Flash Ported To iOS and iPhone 4 231
An anonymous reader noted that there is a simple HOWTO explaining how to install flash on an iPhone4. Mad props for using Strong Bad as the demo. Of course, step one is to use the JailBreakMe. Once installed, Flash inside Safari loads in a stopped state so it won't even hurt performance unless you decide to actually execute the program.
Everyone sing! C'mon, you know the words! (Score:3, Funny)
"Would everyone please rise for the presentation of our national colors"
Oh!
Oh I like that!
Oh yeah!
Come to the place where the tropical breezes blow
Come to the coolest place I know
The people are so great
But really there's only me
And that means I'm so great
And also there's The Cheat
Oh there's The Cheat!
The place where the tropical breezes blow
The Cheat!
In the coolest place I know
The one's are always cold
And parties last all night
And probably lots of chocolate
And population tire
POPULATION TIREEEE!!!
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Oh noes! (Score:5, Funny)
Based on the way Apple has talked about flash, I guess people's iPhones are just going to explode.
Re:Oh noes! (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, based on the way Apple has talked about Flash, I'd expect that Flash will perform poorly, crash often, and drain battery life.
How much do you want to bet that it's true?
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'm surprised you haven't heard of flash player 10.1?
Its been out for over a month and works fine on my android phone...
From what i've heard its good for all the latest devices out there.
All apart from the iphone of course :)
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Except for those ass-clowns running Hulu. wow, so I should sign up for your lame premium service b/c my flash device can also make phone calls?
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Insightful)
It also runs poorly on OSX. And Linux. And really anything other than Windows.
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Well you can read their reasoning here [apple.com]. Pay special attention to reason #6.
I'm not saying you can't disagree with their reasoning, but obviously they have their reasons.
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Not really because jailbreaking means we can also install AdBlock! So although we can run Flash, we can immediately block of it again - TEH WIN! :)
Still won't help... (Score:3, Informative)
...all the people who want to develop applications for sale through the App store, for whom Apple is still the gatekeeper who can enforce whatever rules any way they choose.
Hard to believe this behaviour in the wake of the Microsoft cases heard in Europe and elsewhere, but I suppose Apple can still argue that they don't control enough of the market with the iPhone to be considered a monopolist, and so can impose any conditions on developers that they choose.
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A quick google ( http://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1CHNG_enGB347GB355&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=iphone+market+share [google.co.uk] ) shows iphone passed Windows mobile in 2009, and had 3x market share of Android as of June this year.
Do get your facts right or you look as bad as the fanboys.
No "Android pod touch" (Score:2)
It's really only a matter of time before developers jump ship for Android
Android devices without an integrated mobile phone don't have Android Market, and the one that was recommended for a while (Archos 5) is stuck on an ancient version of Android. So as I understand it, Android 2.x has no close counterpart to the iPod touch for someone who doesn't want yet another monthly phone bill.
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Nexus One is sold out (Score:2)
Nexus One
In this page [google.com], Google wrote:
In this page [google.com], Google wrote:
So in order to buy an Android phone without a contract, you have
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Google have stopped selling the Nexus One because now the carriers have STARTED selling it. At least in the UK you couldn't throw a brick whilst out shopping without breaking the window of a shop selling the Nexus One, Desire, Wildfire, Legend, Galaxy S, Dell Streak etc etc.
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What's stopping you going down the high street, buying an android phone and using that?
What's stopping me is the $2,000 contract that comes with it. As I wrote in this post [slashdot.org], I don't "want yet another monthly phone bill."My current phone is an Audiovox 8610 for which I pay 7.13 USD per month to Virgin Mobile USA because I use it for urgencies. I highly doubt that the local T-Mobile store will sell me a Nexus One for use with one of its prepaid plans [t-mobile.com].
I just visited T-Mobile's online store, and Search Results for Nexus One [t-mobile.com] states: "Looking for the latest Android device from Google? Pricing an
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So you don't have to worry about your app running horrible on certain phones.
True, but developing for Android vs. iOS means you don't have to worry about being bitch-slapped by Apple. It's almost like a cruel joke...a way for them to assert their power. "We know you have no choice but to develop for us...and we're going to make that suck. Why? Because we can, that's why."
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I presume the moderator of the parent who modded it "Troll" was an Apple Fanboy and not an Apple App Developer.
No idea why that post is modded Troll.. It's perfectly true. You wouldn't catch Google banning perfectly sensible apps and constantly moving the qualification goalposts.
Oh well (Score:2, Insightful)
Kudos for the achievement, but I am not going to clap too hard.
