I am only taking one class this semester, so I want to write some software for the droid. I don't have the money to afford the phone or a plan to go with it, so I need some feedback from TWW.

What are some changes you'd like to see in the phone's software that can reasonably be done in a couple months of screwing around. I know that can be hard to gauge, but let's try to stick to smaller upgrades and not complete overhauls of the system. One of my original ideas is that I would like to add a "delete" button for songs on the droid. I usually download whole CD's to my iPod touch, and then I don't like all the songs on them, so I want to get rid of some. But I have to remember which ones those are, and then I have to plug it into my computer and go into it to delete them. Thoughts?

What are some apps you'd like to see? What do they do? Any games you think would be hot downloads? Any droid OS features I should make shine if I design one to make?

Your thoughts are welcome.

12/21/2009 11:22:00 AM

You're going to develop for a platform you can't afford to own?

12/21/2009 11:48:36 AM

I'm gonna sound like an asshole, but I'll say it anyway: Don't program for the Droid. Program for Android.

Anyway, Lokken, he can use the SDK and Eclipse plug-in to run an emulator. No bigs.

12/21/2009 11:53:40 AM

droid vs. android nazis up in here

12/21/2009 11:56:57 AM

android macht frei

[Edited on December 21, 2009 at 11:59 AM. Reason : Post #44,400.]

12/21/2009 11:57:55 AM

make the gps/pedometer program run in the background of the OS, incremental updates only

currently they all require you to run the program and then you can do nothing else with your phone the whole time or it stops tracking

i'd like to map some routes of my daily work but all the reviews of existing apps i've read say you can't close the program and it doesn't run in the background

12/21/2009 12:14:24 PM

I thought a big point about the droid was that it could run shit in the background?

12/21/2009 1:21:46 PM

IT can, people who program the apps haven't realized it's retarded to put out 20 apps claiming to be gps loggers that don't run in the background so you can't use your phone for other things

12/21/2009 1:47:29 PM

yeah, the ability is there. Just up to the developers to make use of it. Kind of like multi-touch and pinch-zoom.

12/21/2009 1:58:49 PM

It's because the active GPS on all these phones (Android, iPhone, Pre) use shitloads of battery when they are turned on.

If you run it in the background, your phone is going to run dry in 3-4 hours unless you leave it plugged in. That's why there always so much trickery on the GPS applications for all these devices.

12/21/2009 3:18:53 PM

Quote :

"Anyway, Lokken, he can use the SDK and Eclipse plug-in to run an emulator. No bigs."

Well I know it is possible. I did something similar for iPhone/Touch but I can't imagine getting an application to any kind of distributable state without having a device to test performance, interaction, etc on.

12/21/2009 5:40:50 PM

I have plans to cover this sort of stuff. I know a few people with Droids who are willing to usability test for me.

12/21/2009 7:30:11 PM

Quote :

"It's because the active GPS on all these phones (Android, iPhone, Pre) use shitloads of battery when they are turned on. If you run it in the background, your phone is going to run dry in 3-4 hours unless you leave it plugged in. That's why there always so much trickery on the GPS applications for all these devices."

that doesnt sound like a reason not to develop these programs, just sounds like a reason to make sure you keep a car charger on you

12/21/2009 9:19:05 PM

sounds like a reason to wait for a generation or two of the hardware to mature before buying one

12/21/2009 10:39:26 PM

^ not really. there's no reason to leave GPS running all the time. i get two solid days on my Droid between charges.

12/21/2009 11:25:54 PM

yeah there's no reason to leave the gps running all day...until there is.

which is exactly what a gps logger does. let the consumer decide if they want to waste their precious time charging and recharging but there are a ton of crap halfass programmed apps out there that can't even do what they claim to do very well. i always make sure to read the reviews of the apps before i install.

12/21/2009 11:40:05 PM

A program that drains your batteries in 3 hours for comparatively small functionality is half-assed.

12/22/2009 12:01:54 AM

Programming for the Droid.


Nice, so you are going to ignore all the other Android phones, and somehow only program for the Droid phone???

I don't get it.

12/22/2009 12:22:43 AM

I am going to program for the Android OS. My target use group is going to be the Droid users, but I don't know much about the other android OS phones and how they're different.

^Not sure how much explanation that really needs. Go focus on your education and spend less time on the wolf web.

