iPad By Davis: “More on a 5-inch iPhone and scaling the interface” plus 7 more

More on a 5-inch iPhone and scaling the interface
iMore Editors' Choice: Penultimate, 1Password, Pixel People, and more
Best Free iPad App of the Week: Yippee Ki-Yay Movie Magazine
How to follow along with the Super Bowl on iPhone and iPad
Insight on All Things iPad: Get More
Twitter hacked, 250,000 passwords compromised
iPad mini Ship Times Down to 1-3 Days
Reflector: AirPlay Mirror Your iPad to Mac or PC

More on a 5-inch iPhone and scaling the interface

Posted: 02 Feb 2013 10:27 PM PST

Just over a week ago I ran the numbers on a bigger screen iPhone, and presented several ways Apple could go, including just taking the current screen and stretching it out to almost 5-inches, which would give it the same 264ppi pixel density as the Retina iPad 4 screen. Since Apple used the iPhone density to make the iPad mini, using the iPad density to make the iPhone maxi has a certain symmetry to it.

But would stretching out the icons, buttons, text and other interface elements just make them look bigger, or would it make them look silly? Let's find out...

John Gruber of Daring Fireball said:

From an operations standpoint, they'd be re-using a component they're already familiar with. From a software standpoint, existing apps would just run, and everything would just look bigger on screen.

Marco Arment of Marco.org said:

By keeping the pixel dimensions the same as the iPhone 5, no app changes would be necessary. While the larger screen would hinder one-handed use, two-handed use would actually be easier because the touch targets would all be larger, and UIKit's standard metrics and controls still work well at that physical size.

Here, again, is what it could look like relative to the original iPhone, iPhone 4, and iPhone 5.

Imagining a 5-inch iPhone (mockup)

And relative to other, larger screened phones on the market, including the Samsung Galaxy S3, the iPhone 5, the Nokia Lumia 920, the BlackBerry Dev Alpha, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 5 vs Nokia Lumia 920 vs. BlackBerry Dev Alpha vs. 5-inch iPhone vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Still, the most consistent question I'm getting -- other than why or if Apple would do it, which I've speculated about twice already -- is how would the interface work. Going from 4-inches to close to 5-inches increases everything, every icon, button, ever bit of text, every pixel, by 20%. For people with accessibility issues, for whom buttons and text are too small on every iPhone released to date, that could be really welcome news. For others, it sounds overly, perhaps comically large.

This is exactly inverse the debate that preceded the launch of the iPad mini, where some feared the interface element size would be too small for comfortable use.

So what's the reality?

Let's fake a change in screen density and take a look. Note, the images below are scaled up to simulate 264ppi, then cropped to fit on the iPhone 5/iPod touch 5 screens and cleaned up a little. That means some icons, texts, and other stuff gets "lost" to make it all fit. None of that would happen on a 5-inch screen. The images below are only meant to show the size of buttons, text, etc., not completeness.

Just tap on these and view them full size on your iPhone (and tap and hold to save to Camera Roll if you want to experience them without the Safari chrome around them).

Here's the same thing for an iPad mini, without cropping, but with padding to fill the different pixel size and aspect ratio. Again, view them full screen.

For a full sized iPad, Marco made an Instapaper mockup you can try.

If you think of the iPad mini as a tablet that's using phone density, then the big iPhone is just a phone using tablet density. You have phone interface at high density, phone interface at less-high density, tablet interface at high density, tablet interface at less-high density.

Then, just like there's an 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air, and a 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro, there's a 4- and 5-inch iPhone, and a 7.9 and 9.7-inch iPad.

Almost 9 out of 10 AT&T customers bought 4-inch or smaller iPhones last quarter rather than all big screen Android and Windows Phones combined, and roughly 6 out of 10 Verizon customers did the same. So aside from geeks who keep posting about how they really want it, and shoppers for whom bigger as a feature is always better, Apple might not feel any pressing, mainstream need to add another screen size to the iPhone product line. Yet.

But if and when they do, stretching the screen offers less complexity, and less impact on both iOS and developers. That's how you expand a product without expanding panel production or developer support headaches. It's an Apple-like solution.

iMore Editors' Choice: Penultimate, 1Password, Pixel People, and more

Posted: 02 Feb 2013 12:59 PM PST

Every week, the editors and writers at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include several games, our favorite password manager, an excellent note-taking app that integrates with another great, yet different, note-taking service, and a couple music apps.