[rant]
I am not a big fan of Flash at the best of times. I have seen more cases of sloppy web design, UI design and lack of CPU optimisations in Flash than in other things I have used. Some of this can be attributed to people developing the Flash applications and some of this can be attributed to Adobe, but in the end we all suffer. If some of these issues were addressed I might change my mind about Flash, but at this point I have Flash block on
Re:Oh well (Score:5, Insightful)
Dude, seriously. I hate the plastic knife they pack away in those little cheesy cracker packs. It doesn't work very well and it's more garbage for the environment, but sometimes it's the only way to spread my cheese. I could hate the plastic spreader, write about it in blogs, start a petition... However sometimes it's just what I'm looking for even if I don't agree with it.
With that said, many, many flash sites load and run very well on my Nexus One. More than I would have thought, and I can always turn it off, or not go to the site.
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Surely you exaggerate? I've seen more shit web design in plain old HTML than everything else combined. Your UID suggests you're old enough to remember Geocities and Angelfire.
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you're old enough to remember Geocities and Angelfire
Shhh! We don't talk of those things. Imagine if they had AJAX back then -- the world could've exploded. Best to let those memories die.
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Surely you exaggerate? I've seen more shit web design in plain old HTML than everything else combined. Your UID suggests you're old enough to remember Geocities and Angelfire.
I may exaggerate (heck rants are for that :), but then again my expectations have gone up too. The idea of having a Core 2 Duo PC brought to it knees by Flash ads is not something that should be accepted. There are plenty of nicely designed Flash sites (though a pure HTML approach would be nice), but should we accept a Flash applicatio
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The real worst is that a lot of those CPU eating flash applications are omnipresent ads. For a long time I resisted using ad blockers. I've run small sites and I know that they really need those fractions of a penny per page view; but after the second or third time that my computer was brought to its knees by the ads on my WoW Guild's website (I usually leave it up to check forums and such), I had to do something.
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I've seen more shit web design in plain old HTML than everything else combined.
I dunno. I think today's shit designed flash pages with a long-loading shit flash introduction, shit-flash dropdown menu's, and numerous shit flash ads plastered on every page on the site is worse than anything that can be designed in html.
About 8 years ago Flash was used sparingly and was kinda cool, but today almost every site uses flash just for the sake of using it, not because they need it for anything that plain old HTML c
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Then you're too young to remember animated starry backgrounds. Imagine a page-wide blink tag and you'd get a rough initial approximation. Remember most people couldn't be bothered to change the text's color from its default black, and you'd be starting to imagine the pain one felt when that was the only even remotely-related website Altavista could find.
Besides, for all the evils Flash has brought us, it also gave us Portal: The Flash Version which helps balance things out.
Re:Oh well (Score:5, Interesting)
I have been a pretty big hater of flash in the past. Its ability to bring a modern computer to its knees with a fucking little flash game is pretty god damn annoying. That said, Apple bitch slapping the shit out of Flash has knocked a little sense into their heads. They have recently discovered mortality and found that they kind of fear it. Flash has started to clean up its act and stopped assuming that the user has more cores than fingers and enough memory to run a dozen instances Windows Vista at once. In fact, EVERYONE has started to do this from website designers to chip makers. I think the smart phone mobile revolution has been great for design in general. For too long everyone used Moore's law as crutch. Why use good design when you can throw 8 gig, handful of cores, and enough power to run a small movie theater at the problem?
What makes the mobile revolution really interesting is that it is really just reclaiming a lot of old tech. Everyone from chip designers to programmers know exactly where to go next because we have already been there with the PC. The challenge now is to take that old tech and optimizing to do more with less. The programing piece is interesting, but I think the real advances will be in hardware design. What smartphones are doing to hardware (chips, memory, sensors, etc) is breathtaking. They have covered ground that it took PCs a decade to cover in a couple of years. By the time my HTC Evo is ready for replacement in less than two years, I don't doubt for a second that my next phone is going to be rocking specs to put my last computer to shame.
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I have been a pretty big hater of flash in the past. Its ability to bring a modern computer to its knees with a fucking little flash game is pretty god damn annoying.
I just wanted to mention something I noticed this weekend, anecdotally of course: I watched two episodes of X-Files (roughly 1.5 hours) on the iPhone Hulu app and only noticed a 15% or so drain on the battery. I'd be surprised if a mobile version of Flash could pull that off without co-operation from the site on the other end.
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> That said, Apple bitch slapping the shit out of Flash has knocked a little sense into their heads.
How so? As far as I can tell Flash installs and upgrades are still every bit as unpredictable as they used to be. Google Chrome may actually be on to something by including it in the browser, but that is not exactly Adobe's achievement, is it?
