U-M has an App now
Brian and a board member said on the "What's one thing you want more than anything on MGoBlog" thread that an iPhone app is on the way. Patience young grasshopper.
I was assuming you meant iPhone, but I was hoping you would say something about the non-OMG HIP APPLE PRODUCT Android phones....my Droid is being delivered right now and I'd really love a UM app for that.
But after further reading it sounds like RSS feeds will suit me just fine.
Some enterprise, young, engineering student will develop the App for Android. From what I've read, Android's development language is open source, (Java) and the IDE makes use of Java Development Tools. Because all of that is free, anyone with the time and the requisite programming skills can build the app.
The application developed by the students was actually bought by the University (ITS) and is continuing to be developed. I believe they're also working on an Android version, but the initial iPhone version got out the door first because of the development work that was already done. FWIW, they're going to be adding more functionality to the UM app in the future.
http://mobileapps.its.umich.edu/
-an ITS employee, not on the Mobile Apps team
This link is a little more informative. Android version is coming. This would have been awesome when I was a student...
http://michigantoday.umich.edu/2010/07/story.php?id=7804&tr=y&auid=6637153
Yeah, that link is much more informative. I've been involved peripherally with the project for a while now, so I lost track of the official communications that when out when it was released. they are much more informative, as they should be.
and if so how do you feel about not being able to root it due to the bootloader (at least until someone hacks their way around it)? I have a Droid (running BB V0.3/Froyo) and I think Motorola really shot themselves in the foot on that one, but I guess if you wanted to keep it stock it doesn't matter.
I didn't say anything about IPhone...or Apple Products. If you have a beef, it sounds like you have it with the developers. Or that you'd rather not be hip and ordered a phone that has crappy App's. Just sayin'....
yup you can set the RSS widget to push front page articles and the latest board entries to your phone. then you can open it directly from the widget if you want to comment. better than an app, if you ask me.
While we're on the topic of Droid phones, does anyone have a suggestion as to which one I should get with my upgrade in September? Currently have a DARE, which I'm beyond sick of. I definitely am thinking of getting the Droid, but I'm unsure as to which one I should go with.
The OS is called Android, Droid is a line of phones although there are others which run Android (Moto Droid, Droid X, Droid Eris, etc). It depends on what carrier you have, because most of Verizon's higher-end phones are exclusive, as well as what you plan on doing with it. If you just want to show off your "anti-iPhone," get whatever you like best. Sprint's Evo is supposed to be excellent, 4G network and all that. The Droid 2 is supposedly coming out in the fall and will come running Android 2.2 (Froyo) so you don't have to update it yourself.
If you want to hack it and run custom ROMs (Bugless Beast FTW!), wait and see if someone gets around the stupid Motorola bootloader on the Droid X. I have my Droid overclocked to 800MHz and it is faster-than-my-laptop awesome, and I assume Droid X would be even better. X also comes with a Swype onscreen keyboard which reportedly takes away any downside of not having a physical keyboard.
EDIT: Scratch that last part, Droid X has just been rooted! Go for it!
You really had me going the past several months. I thought you were one of a few, really cool, female Aero students who kissed a girl and liked it. These latest comments, however, have put you under serious suspicion of actually being a 34 year-old supernerd living in his parents' basement and hacking smart phones because he can.
Consider yourself warned. I've got my eye on you.
/Kidding.
Haha I'm newer to the board so I didn't make all those connections about Aero and whatever else, but my exact thinking while reading her post was "Wait, this is the female blogger right? Or was that someone else...."
....to get in her sig line... ;-)
For gold medal use of a double entendre.
I am living in a basement... but it is a rental and not owned by my parents.
Yikes. I'm headed into my third year of college and all that stuff sounded mostly foreign to me. I have to agree with the sentiment echoed earlier, I'm starting to believe in the "actually a 34 year old smartphone nerd"
albeit in engineering but I've just been really bored this summer living by myself and decided to throw my internship income and off-the-clock time toward a functioning phone... then made it into a super functioning phone.
i switched to verizon so i could get a Droid X on release day, and i don't know if there's a better phone on the market. it's supposed to get Android 2.2 sometime next month, which should put it over the top, and has the specs to run Android 3.0 when that's released late this year. Droid 2 will be just like the X but with a physical keyboard and a lower spec'd camera. i guess when you're ready to buy, you should go into a verizon store and play with a few phones and see what you like best.
I've had my eye on Droid X, and I am thinking seriously about getting one in a few days when my two-year agreement on my BlackBerry is up. However, while a 4.3" screen is nice in many respects, it seems as though the phone would be too large to carry in a holster and uncomfortable in a pants pocket. What's your experience?
It's been fine so far. I don't use a holster, so I can't speak to that, but it might be a little big to carry on your hip. Though if I hold it up to my own leg, it looks like it would be okay in a vertical holster.
I always carry mine in my pocket (baggy cargo shorts for the summer) and it doesn't cause me any problems. I think this may be because it's thin and not too heavy. Personally, I love how huge the screen is and any discomfort is easily overlooked. So if you don't mind the size, it's an amazing device and I can't recommend it enough.
The U-M App is mostly useless to me. Magic bus is cool, but I don't use it. Umich mail or CTools or Wolverine Access formatted for mobile use would be fantastic, though.
Umich mail- can't you just get it in your usually mobile email? I mean, I can.... Are there some other features you're looking for (for email...not the others).
Maybe we can write App as "appl." or something? Somehow seeing App reminds me of a time in my life when I was really super bummed about a thing that had previoiusly seemed unthinkable happening.
You mean that time we lost to Application State?
That is awesome, I wish I was a student so I had a use for it. I remember my senior year (2000) at UM a group of us from was trying to build for an EECS class a web page that would track the buses on campus. At the time we said it was almost impossible. How things change, this app has that and a ton more tahn we could've imagined just 10 years ago. Great job to whoever developed this app.