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15% of mobile apps launched while offline
Real-time analytics firm Localytics has issued a report that says 15 percent of all mobile apps are launched while the device they are running on is offline. That's a clear sign that developers would be serving their users better if they built "offline" modes into more apps, according to Ryan Kim of GigaOm. After all, while wireless networks are expanding all the time in the form of 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi, there are still many places where you can't get connected (like in a subway). Kim is correct is his assertion that developers should keep lack of a connection in mind and build in offline modes to their apps. This is especially true for mapping applications. I travel to foreign countries a lot, and there isn't a better example of when you need access to maps then when traveling internationally. But if you don't want to pay international data fees, you're stuck with using your iPhone or iPad in Wi-Fi zones. This is why I've always been an advocate of aggressive map caching, or even building a feature into the Google Maps app that allows users to download complete tile packs of cities so that they have access to maps when not on a data network. But Kim makes another excellent argument for offline mode in apps: As a developer you want users to be as engaged with your app as possible. Adding Instapaper-like features (essentially saving content offline) or more aggressive caching to your apps would allow users to use them to some degree even when not connected to a network, rather than getting a useless login screen. Localytics used its proprietary product to come up with the numbers for offline data use on iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 devices by comparing the time difference between when an app was opened and when its analytics data was uploaded to their servers.
TUAW's Daily App: Tripolar
Tripolar makes a big point of saying that it's not a match-3 game, and though the grid looks similar to that matching genre, it's really not. But it is a puzzle game. The idea is that you have pieces coming in on top of the board, and touching anywhere on the grid will insert that piece and delete any like-colored pieces around it. Any pieces of a different color will switch to the next color in order. It sounds a little confusing, but in practice, it works pretty well. There's a timed mode, which challenges you to score as many points as possible in a certain amount of time, and a puzzle mode, which requires you to clear 50 different boards by putting the right pieces in the right places. Unfortunately, the gameplay is a little simple. Because you're dropping one piece in at a time, there are no real opportunities for building up combos, which is where the real fun is in these types of puzzle games. And unfortunately, there's no Game Center integration or leaderboards, though there is a high-score board for your phone itself. It is well-made and entertaining for what it is, and it's worth the US$0.99 price if this kind of game appeals to you.
Preview: Rock Band 3 keyboard, Pro Keys and Keys trainer
At a Harmonix event a few weeks ago, I finally got some solid fingers-on time with Rock Band 3's keyboard, and as a guy who took nearly 10 years of Friday afternoon piano lessons as a kid, I can say that it's a nice set of keys. The quality of the plastic ivories is not quite as good as your Grandma's classic Steinway, but better than a cheap Casio, and Harmonix has put just as much thought and design into the keytar* as it did into the previous Rock Band instruments. I also got to play with the game's trainer modes for the first time. Training is available for each of the three instruments, and rather than just a simple tutorial, the trainer is a fully interactive game that teaches you, step-by-step, the finer points of playing both the real and plastic gear. When teamed up with the instruments and a little bit of time and practice, Rock Band 3's trainer really seems like it can teach you the same things that Mrs. Crane taught me all those years ago.%Gallery-99242%
Nokia E73 Mode review
Some two years after its release, there are still plenty of people who'll swear up and down that the E71 is the finest phone Nokia has ever produced -- and for good reason. As a platform, S60 was the product of a simpler time when the smartphone market was dominated not by touchscreens, but by numeric keypads, and the E71 was arguably the last of a string of bona fide successes that Nokia enjoyed in the platform's heyday alongside pioneering handsets like the N82 and N95. Thing is, the E71 was different than those other models in a very important way: it was elegant. Historically, Nokias have typically favored function over form and saved the highest-quality materials for the Vertu line, but the E71 bucked that trend -- it was slim, sexy, chock-full of metal, and curved in all the right places. In fact, to this day, it remains one of the best-looking, best-feeling smartphones ever made. Customers (and reviewers) made their love for the E71 clear, and Nokia sought to recapture the glory with the introduction of the refined, upgraded E72. For Americans, of course, the biggest problem with the E72 was that you couldn't buy it from a carrier -- and unlike the E71, it never got much traction as an unlocked purchase. That's where the E73 Mode comes into play, a mildly reworked version of the E72 with T-Mobile branding and, of course, support for 3G on T-Mobile's AWS bands. Put bluntly, though, this is still just a warmed-over E71 -- and in 2010, is there a market for that? Let's have a look.%Gallery-95094%
Nokia E73 'Mode' coming to T-Mobile next month?
