Pocket Edition

Minecraft Pocket Edition is the mobile version of Minecraft developed by Aron Nieminen of Mojang AB. It was initially launched exclusively for the Xperia PLAY on the Google Play (former Android Market) for $6.99/£4.28/5,49€ on August 16, 2011, along with a free demo version. It was later released for other Android devices on the 7th of October 2011. Minecraft Pocket Edition for iOS devices was released on Thursday, the 17th of November 2011 on the iOS App Store, one day before the launch of Minecraft 1.0 at MineCon and currently costs $6.99 US.

About
The objective of the game remains the same as its original Computer and Xbox Edition counterparts, where players can build virtual realities in a sandbox-like environment. In the 0.2.0 update, some survival features were added, slightly changing the objective of the game. The goal is to survive and build a house to protect yourself from mobs. Currently the only mobs available are Sheep, Pigs, and Zombies. The multiplayer mode is cross-platform compatible between Android and iOS.

A video of an early prototype was released on Twitter, showing the game on the Xperia PLAY. The alpha version was recently released, and became no longer exclusive to the Xperia PLAY on the 7th of October 2011. The non-exclusive version was going to be released on September 29th for Android but there were several severe bugs that needed to be fixed; the release was delayed until the 7th of October.

A version for iOS devices was confirmed to be released before 2012 in an interview with Mojang and subsequently was released on the 17th of November 2011.

Survival Mode was added in version 0.2.0. The current version was supposed to be released February 8 for submission to Apple and Android stores for approval, but Daniel Kaplan announced on his Twitter feed that it would be delayed due to bugs. The update was submitted to Apple and Android stores for approval on February 10. On February 11, Daniel Kaplan announced on his Twitter feed that the update was available for Android users. The update was approved by Apple and released on the 17th of February. This update was stated as "laying the groundwork for survival mode." It included many bug fixes and behind the scenes upgrades that allows for Survival Mode to be included. It also included animals, new blocks, and tools. Crafting was not included in this update due to GUI difficulties.

Gameplay
Both the iOS and Android versions of Pocket Edition have the same gameplay, which is akin to that of the Classic game mode, with the following differences:
 * World is finite as in Classic version but there isn't infinite water at world corners
 * The terrain generation is similar to that of Alpha's. It lacks many biomes, generated structures, and there are only few small Caverns.
 * With the survival update tools were added. These are: Sword, Shovel, Pickaxe, Axe, and Shears.
 * In the Pocket Edition one has the ability to place only Wooden Planks, Cobblestone, Sandstone, Dirt, Brick (Block), Gravel, Stone, Torches, Ladders, yellow Flowers, various shades and colors of Wool, Glass, Cactus, Leaves, Cobblestone and Wooden Stairs, stone Slabs, (Oak and Birch) Wood, Gold (Block), Iron (Block), Diamond (Block), Sugar Cane, Cyan Flowers, Mushrooms, Obsidian, Doors, Fences, Fence gates, Sand, and Bookshelves.
 * Blocks that exist but are unobtainable are Ice, Snow, Lava, Water, Coal Ore, Iron Ore, Gold Ore, Diamond Ore, Redstone (Ore), Lapis Lazuli (Ore), Grass, Clay, (Pine/Spruce) Wood, Bedrock, and Sheared Wool.
 * The Pocket Edition does not have a visible sky.(a.k.a A fog. Performance degrades rapidly without the fog, so it's essential. It is not probable that Developers will make sky instead of fog.)
 * Water in the pocket edition is finite as compared to the infinite water in Classic.
 * It lacks many of the settings the Classic version has.
 * Neither sand nor gravel move directly above the nearest block directly below them (this was Classic's version of falling).
 * The hot bar only contains three different blocks (or 8 for the Xperia Play and iPad version)
 * Spawn points cannot be set in the Pocket Edition.
 * [Online mode] only 5 players can be on 1 server.

Android version
The Android version features a d-pad at the bottom-left corner of the screen, which controls movement. The jump button is located in the center of the d-pad. Note that when moving towards an adjacent block that is one level higher than the Player, the player will automatically jump up the block. One can place blocks by tapping the screen in a desired location. Destroying blocks is similar to the PC version's way, but rather than tapping, the player taps and holds. The search button used to be able to change the camera to and from third person view, but now this has to be done via the pause screen, and the menu and back buttons will open the pause screen. To open the inventory screen, tap the triple dotted button on the right of the hot bar.

Xperia PLAY
* Controlled with slide out PlayStation keyboard:

- Open inventory

- Scroll right in hotbar

- Jump (press twice to toggle flying mode in creative*)

- Scroll left in hotbar

D-Pad: Move

Right Touchpad: Look/Turn

Menu: Pause


 * * To fly: Simply press jump twice in a row. To fly higher? Hold the jump button, then slide your finger to the forward button. Slide to backward to go down. (Creative Only)

iOS version
The controls on iOS are very similar to the Android version with the exception of the search and back buttons. To open the pause screen you must press the three dot button then click 'Menu' in the top left corner. To switch to third person view you open the menu then tap the button with the square with an icon of a player in it.