Penultimate - Chris Oldroyd

This week I have chosen an app that is proving extremely useful in my quest to become paper free. Penultimate is an awesome note talking app for iPad and it has just received a very nice update too. Evernote bought Penultimate a while back and now with the latest update integration has been taken to a new level.

Penultimate works best taking hand written notes with a stylus and offers the best palm rejection technology of any hand writing iPad app that I have used. Resting your hand on the iPad is the natural way to write with a stylus and in other apps it leads to lines and marks on the screen as the app see that pressure as a pen. Penultimate doesn't fall for that and ignores your pressure in these areas when you write and boy does it work well!

With the latest update, you can save all of your notes straight to Evernote and they will be instantly searchable including of course handwriting recognition. The update also brings a new design layout, sharper ink on the Retina iPad and more languages like Russian and Traditional Chinese

If you are after a handwriting note taking app, don't look any further than Penultimate, it is excellent and has the best Evernote integration; even better, it is now free too!

Free - Download now

Digitally Imported - Ally Kazmucha

I'm a huge fan of trance, house, techno, and all of the above. There's no service that compares to Digitally Imported's selection. Oddly enough, I first stumbled across Digitally Imported through iTunes radio years ago. When I found out they had an iPhone app quite a while back, I was in heaven. I still listen to their stations in the office or stream them directly on my AppleTV and now I can take them on the go right on my iPhone.

It doesn't cost anything to use the Digitally imported app but you can buy a premium subscription that eliminates ads if you'd like. There aren't very many commercials so it actually never bothered me much. If you're into trance or any kind of sound like that, it's definitely worth checking out as they've got multiple stations and there's always one to suit everyone's tastes.

Free - Download now

Vela Pro - Joseph Keller

One of the things I use Siri most for outside of making notes or reminders is playing music. But more often than not, I find myself turning to Spotify for music. Since I can't use Siri to search, I have to find alternatives. This is what Vela does. Just sign in to your Spotify or Rdio account, hit the search tab, and tap the big microphone button and speak the song, album, or artist that your looking for, and Vela will automatically start playing. Any Spotify or Rdio fan that wants a Siri-like interface for finding and playing music should give this a shot. Vela Pro costs just $1.99 on the App Store.

$1.99 - Download Now

1Password - Rene Ritchie

From internet anarchists to governments foreign and domestic, hacking has become more and more pervasive, strategic, and more sophisticated. Just yesterday Twitter was hacked and 250,000 passwords compromised. That's just the latest in a long line. While software can't prevent social engineering attacks (asking or tricking people into giving up their passwords), it can minimize the chances of machines brute-forcing your passwords, and greatly increase you ability to change and improve your passwords if and when they do get compromised.

I use 1Password by Agile Bits on iOS and OS X, and encourage anyone not currently using a password manager to give it a look. If you don't like it, there are alternatives. Just use something that lets you make, use, and change strong passwords quickly, easily, and conveniently.

One sale for $8.99 during Macworld|iWorld - Download now

Banana Kong - Chris Parsons

I've always been a fan of platformer games so perhaps it's fitting that my pick this week is in some ways, a throw back to the good old days of Donkey Kong. Banana Kong is a pretty sweet sit down and play through choice if you're just looking to waste some time and have fun doing so. The gameplay is fun, the graphics are cool and a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. Overall, a great couch game for playing.

Free - Download Now

Pixel People - Simon Sage

Pixel People combines the mad scientist experimentation of Doodle God, the adorably chunky graphics of Tiny Tower, and the world-building joy of Kairosoft games. Players are in charge of building a utopia by creating clones, splicing their genes to create new jobs, and discover new building types, each with their own rewards and abilities. The usual trappings of freemium games are here, including premium currency which is used to speed up lengthier tasks. Besides the collectability of different jobs types, there are also strange new creatures that start appearing throughout your utopia. Pixel People is both a unique synthesis of multiple familiar genres and a lightweight game with a ton of flavor.

Free - Download Now

Your choice?

Now that we've chosen our favorites for the week, we want to hear yours! Did you pick up a killer app, accessory, or game this week? Let us know in the comments below!

Best Free iPad App of the Week: Yippee Ki-Yay Movie Magazine

Posted: 02 Feb 2013 11:19 AM PST

One of the best things about using an iPad is all the great apps that we can run on it. There are excellent apps for just about any purpose you can think of. Better still, there are lots of great free apps for the iPad. Our Best Free iPad App of the Week posts highlight these apps.

