So as you are aware, I "upgraded" the firmware for my iPhone last Weekend from 1.1.4 to 2.0.1, the good news is, it is working like a charm.
So first things first, after upgrade, the first thing I did was Restore from the Backup in iTunes, this brought back all my SIM contacts, SMSs, Mails and even the Wallpaper. Pictures captured from the iPhone camera was also in place. However, Pictures I had stored from the Desktop was all gone, also I had not backed up Music & Videos so that was gone too. I couldn't care less. All third-party applications, themes, ringtones, wallpapers was gone and the iPhone looked like it was on Day 1, when I bought it from the store
So what did this new Software update to do my iPhone...here's the BIG ones...
- Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Support...this is the Blackberry killer
- MAPs with GPS support...but can't use it to my advantage coz it is supported only with the 3G hardware
- MobileMe...this gives the User to sync all the Contacts/Calendars/Mails from mutilple sources (Desktop PCs, hand-helds, laptops) and web sharing space (30GB+) to store data....the catch, it is a PAID service
- App Store...now this is Apple's answer to the jailbroken Installer, you can connect to the Internet and download a host of Apps, some PAID and some FREE. Was definately a missing feature on the first-gen iPhone
- Cydia...this was intalled when I jailbroke and upgraded the iPhone using WinPwn, this can be termed as the Installer killer, Cydia is the new generation Installer and does pretty much everything that Installer was capable of and more
- Installer...yes Installer was also installed during jailbreak, news is Installer is not going to be around for long, read on for the updates
So there you go...time to start pimping the iPhone. Hmm...well looked like I had a lot of icons on the Springboard and last time I used "Poof" from Installer to hide the unwanted icons and this time I used Cydia to do the job, it worked flawlessly. Cydia looks and feels the same as Installer. Check out a detailed comparion here.
Configuring Exchange seemed pretty simple but it didn't work for me on the first go and this is where working in Wipro for Microsoft helped, I immediately reached to my contacts in the US in MS and one of them helped me put it all together, it was pretty educational experience. Obviously, I cant scribble how we did it in a public forum and if you want to know how we did it, send me a mail. The standard instructions are here.
Next obvious choice of app was Summerboard but hell just couldn't find it, neither in Installer nor in Cydia and so I headed to man's best Invention, the Internet. Oh oh...found that Summerboard for 2.0 firmware is not ready and Installer may not release it after all and just when I thought "pimping" was history I found that we now have another app to compete with Summerboard, any guesses?...Winterboard!! Wow trust the geeks to come with something as crazy as that. So what is Winterboard and how does it compare versus Summerboard, read here.
One of the good things about Winterboard is, it supports themes made for Summerboard. I installed a default theme called Surik (creator of Winterboard) and I was plesantly surprised to see that the Wallpaper on the Springboard was changing on its own kinda like java/flash, that was cool. Another cool feature was the fact that you could now use multiple themes using Winterboard, like icons from one, wallpaper from another, ringtones from yet another, man that was some invention right there...
A nice tutorial on how to use default themes and install custom themes is here. That brings me to the point on how I used to be able to browse the folders on the iPhone before upgrade using iPhone Browser. Well, the iPhone Browser supports firmware 2.0, a new version 1.7 is available here for download. I connected my iPhone and bingo, I could browse through the folders nice and easy
Well, thats it for today, will keep updating this post as I get to know more about the 2.0 upgrade and third-party apps that support it. Ciao
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