iPhone 4 and flash

Hey Guys

My contract is up with Docomo this month so I'm thinking about switching over to Softbank and getting the iPhone 4. Does it support flash out of the box? Or do I have to install some kind of funky ass backwards app that will sometimes work/not work?

Arigats

 

Flash will likely never be supported on any iDevice... Ever.
Frash was a port from android but never got out of beta. You must jailbreak to use it.. It works on older versions of flash only.

For videos a browser called skyfire can be used - the service transcodes (converts) flash and sends it back converted as an iPhone friendly version.

In short though interactive flash will never run on iOS...

 

Yeah, if I remember correctly, Apple formally told everyone that they thought Flash sucked last year.

 

Apple are idiots for not allowing flash. The amount of digs I've seen on British TV shows at Apple for not supporting flash in amazing. Digs such as, "Well, you can do all your editing on line in the cloud. just let me show you on the iPad. Oh wait, it doesn't work with Flash. Oh well, lets use this Android pad."

Yakumo

 

It's as though they want to be a pioneer, a trend maker, in this field - but Flash, though admittedly flawed (what isn't?), is entirely too strong and common.

 

Well Apple have always tried to push new trends but trying to force everyone from flash to HTML5 is a little OTT. It's like trying to shut down the internet and telling everyone to start again.

 

To their credit, the 10 hour MacBook air battery was cut by half when running flash. Flash does really use CPU and does diminish battery life. Either way if users understand this then you let them take that upon themselves... The main problem is apple worries the consumer failing to differentiate between adobe/apple and saying "my iPhone battery sucks!" instead of "flash sure does kill my otherwise okay iPhone battery!"

 

On my Desire, just about everything involving Flash runs slow as hell, so there's that.

 

But with an application I'll be able to see flash sites without too many problems? It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to work.

The problem I'm having with my Docomo phone is 1) Docomo in Japan is only Android 1.6 and 2) the email function (phone to phone) absolutely sucks. Sometimes I don't get messages until hours later and that's absurd when you're trying to quickly text someone to meet up. I heard Android 2.0 will come to Japan in February but I have to make a choice by the end of January or else I'll roll into another 2-year contract with a cancellation fee. I want better text messaging but I don't want to exchange one problem for another.

 

I've been using an iPhone for 2 years now and I've never ever come across an issue with flash. When travelling I used it for browsing exclusively for about 9 months with an internet cafe being the odd exception. If anything there are just a lot less ads trying to get me to play amazing 3D poker.

Skyfire is a decent app if you're desperate for flash but it started out only working in the US, I haven't checked to see if it's been updated to work in other territories but I doubt you're going to need it unless you're adamant on watching re-runs of TV shows on illegitimate sites or feel like spending an hour on Newgrounds.

Youtube as a built in app takes care of your video needs.

 

Yeah, personally I don't really need to use Flash on my iPhone on a normal, day-to-day basis. Most sites, even ones with a lot of Flash stuff on them, have mobile versions that are specially designed for smartphones. As far as videos, under what circumstances would you want to watch a bunch of web videos on your iPhone?

Besides, Flash is a piece of shit. It's a resource-hog, and it's full of bugs. It's decent for making animations (there are lots of problems even with that), but it's hardly used for that anymore. I don't see why they don't start making web videos run in a H.264 format or something like that, and make support for that standardized across web browsers. You have to download Flash in order for it to work anyway, so why not create a better format? The sooner they faze out Flash the better, in my opinion.

 

Eric, If you Jailbreak the phone and install FRASH, then you'll be able to access SOME Flash based sites. I used FRASH to access the McDonalds coupon page. Without FRASH installed you can't access it on an iPhone but with it the page loads perfectly. Pretty much all Flash based adds will also loads with FRASH however videos won't play unless they are using that crap known as QuickTime.

Basically, if you want full flash access on a phone (be it fast or slow) you are going the wrong way getting any Apple ios device. For anything else mind you, a jailbroken iphone is miles ahead of ANYTHING! Yes, that includes the latest android phones.

Yakumo

 

I really have no interest in watching videos on my phone, just wanted to make sure if didn't get in the way of surfing websites like the one I use to check train times or the one I use to check bus times.

http://www.hyperdia.com/

http://jik.nnr.co.jp/cgi-bin/Tschedule/menu.exe?pwd=gb/menu.pwd&mod=T&from=171110&to=RA0003

Mostly just stuff like that...

 

There prob an app for checking trains ;-)

 

so..why is it that Flash needs so many computational cycles?

 

Can't say I've ever missed Flash on me iPhone, just means there's less adverts.

HTML5 and h.264 FTW

 

I really really have no interest in debating the merits of flash. I'm more interested in knowing if the iPhone can meet my needs as a user. Telling me that I'm better off blocking myself from the websites I need is just illogical. At that point the iPone becomes useless to me.

 

I just checked both of those sites on my 3Gs with FRASH and they both worked fine. The second link (Nishitetsu) won't display the flash adds unless you click on them first but you don't want to see them anyway I guess. So, to answer your question, both of the above sites worked just fine on my 3Gs so should work on a iPhone 4 with the Jailbreak and FRASH installed.

 

I just checked both of those sites on my standard none-jailbroken iPhone and both of the sites work just fine.

Hyperdia has an exclusive app in the appstore.

 

Apple (Jobs) has a vendetta against Flash (or is it Adobe or it's management?). It's damaging to Apple and deprives users of common functionality on the internet.

We have 1 Mac and 3 iPhones in our house, so I'm not biased against Apple, but their stance is not in the consumers interest in this respect.

None of the arguments like "it uses too much battery" are acceptable - that particular one is not for Jobs to decide. You can't tell your customer base what they can and can't do. You can try, but you risk damaging your business when they tell you were to go.

PS3 has become perhaps the most recent example.