Customizing UINavigationBar in iOS 5 with strange behaviour

Here is a very strange iOS 5 behaviour (same in iOS 6). I'm customizing the appearance of a UINavigationBar with a UIImage as shown below.

The following code is used at application startup:

The end result is what I expect for the first 4 tabs of my UITabbar items like this:

The lighting comes from the top of the app. But, when selecting the More tab and all the other sections, the UINavigationBar look becomes flipped upside down like this:

Does somebody know why? What could be the cause of this? If you look carefully, the UIImage I'm using is actuallty flipped upside down in order to get the desired result... but when selecting the More UITabbar item and the following section, it gets displayed as it is really in the .png file but it is not the desired result as I ant the lighting to come from the top of the app.

This question was also posted on StackOverflow here: Customize UINavigationBar in iOS 5 strange behaviour

Xcode 4.2, iOS versions and ARMv6, ARMv7 build architectures

Today I want to share my discoveries about compiling an iOS app under Xcode 4.2. With every major release of Xcode and iOS SDKs comes a few surprises. With Xcode 4.2 and iOS 5 SDK, the problem is that under Xcode 4.2, the new default build architecture is ARMv7 only. The ARMv6 is no longer part of the default settings. So, this may be a problem is your application needs to run on older devices. In my case, a few build and linking errors prevented a successful build of my app.

But, which device is using ARMv6 and which one is using ARMv7 ? Here is a list.

• ARMv6 is for original iPod, iPod touch second gen, original iPhone and iPhone 3G.
• ARMv7 is for iPhone 3GS and up, original iPad and up. 

Also good to know, the original iPod supports only iOS 3.1.3. The iPhone 3G is capable of running up to iOS 4.2. So, plan accordingly. See this table for maximum supported iOS versions for each iOS device: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_iOS_devices

If you want to re-add the ARMv6 architecture to your build settings, follow these instructions: Warning iPhone apps should include an armv6 architecture even with build config set?

For example, if you want to support iOS 4.2 and still support iPod touch second generation or the iPhone 3G, you'll have to set architecture to ARMv6 and deployment target to 4.2. The original iPhone, the original iPod touch won't be supported. You should also set the UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities in the info.plist of your app.

Update: thanks for pointing me that iPod touch second gen was missing and about the wrong link to the article on StackOverflow.

Let's Talk iPhone - my predictions

My predictions aligns pretty much to those of www.9to5mac.com:

1. iPhone 4S - A5 chip, 1gig of system ram, 8MP cam. Same physical design of iPhone 4. World phone. Same screen.
2. iPhone 4 - 8gigs config, same components for the rest, new entry level phone.
3. iOS 5 with iCloud launch. This is the real deal this year guys. Not the hardware. 
4. iOS 5 assistant (this is one of the cue from this year fall event title). 
5. iTune 10.5
6. Updated iWork mobile and desktop
7. Facebook integration like Twitter 
8. Facebook iPad app
9. Slightly updated iPod touch.
10. Slightly updated iPod nano.
11. No more shuffle. 
12. No more classic. 
13. No "one more thing". 

See you all in 2012 for:

1. iPhone 5 with 4" screen
2. iPad 3 with retina display

Nice screencasts for beginners

Just found out this on the net: screencasts by  Rory Lewis Jr for doing basic iOS apps. One particularly interesting is about iOS 5 storyboards.

The next big thing: iOS 5 and iCloud support

Last year, that was the year of iOS 4, the iPhone 4 with its new Retina Display which gave the birth of a rush of application updates flooding the gate of the App Store. This year, according to my non scientific survey, expect a lot of updated apps just to support iCloud APIs and services.

Comments on iOS 5 Notifications Center implementation

As you know, notifications handling and management is a very popular topic among iOS enthusiasts. I can't remember all proposals that I stumbled upon in the last few weeks before WWDC 2011 keynote. Now that iOS 5 Notification Center is officially announced, I would like to compare Apple's implementation to my own proposal published a while back. 

In "iOS notifications: a better implementation proposal" my improved notifications handling was split in three parts: 

1. Providing visual cue for the newly received notification
2. Invocation method to access the notification stack
3. Management of the notification stack

Visual cue

According to Apple's keynote, when a new notification is received by the device, a visual feedback is provided at the top of the display. A small band is flipped like a cube to show the notification for a while. Then, with the same animation it disappears.

This visual effect and position is better then my proposal as it shows more information in a place where people are used to look for status informations: the status bar. The height of the bar is about the same as the status bar when a call is ongoing. Also, the animation is even less intrusive than my proposed vanishing in-the-middle view.

Invocation method to get to the notification stack
As many notifications can arrive in a very short period of time or simply during the day, a stack of notification is building. Apple proposes the two methods to open the process notifications: swipe from top to bottom starting at the status bar or swipe a notification from left to right while looking the lock screen. The first method will get the user to the notification center. The second method will let the user access the application responsible of the notification. By skipping the use of a stand alone application, Apple simplify the process of accessing the notification stack and provide a system wide invocation method without going back to the home screen.

Management of the notification stack

Apple's implementation of the notification stack management is pretty simple and requires nothing new to learn. Swiping a notification, tapping the X to dismiss a section are all gestures that users already practice a lot. The Notification Center's background is pretty dark. Emphasis is put of the text and the application icons. Apple introduce a special visual cue at the bottom of the view to dismiss the Notification Center.

 All in all, I like Apple improvements to the iOS notifications.

I want these! Really nice job

iOS 5 preview is around the corner. Everybody is waiting. Nobody knows what's in store for us. Everybody has wishes. Some have great and clear ideas of what they want to see in iOS 5. Check this out. Now.

4 things we'd LOVE to see in the next iOS from Color Monkey on Vimeo.

Nice video. Very nice implementation of iOS 5 notifications, widgets, shortcuts to settings and people. I want this now!