What are the best iPhone cycling satnav apps?

One of the main attractions of an iPhone, for me, was the thought of using it as a cycling satnav. First, I found the piece of kit I needed – an iPhone bike-mount, which holds the handset in a kind of plastic vice – at a price I liked: £20 on eBay. The whole lot then clips firmly on to a mounting on the handlebars, padded to protect everything against vibration. It still takes a bit of a battering on bumpy roads, but so far my phone seems to have emerged unscathed.

The next issue was which app I was going to use. You could make do with the inbuilt Google maps, but following that little blue dot while coping with traffic isn't really feasible, so I bought the £19. 99 CoPilot Live app over the more high-profile £49. 99 TomTom. It works pretty well, with a clear 3D display which is easy to see, even in bright sunlight. There's a cycle mode, which is pretty savvy about cycle paths and bike shortcuts. In theory you can even tell it to avoid main roads, although it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference for journeys around central London. You can search for your destination using postcodes, addresses or via the map, and there's also a pretty comprehensive list of major landmarks.

Oh for a rotation lock, though! When you're throwing your bike around, the display does flip upside down, which is enraging. And it does pick some pretty eccentric routes, displaying a particular penchant for touring south London council estates. (I've heard, anecdotally, that the TomTom's algorithm for route-planning is better. ) It's also a bit on the sluggish side – although that may be because I'm using a geriatric iPhone 3G – which can present something of a problem on winding backstreets. And of course, the first sign of rain and the whole game is off.

More recently, I've been using Fullpower-MotionX's simpler MotionX app, which gives you a compass and an arrow pointing in the direction of your destination, with the cyclist deciding the actual route. If you want a bit more freedom and you're not in a particular hurry, it's a great alternative.

Given satnav companies' obsession with keeping motorists up to date on, say, speed cameras, it would be nice to see a few more bike-friendly options. How about telling us where the nearest set of racks to our destination are, for example? Or maybe a directory of cycle shops and repair centres?

What are your tips and tricks for urban satnaving? And what features would you like to see on the next generation of apps?

• This article was amended on 28 June. The original version mistakenly said that Garmin manufactures the MotionX app. This has now been corrected.

iPhone 5 release in September

Apple is on the way to build an "iPhone 5" release in September, according to reports from suppliers in Asia who are preparing for the next generation of enterprise smartphones.

Although reports are based on the naming - with some sources suggesting that it will be called the iPhone 4G or 4S - The Guardian was told that the shape of the device very similar to the existing iPhone 4, which was published in summer 2010.

The suppliers are also to be understood for another iPhone release prepared during 2012, although the timing on that is less secure. Some suggest that could be the next model coming out in March.


The Guardian understands that while the new version will look very like the iPhone 4, it can dispense with some of the visible buttons on the side of the device for volume control.


Other reports on Bloomberg suggests that the new phone is an A5-processor to include the iPhone in second March and published applications have a 8MP camera (5MP compared with the iPhone 4). Reports suggest that tests with higher resolution or a larger version on the screen than that in the present model.


The new devices include Apple's new 5-IOS software, the icloud their ability to synchronize data between the devices to activate and upgrade phones, and without connection to a computer, as well as offering photo-sharing and Twitter messages over many apps .


Richard Windsor, a global technology marketing analyst at Nomura Securities, said he expected the version sold in September, at around the same price as the existing one, which Apple sells for around $ 600 have. "We think it is an iPhone in September 5 - the suppliers have been booted for that," he said.


The crucial question, Windsor said, is whether Apple is a mid-range phone for around 300 dollars to capture a larger share of the market. If that happens, he suggests, Apple's share of the smartphone market - currently sells about 19% of the 100 units per quarter - could explode, as the market itself is growing this year and 2012.


But Windsor said he has seen no signs, early next year that Apple is preparing a "mid-range" phone so far for the start, which would be required in order to capture a significant slice of the market.


Phones with Google's Android operating system have taken a dominant share of the smartphone market in the past six months, with a 31% share in the first quarter. Android driven by Nokia's Symbian operating system was the leading smartphone platform for years, in the first quarter of this year. Apple is in third place, although analysts Apple Nokia in the current quarter, which ends in just over a week expect to pass.


