Some notes about iGreekNews HD

Christos Sotiriou -

I believe that it is time that I write some notes regarding the latest release of iGreekNews HD.

First of all, I should answer the basic question: Why a new application? Why not upgrade the old one?

Allow me to explain myself:

  • iGreekNews HD is not a port from the old application. It is a new application written from the ground up to support more features than the old one, like network connectivity, better asynchronous download connections, and enhanced interface elements. It just wasn’t possible to implement those changes to the old application. So, in order to improve the old application, I had to rewrite it. If I didn’t, it would just be the old application in a bigger screen.
  • So, imagine what would it be like for a programmer to have worked on a new application, for twice as much time as the original, just to release an update. It just wouldn’t be fair for the programmer. Not being released at all would also be unfair for all those who wanted an update.
  • The original iGreekNews, like many other applications, was programmed before iPad was even announced, so I couldn’t predict that I would need one day to release an application for bigger screen and other UI. So that’s another reason I had to rewrite the application from scratch.
  • Furthermore, iGreekNews is cheap for what it offers. In order to do what iGreekNews does, you need two separate applications, which will result in a greater cost for the end user. And in most cases, you will still don’t have the same functionality.

So, I decided to make iGreekNews HD a separate application.

Another reason people are contacting me is for crashes regarding reading the whole article. Well, all I can say is that this is not iGreekNews’ fault. iGreekNews HD is using UIWebView to display the entire article. Which, in turns, uses some Webkit classes that leak memory in large amounts. I have tried to find workarounds, to no avail. Apple said that they have acknowledged the problem.

I have managed to greatly improve the situation in the oncoming 1.1 release of iGreekNews, which was submitted today. I am using it right now, and I have yet to experience a crash. Just need to be a little more patient until its release in a few days.