This week's pick is Yippee Ki-Yay!, a superb new bi-monthly iPad movie magazine. The app is Issue 1 and includes movie reviews, previews of some heavily-awaited films that will be released this year, and an excellent features section. Here's a little more on some of the content in the first issue:

- THE MAKING OF DIE HARD
Celebrating 25 years since the release of the original, YKY speak to screenwriter, Steven E. da Souza about the making of an action masterpiece!
- THE 2013 PREVIEW
Bringing you a selection of this years most exciting movies, featuring: Iron Man 3; Thor: The Dark Word; Man Of...

Read the whole entry... »

Official Super Bowl XLVII Guide

Whether you're in the area or just want to keep up with what's going on, Official Super Bowl XLVII Guide can help you do just that. It's the official app for this year's Super Bowl event and is sponsored by Verizon Wireless.

The Official Super Bowl XLVII Guide is designed for both iPhone and iPad so regardless what device you're on, it's available. Features include points of interest around the game itself, push notifications to stay up to date with things going on, and calendar alerts for events going on that you can add directly from the map.

Free - Download Now

NFL '12

NFL '12 is the official NFL app for the entire 2012 season. The layout and design is very simliar to that of the Official Super Bowl XLVII Guide app but doesn't just center around one event. If you're interested in checking other scores or viewing stats on either the Ravens or the 49ers pre Super Bowl, NFL '12 is probably a safer bet.

Outside of push notifications and the ability to keep up with games, you'll also get pre-game previews and analysis. Just like the Official Super Bowl XLVII Guide app, it's designed for both iPhone and iPad. The iPad version of NFL '12 also features video clips.

Free - Download Now

SportStream

SportStream is a little different than standard sports news apps but that may not be a bad thing. Nowadays a lot of us keep up with news and happenings with our favorite social services such as Twitter. It basically aggregates all the Twitter news about your favorite teams and games all in one place.

Not only does SportStream support the Super Bowl but all NFL teams as well as many other sports. While you can always create lists and notifications within Twitter, for the price of free you can't beat the simplicity and easy of use that SportStream offers.

Free - Download Now

ESPN Radio

Perhaps you want to listen instead of watch the game or you won't be able to watch from where you're at. The ESPN Radio app is a free download and covers highlights of games and has listen live features for free. You can even download past broadcasts while on Wi-Fi for on demand listening even when you don't have a cellular or Wi-Fi connection.

They do have a disclaimer that for large events, content may not be live or always up to date so you may experience a delay with content with such a large event as the Super Bowl. If you aren't concerned with play by play action and video coverage, ESPN Radio is a decent choice. It's also designed for both iPhone and iPad.

Free - Download Now

NFL Mobile

NFL Mobile, just like the Official Super Bowl XLVII Guide, is sponsored by Verizon Wireless. While the official Super Bowl app only covers that particular event, NFL Mobile covers many NFL events and games.

The only down side is to watch live, you'll need to be a premium subscriber through Verizon Wireless. This means if you've got another carrier, you won't be able to access live coverage.

If you aren't too concerned with the live coverage and just want news updates and information that helps you follow along with what's going on live, NFL Mobile is one of the better laid out apps that provides this content. NFL Mobile is designed for both iPhone and iPad as a universal download as well.

Free - Download Now

Your favorites?

If you use something else to follow sports games that you think other readers would enjoy, make sure you share it with us in the comments below!

Insight on All Things iPad: Get More

Posted: 02 Feb 2013 10:02 AM PST

iPad Insight hit its 3 year anniversary this week. 3 years of iPad app reviews, iPad accessory reviews, iPad tips and tricks, and insight on all things iPad – to the tune of about 100 articles per month. That's what we plan to continue doing, and I hope you will choose to continue visiting the site and following us all over the lovely interwebs.

Here are the best ways to do that:

Subscribe to our RSS feed:

– Our RSS feed is:http://feeds.feedblitz.com/ipadinsight. You can just click on the handsome little button for it at the top of our right sidebar and add it to your favorite RSS reader app so you never miss any of our great app reviews, iPad tips, or iPad accessory reviews.

Check out (and Like) our Facebook page:

– Our Facebook page is here: http://on.fb.me/jtjHbX. We post article links there as well, along with photos and screencaps of latest apps and accessories reviewed....