

Locale app for Android "wouldn't even be possible" on iPhone, says MIT $275K winner - waderoush
http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2008/10/02/locale-app-for-android-phones-wouldnt-even-be-possible-on-the-iphone-says-winner-of-275k-developer-challenge/

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jsdalton
Background processing is a big win here.

I think I've probably dreamed up about a dozen cool iPhone apps and then
smacking against the "dang, that would require background processing" wall.

I understand Apple's reasoning as far as wanting to manage resources
carefully. The problem is that they've missed a huge part of the mobile user
experience, which is having a device with you 24/7 that can respond without
active user cues. (That's what a mobile phone is after all, in essence.)

Who knows, maybe this is the killer feature for Android. At a minimum, I hope
it spurs Apple to deal with background processing instead of simply
disallowing it.

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jrockway
_I hope it spurs Apple to deal with background processing instead of simply
disallowing it._

I hope the iPhone just goes away and we can all get on with our lives. I don't
understand why people hope that $FOO changes to be like $BAR when $BAR is
already $BAR.

~~~
squelch
because someone mike like $FAR better than $FOO or $BAR

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kqr2
The title is misleading because it is technically possible to implement on the
iphone. The only problem is Apple's current 3rd party SDK limitations.

Apple, of course, could develop its own version of Locale.

Informative forum post by Carlos in the linked article:

# Carlos 10/2/08 11:28 am

Facts:

\- The iPhone SDK doesn’t allow third party developers to modify phone
settings.

\- The iPhone SDK doesn’t allow third party developers to run background
applications.

\- The Android platform allows third party developers to modify phone settings
with user permissions.

\- The Android platform allows third party developers to run background tasks.

Conclusion:

\- You can develop an application like Locale for the iPhone if your name is
“Apple”. Otherwise you can’t.

\- Everybody can develop an application like Locale for Android phones.

~~~
Chocobean
That's interesting that it's not a technical limitation, but a business
decision limitation. It will take Apple probably less than 4 months to come up
with the same app on the iPhone, but it will take more than 4 months to debate
whether they want to play catch up every time another cool app crops up in
Android, or to revise their business decisions regarding their SDK. No ones
likes to invest in mere "me too" apps, but in technology you either match
quickly, innovate or die. This particularly "lame" app is only a proof of
concept that there will be more apps and more developers for Android unless
they change.

If you think about it that way this is more serious than if the hardware
itself doesn't allow this kind of app to be built.

~~~
unalone
"This particularly "lame" app is only a proof of concept that there will be
more apps and more developers for Android unless they change."

More apps? Possible, but it's up in the air. More developers? I would doubt
it.

What Android offers in flexibility, it lacks in simplicity and availability.
Most people on the planet don't know that Android exists. They wouldn't
recognize it if they saw it. Compare that to the App Store, which got pushed
out to every iTunes on the planet, and the iPhone, which is kind of a big deal
news-wise. (I remember seeing it on the front page of the local paper. That's
big considering it was just a tech announcement.)

The iPhone has things to offer developers that Android doesn't. For one thing,
it offers slickness: the same slickness that Apple offers with most of its
stuff. The ability to easily code apps that feel lickable. It's got the "high
quality" name behind it. A lot of developers follow things like that. I'm
thinking primarily of Instapaper - Marco has said before that he does not look
at Android with any sort of eagerness, and that he doesn't think a Google OS
is worth it. And I think Instapaper is by far the best and most useful
application I've seen.

No, the iPhone can't pull off Locale. I disagree with your thinking that Apple
WILL implement it. Locale seems nifty, but it's not a gamechanging app or
anything. I personally LIKE that my apps can't run in the background.
Obviously, other people are going to disagree. But you can't look at this and
say "Oh, look, Android is going to cream Apple," because it's not, because the
two attract entirely different sorts of developers, and because I think Google
and Apple both REALIZE that they aren't directly competing here.

~~~
Chocobean
+1 on this point: "the two attract entirely different sorts of developers, and
because I think Google and Apple both REALIZE that they aren't directly
competing here."

on a semi-related note I really don't like people comparing Android to the
iPhone. One of them is a good looking smart phone...the other one isn't even a
phone. Apple has birthed a whole and completed creature, beautiful to behold.
Google meanwhile has conjured up a spirit, or a virus that can latch onto any
form. Google is hoping that android sticks around and reincarnates into
various physical form factors which will one day out number or out-slick
whatever any one single manufacturer can come up with. (Like the Nokia
Morph!?) If successful it can be eventually be embedded to whatever device
replaces the cell phone one day.

Not that many people on the planet knows what Symbian is either, but that's
okay with Nokia Ericsson et al.

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tptacek
(1) Doesn't running the GPS all the time kill battery performance?

(2) Isn't this application a bit of a stupid pet trick? Turning the ringer off
in theaters?

(3) It's probably worth repeating that Locale isn't possible on the iPhone
because they've deliberately chosen to make it impossible.

~~~
silentbicycle

      > (1) Doesn't running the GPS all the time kill battery performance?
    

I don't think it would need to run all the time, though. Something like
polling once every ten minutes, checking more often if the position is
actually changing, throttled down to e.g. once an hour if it's in the same
place as the last two polls, might be enough. Perhaps existing data could also
help here, such as noticing if the cell phone towers used have changed
recently. (I really should learn more about how those things work...)

    
    
      (2) Isn't this application a bit of a stupid pet trick? Turning the ringer off in theaters?
    

Hey, _I'm_ not going to complain if it becomes popular.

~~~
litewulf
In addition, I assume Android has the (old) sexy that is accelerometers. So
sitting at your desk or only walking a bit might not trigger it.

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thalur
Cool idea. I wonder how sensitive it is to the location, and how well it deals
when it doesn't know its location?

Also, the iPhone bashing is getting rather tedious and the Android phones
aren't even out yet!

~~~
chollida1
> the iPhone bashing is getting rather tedious

After reading the article twice, I couldn't find a single thing that even
approached iPhone "bashing". The only thing that even came close was posted in
the title, and even that was just a simple statement of fact with no malice
intended as are as I can tell.

~~~
litewulf
Agreed. Its as if someone wrote an article about how to do pointer
manipulation chicanery and then commented "this wouldn't even be possible in
Java." Its a technical "fact" of sorts here.

