Full screen on touchscreen devices

This is what we're talking about

Since the Java version of SportyPal now supports touchscreen devices, you’ll probably want to hide the on-screen navigation buttons on your Symbian-based touchscreen device. To do this, you have to disable the on-screen keyboard for SportyPal in your Application Manager. Different devices have the Application Manager in different places, but it’s usually in Control panel -> App Mgr. or Settings -> Data mgr -> Application Manager.

When you get there, find SportyPal1.0 in the Installed Apps list, then go to Options -> Suite settings -> On-screen keyboard, and set it to off.

Samsung Galaxy Spica users

If you’ve tried SportyPal on the Samsung Galaxy Spica, you probably found that the phone records the date of all of your workouts as 1.1.1970 and your workout durations are several seconds at best. This is due to a bug in the Spica – its GPS interface reports the wrong timestamps.

We just uploaded a new version of SportyPal (1.7) to the Android App Market (and the website) that should work around this. Not having a Galaxy Spica, we can’t test it ourselves, so let us know if it works on your devices.

NullReferenceException on upload (Windows Mobile)

Some of our users have been having issues with some of their workouts causing SportyPal to crash when they attempt to upload them. SportyPal would crash with an additional message saying “The error could not be logged (NullReferenceException)”.

If you’ve encountered this issue, don’t worry. Your workout data is OK, safe and sound inside your device. The next update to SportyPal (coming very soon) will allow you to upload the affected workouts.

In case you’re interested, this happens because it is possible (we still don’t know how) to create a workout that causes SportyPal to pack it into an infinitely large file for upload, causing the device to run out of memory. Though we haven’t found a way to create such a workout ourselves, we’ve tested the fix with another user’s data, so it should work for everyone.

A note to iPhone users

The iPhone version that’s currently online has an issue that may corrupt a new workout. This usually occurs if you quit the application after ending a workout, but before answering the upload prompt. To ensure that your workouts are fine, it’s best to wait for the post-workout screen to show up before pushing the button to go back to your iPhone’s home screen.

We’ve corrected this, but the updated version has to be approved before it is made available. Until then, try to avoid leaving the application before answering the upload question.

Workout maps in Windows Mobile, Java and BlackBerry

Some of our users have noticed that they are haven’t been able to view the maps for their newly-made workouts these past few days. This is due to a change in Google’s API that broke compatibility with the Windows Mobile version (this only seems to affect the WM version, be sure to tell us if anything has changed in any of the other versions).

Upgrading to the latest version fixes this.

UPDATE: This also affects the Java version. Download the latest version from here to fix this.

UPDATE: This also affects the BlackBerry version. We’re working on a fix.

Walking bug fixed

If anybody was particularly annoyed that “Walking” isn’t displayed properly in Windows Mobile update 1.0.4, you can download and reinstall the CAB now, it’ll fix the problem.

Square screens (Windows Mobile)

Just a quick note to everyone that’s using or planning on using the Windows Mobile version of SportyPal on a square screen device.

Aside from the slight visual glitch of having the header images appear in the wrong place, there’s a slightly more annoying bug. The right button on the status bar (usually used to back out of certain screens) doesn’t work when you click on it. Instead, it’s triggered when you tap a little to the left of it. You can still trigger the same button by using your device’s right hardware button.

Thanks to Vince and Eugene for helping us figure this out.

Problems starting the new version

Some of you have reported problems starting the new version of SportyPal for Windows Mobile after overwriting the previous one.  We had some similiar problems when we uploaded the latest version, but we thought we’d corrected them. So, even though we don’t know exactly what’s wrong, we have some suggestions:

First, try running SportyPal again. Sometimes the first run fails, but subsequent runs are OK.

If that doesn’t work, go to the SportyPal folder (typically /Program Files/SportyPal/), and select “Show All Files” from the right side or context menu. Select all of the files (but not the folders) and delete them. Now try installing and running SportyPal again.

HTC Touch Cruise stalls

One of our users had a problem with SportyPal on his HTC Touch Cruise, where several minutes into his workout they found that the clock had stopped counting and that none of the stats were updated. After that, the clock resumed as normal.

This seems like a pretty random occurence. The Touch Cruise is a pretty powerful device and it should have no problems running SportyPal. This could be a GPS-related issue, or an issue with other software running on the phone, so we can’t really think of anything helpful to say without testing the device itself.

However, if anyone reading this has had similar experiences, either with the Touch Cruise or with another device, please write in and tell us about the problem, especially if you’ve had success in solving it.

UPDATE: it is more than likely that this is due to the auto-sleep bug. Refer to that post for updates on what we’re doing to solve it.

Windows Mobile fixes 26.5.2009

We’ve uploaded a new CAB for the Windows Mobile version. You should download it, especially if you’ve been having problems uploading your workouts.

You may need to register the device with sportypal.com again. This doesn’t mean that you have to create a new user, just enter your e-mail and your existing password.

Get it here.