With Apple increasing the screen size of iPhone5 to four inches from the previous 3.5 inches, it is now the turn of the application developers to catch up with the change.
Most apps, according to market sources, will run ‘letter-boxed’ — black empty screen space on the top and bottom of the application — on the new models until they are updated.
The developer will need to rewrite, test and submit the software for the user to continue having a similar experience. Users, however, will benefit from additional screen content (in non-game applications) and more game controls can be accommodated in the additional space.
“iPhone applications that are run on iPads are known to face this kind of a problem. But in this case the border will be much smaller,” Mukund Mohan, CEO, Vangal Software Solutions, said.
Re-working
“Larger screens mean that applications have to be updated and re-worked,” Virat Khutal, founder and CEO, of Twist Mobile, which runs the ‘Citystack’ game on iOS, told Business Line .
Stretching content across the additional screen space may lead to images becoming grainy or pixelated. The other option is to leave black borders around the space, he added.
Market sources admit some applications that use a native engine like that of the iOS which needs to be re-worked.
“Unlike Android, the iOS platform was never built to natively support multiple screen sizes. iOS developers will need to update their apps,” Ashay Padwal - CTO & Co-Founder, Vserv.mobi
According to Hrishi Oberoi, Director, Games & Studios, DisneyUTV, developers will have to create a separate variant to accommodate the larger screen size. But keeping in mind the iPhone’s faster processor; it should not be a problem. DisneyUTV has popular games such as Cricket Fever running on the iOS platforms.
Additional Cost
Developers are bracing for an increase in product cost by at least 10-15 per cent to switch over. The time taken to adapt to the new screen-size would vary between three and five days depending on the app.
Games running on a three-dimensional engine (3D) will be able to scale up automatically because of its in-built capacity to adapt to multiple screen resolution, P. R. Rajendran, founder and CEO of Next Wave, points out.
The company runs the World Cricket Championship game on both iPad and iPhone.