Ben Forta's Blog - Mobile

Building Your First PhoneGap Build App

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:50:00 -0400

Want to build a mobile app using web standards? Don Woodward shows you how in this new video Introduction to PhoneGap Build - Building your first app:

The Almost Perfect HTC One

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:14:00 -0400

I've been searching for the Perfect Phone for many years. As previously noted, I have become a fan of the HTC devices which I've been using for the past few years (most recently the HTC One X and One X+). The newest HTC phone is the One which I have been traveling with and using extensivley since it shipped just over a week ago. So how has this one held up to real world scrutiny? Here are some thoughts:

The HTC One boasts an impressive industrial design that is beautiful, elegant, and oh so enjoyable to ogle.
I was initially skeptical of the aluminum body, worrying that it would not be as easy to grip as the rubberized One X. But a week in, that's proven to be a non-issue. The device is easy to hold, and the thin non-aluminum strip along the side prevents it from sliding.
The screen is gorgeous, clear and bright, easy to read, and utterly smooth to touch and slide your fingers over (important for us Swype users).
The device is fast, everything is snappy and responsive.
The camera (well, both cameras) is superb.
Battery life is great.
The front facing stereo speakers offer the best sound I have heard from a device this size.
The One includes the latest iteration of Sense, HTC's Android skin. The updated Sense is clean and lightweight, it feels natural and true to Android 4, and boasts incredibly readable fonts (that are crisp and narrow, allowing for more text on the screen).

In short, the HTC One has raised the bar for me, and is about as close to perfect a smartphone as I have ever used. But, unfortunately, it's not quite perfect, yet. As I previously noted, HTC Sense is the only Android skin that I find usable. It's non-intrusive, flexible, and highly customizable, truly adding value without detracting from the pure Android experience. But with this latest version HTC seems to be starting to fall into the trap of trying to control the experience. Consider BlinkFeed, their new UI that creates (Windows Phone like) live tiles and blocks on the home screen, providing real-time access to mail, social feeds, pictures, news, and more. I really tried to like BlinkFeed, but found the sheer volume of content that it bubbles up to be incredibly distracting, even annoying. What I wanted was a way to control the volume of data, but nope, it's all or nothing. So I opted (for now) not to use BlinkFeed at all, but there is no way to not display it, so one of my home screens has been lost (and the One only has 5, unlike the 7 in earlier devices). The same thing happens in the Gallery app. Without asking you, the device will suck in pictures from accounts you connect to, making you have to jump through extra steps to get to your own camera shots, and there is no good way to stop this behavior. They also removed some really important apps, like App Associations (good luck trying to figure out how to change your default browser to Chrome now). In general, it feels like HTC has started forcing a specific user experience and workflow, and that gets in the way of what would otherwise be a perfect device. Fortunately, all of these annoyances are easily fixable. Let's hope HTC does just that in future updates. That said, the HTC One truly is the best smartphone I have used to date, and really is almost perfect.

jQuery Mobile 1.3.1 Released

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 23:08:00 -0400

I completely missed this one last week (hey, MAX is just weeks away, that's my excuse!). jQuery Mobile 1.3.1 was released with about 50 fixes and improvements to the library.

Instant Adobe Edge Inspect Starter

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:25:00 -0400

I first seriously used Edge Inspect when I was testing the redesign and relaunch of my own web site late last year, and I was hooked. Sure, if you are still creating desktop targeted HTML and CSS and relying on devices simply scaling the pages down, then you'll probably have little need for a tool like Edge Inspect. But as soon as you start building device specific experiences, including adaptive and responsive UI, you'll desperately need synchronized browsing, the ability to capture multiple device screenshots, and more. As I've previously stated, Edge Inspect is one of those rare products that, once you use it, you wonder how you ever developed without it. Why do I mention this now? Packt recently sent me a copy of Joseph Khan's new Instant Adobe Edge Inspect Starter e-book, which I took the time to read on a flight this week.Edge Inspect is a very small and focused tool, it is designed to solve a very specific problem, and it does that very well. It's not a complicated product to learn; there really aren't that many options and features; it's intentionally clean and simple. Which makes you wonder if a book on Edge Inspect is necessary or of value. That said, Instant Adobe Edge Inspect Starter really does walk through everything you need to know about the product, from explaining what it is, to installation and set up, to real time page tweaks, to screen grabs, and more. The text is straightforward, the color screenshots useful, and the instructions make sense. So is this book worth your time and money? As I said, Edge Inspect is not a big complex product, and so it doesn't need a big complex book. Thankfully, this e-book weighs in at about 50 pages, and is priced at about $5 (there are print editions that are priced higher). Books don't get much lower risk than that, and so this one is perfect for Edge Inspect beginners.

PhoneGap 2.6 Released

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:50:00 -0400

Title says it all, PhoneGap 2.6 has been released. Here are some details.

Check Out Flippin' Awesome

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 23:03:00 -0400

Our very own Brian Rinaldi has created Flippin' Awesome, a home for "top-notch resource for web and mobile developers publishing regular articles, tutorials and news that is cutting-edge, useful and fun". Among his initial content is a great series on Getting Started With PhoneGap Build.

Andy Trice Builds A Game In PhoneGap

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 23:08:00 -0400

Adobe evangelist Andy Trice has outdone himself this time. PhoneGap Legends is an infinitely-scrolling top-view RPG themed game that is implemented entirely in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PhoneGap. Performance is superb, and Andy has included lots of details, videos, and source via GitHub.

jQuery Mobile 1.3.0 Released

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:23:00 -0400

Title says it all, jQuery Mobile 1.3.0 is a huge update!

PhoneGap 2.4.0 Released

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:38:00 -0400

Seems like just a few days since I announced PhoneGap 2.3.0, but there's no slowing that team down, so here's PhoneGap 2.4.0. Shazron has shared some of the enhancements.

PhoneGap And Facebook Connect

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:46:00 -0400

PhoneGap Build now supports Facebook Connect via a new plugin, as Colene Chow explains.

Holly Schinsky On PhoneGap Build Push Notifications

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:43:00 -0400

Holly Schinsky is fast becoming the authority on PhoneGap push notification. Her latest post on the subject explains the new push notification plugin for PhoneGap Build.

Shazron Explains PhoneGap InAppBrowser

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:15:00 -0400

PhoneGap team member Shazron Abdullah has posted a brief explanation of a very important enhancement in PhoneGap 2.3.0. InAppBrowser is just that, a browser within your app, allowing you to write native code for your app shell and PhoneGap (well, HTML and JavaScript) etc. runs within it. This should make it a whole lot easier to build apps that feel more native (a real Android app menu as an example).

PhoneGap 2.3.0 Released

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 09:14:00 -0400

Title says it all. PhoneGap 2.3.0 adds support for Windows Phone 8.

Jan 2013 Appliness Is Out

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:21:00 -0400

Appliness has a brand new design for 2013 - more visual, clearer text, and landscape orientation! The January 2013 issue is now out, and features an interview with author, speaker, web design consultant, and creativity evangelist Denise Jacobs.

Upcoming Open PhoneGap Session

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:51:00 -0400

Have questions about PhoneGap? Our own Raymond Camden and Andrew Trice will be hosting an online Open PhoneGap Session on January 17th. This is not a presentation. Rather, it's an open forum to ask questions about PhoneGap, PhoneGap Build, and mobile development in general. No registration required, just drop by.