Databases on the iPhone / iPod Touch - Updated!

Back in August of 2008 I wrote a post about some database applications available for the iPod Touch / iPhone. You can find the original post in this blog somewhere.

I think it is time for an update. As there have been a lot of new apps added to the App Store over the last 2 years, some of which are worth exploring.

• First of all a quick update. FMTouch has come down in price significantly! It is now only €7.99. It makes it a lot more accessible. Still I haven't gone for it.
  
  
• I still use CSV Touch as it is a very simple way to carry data around. With good search capabilities. However, CSV touch forces you to have a essentially a materialized view of your data as you can not perform any joins between different tables. You can think of it as carrying a number of reports on your iPhone.
  
  

Since I want to play around with SQL, I have looked at a few options. Note, there are a lot more options available these days, including things like HanDBase or AppCreator that let you develop more application like forms on the iPhone, or even clients that let you connect to corporate databases and keep copies of the data on your phone.

So to choose, I ran a search for sqlite on the App Store, and after reading about the different app features I settled on SQLite Editor as it seems to have the most features available. I am only starting with it, but so far, so good.

As always, comments are welcomed!

iPod Touch 3.0 - First Impressions

Well, for once I am disappointed! Granted, I am using an old 1st Gen iPod Touch but for that reason I had to pay €7.99 to get the update, and what do I have to show for it...

• Shake to shuffle (like I will really use it)
• Cut & Paste (that is cool!)
• Spotlight search
• Landscape keyboard
• I can download movies directly, if there were movies available in iTunes in Ireland
• Sync notes. I thik this ability will come in handy.
  

And I think that's about it!

Here is the link with all t he details from apple http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/softwareupdate.html

Comments are welcomed.

iPod Touch 2.1 - First Impressions

After a lot of hassle I managed to install version 2.1 on my iPod Touch. I haven't had a lot of time to play with it, but I have founf two really good things.

• Lyrics are finally supported
• Additional information for podcasts is now visible
• Genius Playlists (I haven't found the button that generates them, but then again, I am not sure if I synched after I enabled them in iTunes)
• Faster backups
• Changes in UI
• Ability to turn off individual sound effects
• For the first time I noticed the parental controls, but not sure if they have been there for a while

Any more, let me know

Update
I found a couple more things... after synching aain, now genius is enabled on the iPod. It is a cool feature, it generates 25 song playlists based on whatever song you are playing

• When you have a partially heard podcast, you get a half full dot beside it, before you only had the dot wen it was new and nothing if you had started. Presumably this is the same for movies and prgrammes
• The shuffle and repeat buttons are now below the ong slider, which makes it easier to choose a particular part of the song.
• Album details are now also below the song when you are playing a track