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No plans for Android, Linux or Windows+Arm at present.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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Why then for iPad???

Possibly because with the release of iOS 11 Apple is focusing a lot of effort on positioning it as the "crossover vehicle" of the computing world?

 

Direct manipulation of documents via a touch interface is in many ways more intuitive & natural than indirect manipulation via a pointing device, but until now Apple's version of it made iPads, even the Pro models, not much more than big iPhones, quite suitable for consumption but a lot less so for creation. iOS 11 changes that, maybe enough to justify Buzzfeed's "The Second Coming Of iPad" headline.

 

It remains to be seen how well the new pro models will sell, but for people willing to spend upwards of $650 for one, & maybe another $100 for an Apple Pencil, a feature rich $30 app like Affinity Photo is almost a no brainer.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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iOS was relatively low hanging fruit 

Particularly since the Affinity line grew out of a research project at Serif that was run on an iPad.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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iOS and macOS, both METAL,

only one or two Processors and one or two OS to support

 

Android has massive fragmentation in software and hardware like windows or even worse (but win has professional users thus it was considered)

 

iOS was relatively low hanging fruit 

 

1. Of course, it is easier to program for a restrictive and encapsulated system. I hope Serif will not only do things that are simple in the future.

2. What do you mean when you say "massive fragmentation"?

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1. There is nothing "simple" about the development of the apps. Neither is the macOS nor Windows a "restrictive and encapsulated system."

 

2. Take a look at Wikipedia's Android version history article, noting which versions are currently supported & in use around the world. But more to the point, as the article says, updates (including security patches) "may or may not reach actual user's devices; that depends on vendors." In effect, there are dozens of different Android OS versions in use, including "customized" vendor versions that may lack or modify certain features for marketing purposes.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Hi all,

 

I appreciate R&D is vastly expensive; that Android is far less homogeneous than Apple (and all the sub-points above). I do not like Apple - never have used in in many years as a designer and photographer. I have always been the exception to all the users who embraced Apple. Indeed, that is why I chose to use Serif from Page+ "1" - because it operated on Windows.

 

I do not wish to suggest a strategy which would bankrupt Serif. I cherish the firm, their products and their history and feel for their staff. Serif must take sensible business decisions. Google's Android (which I use extensively, with Windows desktop machines too) is vast though and I would have thought some acknowledgement of this might be in Serif's best interests.

 

Perhaps developing full-scale Affinity for Android now is not sensible. Fair enough.

 

But what about developing an Android "app" (programme to me) which would be able to link Android to Affinity Windows? (I am assuming Apple users mainly only use Apple). This app could be lowish tech - ie very limited in scope. Perhaps something to tweak smartphone / table shot images within the shooting device; something to facilitate the interchange-information of images from Android to PC; something to smooth the path of photographs and images between the two platforms. Now, true, all this can be done with other apps. But, offering a programme to keep images, from shooting to high-level processing (and, maybe, back to the device) within Affinity's ecosystem, might encourage purchases by other people. And it would enable through-put much smoother for Windows's Affinity users who also use Android. It would also start to afford Serif's developers a better understanding of Android, should they wish to further Affinity's presence in the future.

 

Just a thought.

 

Toodle Pip. (Damn! did that sound like an Apple reference?)

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts...

- Jaques's speech from William Shakespeare's "As You Like It" (Act II; Scene VII)

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Hi MBd

 

"But by offering a programme to keep the image from first shooting to high-level processing - and maybe back to the device - within the Affinity ecosystem."

 

the Affinity System is for professionals (or will be), not smartphone pictures 

how likely is it that a smartphone image gets "high-level processing" (except the ones shown in apple commercial probably)

 

 

cheers 

 

PS: I'm sure that iAP (iPad AP) will soon allow file transfer via iTunes so at that point the connection to windows is feasible as well (not as great as handoff might be when apple finally gets it done but good enough for many things)

 

Point taken. Though tomorrow's professionals may well be today's smartphone photographers (remember, some websites only accept images shot by smartphones). Thus, the top-level of photography with such devices is far higher than ever before. Mike Browne, the You Tube famed professional photographer, has shown some amazing images shot with smartphones. Axiomatically, I am thinking of artistic professionals rather than (say) product photographers. However, there is potential for wedding photography, especially as the 28mm (?) focal length is improved upon by smartphone manufacturers.

 

I freely admit, I am pretty poor at taking good smartphone photographs but many youngsters are very good. I think the time is right to realise the enormous potential of these devices for high-end enthusiasts and some professional applications. As a side note, much of the research money has gone into smartphone cameras, rather than other types; they have improved quickly and may well continue so to do.

 

Tony Northrup (in a You Tube video) argues that the consumer camera is dead. So tomorrow's professionals will have to come from smartphone photographers. Entice them early with software and they may well remain with it.

 

Apropos your PS - great for Apple users but won't help Android ones - which was my target-market argument.

 

Cheers.

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts...

- Jaques's speech from William Shakespeare's "As You Like It" (Act II; Scene VII)

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Interesting figures, but I wonder how many Android devices are capable of running something like AP in a useful way i.e. have enough processing power, IO bandwidth and screen area. 

AP, AD & APub user, running Win10

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Thanks InfoCentral and IanSG. Hi both and everyone,

 

I am sure tech spec is easily available but my later point was arguing that (i) more people are using smartphones as cameras and (ii) the tech of those devices is zooming in improvements. 