12/22/2009 10:54:57 AM

[quoteA program that drains your batteries in 3 hours for comparatively small functionality is half-assed.[/quote]

lol, why don't you let the consumers decide. put a program out there that uses full gps and drains the battery over 3 hours and put it up against a program that you have to keep open for those full 3 hours and can't use any other function on your phone and see which one gets more downloads...

12/22/2009 11:39:29 AM

Have you already got the android SDk, and are you good with Eclipse?

Unless you plan on rooting your droid and building custom ROMs I assume you plan on making apps. If that is the case, I'd love to see a game that was both fun and had great graphics. For some reason, that seems to be lackluster with android right now. And that is the only thing bad I can say about it.

12/23/2009 12:51:19 AM

No, I plan on reformatting my harddrive After Jan 1 and upgrading to windows 7 first. I'm a super senior in the CSC department, so I have lots of experience with eclipse. I haven't downloaded the android SDK, or really looked into the operating system yet.

I was under the (maybe naive) impression that you could write patches for the OS (since it's open source) similarly to the way you could write apps for the phone. Maybe that's not the case, but it's a project to begin in January.

I am thinking about making a tower defense kind of game first. The type where you build towers and upgrades along a path, not the kind where you build on a fortification and people run at it.

I was also thinking about setting up a small server and making a simple multiplayer RTS game with civilization-esque qualities. Building and upgrading town structures, making troops. No actual troop movements, but players can join and attack other players and make alliances and whatnot. If it starts racking up the sales I'd foot the bill for a large dedicated hosting server to cover it.

Which brings me to another question: How do you guys feel about the ability to pay for extra content? as a player, I've always been against extra content you had to pay for, especially if you couldn't also earn it in the game (because I've rarely had the money to buy the extra stuff, and sometimes it's a huge advantage). As a programmer, I definitely see the benefits. What are your feelings on the subject?

PS - I also want to make a pinball game, I do so love pinball

12/23/2009 10:55:00 AM

if you're going to advertise pay items they need to be COMPLETELY luxury and not functional

games like guild wars piss me off because you can't be the best in the game even if you're the best player per se unless you pay for it

game like farmville on the other hand offer ridiculous upgrades like pink houses and what not that really have no function in the game other than you really really must want that pink house to spend money on it

and you'll probably want the cost to be small enough that most people will pull the trigger instead of making it so high that only the really hardcore types will buy in

12/23/2009 1:14:56 PM

I don't know what's out there for android, but some OBDII scantool software would be great.

I bought a cheap $20 USB/OBD interface on ebay and an old laptop, but even the cheap PC software offerings are abysmal at the moment. I've seen a couple projects designed to run on carputers that allow you do "dyno runs" and display things like air-fuel ratio on gauges on the screen.

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Also how about a simple "lojack" system that reports your position and call activity to a webpage only you have access to. If the phone is stolen you just login from another computer and find it.

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You can never go wrong by picking a specific profession and writing a tool that many would consult throughout their day. Instant $. Examples: Drug interaction guide for vets, MLS access for real estate agents, order tracking system for delivery boys, etc.

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Another source of easy money is drunks/partiers. Make an app that guys would buy in a bar to show girls and they won't think twice about $10-$20 to save face. Example: that Autotune Iphone app.

[Edited on December 23, 2009 at 5:51 PM. Reason : .]

12/23/2009 5:44:28 PM

^ agreed, on everything.

There are several tower defense games. They are fun, and if you can make one better than this you will probably make a lot of money off of it.http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-magicwach-rdefense-jpjz.aspx

12/23/2009 6:18:43 PM

Quote :

"Also how about a simple "lojack" system that reports your position and call activity to a webpage only you have access to. If the phone is stolen you just login from another computer and find it. "

i think i covered this in my pleas, there are several dozens of apps that claim to do this but they have one small weakness: YOU CAN CLOSE THE PROGRAM, lol, great theft deterrant, no really you genius programmers

12/23/2009 6:29:16 PM

I would follow this thread when you set up the android SDK.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=532719&highlight=install+driver

I am currently following it, and it is much more straight forward then the last time I set it up.

12/23/2009 8:31:30 PM

I tried to edit ^ with this:

I would follow this thread when you set up the android SDK.

http://de.codeplex.com/

I found this when I was having issues with the drivers/win7.

WOW, that only took about 2 minutes.

12/23/2009 9:08:26 PM

Thanks, keep it coming

12/23/2009 11:18:29 PM