Phone App: Android Beta Version introduced!

[ElSupreme]

I am going to vote for a Windows Phone app. Or even a Symbian app, that I am not really hopeful about at all.

At the very least they should offer a web portal that I can hit from my mobile phone.

 

[AnOutsider]

Android can definitely be a pain, but with a little fore-thought in the planning process, much of the hassle can definitely be negated. Once out, you're also hitting many more people. I agree though, go with iOS first. K.I.S.S.

 

[William3]

I want a web browser version.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

If Tesla designed this right, their mobile app could be using a RESTful API under the covers - beta testers, please chime in if you can (and are allowed to), after snooping on the network traffic.

If that's the case, even if Tesla doesn't publish a web portal anytime soon, any number of us here on TMC can whip one up in quick time using that public REST API.

 

[kevincwelch]

I get that the Android OS has multiple flavors, but it is the most widely used smartphone OS. Hopefully the development won't lag too far behind that of the iphone.

- - - Updated - - -

I want a web browser version.

+2.

Definitely.

 

[NigelM]

I get that the Android OS has multiple flavors, but it is the most widely used smartphone OS. Hopefully the development won't lag too far behind that of the iphone.

This was posted by markwj sometime back:

this-is-what-developing-for-android-looks-like/

 

[AnOutsider]

This was posted by markwj sometime back:

this-is-what-developing-for-android-looks-like/

That's like posting a picture of a Roadster on the side of a lonely desert road saying "This is what driving electric looks like".

 

[NigelM]

That's like posting a picture of a Roadster on the side of a lonely desert road saying "This is what driving electric looks like".

Eric, is that you?

 

[spatterso911]

I am going to vote for a Windows Phone app. Or even a Symbian app, that I am not really hopeful about at all.

At the very least they should offer a web portal that I can hit from my mobile phone.

Are they still making Symbian phones??

 

[ElSupreme]

Are they still making Symbian phones??

I don't think so. I think the N8 was really the last one. But it is by far the best phone I have ever had.

 

[spatterso911]

Well, there are probably still millions of phones out there, but with so many platforms and versions of Symbian in existence, writing for it would be a nightmare. Windows is probably still a ways off in terms of market share.

 

[aviators99]

This was posted by markwj sometime back:

this-is-what-developing-for-android-looks-like/

That's silly. I have 3 Android apps in the market, and I only tested on the family phones. I get great ratings from every type of phone you can imagine.

 

[J in MN]

I've been using it for about 2 weeks ... Works great.

One important thing that I hope Tesla gets right is response time. The On-star app for the Volt is unbearably slow, with response time usually measured in minutes.

 

[NigelM]

That's silly. I have 3 Android apps in the market, and I only tested on the family phones. I get great ratings from every type of phone you can imagine.

Call it silly, but fragmentation is a fact. <shrug>

 

[AnOutsider]

Call it silly, but fragmentation is a fact. <shrug>

Yes, but one blown out of proportion. You don't need to test on that many devices. Also, now on Apple's end, we need to test on the 4, 4S and 5 -- then the iPad Retina and the Mini/older iPads. Once again, a little planning ahead will make the transitions in resolutions/capabilities fairly easy.

 

[Mike_Schlechter]

Having launched more mobile apps than I wish to admit to, there does come a point where you say "we won't support X" - X may be older iOS devices, all Symbian devices. I would think iPhone 4+, iPad 2+, Droid and Windows 8 and even RIM - but within limits - will be supported, but that's just me. I happen to be an Apple user now (new job - new devices), but have traditionally been a Droid user and had few issues developing across the platform.

I would love to be a beta tester... but need a car first.

 

[aviators99]

Call it silly, but fragmentation is a fact. <shrug>

But not an issue for this particular application, which is a simple TCP/IP communications application.

 

[markwj]

Really trying not to weigh in here, but I've done exactly this on both iOS and Android, and it IS hard.

iOS has three resolutions to worry about. Android dozens. That means a lot of testing, and complex layouts are a pain. Tables, easy. Map views, easy. Auto-scaling layouts with a couple dozen or so elements all relative to each other, hell.

Upgrading on iOS is very very fast. iOS6 is released (all recent devices, same day) and within weeks >50% in the field have updated. I've never seen an adoption rate like that in all my years in this industry. Phenomenal. When we released OVMS for iOS, it required iOS5 (which had only been out for a few months at the time) - we got 2 people tell us that was an issue for them. 2. Both upgraded.

Devices on Android don't typically update past one major version, and even then it takes many months before it is available. When we first beta tested OVMS for Android, it required 2.3 (because that included encryption libraries missing in 2.2), but more than half the users were still on 2.1 and 2.2 (even though 4.0.1 was already shipping on new devices). It was a real pain, and we had to bring in a bunch of encryption libraries to get 2.2 support.

I'm not saying Android is bad, far from it. Just that the fragmentation and update delays make it much harder to get broad platform support.

Tesla first showed the iOS App running more than six months ago, and it seemed pretty complete then. I really hope the delay has been getting an Android version ready as well, because judging by OVMS figures, Android users are at 50%.

 

[jkirkebo]

Having launched more mobile apps than I wish to admit to, there does come a point where you say "we won't support X" - X may be older iOS devices, all Symbian devices. I would think iPhone 4+, iPad 2+, Droid and Windows 8 and even RIM - but within limits - will be supported, but that's just me.

Hopefully the 3GS will also be supported as it is still in widespread use. Mine is 3,5 years old now and I'm planning to hold on to it for another couple of years if possible. Screen is still in one piece and battery life still more than good enough.

 

[dsm363]

Hopefully the 3GS will also be supported as it is still in widespread use. Mine is 3,5 years old now and I'm planning to hold on to it for another couple of years if possible. Screen is still in one piece and battery life still more than good enough.

Wow. That's dedication, impressive. Are you running iOS 5? I don't know the specs but that will probably be the cutoff.