The smartphone market is expected to grow 55% this year, hit by 472m and 1 billion units in 2015, according to market research firm IDC. With Android devices and from October, Nokia devices with Microsoft's Windows Mobile software in the competition for this market, it may become a necessity for Apple at a mid-range device, producing in order to capture more revenue, as in the music player market has, when he launched the iPod Mini, iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle.


IDC expects that Android will grow to more than 40% of the market by the end of 2011, while Windsor at Nomura expects Apple to Nokia over to second in smartphone sales to Samsung to take.


The new iPhone would be hotly anticipated, but Apple wants to play down the reports before the summer season in case relates to sales.

Crashing The iPhone Problem

Italian Piergiorgio Systems Engineer Zambrini won fame and money last year than it "bricked", the first widespread use, the unlocked iPhones running created for the mobile networks other than AT&T. Now he has another bid for the spotlight by unveiling a bug that the iPhone is able to crash and, he says, other devices such as iPods and Apple computers.

Zambrini planned to publish news about the bug Monday - even though he saves the technical details for Apple, he says - at least for the moment.

The 38-year-old security expert praised Apple's marketing skills and calls Steve Jobs a genius. But there are chinks in Apple's software - and Zambrini is determined to discover them.

The error Zambrini found in the audio portion of Apple's video format. Knowledge of the bug exists, could someone write a program that includes the bug in a video file and resolve a crash if an iPhone tries to execute the file. The error, which is located in a common code library that is used in most Apple operating systems and some Linux ones used and seems to cause no lasting damage, but the unit immediately sends in a panic, leading to a lengthy reboot.

Forbes.com has confirmed that it crashes the next generation of iPhones. Zambrini it claims can be any Apple iPod or iPhone, too.

Zambrini told Forbes.com that he discovered the mistake in July and sent an e-mail to explain to Job what he found. He also applied for a position Apple was advertising at the time: iPhone Security Engineer. "I usually have the ability to perceive things, where people do not find," says Zambrini. So far Apple has not responded to his resume.

The engineer drew large audiences last year, when his code unlocks the iPhone, making it possible to use the phone on other networks. Zambrini, who now maintains an independent security consultant, that his only reason for prying open Apple's proprietary equipment, primarily to help people abroad, was to use the phone with their home service.

His work was a lot: Zambrini iPhone unlocking software on site, Ziphone.org, had 15 million unique visitors worldwide in this year. Donations and advertising have made Zambrini with a healthy source of revenue available. Although he coy about revealing how much he's made of, says Zambrini that has at the height of the popularity of ZiPhone, the website is a new donation every minute. On his best day, he received more than $ 10,000 in donations, he says. These days, he displayed the charges advertisers $ 4,000 per month for a banner ad.

Apple iPhone has widened as sales to around 72 countries, Zambrini concedes that there is less "need" for the sort of "jailbreak" software that he wrote. Apple is "doing all the right things," by expanding its services internationally and lets consumers download applications from the App Store, he adds. And actually started the website traffic Zambrini to tail after this summer release of the iPhone 3G from Apple.

Is that the reason he applied for a job at Apple? "My goal is not to work for Apple, but who knows?" Zambrini said. "Just maybe a conversation with someone there - with Steve Jobs, if possible - could lead to nothing," he says. Zambrini acknowledges that the donation model that has allowed him, as an independent security consultant work, but says that his discovery of the beetle is not worth much to anyone outside of Apple. "People will never donate anything, just to see a phone to crash," he says.

Then again, someone might be willing to pay for this kind of information.

According to TippingPoint, a computer security company, which pays for such vulnerabilities can not be called an error like the one Zambrini price found on the open market to pick from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars. "If he wanted money to them, he could always try that our or any of the other exploit buying companies," says Cameron Hotchkies, reverse engineering and Apple expert at TippingPoint.

"The fact that it is in a video file is not really surprising to me," Hotchkies notes. "I'm actually surprised that it crashes the machine rather then crashes the web browser, because that means he has a kernel vulnerability in the iPhone."

