Which is great, if you view your phone as a computer.
I'm a programmer and webmaster by trade, but I consider my phone to be an appliance. I want an appliance, not another computer to manage. I already have two desktops, two laptops, and a pile of VM servers...
Why own a smartphone, then? You can buy a prepaid Tracphone or whatever that's a non-smartphone and requires absolutely none of that. No apps, no anything.
I can't speak for the OP, but I imagine he wants some of the traits traditionally associated with an appliance (extremely low maintenance primarily) combined with some of those associated with general purpose computers (running software not provided by the manufacturer, customisability).
The reality is there is a tension between these two, and we are lucky enough to have two high quality platforms where the line is drawn in different places.
It is incorrect to assume you can have more of one without compromising the other though.
Yeah, you can't let someone else manage everything and just expect them to be acting in your best interests. But if you just want something that's a phone and only a phone, that's both readily available and very, very cheap.
Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. If by acting in my best interests I mean 'checking available applications for security issues and API compliance such that they won't use my resources (battery, data) in unexpected ways', then I think you can expect someone else to do that.
Certainly I could use the device without that service, but then I would have to do it myself - as I do with other platforms.
I think the OP wants a smartphone, not only a phone.
> Why own a smartphone, then?
> Why pay $700 for stuff you won't even use?
I use it for calls, music, podcasts, mapping, email, browsing the web, calendars, messaging, weather, banking, and occasional light gaming. My smartphone is an utterly indispensable part of daily life.
I want software that works so well that I don't feel the need to worry about how "restrictive" it might be. If I want more power, I'll pull out my laptop.
This quote from Steve Jobs is relevant:
"We’re getting to the point where everything’s a computer
in a different form factor. So what, right? So what if
it’s built with a computer inside it -- it doesn’t matter.
[What matters is,] what *is* it, how do you use it?"
> That'a a programmer-centric view of the matters.
If every device is a computer, every device user is a programmer.
> I want software that works so well that I don't feel the need to worry about how "restrictive" it might be.
You should always worry about the arbitrary restrictions imposed on the devices you own. The demand of software that works is just as legitimate, but orthogonal.
> If I want more power, I'll pull out my laptop.
It's not about power, it's about freedom. Why a phone company has root access to my phone and I do not?
> So what if it’s built with a computer inside it -- it doesn’t matter. [What matters is,] what is it, how do you use it?
That's a terrible, myopic, consumer centric (as opposed to producer), point of view. It does't matter only if you have to sell it, covered in bells & whistles. I don't have to sell it, I have to use it.
I wonder if any Apple story on the internet has ever managed to avoid the Android trollers. Seems you guys need to constantly validate your purchase with silly comments.
Is this a loophole for all emulators, then? Couldn't someone theoretically write an emulator for a fully homebrew Super Nintendo game that reads from the disk?
If I recall correctly, Apple doesn't care if you interpret other code (some sort of assembly, in this case) from the disk, just that you cannot download new interpreted code from the internet with your app (and even here they are lenient with apps that load HTML5 updates other-the-air).
> This means if you have a program capable of tunneling into the iOS file-system through USB, you can once again have a working version of MAME on a non-jailbroken device
What kind of program would I have that is capable of tunneling into the iOS file-system through USB?
Does anyone have any particular recommendations on which one is better? I don't mind paying for iExplorer, I'm just wondering if there is any issue with reliability/safety/security with either of these two.
iFunbox is great, free, and works on both OS X and Windows.
Highly recommend it, it's what I personally use.
Also - note that this build of Gridlee is equivalent with MAME 0.139u1 - so when looking for ROMs, you may need to lookup the ROM on http://www.mamedb.com/ to see what version of MAME compatibility for your ROM/game was introduced (especially for newer arcade games).
If this comments thread is to be believed, the original iMAME in the app store was not pulled by Apple, but on request of MAMEdev team:
ScottishCaptain: "iMAME was pulled ON REQUEST of mamedev.org because it reflects poorly upon the project (as I quite clearly stated before, but got flamed into oblivion). iMAME (and it's derivatives) is based upon MAME 0.37b, which is nearly 10 years old now (if you don't believe me, go check out mamedev.org's previous version section and look up 0.37b- it's from y2k)."
