N-Stream: still not using retina icons on iPhone
Posted by: Vinylio on 07 January 2014
How long have retina iPhones been around? 3 years or so?
Still the n-Stream development team has not yet managed to supply the iPhone app with retina capable pictures. I haven't checked that on the iPad, but I guess it is the same.
NAIM: in the new age of streamers there is no more direct customer contact with the hardware. All goes through the software - wich is pretty bad!!! Please realize this and do something about it. It's not just the icons, there are many more problems with n-Streams usability... I'll write separate posts.
mark
garyi: believe it or not, I am talking about the icons, yes.
If you look at the iPhone n-Stream app on any iPhone with retina display, you will see that all icons (play queue, prev. track, play/pause, next track, volume down, mute volume up) are blurred. Just compare it to the sharp text you see anywhere else on the app. By comparison, if you switch to the "inputs" screen, those icons are very sharp.
The blurring happens on icons which are not available in hi-res "retina" resolution. So the OS will just scale the icon up making it look blurred.
Now, I am sure some will now say "are you seriously complaining about the icons" - yes, I am. It annoys me because it shows a deep lack of care about the app. Retina displays have been around for some time now and it is very hard to find apps that have not converted their artwork to retina so the app looks good. So in this respect (artwork), NAIM is among the worst apps out there. Like I said, there are other things that are not good with n-Stream and I will write about other things too. The artwork is the first I am mentioning because it is just the easiest one to fix. Just sit down a few hours in Photoshop and do it. Ready, not bug prone.
I really really like my NAIM devices (SN, HC, NDX, XPS): I like the sound, and I like the design too. NAIM certainly has an eye for detail - look at how much time is invested in creating these great products. Not only the exterior looks good, also the inner connections, the PCB, the loose connectors (
). It all fits together - these guys are fanatical about what they do, and I regard that highly.
And then, comes the software team and their apps. To me, they lack most of the NAIM spirit.
N-Stream, for me, is a sample of what happens when you let (technically skilled) developers build an app. Functional - yes. User friendly, pretty, smart, etc - no.
Just my view guys! Take care and listen to some music.
mark