Large software companies like Apple and Microsoft have typically Security Response Team with errors that were out of community programmers and independent security researchers to consider. TippingPoint says Zambrini could probably sell the mistakes of the government or private auction, but the software company also usually set up to promote security response teams to direct disclosure.

Hotchkies says that Microsoft is currently the market leader in the security response, but Apple can catch up quickly. "In recent years they have kind, have their security response and enhances its security team," he says. "Usually within a day I get a handwritten follow-up e-mail from someone on their security team told me who worked on it, so that, as I know there is someone look at it."

Zambrini said he had not yet contacted Apple's Security Response team. Forbes.com, an Apple spokesman informed about the error and is still awaiting an official response.

Together with other security experts, he says Zambrini is still exploring the bug's potential for harmful applications such as arbitrary code injection, which allow hackers to compromise a device would. So far, he says, he has not found that level of a vulnerability, but does not rule it out: "We can not say it is not possible," says Zambrini. "This matter must be investigated more deeply."

Cuts like iPhone business travel costs

In an economy like this, what can companies afford to send his employees on the street with suitcases full of high-tech gadgets? To save costs, have business with only an iPhone application, they book airline flights, arrange appointments and help deliver presentations filled dead.

Apple's App Store has hundreds of travel-related applications and almost all of them are $ 9.99 or less. In fact, the iPhone makes life much easier for business - or at least it is when they find out what it can do.

TripIt, the iPhone application helps busy travelers stay on schedule, no matter how hectic schedule may be this. Here's how it works. "You buy your ticket from wherever," says Brockway. "When you receive the confirmation, by e-mail to us. Then we turn that email into a master tour, and how you're getting more parts of the trip, such as a hotel and a car, it is our technology together in one place. "

It is not hard to see why the TripIt user base is 80% business and 20% leisure. "The Road Warriors are the ones who appreciate our particular application," says Brockway. "The more you travel, the harder it is to remember where you turn next."

Carlos Gomez, the developer behind an application called metropolitan phone, his app designed with business travelers in mind. metropolitan phone provides travelers with instant access to maps of subway and transit systems from around the world. It is practical, he says, while navigating a new city, or just trying to get to downtown by an unknown airport at busy times. "The attempt can be found, subway maps via Google search on a mobile device can be difficult, since many public transportation websites are not optimized for mobile devices," says Gomez.

Mike Richard, editor of Vagabondish.com agrees that iPhone applications have great potential for business. When pressed, he admits, a few favorites - like InstaMapper, an application that makes use of the iPhone 3G's GPS to turn phones into tracking devices. "That makes it easy to find your way back to your hotel," says Richard. On a recent trip, he learned the hard way the full extent of InstaMapper app, after he lost his cell phone in Philadelphia. "If you happen to lose your iPhone while you are out sightseeing, you can easily identify the location of [the InstaMapper] Web site," he says.

Another useful business app: Say Who dialer. The speech recognition app, you can speak first name, last name and even nicknames in your iPhone, and it pulls a list of matching contacts. "I remember more than 1,000 contacts in my iPhone and sometimes the search for a specific person or to try to exactly how to spell her last name is a big job," says Richard.

Carrie Thompson, a writer for BusinessTravellogue.com who frequently travels for business says, the iPhone Maps function is essential. "As a person who is challenged directed, I think the maps feature one of the biggest pluses of the 3G iPhone is," she says. "It is in fact the reason why I decided to buy the iPhone."

Thompson recently wrote about the best iPhone apps for business people in transit. Some of their picks include stagehand, a program that lets you control a Keynote presentation from your phone and sales commissions to & that can have an overview of the commissions you deserve. Then there are drivers. "The Road Warriors out there will find this app useful as a log for mileage, gas, service and spending," Thompson wrote. "It will also send you a reminder email 20 days before your next service is due."

Although Thompson is selling apps on the road, she is not convinced that the iPhone is the best phone for business people on the go. "As with all new technologies, there are a few bumps along the way," she said in an e-mail. "For those considering buying one for business, you should do your homework. AT&T rapidly growing its 3G network, but iPhone users complain of dropped calls are common."