And let's not forget that there is still a big gaping 0 day (or -7 day) hole in Acrobat - which seems to be getting the norm rather than the exception.
The 64bit plugi
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I had to switch from a Nexus One (Froyo 2.2) to a Motorola Droid-X (Eclair 2.1) because AT&T blows chunks (despite their coverage map showing full 3g coverage) where I live and I have to say - I do miss Flash, and I catch myself visiting a website that has embedded Flash objects I like to play around with all the time and just staring at that "missing plugin" icon is still a bit of a shock (only had the new phone 3-4 days). Adobe Flash only works on Froyo 2.2.
A lot of websites and blogs embed flash vide
What alternative to Flash? (Score:2)
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I would prefer to make that decision myself then have a company dictate it to me. I have an iPhone and I actually really do like it. However Flash is something I would like to have the option to choose. I am not applauding Jobs for keeping Flash off the Phone, Granted 99% of the time it isn't an issue but that 1% is annoying. HTML 5 is great and all however until IE supports it well by most of it browser share it will not be replacing Flash. And there are the DRM Reasons to stay with flash... Yes I kn
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Whatever floats your boat.
But I have Flash running on my G1 the oldest of the Android phones and 90% of the time most sites work, in fact all the major websites work just fine and day by day more sites are adjusting their content for mobile.
To put it in another way, I have more options than you and can access more stuff.
No it is not bloated(yet..) and videos stream perfectly clear.
It works....
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"I have seen more cases of sloppy web design, UI design and lack of CPU optimisations in Flash than in other things I have used...
If some of these issues were addressed I might change my mind about Flash...
the lack of evidence that Adobe is actually trying to address these concerns..."
Um, by your logic, Microsoft has some responsibility for poor .NET programming, Linus and the crew have some responsibility for poor open source programming, and who do we blame for bad C, C+, C++, and C# code?
No, next thing
Battery Murderer (Score:3, Funny)
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Bugs in iOS4 that need to be fixed... (Score:2, Interesting)
loads in a stopped state? (Score:2)
how about doesn't load unless you ask it to, so that it doesn't hurt those other performance factors: load time and bandwidth.
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And RAM.
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Watch the video - when he activated the content it took a fair amount of time to load ;).
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Curious... (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder how many people actually want Flash on their phones. I mean, Adobe have had more than a few years to optimise their player for the biggest sector of their market: the desktop, and they've failed completely. Even on my fairly beefy (Windows 7) desktop with gigs of ram and an abundance of free CPU cycles (read: 99% idle, only Chrome with flash running), the latest flash player chews up CPU like no man's business. (And yes, I've tried the betas and pre-releases, and they're just as bad...)
Perhaps I'
Re:Curious... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think anyone wants Flash, per se, but they may well want content that's only available (or more easily available) in Flash.
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You have a seriously messed up computer. I'm on my work machine (2 gigs of ram, Windows 7 Flash 10.1 - and its an Dell Optiplex 745 with a 2 core Core 2 duo running at 2.4 GHz) and hulu in hd mode uses 15% of the cpu. My machine is nothing to brag about either.
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When doing what? H.264 decoding seems to run quick enough on my machine. Maybe you're trying to watch some Spark 3 stuff? Maybe Flash is configured poorly? Just like JavaScript can bring a machine to it's knees, sometimes, you have to block third-party things in Flash.
Who needs flash? iPhone users dont! (Score:2, Funny)
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Steve??? Is that you????
Is this full Flash (Score:2)
Web video calling
Not Strong Bad (Score:3, Informative)
Flash is finally in the iPhone (Score:2)
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It's... um... a GIGANTIC security hole that's trivial to exploit. It's more shameful that they have NOT yet closed them.
Re:Jailbreakme (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Jailbreakme (Score:5, Informative)
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What have you got against PDF's being used to exploit iOS4? Would you prefer a TIFF like in 1.1.1? Or BMP because they're infrequent enough to filter on your own end?
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Maybe because I was addressing the specific exploit mentioned by the GP...
No more coffee for you!
Re:Jailbreakme (Score:5, Insightful)
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http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/software/2010-08-09-apple09_ST_N.htm [usatoday.com]
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Yeah, Apple is pretty slow to respond to security issues. This is the case across the board, from Macs to phones to software running on non-Apple operating systems. It's pretty sad.
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Funny because if they didn't fix such an exploit the people like you would be whining and crying about how long these exploits continue to exist without being fixed.
Re:Jailbreakme (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, if you jailbreak the phone, its antenna stops working.
No, you're just jailbreaking it wrong... try the right hand...
