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The Iphone 3G and astronomical applications

kennyboy

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kennyboy

kennyboy

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Hi all, I have an Iphone (yes I managed to get one) For those of you who have one or are thinking of getting one there are some really good astronmical applications you can install on it for only a few pounds (£5.99) One is called Starmap which reminds me of stellerium see here http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iQAykz2pJTM

There are a few other apps that look good too that you can download from the Itunes store

Regards

Ken

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spacemonkey

spacemonkey

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I've thought about installing one of these apps. on my ipod touch, but from reading the reviews, they seem to crash or not work at all with alarming regularity. What causes this ? - surely if there was a software bug or some incompatibility with the OS, everyone would have problems. Is it just bad luck or user error or something?

Dave

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Keagle

Keagle

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Well, my iPhone is entirely unreliable now. Opening an app may crash it, causing it to restart. When trying to write out a text message, when I hit a key it'll be around 4seconds before that input is registered. VERY frustrating. When opening the contact list, if I scroll down it'll be around 8-10 seconds before the input is registered. When I click a name, another 5-6 seconds. When I click a number, or email, another 3-4seconds.

It should be instantaneous. Sometimes it is, normally it's like the above. Which is why I don't get it...for example with the text message thing, if I close the SMS application and then re-open it, then it is back to normal.

I don't think it is due to a single app, just that I have a lot of apps installed on my phone. And that the update has some performance bugs :D.

Apologies - I needed that rant! :D

Kurtis

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Paxo

Paxo

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Well, my iPhone is entirely unreliable now. Opening an app may crash it, causing it to restart. When trying to write out a text message, when I hit a key it'll be around 4seconds before that input is registered. VERY frustrating. When opening the contact list, if I scroll down it'll be around 8-10 seconds before the input is registered. When I click a name, another 5-6 seconds. When I click a number, or email, another 3-4seconds.

It should be instantaneous. Sometimes it is, normally it's like the above. Which is why I don't get it...for example with the text message thing, if I close the SMS application and then re-open it, then it is back to normal.

I don't think it is due to a single app, just that I have a lot of apps installed on my phone. And that the update has some performance bugs :clouds1: .

Apologies - I needed that rant! :hello2:

Kurtis

That's the problem when you are a pacesetter Kurt, you pay inflated prices to get back the R&D costs and you iron out all the flaws for the manufacturer before further cheaper releases with all the bugs fixed are made. :scratch:

Steve..

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ringz

ringz

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I have heard that installing apps from the appstore directly onto the iphone can cause lockups.

If you use itunes to download the app then load it onto the iphone lockups just don't happen.

I haven't an iphone or ipod touch so I can't try this myself.

--

Martyn.

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kennyboy

kennyboy

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Well I can honestly say that I have not had any problems with the new iphone 3G and the software works fine. I have downloaded software both ways and everything was fine. The only slow down I have had when texting was once when it seemed to slow right down but then turned off the wifi and it was ok again. Starmap is excellent..

Best wishes from a happy Iphone user

Ken

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edjones

edjones

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My tip is for iPhone astonomy is GoSkyWatch. It' very similar to Starmap as far as I can see, But comparing to the video review linked above, GoSkyWatch is *much* more responsive to user-input. There's very little lag as far as I can tell and a much higher frame rate.

In reference to Keagle's problems reference above, that experience isn't exactly isolated.... but things for me have been quite a lot better since the recent firmware update (2.0.1)

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Keagle

Keagle

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Installed the 2.01 update and still get the ridiculous lag when texting, more often than not, but the contact list lag and general performance issues are fixed. Nonetheless, still getting the occasional crash but not as often. Ah well :hello2:

Kurt

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  • 3 months later...
MonteRay

MonteRay

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I was just surfing the Internet and, finding your cozy lounge, I decided to insert my five cents to the topic. The story goes like this. My daughter loves astronomy, and I thought of making her a present at her birthday. I, personally, am not into this stuff, but after some speculation, an idea of getting her an iPhone appeared. And I had a lucky chance to obtain the Star Walk application. I don’t really know how good it is in comparison to the other, but it really struck me. First off, it’s all about depicting space and space objects. It’s very engaging and looks like almost here. The developer states it’s all for the real hi-res photos used in the making of Star Walk. Then, it's working pretty fast, and you know how crucial this matter is sometimes. So, you just zoom in or zoom out, move around a system, scroll as you wish, and everything works just fine! And here, I must say, you can work with large part of the sky, even with that part you aren't able to see right here. Moreover, you can set the time of observation manually, and watch everything move, manage the velocity and use the information panel simultaneously. However, the information is not very detailed. It covers only the main characteristics, and the special terminology is left out, thus making it simple for many people. Well, my daughter is happy, and I’m happy too. Star Walk is really a fun! I hope this helps.

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  • 1 month later...
SilverFox

SilverFox

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I was just surfing the Internet and, finding your cozy lounge, I decided to insert my five cents to the topic. The story goes like this. My daughter loves astronomy, and I thought of making her a present at her birthday. I, personally, am not into this stuff, but after some speculation, an idea of getting her an iPhone appeared. And I had a lucky chance to obtain the Star Walk application. I don’t really know how good it is in comparison to the other, but it really struck me. First off, it’s all about depicting space and space objects. It’s very engaging and looks like almost here. The developer states it’s all for the real hi-res photos used in the making of Star Walk. Then, it's working pretty fast, and you know how crucial this matter is sometimes. So, you just zoom in or zoom out, move around a system, scroll as you wish, and everything works just fine! And here, I must say, you can work with large part of the sky, even with that part you aren't able to see right here. Moreover, you can set the time of observation manually, and watch everything move, manage the velocity and use the information panel simultaneously. However, the information is not very detailed. It covers only the main characteristics, and the special terminology is left out, thus making it simple for many people. Well, my daughter is happy, and I’m happy too. Star Walk is really a fun! I hope this helps.

It's great that you are getting your daughter into the stars - I only wish we could persuade more people in the world just to look upwards every now and again.

On the iPhone topic, I was recently on a conference with work and met one of the other delegates, a French chap, who had star maps on his iPhone. It looked really impressive and seemed to work really well. Can't help think it might destroy your night vision though....when someone gets the Cambridge star maps on some kind of low light head up display then I'll be happy!

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NickH

NickH

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Many of the iphone apps now support night vision modes. I wrote an article on the iphone/mobile astronomy for AN, which showed a few of these. Having used around a dozen different mobile apps, I still think Tachyon wins out on feature set (not on iphone at present), but the iphone apps generally are very good, as mobile planetariums

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Texy

Texy

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There are now seven serious star-charting apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. To help folks sort out which one(s) they might want to buy, I've written a detailed comparative review: http://physics.weber.edu/schroeder/iPhoneStarApps/

Thanks for putting the effort in, it takes a lot of the worl/decision making when choosing which app to purchase.

Texy

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Aidi

Aidi

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I have just downloaded and installed the ipod Star program on my Touch. Great app and works a charm for me. As i am only just starting out in this hobby, and it will be invaluble when i have a few spare mins at work to look at it and help with my constallation knowledge! Great find and thanks for sharing

Rgds

Aidi

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