Droid App
Hi all,
I know there has been a lot of questioning when an MGoApp will be available in the android market. I convinced a buddy of mine to make one for his class, and they are in beta testing right now. I am helping them with it, and while it is still a work in progress, I must say they have done a great job. Just wanted to let all my fellow droid-owning mgobloggers that it is on the horizon, so you can officially start getting excited.
As you were.
That's awesome!!! If you need another beta tester, I'll be more than happy to volunteer.
Keep up the good work! My life is not complete without an MGo app.
What specific features from the website would be most important for you to have on an app? Functionality will be slightly limited due to interaction with the site and how things work, but if you had to list what are the most important features aside from entries, what would they be?
Negbanging.
Also, Negbanging
I'm a beta user also, and am very impressed with it. My suggesions so far would be:
- Something fewer than 3 clicks to switch between front page/diaries/board. Maybe have a button for each always present or something else that's easier than having to use the menu button plus two more screen clicks.
- I haven't seen a search function - that might be useful so as to not be lambasted for posting something that's already somewhere on the board.
- More account options, like update frequency, number of posts to show in the initial view, etc.
- More frequent refreshes (or like suggested above, make it user-specfied). It seems to go many many hours between refreshes (for example, between 11pm last night and right now, it hasn't auto-refreshed). Maybe that's my phone, though; I don't know for sure.
Overall, great work guys. Much better than going to the site on a mobile browser!
I'm confused about the comments about refreshes.
Doesn't it manually refresh (like when you open the thread again)? Or does it auto-magically go out to the server every once in a while to fetch new data?
Sorry for the confusion. I meant that when you go to the list of board posts/diaries/front page, you have to manually refresh to get the new posts/diaries/etc that have been added since the last refresh. Not releated to comments, but to the list of topics.
I think that's what you would want. You don't want your app to always fetch new data. It'll use up more of your data plan, battery life and performance. That's how your desktop browser works as well.
Yeah, I see your point, I think we just have different preferences. However, when I go to the site on my desktop browser, it does refresh because, well, I just opened it. So when I open the MGoDroid app, it would be nice if it updated so that I'm looking at fresh information. It doesn't need to update when I'm not using it, no, but I would prefer it update every time I open it like a desktop browser.
That makes sense. I haven't played around with the DroidApp yet. I assumed it refreshed whenever you lauched it.
I think you're running into problems with how Android apps work. If I remember correctly, when you leave an app, it doesn't necessarily close like your browser does when you close it. Instead, the app stays in memory until the memory is needed for something else. So, if it's still in memory, Android just brings up the existing version when you open it again. That means it isn't really loading fresh again like when you click on the bookmark in your desktop browser, and you still have the information from the last load. At least that's how I think it works, I'm not an expert in Android apps, anyone here feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
That's pretty much how the iPhone works. However, the program does know that it came back into the foreground again. The app should then "refresh". This is what the iPhone app does and should be easy enough for the Droid app to do.
Yeah, that's how it works. There are other apps out there that I use, such as advanced task killer, that work essentially like windows task manager does and allows you to actually close open processes on your phone.
April 10th, 2011 at 12:53 PM ^
This is exactly what is happening. Two other beta users have reported that they would like the app to refresh immediately upon being brought back to the foreground, and I have already implemented it in our latest internal build.
I'm one of the developers for MGoDroid, probably should have prefaced with that.
Would it be possible to make comment sort order an option? I prefer to read the comments in threaded, oldest comments first order, and it seems weird when the beta app displays the threads in newest comments first order.
Also, a new comment highlight when returning to a thread would be nice, but we don't even have that on the web site right now.
Not speakng for the droid app...
But the default ordering from the server is newest first (which comes in handy for game threads). I give the user the option to go oldest first.
The new comment highlight is tricky.
The reason I hadn't put it in the iphone app was because it was impossible to keep it in sync with the website. However, now that the website "New" indication doesn't work, that excuse might be gone.
April 10th, 2011 at 12:56 PM ^
Elaydin is right in saying that the site will give us comments in newest first order when we query the site. We can definitely add an option to change it to oldest comments first.
... thanks! I'll make sure to post a review for it.
*shameless employer plug.
What's the outlook on any sort of beta release?
I'm not specifically involved with the code writing, but my guess would be after the class is completed, so likely after this academic semester. No promises though.
It's already in beta. Send an email to [email protected] and we'll send you the apk
This is great. Thank you so much man.
Thanks for all of the thanks, but like I said, I'm not involved in the actual production of the app. Though I will pass on all of the thanks to the developers--I'm sure they will be very grateful. Also, when the app does come to the market, you can show your thanks by giving it a good rating.
I'm testing the second beta release and so far it has been great.
Thanks! Any feedback or suggestions?
Best droid app = perpetual free redbox movie rental codes
Is this a real app?
This is very good news! I can't wait.
can it be really annoying and say posted from Android evertime we post something please?
By annoying, do you mean super awesome?
Flavor Flav voice , "Yah Boyyyyyyyyyyy"
What is this thing you call an "App"?
-MGoShoe-
This literally makes my day. Thank you!!
More excited than Ovechkin scoring a goal!!!
A feature that I want for all fronts is one that creates easily identifiable comment groupings so I go back to the original comment more easily then deciding if one comment way up is more to the left then the one way down the page.
What class/school is he doing this for?
He's an engineer at U of M. I don't know what class it's for.
April 10th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^
We're doing this for EECS 498, which is a kind of independent study/smartphone programming class.
Thanks for all the input. A lot of the suggestions would be quite difficult, but I will pass it on nonetheless. I will also update you guys when the app becomes available in the market(s).