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Is anybody else waiting for Engadget and the like to pick this up and report it as "Jailbreaking Jesusphone fixes antenna problem"?
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Re:Jailbreakme (Score:4, Insightful)
If you live in an area with good AT&T coverage you wont notice a problem. Go out into the boonies.
I see your anecdotal evidence and match with my own. Out here in the midwest ive seen it happen on every iphone4 ive had the opportunity of trying it on. Including the display model at the AT&T store.
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If you live in an area with good AT&T coverage you wont notice a problem. Go out into the boonies.
I see your anecdotal evidence and match with my own. Out here in the midwest ive seen it happen on every iphone4 ive had the opportunity of trying it on. Including the display model at the AT&T store.
My issue, though, is I have not found an area that does not jump from good to so-bad-i-just-need-to-stare-at-it-for-the-iphone-to-fail. There does not seem to be any in-betweens around where I live. Either ATT just plainly sucks, or they work great.
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My issue, though, is I have not found an area
So because you havn't found an issue, everyone else is full of it?
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If you live in an area with good AT&T coverage you wont notice a problem. Go out into the boonies.
I see your anecdotal evidence and match with my own. Out here in the midwest ive seen it happen on every iphone4 ive had the opportunity of trying it on. Including the display model at the AT&T store.
My issue, though, is I have not found an area that does not jump from good to so-bad-i-just-need-to-stare-at-it-for-the-iphone-to-fail. There does not seem to be any in-betweens around where I live. Either ATT just plainly sucks, or they work great.
Yeah, that is caused by the formula that they use to calculate signal strength which was wrong. 4.0.1 only changed the size of the bars. The number of bars swing wildly because the range for full bars is so wide and the rest so narrow. You might not have such a strong signal to begin with and when there is a drop, it appears to be catastrophic when you actually had only 3 bars of strength.
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That is hilarious. In fact, I need to hit a mall today for other reasons. I think I will make a stop by the Apple store and "fix" a few of their phones. From the videos I have seen of it, you can basically do it in 30 seconds. Go to website, slide the button, phone reboots, and you are done. Jailbreaking an iPhone is like reorganizing the desk of a control freak... it is only fun because they are some uptight. No one would ever bother to go to a Verizon store and root some Droids because no one would
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http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/dell-streak-gets-rooted-now-accepting-superusers/ [engadget.com]
How does that compare ?
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Dell Steak? Don't post on Slashdot when you're hungry!
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I wouldn't be even a little shocked to find that Android tablets are rooted with an open menu option. Cell phone have a pretty good reason to make at least a half assed attempt to keep phones from being rooted. An Android tablet though? Why would Dell or Toshiba care if you root your tablet? If anything, for a tablet, it is probably a selling point. There is absolutely no reason for Dell to be all ADD about people messing with their hardware like Apple is.
I bet tablets are where you see the full power
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And that reason is?
My n900 did need an app instaling to get root access, but that app came from the official repo. I guess Nokia were worried about someone getting root and going all "THE SHEER UNADULTERATED POWER! BWAAHAHHAHHA! rm -fr /" or something,
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Are you using the Anarchist Cookbook ?-)
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Cell phone have a pretty good reason to make at least a half assed attempt to keep phones from being rooted.
I'm just a fan, but the Nokia N900 is easily rooted. Just open up the terminal and type in "root".
Re:Jailbreakme (Score:5, Funny)
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So basically, you know better and you want to impose your opinion... fill in some some whiny stuff that ends with me being the reason for World War II here.
Let's not get confused here. I am not doing it because I want to lead iPhone users to happiness. If I wanted to make an iPhone user happy, I would point them to the nearest kill-me-now gated 'burbclave with its endless sterile rows of uniform houses... or give them a gift card to that oh-so "edgy" multinational corporate chain of coffee shops.
Believe me, rooting iPhones at an Apple store isn't being done to be nice. It is done to be a jerk and revel in someone else's unhappiness.
What's the difference between you and Steve Jobs then?
The difference between me
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Believe me, rooting iPhones at an Apple store isn't being done to be nice. It is done to be a jerk and revel in someone else's unhappiness.
Wow you're pretty hardcore, bro. Secondly, it takes the people in the Apple Store probably like 10 seconds to restore the phone and undo what you did. At the same time they are laughing at your pasty, obese ass for even wasting your time thinking your doing some big "stickin it to da man!!!" thing.
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All you have to do is stay away from iTunes' automatic updates
I don't yet own an iPod Touch or iPhone; I am still evaluating which device to buy. Is it practical to sync music onto an iPod Touch or iPhone without updating?
