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Just last month, Adobe announced the introduction of their Adobe Flash Player 10.1 software for smartphones, netbooks, smartbooks, PCs and other Internet-connected devices. The Flash software 10.0 brings full Flash including GPU acceleration to smartphones assuring a consistent runtime release allowing for uncompromised web browsing of applications, video and content across various platforms.

The use of Flash technology is nearly universal around the World Wide Web and is used by well-known sites such as Youtube, NVIDIA, Shockwave and many more. However one of the main drawbacks of Flash on smartphones is that it is too resource-intensive and can drain a mobile device’s battery or slow it down.

Recognizing the performance issues, Adobe is utilizing graphical hardware acceleration for the full version of Flash to make it easier for mobile processing demands. Flash 10.1 has a powerful device integration which enables Flash developers to make use of device-specific features such as virtual keyboards, multi-touch gestures as well as accelerometers.

Apple nervous about adobe flash on iPhone
Missing from the line-up is Apple, whose iPhone SDK policies prevent Adobe from running Flash Player on the iPhone. Apple stated Flash is not good enough for its iPhone due to its resource requirements and it also poses a threat to the popular App store as it gives developers the opportunity to bypass Apple’s software development kit and create content with Adobe’s technology instead.

Argument is that iPhone users are becoming less interested in Flash apps on the iPhone as they have plenty of Apple ones to keep them occupied. Additionally, Apple appears to be backing HTML5 for its mobile platform which can provide some Flash-like abilities such as video streaming.

There is also now the Flash Player 10.1 pre-release version available for PCs and netbooks to give developers the chance to assess and give feedback to Adobe regarding compatibility issues and new features. A beta version is expected to be released for Palm WebOS later this year. Public betas for Google Android and Symbian OS are expected to be available early 2010.

Earlier this week, Adobe Labs released its two newest beta test versions of its Flash 10.1 and AIR 2.0 (Adobe Integrated Runtime) technologies. Adobe said the new versions do not just include much-requested features but they also represent a big push into devices beyond the PC, starting with smartphones, and eventually applications that run on every device you use.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is less than a day away, and there are more signs that Apple will reveal the next generation of its latest iPhone gadget. The word out there says that Apple will start selling a more affordable 4GB ‘entry-level’ iPhone which could be a $99 iPhone and the likelihood of four different iPhone models deployed including 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB versions.

According to a market analyst, the main cost reductions would come from lesser features such as no 3G internet access, a lower resolution camera (less than 2MP with no video), no GPS, and a cheaper data plan (est. $15/month) with a usage cap. It is true that decreasing the monthly bill would hike up iPhone sales but iPhone carriers would not be too happy about that.

In the meanwhile, Apple can add high end upgrades to its iPhone 3G so it will get improvements in screen resolution, a better camera, increase in storage space, more colour choices and better video recording capabilities.

Though the ‘entry level’ iPhone has fewer capabilities, it is expected to perform comparably to the current iPhone. Any major cutbacks in features would not be an iPhone at all. It would be exciting to see what Apple has in store for its smartphones over the course of this year.

Design Websites for the Apple iphone

The Apple iPhone is part of a class of mobile phones called smartphones. It has an impressive battery lifespan and allows users to surf the Net even while on the go. Research has shown that the iphone is used nine times more than the next Smartphone which is the Windows mobile.

If you are a web designer like me, you may have started wondering what you can do to improve your website by not only making it look fantastic on PCs and laptops but also on mobiles too. With the iPhone’s display size of 480-by-320-pixel resolution, it takes a little bit more than designing your website to fit a smaller screen size.

Here are a few ideas to keep in mind when building your website:
• You can design web pages for wide-screen and Flash enabled browsers, however check that the important information is easy to see even on a small screen that cannot manage any special applications (such as Ajax, Flash, Javascript, cookies, etc.). Anything more than XHTML Basic will be more than what some mobile phones are able to handle.

• The iPhone automatically scales websites when necessary. Therefore, build web pages that have multiple thin columns instead of pages with one big column. If the content is narrower on a normal web page, the less the Web page will be scaled down to fit into its window.

• Try putting your content on multiple pages to make them easier to read as it can be hard to read huge sections of text on one page on your mobile phone.

• Images on a website often make websites look nicer when seen on a full screen. However, by keeping images small and optimized, users are much happier as they do not need to wait long for the images to be downloaded.

• Keep your links short as they may get annoying after a while if users are often visiting your website and need to type in long URLs.

Hope these tips help. Happy designing!!