 

I have never understood Apple fans' insistence that their devices are superior to, firstly, Windows, then Android (though, of course Apple proceeded Android and good Windows PCs). 

 

I know Apple make brilliantly-designed equipment, which looks very pretty, has traditionally been easier to use and integrates extremely well within the Apple ecosystem. But Apple does have disadvantages: Two are: price and the tight grip on outsiders' software (even though Android might suffer with some poorer software, I think fierce competition is, generally, good). Now that latter point (well both, actually, extends to hardware as well as software. Apple are developing their next generations of hardware - sometimes with the help of outside firms. But everyone can work towards the next generations of Android and PCs. Some will fail. But some will succeed and that open approach to hardware (and software) development is what drives the non-Apple sectors so well. There are, indeed, some low-powered, poor Android devices out there - and some middling - and, of course, some high-end. Octacore CPUs and 3GB base memory (before overall RAM) came to Android a long time ago. And tablets tend to be even more powerful (though not always).

 

So I do not think Apple have a monopoly on good high-end tech. In fact, I think that, in the long-run, they will have to become more open or wither. I must admit, that is taking longer than I expected but only because an excellent but expensive range is bolstered by being a brand with a big, adoring fan base.

 

So, yes, Apple devices are excellent but they are far from having a monopoly on such excellence. And look at the market penetrations from those pie charts.

 

Toodle pip (in a non-Apple sort of way).

 

PS: MBd (we cross-posted) - you are again, treating Android as a monolith, as is Apple. Neither it nor PCs are. There are many developers and producers out there. Yes Google and Microsoft do make the Operating Systems but they are caned by the device makers when they have it wrong. Some Android devices are bloated - as has been Windows - but improvements are always being made. Apple have much right but they do not have that monopoly good tech. To say "Android burns resources" has been true of some devices and some releases of Android OS. But many Android devices are very fast and things continue to improve (at Apple, too, of course).

 

On a personal note, I tend to buy the "inexpensive" (in comparison) Chinese 'phones. Samsung are too expensive, not spectacular and I don't want an indoor bonfire. (Sorry, joking - all LiOn batteries are vulnerable). But those Chinese firms are zipping along in their tech development. My current 'phone is an Elephone and it is very fast - and, yes, I "paint" on it and write on it and have tried photograph correction on it - but I prefer sitting at my PC for that, with my 27" and 50" screens to see changes on. Mobile screens are too small for my taste.

 

PPS if anyone wants a new mobile, do look at those Chinese brands - various on-line tech web-mags now do reviews and comparisons specifically of the Chinese offerings. I love my Elephone P9000 but I might upgrade in a while. Then again, since it does all I ask and still offers a blistering speed, I might just stick. It cost me £200 about eighteen months-plus ago (on Ebay) and it is on a SIM-only deal with Tesco (Sorry, UK only) (which frequently wins in customer surveys and piggy-backs on O2) for £7.50 pcm. Just saying, if anyone wants good value...

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts...

- Jaques's speech from William Shakespeare's "As You Like It" (Act II; Scene VII)

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I have never understood Apple fans' insistence that their devices are superior to, firstly, Windows, then Android (though, of course Apple proceeded Android and good Windows PCs).

I can only speak for myself but for me what separates a superior product from a lesser one is how well all the pieces -- including hardware,  software, services, & support -- work together. Apple is certainly not perfect in this respect but overall I think they do this better than anybody else.

 

I understand this comes at a cost that much of the market is not willing to pay. There is nothing wrong with that; I am just glad there is a large enough segment that is to make that a viable choice.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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I can only speak for myself but for me what separates a superior product from a lesser one is how well all the pieces -- including hardware,  software, services, & support -- work together. Apple is certainly not perfect in this respect but overall I think they do this better than anybody else.

 

I understand this comes at a cost that much of the market is not willing to pay. There is nothing wrong with that; I am just glad there is a large enough segment that is to make that a viable choice.

 

Hi R C-R, thanks for your reply,

 

Yes, undoubtedly, Apple do have an ecosystem - which is much easier and better achieved by keeping most aspects in-house. I would argue that neither Windows's PCs nor Android-powered technology has such an ecosystem.

 

Not willing and / or unable to pay. (Economics: demand is the ability and willingness to pay for something). I would not have been able to afford to take the Apple ride over the years. I did first use them - with 5.5" floppy discs - at teacher training college. I bought my first CBM Commodore 16 shortly after. I have bought a lot of computing power over the years - it has cost enough as it is! Would I have jumped on the Apple ride if I could have afforded it, all those years ago? Maybe I would - I was designing (as well as teaching) and almost all designers were going Apple. As I said, it is how I discovered Serif, which only made software for PCs. Rather ironic, really.

 

Apropos the viable choice - completely agree. Actually, that was my whole central point: it would be good if Serif somehow were able to engineer Affinity for Android devices, to extend choice. 

 

Well, that put the World to right. :)

 

Toodle pip.

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts...

- Jaques's speech from William Shakespeare's "As You Like It" (Act II; Scene VII)

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  • Staff

Affinity Photo for iPad has been optimised for Apple’s Metal graphics technology, making it very fast. Android doesn’t currently offer an equivalent technology that we can use.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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