Apps supersize to iPhone 5 dimensions

The iPhone 5 has pushed the whole mobile viewing experience up a few notches. The larger 4-inch screen space has kicked off a scramble between developers and apps owners to develop size-optimized apps. But how far down the road are we?

It’s quite understandable that developers are iffy over upgrading to iPhone5 , since the current Apple SDK isn’t yet upgraded to the larger screen size. Hence, for all practical intents and purposes, it’s not quite there yet.

Some iPhone developers have found this a good enough reason to sharpen their hacking skills. And as a result the Web is teeming with “special iPhone Simulator tweaks” (tweaked SDK versions) for turning the old simulator into a real-size iPhone5 mockup.

Such modified versions are alluring to early adopters, but at the same time, they are prone to bugs. Very likely such apps would need to be continually revisited to fix bugs and other snags.

It’s also worth noting that upgrading has a lot to do with app type and framework involved. A business app, for example, could be more readily upgraded compared to a graphic-heavy app, like gaming. Most business/productivity apps are built on standard iOS controls which can be optimized for different screen sizes easily since there aren’t too many graphic elements to change.

In contrast, an existing gaming app (other than 3D) would need quite a bit of graphical tweaking, and would therefore be that much more difficult to rescale. What makes this such an ironic situation is that the upscale iPhone 5 display (and the faster A6 processor) is in fact best cut out for gaming apps, which bank on visual effects, but they are also the most difficult to port to the new platform.

Games running a 3D display however will benefit as 3D comes with in-built adaptability to multiple screen sizes.

The larger picture, though, is extremely attractive for companies to leverage the larger form factor of iPhone 5. Experienced developers and builders shouldn’t find it much of a task to amp up/ add images to an existing app and render it compatible for the larger iPhone5 canvas. With the extra display space available, even content apps can expect more leverage.

Businesses can also tap into the extra space for advertising and marketing based on simple mobile websites, even without having to commit to dedicated iPhone5 apps.

Video streaming, gaming, and other graphic centric apps can deliver heightened visual gratification which the large screen display promises.

In more ways than one, Android’s fragmentation may also just turn to Apple’s advantage. Most developers are wary of Android’s ‘one-size-doesn’t-fit-all’ paradigm, and have tweaked their apps often for different Android configurations. That experience would come in handy to developers in transmuting existing iPhone apps.

Apple of course, remains steadfast in rolling out iPhone 5 to third-party developers. Going by the current Apple Store standards, every third-party iPhone 5 app needs a screen shot endorsement which accredits the app as iPhone5 worthy.

Non-upgraded apps

It’s a given that not all apps would render well on iPhone 5. Until the upgrade, such apps would show up in the letter box mode with extra spaces on the top, bottom, and sides cushioned by longitudinal long bars.

If you are looking to scale up your existing app, or want a new iPhone5 app built right from the scratch, our iPhone specialists at www.softwaredevelopersindia.com can make the difference.