With the launch of the Pixi fast approaching, it's important to make sure that your applications are engineered to work on both webOS devices. As you may recall, the Pixi has a screen resolution of 320x400 (as apposed to 320x480 on the Pre), and lacks WiFi.
One of the strengths of the webOS way of doing things is that most apps shouldn't be too affected by the precise size of the screen in the same way a web page isn't too affected by the size of a particular browser. However, that doesn't guarantee cross-device compatibility - developers need to ensure they've got their app set up properly for multiple screen sizes.
With that in mind, Palm has posted some suggestions on it's developer portal blog helping to ensure that your app will work with the different display resolutions and the lack of WiFi on the Pixi. The applications that will probably be the most affected by the decrease in screen real estate are the immersive applications like full screen games and programs that rely on a WiFi connection to work their magic like any of the desktop sync programs currently available.
So, developers: Are your apps Pixi ready?
Comments
Only thing I don't (maybe even resent) about Pixi is now developers are kinda forced to program for the lowest common denominator. Thus affecting the app quality of the Pre. I am not saying this is major, mind you... But it's kinda like when I was in grade school and the entire class had to wait on the progress of the slowest child.... Kinda not fair to those available to achieve more. Please don't flame me this was the best analogy I could come up with having 3 hrs sleep in 3 days time. Don't want to offend!!!!!!!!!!
Tha't's an greet anneology. LOL. :)
... I take it you didn't vote for Obama.
LOL sorry people, don't flame me, either. I, too, have less sleep and am a little delirious. Nothing like political humor to get the day going. ;)
Have to kinda sorta agree... I really hope that things don't get "dumbed down" (I know, I know, but it was the first thing I thought of) for the purpose of working on the Pre AND the Pixi... different screen resolutions and wi-fi use might make for some big changes. Are they going to have Pre and Pixi versions of apps?
Preware has already been confirmed to work on the Pixi - they love Preware over at Palm ;)
-- Rod
If palm loves Preware then they should join the club with the patches!
We are beta testing a lot of the patches on precentral I'm assuming...of course Palm would love it haha.
But seriously, i think Palm has a lot on their plate for a company of 1000 people. Right now i think their global Pre launches and upcoming Pixi launches are taking up a lot of time on their plate.
Their fault though for deciding to create the Pixi and all the problems it will cause. Especially at this young stage and a long way to go with the Pre & webOS.
No, it’s exactly the right time. Just before everything settles and everybody gets lazy. I expect webOS devices to have much bigger screens (read: higher resolution) in the future. Look at the painful transition from 160×160 to 320×320 in the past.
LOL
Games as a group will be hit hardest. They tend to use all available screen real estate. Tapping targets on most games is already difficult. Keyboard navigation will probably be required for many pixi games. This could mean that horizontal play becomes virtually impossible with out an on-screen navigator. Even keyboard navigation is problematic in that, without a dedicated 5-way navigator, most games will have to come up with their own navigator using the keypad. This will also mean no standard UI because what works well for one game would be problematic for another.
+1 insightful
Yep- games will be the worst for this situation. And the result is that everything will be coded for the lowest common denominator- meaning Pre users will lose resolution.
I am not sure what will hurt gaming on WebOS the most- the lack of a low-level API or the lack of a 5 way nav.
Palm- why the hell didn't you have a 5 way nav where that useless center button is??? Ug!
My calculator app is NOT ready. I still have no idea how to fit all function keys in a screen with 80px less space. I don't even know if it can be done at all without ruining the user experience.
It's very developer unfriendly to have two different screen sizes for your two different devices on your platform. Anyone remember the Palm AlphaSmart and some of those odd-shaped devices? The native appliations built into the device looked fine but everything else from 3rd party developers was messed up. If I remember correctly, except for the native apps on the Sony Clie, every Palm OS app I used on it was was square - lowest common denominator.
Having only 1 display configuration (like the iPhone) is the exception to the rule. Most platforms, desktop or mobile, have multiple display configurations. So I wouldn't say webOS is unfriendly for developers for having 2 display configurations.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons why no mobile device platform has ever taken off among all sorts of developers as quickly as the iPhone has despite: 1) Having to pay a yearly fee; 2) Having to submit to the App Store review process; 3) Having to develop on Mac OS. Perhaps Palm should learn from the exception.
>Most platforms, desktop or mobile, have multiple display configurations
And that is extremely true. And web sites and such SHOULD be flexible to deal with 640, 800, 1024, 1280, etc. But on a very small device, you can barely fit anything to begin with, so it is MUCH harder to handle resolution changes, unless it is a scrolling app (like much of the simpler WebOS stuff).
It is a good idea to try and keep WebOS as resolution-neutral as possible, but it was still kinda stupid to release the Pre with 80 less lines. It is a change JUST ANNOYING enough to cause all kinds of issues with full-screen apps.
Scrolling hinders the user experience. Some app screens can scroll without a problem, but app screens that need all controls to be available all the time, will be crippled by it. For those apps, is the Pixi's 400px a safe height? If Palm makes a webOS Treo with a square screen 320px will be the new low. The Treo 500v's screen is just 240px tall.
How low will Palm go?
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