iphone development and other topics of interest

The Early 2010 15-inch MacBook Pros have an impressive, according to Apple, 8-9 hour battery life. This long battery life is in part attributable to the integrated Intel graphics, which use way less juice than the more powerful Nvidia GPU.

In theory, applications which aren’t graphically intensive shouldn’t trigger the automatic switching of the Nvidia processor. I tested some applications, to see if they trigger the switch after being launched. While most of the results are predictable, some of them might raise a few eyebrows.

Note: To test if an app triggers the Nvidia graphics, I used the system_profiler command-line tool. Testing was performed on an early 2010 MacBook Pro with i7 processor. In most cases, the test consists of launching the application and putting it in document edition mode. For example, when testing the Pages application, I created a new document and then checked whether the computer had switched to the high performance GPU. This means that an app listed as “power friendly” might not be once you perform some more complex operations which trigger additional resource usage.

Disclaimer: All of this might be wrong.

Applications behaving nicely

• Address Book
• Adium
• AppViz
• Excel 2008
• Grab
• iCal
• Interface Builder
• iTunes playing a movie
• iTunes playing music
• Numbers ‘09
• Pages ‘09
• Powerpoint 2008
• Preview
• Quicktime playing H.264
• Quicktime playing non-H.264
• Safari (http://www.adobe.com/flashplatform)
• Safari (http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash)
• TextMate
• Things
• TweetDeck
• Word 2008
• XCode

Applications behaving badly

• Garage Band
• iMovie
• iPhone Simulator
• iPhoto
• Keynote ‘09
• Photoshop
• VLC playing H.264
• VLC playing non-H.264

Applications behaving badly, that should behave nicely

• 1Password
• Kiwi
• OnTheJob
• Tweetie

Please note that plugging in an external display triggers the Nvidia GPU.

The saddest part of it all is that some of the apps even trigger the GPU when they’re minimized in the tray!!!

What I want is a dropdown menu in the System Preferences that lets me choose between three settints: Always use Intel, Always use Nvidia, and Automatic switching. I don’t care if the transparency in Kiwi is 2 FPS slower when I scroll down. What I do care about is my laptop’s battery lasting half as long as it should.

You did some testing and want to share the results? Please do! Simply open the terminal and enter:

system_profiler | grep -A 50 ^Graphic

How to interpret the results:

The graphics adapter which is currently used will have this text under it:

Displays:
  Color LCD:
    Resolution: 1680 x 1050
    Yaddi yaddi yadda...

The one not used will have this text under it:

Displays:
  Display Connector:
    Status: No Display Connected
  Display Connector:
    Status: No Display Connected

Make sure you close all other running applications and that you run the test both before and after launching the application.

According to Apple’s online store, most iPad accessories won’t be available on launch day.

While the iPad Dock will be available on April 3rd, the Keyboard Dock won’t be available until “Late April”. If you wanted a Case to protect your iPad, you’ll need to wait until mid April.

Most surprisingly, the 10W USB Power Adapter won’t be shipping until May! Until then, looks like the only way to recharge your iPad will be by plugging it in your computer’s USB port.

As for the iPad Camera Connection Kit, no clue on when it will be available.

But there’s an upside to all that: it’ll save me money. I already have a Bluetooth keyboard lying around somewhere, so All I need is the 29$ iPad Dock and I’m ready to go!

EDITED March 31st:

While the 10W Power Supply won’t be available for sale as an accessory until May, there is one included with every iPad. So it is possible to recharge your iPad autonomously.

Apple announced the release date for the iPad today. It will be available for sale on April 3d. That is, if you live in the United States. If, like me, you live in Canada, it will be available by the end of April.

Considering the secrecy surrounding the iPad and the geographical distribution of Apple retail outlets, I can understand why the initial release is only done on home soil. It also makes sense in terms of supply and demand. Apple wants to have enough iPads for everybody.

As a consumer, I don’t have a problem with apple releasing in the USA only. As a registered developer, it frustrates me profoundly.

Like many others developers, I am working on an iPad app. Like many others, I am stuck testing it on the tools available to me at the moment. Some privileged top tier developers already have access to the physical device and will be able to have their apps available on April 3rd. I’m fine with that. I understand that Apple wants to hand-pick a few top notch developers for their 0-day offerings. Really, I’m fine with that.

What I’m not fine with is that every developer outside of the United States will not have access to the iPad until approximately three weeks after american developers. That means that our submissions will be artificially delayed by three weeks as well. It basically translates into an unfair advantage for american developers and lost opportunities for the rest of us.

There are already two classes of developers: those who get to sign the secret NDAs and get invited to Cupertino, and those who don’t — please don’t create a third.

To fix this, Apple needs to make iPads available to all their developers come April third. This could be done via the online stores, or even from the retail locations which are located outside the US. If Apple is able to invent a magical and revolutionary product like the iPad, surely they can find a way to put one in our hands as well.

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I revamped my iPhone Bicycle Gear Calculator’s website. Check it out.