Differences in programming about iPhone and iPad

Question

What are the major differences between developing an application for iPhone and iPad?

Do I need to write additional code?

Thanks

Answer 1

Basically, you can use the same objects and UI controls, but the iPad User Interface Guideline is quite different from the iPhone one.

You will have to write additional code if you plan to build a universal application, in which case you should be able to conditionally change the behaviour of your application depending on which platform it's currently running.

For the iPad platform you can use the new UIPopoverController and UISplitViewControllers, that gives you new ways to interact with the larger screen (more info here).

By the way, you will have to build a different set of .xib files, or to handle the existing ones (built for iPhone) so that the can easily adapt to the larger screen. Also, while developing for iPhone you can usually bind your project for a predefined orientation (the portrait), on iPad you should consider the possibility to rotate the view also in landscape orientation.

You should refer to the official Apple documentation for developing iOS applications, dealing with the UI guidelines and for developing Universal Applications.

Answer 2

Full details of the differences between iPad and iPhone can be found in the iPad Programming Guide and iPad Human Interface Guidelines.

iPad programming is basically the same as iPhone programming. The iPad has a larger screen, a few new UI features, and differing performance characteristics.