Alain Hufkens {Rich Interactive Applications Developer}

Downgrade from iPhone OS 4.0 beta to v3.1.3

After the announcements about Apple iPhone OS 4.0, I immediately went to the Apple Developer site and downloaded the beta version. I never installed a beta version of the iPhone OS before so I thought that it would be stable enough for daily use. But it turns out that if you have only one iPhone (like most of us) then I would not advice you to install it yet.

This is what I encountered during the last couple of days:

• Because I own 3G, I missed the key feature of Multi-Tasking. And with no multi-tasking what's left?
• Folders: they work but for me they don't add something I was missing. It's also a bit difficult to darag and drop apps in and out folders.
• Mail: Nice new feature. Now I can read both my mailboxes from one list. This one actually is very nice.
• I could not test iBooks, iAd, Game Center.
• Some applications didn't work correct anymore. One of the apps I use a lot and cannot miss is TomTom, but it became very unstable. I also encountered minor issues with other apps, but most of them worked.
• The reason why I really wanted to downgrade was that I had to reboot/reset my iPhone more in the last couple of days, then since I owned it.

And (being new to installing beta firmware) I found out that you could not easily revert back to the current 3.1.3 version of the OS. After a bit of "Googling" and experimenting, finally these blog posts helped me out :

• Just Another iPhone Blog: Quick Tip: Downgrading 4.0 beta to 3.1.3
• iClarified: How to Put an iPhone Into DFU Mode

This worked for me, so I hope it works for you too. I now have a stable phone again

The cyclist iPhone app: PedalBrain

I haven't been riding my bike a lot lately. Mainly because it's winter now, but also because of the fact that I want to spend as much time as possible with my son. But maybe this can get me back on my bike in the spring time.

I have tried several GPS tracking devices when riding my bike: GPSKit, Trails, GPSies and RunKeeper. Especially the last one is a great app, but they are still initially created for runners or hikers.

Today however I discovered the existence of the PedalBrain iPhone app. It looks very nice, has integration with ANT+ enabled devices and I immediately fell for the Carbon Fiber mount that can be mounted on the steerer tube. An yeah, it's still a prototype but I would definitively buy it. Off course it also has a website where you can analyze your workouts. This is how they describe the product:

Pedal Brain can be thought of as three integrated products. First, it's an iPod and iPhone ANT+ accessory. Second, it's a complete training log. Third, it's a coaching platform.

If you want to find out more about this promising looking app check out their website.

My favourite iPhone apps

It's been almost a year since I wrote my first blog post about my favourite applications on the iPhone. During that time I have installed and uninstalled lots of applications. I'd like to share again a short list of the apps I use the most.

Camera Tools:

• ToyCamera: this application changes your iPhone into a toy camera. The app is loaded with cool effects and after buying this app I almost never use the normal camera again. Check out some of the pictures I took with ToyCamera here.
• TiltShift Generator: this application was created by the same developer that built ToyCamera. It allows you to create miniature retro pictures. There is also a free Adobe AIR application available if you want to run it on the desktop.
• Camera Genius: this app adds useful functionality like a big button, zoom, ... A good addition to the standard Camera functionality.
• Comic Touch: this is the iPhone version of the Comic Life desktop application. With Comic Touch you can add those funny text balloons to your photo's.

Social Networking:

• Tweetie 2: I have been using Tweetie since it was released on the iPhone, and Tweetie 2 is even better. I also tested Twitterific and TweetDeck, both free Twitter clients. But Tweetie is stil worth the price.
• Flickr: finally Flickr has come to the iPhone. Now I can upload my photo's taken with ToyCamera directly to my Flickr account. I have used some other tools before but Flickr for iPhone has a slick design and is has all the features that you would expect.

Tools:

• Dropbox: if you are a DropBox user then this is a must have app. You can view all documents, photo's and files that are in your DropBox account. I use DropBox to sync files between my Mac and PC and it works like perfect.
• Analytics: with this app you can view your Google Analytics charts directly on your iPhone. It's a nice add-on for keeping up to date with your stats, but it doesn't beat the real thing.
• WordPress: useful app for WordPress users especially for approving comments.
• Convertbot: I like this app especially for the nice touch interface. But more importantly it's a useful tool for converting units, bytes, currencies, ...
• GPSies: free GPS tracking tool with an online community. Useful for tracking your runs, hikes and bike trips. And it is free!

Games:

• Flight Control: this is one of the applications that uses Touch at it's best. It is a very addictive game and I also like the general look and feel of the app. Definitely a must have game.
• Ancient Frog: very beautiful application where you need to manipulate a frog and lead it to the fly. The physics of the frog are very nice, but it is a difficult game.
• Balloonimals: If you have kids this app is very funny. It uses the iPhone to the max. You need to blow up the balloons, shake the phone and touch the animals until they finally blow up. Very funny indeed.