This is totally out of the blue, but we were just hit up with a screen shot suggesting that T-Mobile USA will be launching a portrait QWERTY handset from Nokia on June 16 known as the E73 'Mode.' As is evidenced with the Nuron, T-Mobile has a tendency to assign trademarkable names to Nokias in its lineup that are known elsewhere in the world by their model number only, so we imagine that this phone will end up launching globally simply as the E73 as it takes over the E72's throne as Espoo's top productivity beast. More on this as we get it, but in the meantime, check out a bigger shot of the phone after the break. [Thanks, Spenny]
How to activate Ulduar's hard modes
You may have heard that a number of guilds have cleared Ulduar to Yogg-Saron already, which to me is perfectly fine. I like to think that a lot of good, properly-coordinated guilds will kill Yoggy this week, and the Blues agree with me. Of course, this week's Yoggy kills were on the easiest possible difficulty, so world first or not, it doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of fame and fortune.This is the beauty of Ulduar -- if you want prestige (and the best gear), you have to earn it by flexing your raiding muscle and beating encounters on their respective hard modes. If you don't have the chops or the time for the highest difficulty content, then you can still beat the instance and see every encounter.But, of course, you want those 239-level items.So you should probably read after the jump and find out how to activate each boss' hard mode, yeah?
Mac OS X 10.5.6 update breaks DFU Mode for iPhone?
iPhone Alley is reporting that the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update is causing problems for the jailbreaking community. According to a recent post at the site, if you place the iPhone in DFU mode (similar to a restore mode), your iPhone will be unrecognized by a Mac running 10.5.6. DFU mode is required to jailbreak your iPhone using many of the popular tools such as Pwnage or QuickPwn. So far there is no word from the iPhone Dev group on this finding. In doing our own research, we discovered that the problem does, in fact, exist. So, if you need to jailbreak your iPhone/iPod touch, you might want to hold off on updating your Mac. Could this be Apple's way of combating owners who jailbreak their iPhones? Has this happened to you since upgrading your Mac to 10.5.6? Let us know in the comments! [via iPhone Alley]
What if WoW had Easy Mode and Hard Mode?
I was just casually wandering about the Internet yesterday, when I stumbled upon one of those random new MMORPG advertisements that you see popping up on a number of the WoW-related websites nowadays. It's for a game called Shaiya, which (like all the others), I'll probably never play, but a quick glance through it's game features revealed an interesting design choice. Without splitting up the playerbase, they've nonetheless created different "modes" to the game, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. There's an "Easy Mode," which lets you advance more quickly, but also limits you a great deal. There's also a "Normal Mode," a "Hard Mode," and even an "Ultimate Mode" for the most hardcore of players. It got me thinking about how such a system might work if transplanted into WoW:Easy Mode: This is basically just a tutorial. Not many experience points are needed to advance from level to level, but you can only reach a maximum of level 30. You cannot create or join a guild, and you get no access to any Talent points. You also are limited to Common and Uncommon items -- you cannot use any Rare, Epic, or Legendary items.Normal Mode: This is where most players will start off. You need an average amount of experience points to advance (something like what we have today). You can create and join guilds normally, and you also get Talent points. In addition, you also get access to Rare items.
Crush developer open to Wii sequel
Crush, the PSP's 2D/3D puzzle platformer, may have waggling in its future, according to an interview with Paul Mottram, senior producer at Crush developer Zoë Mode. We're talking faint "may" and distant future, since this was all idle speculation on his part. When asked the weirdly pointed question of why they made a PSP game instead of putting it on a Nintendo platform, Mottram responded, "There is no reason why it couldn't be transferred to multiple different platforms especially the Wii, DS and PS2 and this is something we are thinking about." He went on to describe the level editor they wanted to include, but couldn't. That definitely sounds like something well-suited to the DS or Wii, right?[Via Joystiq]
Preview of new Guitar Hero II co-op mode
In case you missed it on Friday, IGN posted a pre-E3 hands-on preview of Guitar Hero II's new co-op mode. It's a departure from the first game's multiplayer mode in that the two players have to depend on each other a lot more to pass each song and thereby make beautiful music together.While the old multiplayer option will still be around in the sequel, the new mode mixes distinct lead guitar and bass or rhythm parts where each player affects the other in various ways, whether by failing if either performance slips (as in DDR), sharing the same Rock Meter (with mistakes from either player resetting the score multiplier), and needing to both go vertical at the same time to activate the shared Star Power. Thankfully, different difficulty levels can be assigned to each player.The Joystiq team out in L.A. will probably find something to do until they get their sweaty paws on a guitar controller or two on the E3 show floor (maybe one of those wacky press conferences will help pass the time), but we're sure the wait to try the latest build of this rockin' series will be worth it. The seven songs available at E3 are listed below.[Thanks, murph]
Interactive display of iPod commands
Command-Tab has put together a really handy interactive display of button sequences for the 5 major generations of iPod models. The available sequences are Hard Reset, Diagnostic Mode and Disk Mode, so if you've ever wondered how to partake in some of those iPod troubleshooting tutorials or you're just curious as to what your little while music player can do, head over to Command-Tab for the only button resource you need for getting under your iPod's hood.
