The Apps are Too Damn Big

I think this is a bigger question of backwards compatibility. Surely Apple could find a technical solution to downloading Retina assets to non-Retina devices, but at the end of the day, what does this accomplish? It means that users of older devices will have a slightly better experience, at the expense of a nontrivial amount of work. Were such a scheme to be implemented, the developer would likely have to mark Retina files manually and Apple would have to add infrastructure on their servers. All this for something that will be pointless in the near future when Apple stops selling non-Retina iOS devices.

I don't mean to assert that Apple shouldn't attempt to separate out Retina assets, but I think it's worth considering the opportunity cost. There are a lot of other things Apple's engineers could be working on. Should this be their top priority?

Re: The Apps are Too Damn Big

#5

Post by sumukh1 » Sun, Apr 08, 2012, 4:00 AM UTC

One possible solution is having apps ship with 1x graphics with an optional download to have 2x. That solution, however, is not something I would like as a developer or as an user.

Over the next few years, we'll probably go back to having just two screen sizes (Retina iPhone + iPad). This is just a side effect of the transition to retina, and it will go away soon.

Though from Apple's perspective it would make more financial sense to have you go buy a 64GB iPad. :)

Re: The Apps are Too Damn Big

#6

Post by stinky613 » Sun, Apr 08, 2012, 4:02 AM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #2

You're right it wouldn't

Updates are the more frustrating aspect of this situation. Sure, get a zetabyte storage card for future Apple formats--that won't fix the fact that a user may need to download dozens of megabytes of unused data for every update

Re: The Apps are Too Damn Big

#7

Post by chipsy » Sun, Apr 08, 2012, 4:02 AM UTC

michael_miller wrote: post #4

I think this is a bigger question of backwards compatibility. Surely Apple could find a technical solution to downloading Retina assets to non-Retina devices, but at the end of the day, what does this accomplish? It means that users of older devices will have a slightly better experience, at the expense of a nontrivial amount of work. Were such a scheme to be implemented, the developer would likely have to mark Retin…

This is the company that simply yanked out floppy drives when they decided they were no longer necessary, so it's probably not a priority at all. It doesn't directly cause breakage, and a few years down the line, Retina will be everywhere.

Re: The Apps are Too Damn Big

#8

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Apr 08, 2012, 4:07 AM UTC

stinky613 wrote: post #6

stephengillie wrote: post #2

You're right it wouldn't

Updates are the more frustrating aspect of this situation. Sure, get a zetabyte storage card for future Apple formats--that won't fix the fact that a user may need to download dozens of megabytes of unused data for every update

[deleted]

Re: The Apps are Too Damn Big

#9

Post by cbsmith » Sun, Apr 08, 2012, 4:15 AM UTC

sumukh1 wrote: post #5

One possible solution is having apps ship with 1x graphics with an optional download to have 2x. That solution, however, is not something I would like as a developer or as an user. Over the next few years, we'll probably go back to having just two screen sizes (Retina iPhone + iPad). This is just a side effect of the transition to retina, and it will go away soon. Though from Apple's perspective it would make more fi…

If only things were done with vector graphics...

Re: The Apps are Too Damn Big

#10

Post by abuzzooz » Sun, Apr 08, 2012, 4:19 AM UTC

Wouldn't an SD card slot help?