad 2. The only question is whether or not we’ll see a white iPhone before the launch of the iPhone 5, or whether Apple will wait to make it yet another amazing new thing it can reveal on stage at the WWDC keynote.

Dual-Mode?

Maybe the biggest unknown surrounding the next iPhone is whether or not we’ll see a true dual-mode device, instead of separate iPhone 5 models for both Verizon and AT&T networks, like what’s happened with the iPhone 4. A teardown revealed that the cellular network chip used in the Verizon iPhone is indeed capable of dual-mode communications, so Apple could use it in both versions when the iPhone gets refreshed. But the iPad 2 released last weekend offers two distinct models — one for AT&T and one for Verizon — and isn’t a dual-mode device, indicating Apple might do the same with the iPhone 5. Teardowns of the iPad 2 seem to indicate that very different chips are used for each carrier, so a true dual-mode iPhone may be little more than a pipe dream at this point.

No NFC

A rumor circulating Monday suggests Apple won’t be including NFC technology in the iPhone 5, according to sources at major U.K. mobile operators. I’m inclined to believe this rumor for a couple of reasons. First, the rumor spread very quickly and seems to come from multiple sources, and it strikes me as quite likely that Apple encouraged the leak in order to adjust customer and investor expectations well ahead of the new iPhone’s release. Second, Apple has never been an early adopter of wireless communication technology, and I think NFC falls within that realm. iPhone 6 will get it, once it’s been around for a while and customers have had a chance to grow comfortable with it.

June Launch

Apple historically announces new iPhone models at WWDC, which this year looks like it should fall around June. 5 – 9. The iPhone 4 was announced on June 7 last year, and released to the public on June 24. Expect Apple to at least match that timeframe, if not speed it up. The iPad 2 got a public release only a little over a week after it was announced at a special Apple event, so the company could be shortening the wait period between product announcement and public availability in general.

With the iPad 2 launch behind us, expect the iPhone 5 rumor machine to really kick into high gear in the coming months. What do you expect to see from Apple’s next-gen smartphone?
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How the iPad 2 Measures Up In Real-World Performance
After the exhausting few days over the weekend showing off my iPad 2 to friends, I did some hard analysis of the iPad 2 compared to my original iPad. Geoffrey Goetz ran the iPad 2 through a series of performance measurement tools, but I took the old-fashioned approach to see how it measured up in terms of real world usage.

All factors besides hardware model were the same for my tests: My iPad 1 was upgraded to 4.3 and I copied over all settings from the iPad 1 to iPad 2. The only difference was my new one is Verizon and the old one was AT&T (AT&T sold out very quickly at my location). However, all tests were conducted over Wi-Fi, negating carrier network speed as a factor.

Boot times were identical: about 29 seconds (from power on to lock screen). I actually expected much better. I'd surmise that the certain amount of overhead can't be reduced even with faster processing speed.

More intense games such as Plants vs. Zombies or Angry Birds were noticeably faster loading, showing around 50-percent improvements. Infinity Blade showed absolutely no difference in load speed, which was a bit shocking.

Surprisingly, the greatest performance boost was in Safari. Both versions were identical from iPad 1 to iPad 2, but iPad 2 loaded pages around 70 to 80 percent faster. Both tests were done over my home Wi-Fi connection. In reality, the faster Safari makes sense. When you make the hardware and the software you can obviously optimize your app to take advantage of new features.

After a few days of usage, I'm generally pleased with my purchase. The device feels much lighter than the difference in weight on paper would have you believe. The weight distribution makes it feel significantly lighter. FaceTime worked great, but you have to remember that if you want to FaceTime someone who owns an iPad 2, you need to specify their email address to connect, and not their phone number. That got confusing.

My only major disappointment is the polyurethane smart cover. I love the magnetic features and how it instantly wakes and sleeps. Unfortunately it also attracts dust and smudges like a magnet. Less than 12 hours into using it, my lime green cover already had black smudges from the newspaper that was resting on it. I wish I would have gotten a darker color, so let that factor into your accessory purchase decision.

