I recently went looking for a good sat nav software for my Windows Phone. Even with mango, Bing Maps is nothing more than "all right".
Sure it can get me from A to B. But doing so in an easy, safe and convenient manner whilst driving seemed to cause it issues. I mean really, it doesn't update the instructions as you pass them, so the onscreen information is still showing you how to get out your street when you've hit roadworks half way through your journey and need a plan B. And don't even get me started on a lack of turn by turn voice directions.
So I went looking. And sadly found no good free apps. However, I did find a rather spiffingly good app that comes at a cost.
Showing posts with label wp7. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wp7. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Windows Phone Update - Mango ISV Beta Bundle: Cleanup
My HTC HD2 is a trusty phone. It's been around for about 2 years now. Upon release, it was a monster and was one of the first - and even to this day one of only a dozen or so handsets - to support such a massive screen.
One of the reasons it's still popular in certain circles (the hackers/tinkerers/hobbyists) is how well it has supported modification over the years. I have seen it personally run Windows Mobile 6.5 (and many variants therein), Android (again, many versions) and Windows Phone 7 and Mango. I have also seen the interwebs do amazing(ly geeky) things with it too, like putting Meego and Windows 95 on it!
I run WP7 on it though, a Mango RTM version specifically. How excited I still am though to get the 'proper Mango' version, and hopefully before the more legitimate handsets receive it. The smugness one can have, honestly, you'd think I'd just bought an Apple product and was keen to argue about how amazing it is even though no one really cares only to find that I'd really just been trying to convince myself of its worth... woah, where'd that come from? Moving on....
Today I received the indication that a software update was due... oooh, could this be it? Certainly about the right time, no? Zune indicates the update is for "Mango ISV Beta Bundle: Cleanup" which made my heart sink a little. Probably not the release I'm waiting on then, but almost certainly a precursor to the update.
One of the reasons it's still popular in certain circles (the hackers/tinkerers/hobbyists) is how well it has supported modification over the years. I have seen it personally run Windows Mobile 6.5 (and many variants therein), Android (again, many versions) and Windows Phone 7 and Mango. I have also seen the interwebs do amazing(ly geeky) things with it too, like putting Meego and Windows 95 on it!
I run WP7 on it though, a Mango RTM version specifically. How excited I still am though to get the 'proper Mango' version, and hopefully before the more legitimate handsets receive it. The smugness one can have, honestly, you'd think I'd just bought an Apple product and was keen to argue about how amazing it is even though no one really cares only to find that I'd really just been trying to convince myself of its worth... woah, where'd that come from? Moving on....
Today I received the indication that a software update was due... oooh, could this be it? Certainly about the right time, no? Zune indicates the update is for "Mango ISV Beta Bundle: Cleanup" which made my heart sink a little. Probably not the release I'm waiting on then, but almost certainly a precursor to the update.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
WP7 - URI Mapper
Overview
I am always on the lookout for ways to improve code; short term benefits are nice but there is a great feeling in identifying potential problems way in advance, and putting in the framework early to make life easier later. Using a UriMapping when developing WP7 apps is one of the many ways you can help eliminate annoyances later.
So first of all, a brief description of how page navigation works in WP7, what a UriMapper is, and why it pays to use it. Scroll down passed these descriptions if you'd rather just see how to implement one.
I am always on the lookout for ways to improve code; short term benefits are nice but there is a great feeling in identifying potential problems way in advance, and putting in the framework early to make life easier later. Using a UriMapping when developing WP7 apps is one of the many ways you can help eliminate annoyances later.
So first of all, a brief description of how page navigation works in WP7, what a UriMapper is, and why it pays to use it. Scroll down passed these descriptions if you'd rather just see how to implement one.
Friday, 4 March 2011
WP7 Web Browser
After spending some time working with WP7 now, I really must comment on the embeddable web browser, the WebBrowser component. As a recent convert to WP7 as a user, I can't say I've too many complaints about the phone's main browser (Internet Explorer, as you may have guessed) and it usually does the job fine. In my heart, I know it could be much better, much smoother, support many standards better, be... much more like a Webkit browser really!
However, having found a requirement which could have been satisfied with either native components, or the use of the embeddable web browser, I opted straight for the web browser route. The reason for this, mainly, is that this solution has been used across iPhone, Android and BlackBerry with little or no tweaks needed on the server side when integrating the new platforms. Take all the content needing shown, use HTML to handle the layout (optimised for the requesting device, of course), wrap it all up and send to the device which can store it locally for offline viewing. Elegant, efficient, flexible... perfect. And best of all, changes to this layout requires no code changes, so can be edited even after the apps have went live. Beautiful, I must say, even though I can't take the credit for the original idea. Cue WP7 deciding to be a bit special.