Tablet features
Tablets have an option to enable Split Touch Controls, which may be more suitable for those with bigger screens. There is a cross hair and the right half of the screen lets the player rotate the camera. Blocks are placed by touching, and removed by holding down.

Other than the screen size difference (also because of this you get 7 slots in the hotbar), the iPad version is exactly the same as all the others. Hence the fact that you can play multiplayer with other devices.

Android
According to Aron Nieminen, the system requirements are:


 * Android OS 2.2 or later
 * The device must have a CPU that supports floating-point calculations ("ARM-v7a code")
 * The screen must support multi-touch
 * An internet connection is required to download the game

Aron says that the CPU known as "MSM7227" is NOT supported, which unfortunately is in a lot of smartphone models.

According to Kappische, the Pocket Edition won't work with devices that have processor speeds under 1 GHz and Android OS versions lower than 2.2.

Though some devices below these specs and OS versions have been known to work fine either with or without using a custom ROM image, kernel, and overclocking the CPU.

Officially verified working Android devices

 * Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
 * Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray
 * Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro

A full list of (non)compatible devices and the performance on said devices can be found here.

iOS
The system requirements for the iOS version of Pocket Edition are:
 * An iOS device with iOS 4.3 or newer (Armv7 Only).
 * 4.3 MB of available storage space.

Helpful Hints & Tips

 * Make sure your battery is charged, and/or plugged in (3D gaming drains the battery quickly).
 * Make sure that you downloaded the Pocket Edition from the Play Store or the iOS App Store, and not from a 3rd party (which may include viruses in your download).
 * Get used to the controls before playing on servers (it is easy to mine the block under a torch by mistake).
 * You can't use ladders to make water elevators or underwater bases because water destroys ladders. However, doors, reeds and fence gates are not destroyed by water.
 * Sword is the fastest way to kill mobs (two hits). Axe takes three hits. Pickaxe takes four hits. And shovel takes five hits. Fist (or blocks) take ten hits.

History
The Day-Night Cycle was added in 0.2.0. Pigs and bookshelves were added in 0.2.1.

Early Prototype build

 * The game looked exactly like the old Classic build on PC (bright green grass/leaves, no birch/pine trees).
 * There were clouds/sky in the game.
 * Inventory hotbar had smaller look and could handle 9 items.
 * Placeable Pumpkin and TNT blocks (TNT was able to explode).
 * Some Wool blocks had color from the Classic build.
 * The Rose was going to be a block, but it was replaced with the Cyan Flower due to hardware issues.

Bugs

 * According to Google Play store reviews, the March 2012 update does not work on most Android devices.
 * Sugar cane can be placed on water, regardless of what the water is on top of.
 * You can place sugar cane on snow, but if you place a second one next to it the first one will vanish.
 * If you build a tower on the edge of a world you can traverse off the edge but you can't fly up or down, like on computer creative. If you walk too far, it can crash your game.
 * You can drown in creative.
 * When sharing or serving a world, connected users sometimes see bricks as water....or spawn inside of bricks.

Trivia

 * Natural Light, Torches, Lava and Fire are the only forms of lighting in the Pocket Edition.
 * In the Android and iOS version, Fire is not visible and spreads very quickly. It is believed that it is also invisible in Xperia play version.
 * Obsidian and Cobblestone can be obtained even if the player breaks it without a pickaxe
 * Only 24/44 Blocks and 4/5 Tools are available in the Pocket Edition Demo version.
 * You also can't save or load worlds in the Pocket Edition Demo Version.
 * Pocket Edition's save files are not compatible with those from the PC version.
 * You can have skins on the IOS version by replacing char.png in the app file. However, the chosen skin will appear as another player's skin if playing over local wi-fi. Many players hope that this will not happen in the next update.
 * Fire is still present but is invisible, and can only be seen by placing flammable blocks next to lava.
 * Lava appears to be frozen, but will flow if forced to move
 * The auto jump feature doesn't work on leaves if you go from a standing start with fancy graphics on.
 * Zombies, as usual, do not burn when in water or when in shade(the dark).
 * Shearing sheep results in the sheep dropping white wool blocks, which cannot be used in game because you have infinite wool already.
 * You cannot place torches on leaves, as the leaves are not considered to be a solid block.
 * Zombies come out at night, although there are sometimes a few stragglers that stay out all day, sheltered by water or shade.
 * When flying, if you slide your finger from the jump key to the forward key, you will ascend. If you slide your finger to the down key, you will descend.
 * If you place 2 glass blocks on the side of each other, and you go to the long side, you only see the pixels for the one you're looking through.
 * TNT is only available in the Xperia play version, but through hex editing, you can access TNT, water, and lava.
 * You can have Creepers in the Android and iOS by using iExplorer or Astro File Explorer to changethe zombie.png and creeper.png however they appear to float and don't explode on contact.

Version-exclusive Blocks

 * Cyan Flower
 * Camera (Unplaceable and Unseen, but the file is there)