Which devices to obtain for testing purposes?
Monkey Targets Forums/iOS/Which devices to obtain for testing purposes?
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| I want to develop for the entire iOS line but I believe owning every device platform and version is unnecessary. It seems the primary area where the devices differ is in the display. I did some research of all the generations of the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I found the 4th generation is different in display colors, resolution, ppi, and contrast ratio than previous generations. And I found the 5th generation is different in screen size, aspect ratio, and resolution than the 4th generation. My two nephews, who I see daily, own an iPod Touch 3 and an iPhone 3G. That leaves me without 4th and 5th generation devices. From a price standpoint, I can pick up a refurbished iPod Touch 4 for $149 and I can pick up a new iPhone 5 for $199 with cell phone contract. However, I'm in no hurry to get a cell phone as I plan to use wifi when needed in my apps. Do you agree with my choices? And which iPads do you recommend; I was considering the iPad 2. Thanks! |
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| I'd say targeting the 3G would limit what you can do; go for 3GS or 4. For ipad i'd target ipad2. |
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| 3G and below are a waste of time now - with the latest Xcode, you can only target 4.3 and above - the most recent iOS version for the 3G is 4.1.1. The low-end devices now are the 3GS and the iPad 1. |
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| Being far more concerned with cost/resolution than performance (I make simple games) here's what I did: Bought both a re-furbished iPad 1 & iPod touch 4. When I can find a re-furbished iPod touch 5, I'll pick one up. Bought a NOOK HD+ which at 256dpi gives a good sense of an iPad retina display (264dpi), but was a lot cheaper. I'm sure there're many places to get used/re-furbished device, but one place I like to keep an eye on is Glyde.com |
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| Once I have an iOS indi license, iOS device, and a signed iOS app, do I just copy the app from computer to the device using a USB cable? Does that require the iOS device to be jail broken or rooted in android terms? |
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| The app is deployed to the test device by xcode after compiling through the usb cable. |
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| I did a bunch of research into this a week ago and made a blog post: http://greyaliengames.com/blog/ios-devices-research/ |
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| Grey Alien, thanks! I have access to an iPhone 3Gs (slow, 256Mb) and an iPod Touch 4 (retina(small), 256Mb). I'm planning on getting an iPad 3 (retina, slow). Apple is no longer supporting the iPad 1 so I'm covered on the slower iPads, iPodTs, iPhs. I'm covered on "256Mb use" so if my apps run then they should run with 512Mb. And I'm covered on normal retina displays. Leaving me not covered on the iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 5. You plan to use the simulator for them, but if you were to get one of them would you get the iPhone 5 instead of the iPod Touch 5? Or are they different enough that if I dont want to use the simulator then I should get both? Can the simulator be used for the iPad 2 and iPad mini? I read speculation that next year the iPad mini will have a retina display and the iPad 2 doesn't have more than 2 years before Apple will stop supporting it. |
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| There are a lot of iPad 1s around so I plan to support it even if apple has stopped. At least for a little while anyway. As for 5 yeah I'll use simulator, it seems fine (tested iphone 5 yesterday). If I was going to get one the iPod touch 5 has the correct aspect ratio but is slower due to 4S hardware, so it's a good test model. Simulator doesn't have mini. Just need to make sure buttons for iPad are big enough that when shrunk a bit on mini they are still useable. |
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