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Yes. Asking if you would like to "download the latest versions and update" is a prior step to syncing. It then starts downloading, which can be cancelled. It's pretty easy to not update your iPhone. My girlfriend did that for about a year, just because she didn't feel like dealing with the new updates.
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Unfortunately, you do have to click the "No, I don't want to update" everytime you connect your iPhone.
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With new software updates, it will ask you if you want to download and install, just download, or ignore (and you can tell it not to ask you again), so you don't have to update. It's separate from the syncing process itself - I have kept my 3G on the old software, since I really don't need the features offered by the iOS4 update and the performance is reportedly not great on the 3G. iTunes doesn't mind at all that I'm not up to date with the very latest stuff when syncing all my music, calendars etc.
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Updates are technically voluntary, but if you sync to Windows rather than OS X it is ALL TOO EASY to accidentally upgrade the phone's OS due to focus stealing [wikipedia.org] if you're touch typing.
So, voluntary it may be, but sometimes some involuntarily update due to focus stealing. Microsoft may consider that type of call a feature, but I consider it a bug. At least X window managers allow me to allow or disallow focus stealing, and on OS X it hasn't b
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Would this 'fixing' if attempted work on jail-broken phones as well?
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Apple knows what is best for all of us. Do as Apple says. Obey... Conform....
Oh damn it, I forgot I had my sunglasses on. ... "Think Different"
Re:Not having flash... (Score:4, Insightful)
is the iPhone's main feature for me. But if you like it, nice to have the choice.
Why don't you use a rock or a jellybean, then?
Not having the choice to use Flash is a very stupid motivator in choosing a phone. It's like saying that you'd rather be unable to run because running can wear you out faster than walking, or that you don't want to be allowed to freely express yourself because that can be embarrassing.
Why give up the choice just because most of the time you would stick with one option? But the real question for me is this: why take such joy in giving up that choice? Why thank Apple for disallowing a feature that wouldn't hurt you at all, though it might only rarely help?
Re:Not having flash... (Score:4, Interesting)
But the real question for me is this: why take such joy in giving up that choice? Why thank Apple for disallowing a feature that wouldn't hurt you at all, though it might only rarely help?
If iOS users could access Flash then those website owners would have the option to ignore mobile users. "The current Flash website works" would be their response to requests for an optimized one. As it stands, without Flash support, website owners are given the choice to ignore all iOS users, create a dedicated app, or create a website version optimized for mobile devices.
Apple would prefer that website owners took the latter of the three choices. Forget Flash - just create a version that works well with mobile devices. Small screen, no mouse - it really requires a different design. When designing future websites be sure to "think mobile" during the design process. This is beneficial to users of all mobile web devices.
So by taking away "choice" in regards to Flash, Apple is pushing the industry to accommodate small mobile devices. This is good for everyone. I am glad Apple made this decision. But if I personally owned an iOS device I would want the option to use Flash. Guess I would have to jailbreak or purchase an Android device - but that is my choice. I am not mad at Apple for making theirs.
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the shear popularity of the iPhone
Wow, there's an app for haircuts too?
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A lot of this is quality assurance - it takes a lot of time to test and integrate all the device drivers in Android so that they work near perfect as possible. Its not like slapping a linux distro onto a white box and calling it a day ;).
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Which is why I bought a Desire (for running a custom Froyo ROM) about a week before Froyo was officially released for it.
Flash Lite is, however, not Flash.
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It's an optional download. AFAIK just the plugin framework was added in the browser with Froyo...
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Just because the vocal minority wants Flash on their Android phones, does not mean that we all do...
I for one will be removing anything Flash-related should it be pushed in my next firmware update.
The Nokia N900 does it well. Flash support, but it's easily disabled, and there's this plugin called Flashblock, and there's something called Adblock as well. Pretty useful for those few sites that NEED Flash.
Why reinvent what Firefox has already done quite well?
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Adobe's security track record is too poor for my liking
I agree entirely, but there's nothing quite so frustrating as needing information off a website that insists on using Flash. VNCing/RDPing to a remote machine from a phone just to get some info would be silly - but I've had to do it before!
I'm not quite sure what this has to do with Firefox though, but since I don't use it, I guess that is moot. ;)
Just that the Nokia N900 uses a Firefox-compatible... thingy... that has the normal add-ons. Rather than having a specific 'mobile browser' (although there are plenty of options); using the same systems as Firefox makes sense to me.
Just because you don't want Flash on
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Ah, good to know. Guess they needed pros to do the hard work too :D
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Following the links in TFA apparently they used the android build of flash with some kind of compatibility layer.