That's my shortlist, I hope you like it. Also check out my previous posts about the iPhone here:

• iPhone 3G apps review
• iPhone 3G first impressions

Enable iPhone 3.0 Internet Tethering

After the upgrading to iPhone OS 3.0 I haven't been able to try out the new Internet Tethering feature of the iPhone. This can be very useful when you don't have a Wifi connection available, and still need the internet. Turns out that enabling this feature was not that easy to do.

After some searching I found a blog post on Frank.be that describes how you can enable it. He created a custom IPCC file for Proxims users that contains the settings to enable tethering. Read more about it on his site, the explanation is pretty straight forward. Just make sure you select the option (alt) button while clicking the restore button, otherwise you will restore your complete iPhone. It worked for me.

iPhone 3G apps review

It has been a while since my first post about the iPhone. I still haven't started developing my own application yet, but I have tried out some other useful or completely pointless but fun applications.

• I recently discovered the Remember The Milk service where you can manage your todo lists. It's yet another service that tries to take over the numerous Todo applications out there. But the difference is that it integrates nicely with your Google Calender and they also have mobile clients. The iPhone RTM application has become one of my favorite apps. Check it out here.
• If you have an IM account and you want to chat with your contacts there is not a lot of choice in decent IM applications. Recently Nimbuzz released an iPhone version. You will need an account, but then you can add multiple accounts (MSN, Google Talk, Facebook, ...) to chat with your friends.
• Shazam is one of those great free applications. If you hear a song on the radio, just launch the application and hold it a couple of seconds next to the speaker and you will get the artist and name of the song. Yes, it actually works!
• Microsoft released their first application for the iPhone. It is called Seadragon Mobile and it is a product of Live Labs. What is allows you to do is to browse a large number of high resolution images. It's not a very useful app, but it's interesting that Microsoft is not completely ignoring the iPhone platform. Maybe a Live Messenger for the iPhone in the future?
• And finally I just had to buy Tetris. It brings back memories and it also works great with the multi-touch.

I hope to have more time next year to play with the SDK, because apparently you can earn a lot of money with building iPhone applications. Read this article that describes the success story of the developers from Smule who created the very popular Ocarina application. The app already had 400,000 downloads the first month and with a 0,99$ price tag you can do the math.

iPhone 3G first impressions

I recently got my brand new iPhone after being on the waiting list for more than a month. I was going to buy the new iPhone when it was released in Belgium, but then the high price tag made me postpone the purchase, and then when I decided that I wanted to buy it, they were solded out.

Anyhow, the iPhone is available again in Belgium but this is not what this post is about. I wanted this gadget because I like the development platform that is available. Unfortunately my knowledge of Objective C and Cocoa Touch is not that great and once again I will have to start learning something new. But there are a lot of good resources available on the internet.

Here you have some of them:

• Apps Amuck: this site contains 31 app examples.
• iPhone Atlas: a site with articles and tutorials.
• and "The Really Big List of iPhone SDK Development Links".

The first thing I did after starting up the device was testing out some of the third party apps. And I must say that it surprised me that a lot of what I would think of being a usefull app is already in some form available. I will give you a list of useful/cool third party apps from the app store that i have installed:

• Twitterific: I think it speaks for itself that this is by far the best iPhone twitter application.
• Yammer: Twitter for companies. I find the iPhone app better than the AIR Desktop client
• Evernote: Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient. With this service you can centralize you notes and information.
• Facebook: if you are into Facebook, this application is a must have. It keeps you up to date what your friends are doing.
• ShoZu: Stay connected to over 40 of your favorite websites like Flickr, Facebook, Blogger, ... I use it to upload pictures to my Flickr account.
• GPSKit: One of the best GPS applications for tracking your hikes, bike trips, etc. It's not free and was the first app I payed for. I already tracked a short hike, but my first test with my bicycle still has to come.
• Spore: the best game so far for the iPhone. I don't have it on PC, but playing it on the iPhone is fun and works great.
• AroundMe: this is one of those apps that finds the closest restaurants, supermarkets, etc around your current location. It also works great in Belgium, and not only in the US.
• LinkedIn: useful, but in my case I always have to enter my credentials every time I start the application. I don't know if it's a feature or a bug but I would prefer that the application would remember me like all the other apps.
• and last but not least Ocarina: this is for sure the most original application in the AppStore. It turns yout iPhone into a musical instrument. Checkout the movie on YouTube.

Other great news is that I became father of a beautiful son two weeks ago, and you can checkout his website (made in Flex) here: robbe.hufkens.net