However, having found a requirement which could have been satisfied with either native components, or the use of the embeddable web browser, I opted straight for the web browser route. The reason for this, mainly, is that this solution has been used across iPhone, Android and BlackBerry with little or no tweaks needed on the server side when integrating the new platforms. Take all the content needing shown, use HTML to handle the layout (optimised for the requesting device, of course), wrap it all up and send to the device which can store it locally for offline viewing. Elegant, efficient, flexible... perfect. And best of all, changes to this layout requires no code changes, so can be edited even after the apps have went live. Beautiful, I must say, even though I can't take the credit for the original idea. Cue WP7 deciding to be a bit special.
Monday, 28 February 2011
Windows Phone 7 Development
That's been almost a whole day now working with WP7 so long overdue to start making notes on it.
Getting the right packages downloaded isn't quite as obvious as I would have expected, but certainly didn't take too long to find. (http://create.msdn.com/en-us/home/getting_started). The site recommended getting the January update on top of the default tool set, advertising the much discussed copy-paste functionality. I had to sigh remembering it wasn't actually available on any WP7 devices. Anyway, too soon for negativity, stuck it on to download and install. Grateful there is no messing around with path variables etc... (something I'm entirely comfortable with, but still resent having to do with the comparable java set up).
Hello world app rattled out nice and quick, always a good sign. Found the compiled app (in .xap format) nestled nicely in my bin folder too, which allowed for easy testing on my WP7-hacked handset (a story for another time perhaps).
So everything seems reasonably nice enough to code in. My only issue at the moment is that because C# is fairly similar to Java, at the syntactic layer at least, I expect to be able to code much faster than I am. It is deceptively similar, much to my folly as I keep finding out. And because it is indeed so similar, I refuse to do much reading on the language itself, focusing exclusively on reading about the mobile platform which utilises it. There's also a distinct lack of smugness at getting something to work. Something you have a-plenty after figuring out just how many dozen ] to add to the end of my Objective C lines of code, but that is probably a good thing. One can have too much smugness.
The single biggest issue I have with the development cycle at the moment is caused by Visual Studio. Again, so deceptively like my IDE of choice (Eclipse), and yet the devil really is in the details. All those features, all those little shortcuts my fingers remember (despite contemplating it now, my brain forgetting) are gone. But that's ok right, just need to learn the new shortcuts. And then I find out that Eclipse isn't just an average IDE, it's a blooming great one! Anyone who develops in Eclipse exclusively; take a break from it for a while, and try something else. Not because there are better ones out there, but because you will almost certainly be taking it for granted. Makes me swoon for returning to Android apps, sadly. Sadly as I really want WP7 to be a success amongst developers and, therefore, Joe Public. If Visual Studio had been given the same love and care as Eclipse has had, it would be half the battle won in luring Android or iPhone developers. Mind you, it's still miles better than XCode.
Getting the right packages downloaded isn't quite as obvious as I would have expected, but certainly didn't take too long to find. (http://create.msdn.com/en-us/home/getting_started). The site recommended getting the January update on top of the default tool set, advertising the much discussed copy-paste functionality. I had to sigh remembering it wasn't actually available on any WP7 devices. Anyway, too soon for negativity, stuck it on to download and install. Grateful there is no messing around with path variables etc... (something I'm entirely comfortable with, but still resent having to do with the comparable java set up).
Hello world app rattled out nice and quick, always a good sign. Found the compiled app (in .xap format) nestled nicely in my bin folder too, which allowed for easy testing on my WP7-hacked handset (a story for another time perhaps).
So everything seems reasonably nice enough to code in. My only issue at the moment is that because C# is fairly similar to Java, at the syntactic layer at least, I expect to be able to code much faster than I am. It is deceptively similar, much to my folly as I keep finding out. And because it is indeed so similar, I refuse to do much reading on the language itself, focusing exclusively on reading about the mobile platform which utilises it. There's also a distinct lack of smugness at getting something to work. Something you have a-plenty after figuring out just how many dozen ] to add to the end of my Objective C lines of code, but that is probably a good thing. One can have too much smugness.
The single biggest issue I have with the development cycle at the moment is caused by Visual Studio. Again, so deceptively like my IDE of choice (Eclipse), and yet the devil really is in the details. All those features, all those little shortcuts my fingers remember (despite contemplating it now, my brain forgetting) are gone. But that's ok right, just need to learn the new shortcuts. And then I find out that Eclipse isn't just an average IDE, it's a blooming great one! Anyone who develops in Eclipse exclusively; take a break from it for a while, and try something else. Not because there are better ones out there, but because you will almost certainly be taking it for granted. Makes me swoon for returning to Android apps, sadly. Sadly as I really want WP7 to be a success amongst developers and, therefore, Joe Public. If Visual Studio had been given the same love and care as Eclipse has had, it would be half the battle won in luring Android or iPhone developers. Mind you, it's still miles better than XCode.
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