PhoneGap / iOS7 / XCode 5 / Mavericks: compiles but doesn't really work - ios7

Question

I have used Phonegap several times but since the upgrade to Mavericks / Xcode5 everything has changed.
If I try to create a helloworld project, everything looks good: it compiles and launches the simulator or installs the app on my phone. The problem is if I try to add any Phonegap functionality, the it just won't work.
UPDATE: this is how I'm creating the project:
cordova create helloworld
cordova platform add ios
I have tried directly opening helloworld.xcodeproj in Xcode, using the "cordova run ios", "cordova prepare", "cordova build" commands but none of them seems to make any difference (some of these create and copy a lot of files, but there is no difference regarding the access to "device" variable)
The only way of debugging I have managed to use is to show alerts and try/catch blocks like this:
try {
alert(device);
// var text = '';
// var i = 0;
// for (var attribute in window) {
// text = text + '\n' + attribute;
// i++;
// }
// alert("total " + i + " keys: " + text);
} catch (err) {
alert(err);
}
Trying to read from "device" variable results in the following:
The text on this error suggests that one should use the following command
phonegap plugin add thePlugin
That indeed works: it adds the desired feature on the config.xml file, but the problem persits, so it does not look like an issue related to permissions. The same thing occurs when installing and trying to use other plugins, such as accelerometer or notifications.
I really liked Phonegap because it made things easier, but now it seems the opposite. One optoin is to use an older version of Phonegap and/or Xcode, but that's not what I'm looking for.
So, what is my configuration?
Mavericks 10.9.1
Xcode 5.0.2 (5A3005)
Phonegap / cordova 3.3.0
iOS 7.0.4 (iPhone 5) --> or the emulator
Any clues?
Thanks

Answer 1

I finally managed to solve this issue.
The solution is simple, yet it was difficult to detect.
Every time you add a plugin using the following command: cordova plugin add thePlugin you then need to run the cordova prepare command again. This is tricky, because if you take a look at the code after adding the plugin there is some setup/changes made. But these changes aren't enough, so cordova prepare might first seem redundant, but solves the issue.
So:
create the project
add as many plugins as you might use
start developing either:
(a) directly on the generated YOURAPP.xcodeproj file, and NEVER run
the cordova prepare commmand again, otherwise you will delete all your
changes
(b) work on the "general" www folder of your project and then run cordova prepare everytime you need to create a new version. Note:
you'll need to close the xcodeproj file in order to see any changes
I tend to think that alternative "(a)" should be the optimal, just make sure you don't overwrite your files or keep your files properly versioned