icons and retina display optimisation

ok...so we move on and the iPhone 4 is firmly established.  There is an issue as a developer though.  This lovely new hi res retina display means we have to have our apps fitted with hi res images and low res (for the iphone/3/3g crowd) images and the app detects the phone and iOS and puts the right ones in there.

What does this mean? it means we have to re-create our icons a coupld of times over, for different phone screens, ipad screen and then smaller versions for the settings menu and such like.  I had fun with this, way more fun than coding could ever bring.  So I donned my photoshop cape and got to it right away....here are my results.

Pretty cool even if i do say so myself. Take note of the size difference from iphone to iPhone 4 and iPad, this gives you an idea of how hi res the phone screen really is.  Let me know if you need any help with an icon, we love designing them and enjoy it way more than coding! (did i mention this once or twice already?)

So, on to the final phase of testing and we're looking good for a launch in the next few weeks, although i am due a vacation and will probably delay launching until my return!

testing, testing, testing and oh so close nearly there

Testing
if there is a certain way to fry your brain is to repeatedly test, test, test and test again, the same thing over and over.  I think it is the best way to make your eyes cross involuntarily and confuse the hell out of yourself.  You start to second question yourself and repeat yourself in your notes.  So you get the point? 

I am in the final stages of testing, we have about 10 different configurations of devices and iOS to test as thoroughly as we possibly can.  It is the repetition that makes it difficult, that and getting reliable testers to return your emails ASAP (ahem people...come on!)

So it all sounds frustrating, but it isn't, because you get to see what was originally a written or sketched out idea, coming to life, in your hand, operating (almost) perfectly on your shiny new Apple device with its very cool operating system.

So...we're oh so close nearly there!