Post date: Sep 15, 2012 4:59:39 PM
nTouchRadio based on Android was launched on Samsung Apps about the end of July.
The development was interesting because I found myself adding things that I did not even consider when I first started the project. It is true that the Internet has greatly changed the way we do things but I still believe in the analysis that convinced me that the ultimate simplicity of the conventional radio means that future Internet radio apps will evolve to be like them.
Well some of the new features went beyond my initial considerations. E,g, the need for a background music player. This is quite necessary because we are using a Smart Phone that can do a ton of things but is now stuck on a page which doesn't really add much to the overall experience. Let's face it, the only thing we need for a radio is for the audio to be on. We do not need to see the web pages or static application pages that show the seconds ticking bye.
Another interesting and difficult part was integration with SimpleMachines BBS. The BBC is always giving out these super long numbers or talking about some page on the web. Essentially, I implemented a single button on each List Item in the List View so that on hitting the button, the user is transported to a specific web address. I started this phase thinking that the web address would be the discussion topic on SimpleMachines BBS but realized that it could also go to and do anything that any webpage is doing now. For example, surveys. Although this is done, I have not implemented it yet as a certain critical mass is required to get these things going. These proved to be one of the hardest parts of the projects i.e. I needed to modify the SimpleMachines code which at the time of writing, still supported WAP and iMode but didn't have an application UI that could be used for mobiles. The job was hard because I had to understand and modify the PHP code and let me assure u, the program was written by a Pro!
The BlueTooth implementation was interesting and it was quite fulfilling once I had completed the routines. One interesting thought occurred to me because of this, if I thought that two people would exchange radio information, then wouldn't it be a good idea to have new radio information sent back over the net to my server which would then consolidate and maybe even run tests, then add that entry into a database? This would be like a Youtube of Radio Stations and Podcasts. Still needs some thinking though.
Okay that's my entry for nTouch Radio. I will be working on another related project which I felt I needed and will launch this too. The project is already completed and I will be sending it for Samsung testing. Will talk more about it once this is done.
Regards.
P.S. One thing I must say, Samsung Apps testing does what I suggested to Nokia to do i.e. consolidate all the bugs into one list. I didn't realize I would say this about testing but it was a pleasure getting my app tested by Samsung.