For those who braved the lines, what do you think of your new iPad 2′s performance?
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Benchmarking the iPad 2 Performance Gains
Looking at the iOS 4.3 update for existing iOS devices is a useful comparison to determine if performance trade-offs are worth the added features that come with a software update for existing hardware. Now that the iPad 2 has been released, comparing iOS 4.3 running on each of the iOS devices shows what a difference refreshed hardware can make. It wasn’t surprising to see the new iPad 2 outperform the original iPad. What was surprising (at least to me) was that the iPhone 4 ended up ranking last in every category.

iOS Hardware Tested on 4.3

In every test, the original iPad outperformed the iPhone 4 on iOS 4.3. That was not the result I was expecting, especially given how just much the iPad outperformed the iPhone 4 in iOS 4.3. When I originally got my iPad, I hardly touched my iPhone 3G. And when I got my iPhone 4, I started using my iPad less and less. I was convinced my iPhone 4 outperformed my iPad in nearly every regard, but it looks like my perception was incorrect.

Don’t Take Just My Word For It

I was curious if the results I was seeing with my very small sample size of one iPad 2, one original iPad and two iPhone 4s was representative of the greater population of iOS devices. So I turned my attention to Primate Labs Geekbench and started checking against their online benchmark results. I expanded my quest to include all iOS devices currently supported by iOS version 4.3 including the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 3rd Gen., iPod touch 4th Gen., iPad, and iPad 2. I took the average of the benchmark results for the latest twenty-five tests submitted for each device, and here’s what I found:

The results were consistent with the results from my sample size of personally owned iOS devices. And again, the performance gains on the iPad 2 are stunning. They are in fact on par (in terms of percentage improvement over previous models) with the performance gains of the recently released MacBook Pro updates.

By comparison though, as impressive as the iPad 2 results are, according to the Mac Geekbench Results, with a score of 740, the iPad 2 is still only as powerful as a 15-inch PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz and just a little more powerful than the original Mac Mini G4 released in 2005. But considering how much I can get done on each of these iOS devices, including what I can still do with my old iPhone 3G, I really don’t think raw performance alone is where the focus needs to be anymore.
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iPad 2 Sold Out After Opening Weekend
UPDATED. In case anyone doubted the iPad’s potential to be on ongoing success, the iPad 2 released Friday appears to be sold out across the U.S., according to Piper Jaffray (via Fortune). A team headed by analyst Gene Munster performed stock checks at various retail locations and found no available iPad devices. The report was confirmed separately by Deutsche Bank analysts early Monday.

It’s no surprise that Apple’s initial iPad 2 shipment sold out so quickly, given how long the lines were on launch day. We had first-hand accounts of the long lines in various U.S. cities on Friday, and I’ve since heard that lines appeared to be at least a thousand strong in at least a few locations. Also, online shipping times quickly slipped to three to five weeks within hours of the iPad 2′s availability.

Munster estimates between 400,000 and 500,000 iPad 2s were sold over the weekend, which would beat the original iPad’s launch weekend sales of 300,000. It’s good news for Apple, but maybe the best news for the company is that around 70 percent of iPad 2 buyers were new to the platform, according to a survey taken by Piper Jaffray. If accurate, that means the iPad 2 is winning over customers who were previously on the fence or uninterested in the tablet market, which could be very good news for the iPad’s growth potential in 2011.

UPDATE: New analyst estimates coming in from Wedbush Securities and Global Equities Research put the number of iPads sold during the launch weekend at closer to around 1 million devices, according to Reuter’s.

International buyers will want to take note of this rapid sell-out, since it could mean you’re in for a longer wait to get your hands on the iPad 2. Last year, Apple had to delay the international release of the original iPad after launch sales exceeded its expectations, making for tight supply.

Were you among the lucky half million who did manage to get their hands on an iPad? Share your purchasing experience and early impressions in the comments.
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Fresh Apple

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

GigaOMApple (10 сообщений)

FaceTime and Photo Booth

iMovie

GarageBand

Infinity Blade

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

Google Earth

Dual Core Is Coming

More Space, Please

Big Screen, Same Body

White Sale

Dual-Mode?

No NFC

June Launch

iOS Hardware Tested on 4.3

Don’t Take Just My Word For It

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