iPhone for research and development

[Duran]

As a web developer/online shop owner I'm about to buy my first iPhone when my current phone contract ends due to the high percentage of visitors viewing our sites on iPhones (10% last month).

What I need to know from you experts is how the browsing of websites differs from iPhone model to model. This will help me work out a long-term buying strategy for iPhones.

To put it another way, would an iPhone 5 bought now allow me to test for say the period of a 24 month contract? Or should I buy sim-free and sell/upgrade each time a new iPhone appears? Do I really need the latest edition for testing?

For instance, browsing on my wife's iPad1 and my iPad4 is very similar (speed apart).

I'm not bothered about having the latest phone personally although I do buy the latest iPads as I love them as a personal toy too. But I'll buy the latest iPhone and keep buying if it's the best way to go. Money's not really a problem on this but I'll save where I can.

 

[maflynn]

Your user experience is going to be nearly identical from model to model. The only change will occur when Apple updates iOS and decides to change how Safari renders/works. They haven't done that yet but my point is, its not hardware based and prior history indicates that you'll not notice a major difference in the future but you never know

 

[paulbennett95]

The iPhone 4/4S has a screen resolution of 960x640 while prior models have a resolution of 480x320. The iPhone 5 is just taller than the 4/4S so the site design doesn't need to be different.
You can easily set your website to force the viewing window to whatever the width of the screen is, and that should work for all mobile devices. If you don't know how to do it I could try to post some code (assuming you're using HTML5) to do it, although you could also use iWebKit to make a mobile site.
Mobile devices don't support flash so if you have any flash content it won't render.

 

[Duran]

Thanks to both of you for your informative answers. This has persuaded me to take an iPhone 5 as my current contract ends very soon, rather than wait for the upgrade(s) possibly coming out in a few months.

 

[lordofthereef]

Do consider how your web traffic statistics are reported. If all it is reporting is iOS, and not the hardware, people may be accessing your site from an iPad as well. My friend is a web developer, and has found that there is quite a difference between iPad and iPhone rendering, however absolutely none between iPhone models (yet). I've helped him load pages on our own hardware (iPad mini and iPhones as he doesn't have the mini) and websites can and do show up slightly differently on each. With some tweaking, he was able to make the user experience ubiquitous though.

Long story short, depending on your budget, I mgiht just recommend an iPod touch and an iPad mini. The two together cost less than an iPhone off contract, but will give you what you need. Unless, of course, you are wanting an iPhone for yourself too, which would be understandable.

 

[Duran]

Good points lordofthereef, thanks.

I'm getting my stats from Google Analytics which differentiates clearly between iPad and iPhone.

I have the iPad well covered for testing (although not the mini) but obviously not the iPhone. As I'm in need of a new phone anyway I'll cover this angle too as I'm sure there are rendering differences between iPad and iPhone as you suggest, not to mention usability issues based on touching a smaller screen.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

Good points lordofthereef, thanks.

I'm getting my stats from Google Analytics which differentiates clearly between iPad and iPhone.

I have the iPad well covered for testing (although not the mini) but obviously not the iPhone. As I'm in need of a new phone anyway I'll cover this angle too as I'm sure there are rendering differences between iPad and iPhone as you suggest, not to mention usability issues based on touching a smaller screen.

I could be wrong, but I don't think there are rendering differences between the iPad and iPhone. They both use Webkit-based Safari. The real difference is, as you mentioned, usability.

 

[lordofthereef]

I could be wrong, but I don't think there are rendering differences between the iPad and iPhone. They both use Webkit-based Safari. The real difference is, as you mentioned, usability.

I don't know the terminology, as I'm not savvy in that area. I can say there are parts that will render full screen on iPad versus not on iPhone. Sometimes vice versa. That's what my friend was working on opening out. Whether that is termed "rendering" or what, I cannot say.

 

[Duran]

I could be wrong, but I don't think there are rendering differences between the iPad and iPhone. They both use Webkit-based Safari. The real difference is, as you mentioned, usability.

Rendering may well not be an issue but that's what I need to find out. As you quite rightly say, my main thoughts are about usability. I can make educated guesses but I want to do better than that.