Habemus iPhone OS 4.0

Has promised, i installed the beta 1 of iPhone OS 4.0 and will be sharing my views on the new features during the 2 months of beta testing that will precede the release for the general public.

First reaction is very positive - the new wallpaper is great to show the new ability of setting a background for Springboard.

What can i say about yesterday´s presentation? I´m very happy with some changes (multitasking, internal notifications, mail.app improvements, gamecenter - i called this one in my predictions, folders), but i´m VERY angry with Apple for not doing anything regarding what i think is the main problem on iPhone OS - the POOR way that notifications are handled! I mean, we´re in 2010, the competition have shown how to do it in a usefull, non-obtrusive way, and we have to put up with the stupid popups in the middle of the screen...really Apple? Funny thing is that we will have even more types of notifications to deal with, making the problem even bigger. Thank God for jailbreak!

The other two BIG letdowns are the way the Lockscreen remains the same, very far from what can be done, and the absence of ways to quickly access most used settings (think sbsettings). It´s very clear that jailbreaking will remain a must for iPhone users, unless you´re a soccer mum.

Real Football 2010 - online multiplayer is a go!

I expected this for so long. A football game for the iphone platform with online multiplayer! Not only that, it will support all the Gameloft Live service features, namely push notifications to hook up with friends, like we can already do in UNO!

More details about Gameloft´s Real Football here. Nevertheless, i have a feeling RS competition will folow - both FIFA 2010 and X2 Football should have online multiplayer by the end of the year.

Apple´s It´s only Rock & Roll - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Here´s my views on the latest Apple keynote:

The Good

Steve´s back!
iTunes 9 with slick new features, namely app organization, home sharing
OS 3.1 release
Apple´s commitment to the iPhone has a gaming platform
Apple´s considering iPhone/ipod touch has pocket computers


The Bad

OS 3.1 is a bit lame. iPhone UI needs some changes (proper notification system, live widgets, etc). It also bring more problems for jailbreak
iTunes 9 still slow on windows
Ringtones store
Not giving the 8gb iPod touch the new processor/RAM used on the

The Ugly

No camera on the new ipod touch - this is nuts, i think it will cost them alot of sales. Lot´s of angry people out the 3GS

Gamelof does it again: Blades of Fury

3D platformer, check (Assassins Creed/Hero of Sparta), 3D Sandbox game, check (Gangstar), FPS, check (Modern Combat: Sandstorm), sports game, check (Real Soccer). Game genre after game genre, Gameloft has been proving nothing is impossible to be done right on the iPhone platform.

Yesterday, they delivered the first proper fighting game for the platform, Blades of Fury. Another very impressive console quality game, specially when we see how well it controls with touch input.

Modern Combat: Sandstorm: FPSs do work on the iPhone

Not that i had any doubt. I´ve been playing iFPS Online for some months, and that game, after some control fixes, showed me FPS games can work better on the iPhone than on any current handeld console (ds or psp), even for multiplayer online.

However, it lacked popularity, and specially, graphical refinement and a solid single player campaign. Well...once again, Gameloft stepped in and showed what can be done with iPhone´s /iPod touch hardware, even the older models. Modern Combat: Sandstorm is the definitive proof FPS games work on the iPhone and an amazing portable gaming experience.

However...it´s not perfect, because it lacks online multiplayer. Lets hope they´ll add it soon, or else ngmoco might grab the place of definitive online shooter with Killtest.