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For some time people interested in the iPad’s tech specs were wondering where the Dvorak keyboard support is. With iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 5 released on Tuesday developers finally found it. But on the evidence above it is clear that there is a hardware support, but not software (so you can connect external keyboard, but there is still no way to change iPad layout to Dvorak’s).

It is interesting that though the hardware support is developed, there are no Bluetooth Dvorak keyboards produced at the moment to connect to the iPad (on the other hand you can always take usual keyboard and apply stickers to its keys).

To know more about Dvorak keyboard layour read here.

Since the iPad SDK became publicly available January 27 there were more than 2,000 apps released in App Store. The mobile metrix firm Flurry analyzed some facts and made a conclusion: in comparison to December the number of new iPhone OS apps released in February is more than 185% higher. Most of them are customized versions of the apps released for iPhone/iPod Touch earlier.

Flurry said that iPad allowed AppStore to gain more apps and increase the distance between it and its biggest rival Android’s Market Place.

9to5mac reports that the latest iPhone 3.2 Beta 4 SDK has the new gestures folder. And there are two new types of commands (3Tap.plist and LongPress.plist), that are certainly not implemented in the iPhone SDK 3.1.

Apple will probably allow developers to use these new capabilities in the next version of the iPhone OS. We might even see these next month in the shipping version of the iPad.

Developers have found references to multitasking in iPhone OS SDK files. The below mention of a “multitasking dialog box” is just one example:

Actually many different Apple’s built-in applications already multitask. For example, phone.app, iPod.app, Safari.app, Mail.app, etc. so theoretically, the dialog box in this case could refer to current functionality.

Apple today released the iPad/iPhone OS 3.2 Beta 4 SDK.  The build 10M2144 is 2.5GB and can be downloaded from developer.apple.com/iphone.

(different search engine strings on SDK on the left, Firefox 3.6 for Mac on the right)

Here’s some more interesting information from the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK. Users will be able to set search to something besides Google in the search bar of the iPad’s Safari in upcoming iPhoneOS releases.

Right now, the two options besides the current default Google are Wikipedia and Yahoo, but plugins could be developed to do things like Amazon and Bing searches directly from the search bar in the Safari browser.

There is even a suggestion manager for both Google and Yahoo depending on which search engine you choose. Unfortunately, no Bing… yet.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the developers enabled a passcode lock in iPad SDK and then decided to type it incorrectly for a few times. After 5th try iPad proposed to make an emergency call.

This option looks pretty obscure but can be explained as a following to FCC regulations, that demand wireless phones to be able to make emergency calls (even in the cases when the device isn’t currently active or assigned a number).

Jobs claimed at the iPad’s keynote that it has a built-in speaker and mic, so does it really can make normal calls in addition to emergency calls?

Macrumors found interesting information in the latest Beta 3 iPad SDK. Apple’s private framework which controls the camera, has 3 additional camera characteristics that are not found in the iPhone 3.x SDK:

It looks like Apple built in API support to test if your iPad had a Front Facing Camera, Zoom and a Camera Flash. The front facing camera could be used for video chat, while Zoom and Camera Flash are often requested features for the iPhone’s back camera.

9to5Mac made further investigation and found the following icons which clearly show an interface to accept or decline a video chat:

The size of these buttons show that they will be used on the the iPad’s screen rather than the iPhone.

It is still unknown, if these new features will be available in the first version of iPad. We hope to see them in future versions of the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple has added the ability to set the wallpaper for iPad Home Screen in the latest beta 3 of the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK. Such functionality is not currently available for iPhones and iPod Touches.

On iPad in the Photos app when you select an image, you can choose to set it as the “Lock Screen” or “Home Screen” wallpaper (or both). It is also possible to have different images as the lock screen and home screen wallpapers. Here are the screenshots:

Yesterday Apple released new firmware and new SDK. Today 9to5Mac has posted an interesting video walkthrough of the Photos app from the latest iPad SDK (iPhone OS 3.2 Beta 3). Take a look:

Apple released the third beta of the iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad. There are no official reports on what changes are included in the update. Here are several screenshots: the newly included Photos app and the Camera tab in the same application:

Rumors that iPad could have a camera have been around for a while. These new photos might be one more evidence.However the iPad has a USB interface for camera and SD card reader, so this might just be the interface for importing pictures.

Update: According to MacRumors Apple pulled the Beta 3 release shortly after its initial release due to a major bug.

Update2: It’s back.

Update3:

• iPad SDK 3.2 Beta 3 Photos.app video walk-through
• iPad SDK adds ability to set home screen wallpaper
• Front Camera, Flash, Zoom and Video Conferencing found in latest SDK

These icons on the picture below were found by 9to5Mac in the 3.2 SDK. They seem to be a definitive evidence of video calling capability in future generations of Apple devices.

Searching for more evidence the source explored the code and also found a more direct mention of video chat in the telephony UI code:

And here is a reference to something called iChat:

So it is almost obvious Apple will bring video calling to their devices. But what will happen with 3G networks if millions of new iPhone users will start to make videocalls instead of common calls?

If you are an existing member of Apple’s iPhone Developer Program, you can login on their site and download the new SDK, which includes an iPad simulator for testing apps that are under development.

There are also available new iPad Human Interface Guidelines and iPad Programming Guide that introduces new iPad features and how-to about their implementing in applications. New user interface guideline outlines “”how to effectively use the new views and controls available to you to deliver unforgettable applications to your customers”.

Apple also launches a new Universal Application binary format for iPhone OS apps. It will allow developers to create an app that can take full advantage of the features of the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. So the iPad and iPhone code will be wrapped into one app package making distribution and management much easier.

Enagdget reports that new facts about the 4th generation iPhone were discovered in iPad’s 3.2 SDK:

Buried way inside the platform simulator lies a set of folders dedicated to specific models of iPhone OS-ready devices, including the iPhone 3GS, second generation iPod touch, something called the “K48″ (yep, the codename we were told was the internal name for the iPad), and… the “N89.”

This “N89.” is rumored to be the codename of the next iPhone. Previous versions of the iPhone were named the M68, N82 and N88.

They also have found a bit more than that:

Apple’s just released firmware (3.1.3) also includes another new model, the “N80,” which we’re told will most likely be the next version of the iPod touch.

Rumors say that 4th generation iPod Touch is likely to ship this September, while the next iPhone is expected this June-July.

Along with a new firmware for iPhone and iPod Touch Apple released a new version of SDK – 3.1.3. It’s a required update, otherwise Xcode will not recognize or work with your 3.1.3 device. You can download it at iPhone dev center.

As usual the iPhone SDK includes Xcode, the iPhone simulator, and other tools for developing applications for iPhone and iPod Touch. If you want to develop for the iPad, you’ll need the SDK version 3.2 instead.