That last post got some good hits, and then I looked at my tablet, and realized I forgot a whole bunch of apps. I'll include the same categories, and list 10 more titles.
Moving Maps
To get good reliable moving maps in most aircraft will take an external GPS unit. These external GPS receivers can be mounted somewhere with a clear view of the sky. Sometimes the tablets will be used in places where they are unable to get a full view of the sky, making them unreliable. The external GPS receivers may have other capabilities (IE WAAS or ADS/B) as well.
I forgot the biggest of the big names. Garmin has and Android app, Garmin Pilot. The tag line "Plan, File, Fly" is what it seems it can do. There is a 30 day trial with this app, and requires a $9.99 monthly subscription. It includes charts (VFR, low and high IFR, approach plates and airport diagrams. Gets weather from NWS, including METARs TAF, winds aloft, PIREPs and various maps. Allows flight plan filing via DUATs.
Avilution AviationMaps is another application that seems really nice for maps. Allows breifing and filing through DUATS. Advertises that it can get weather including NEXRAD through ADS/B receiver, making it a very handy tool. Can get weather maps, METARs, TAFs, PIREPs and NOTAMs while in flight, or on the ground. Icing, winds and area forecasts are only available on the ground (this is a ADS/B limitation, not the software). All the same maps, VFR, Hi/Lo IFR, approach plates and airport diagrams. The subscription is either $74.95/year or 149.90/yr premium.
AirNavigation Pro includes maps and instruments.The instrument looks like an HSI, which I have always preferred for telling me where to go, or if I am on course or not. The charts they say are free and cover the whole world. The cost is $26.95 to buy, and doesn't really mention any subscriptions. This may be an app to keep an eye on.
E6B/Weather
AirWX Aviation Simple layout, enter an airport, the tabs appear for METAR, TAF, PIREPS, Charts and Plates. A really simple thing to be able to check as you get to an airport, not sure how useful it will be when flying for a couple hours (doesn't say ADS/B receivers are supported). No subscription fee, but will cost you $6.99 to buy it.
Weather Pilot Simple organization, allowing looking at text weather for multiple airports at a time. Very light weight, seems pretty fast and reliable. Still limited to mobile data, and not ADS/B receivers. It is free, and no subscription is required.
Avilution E6B Flight Computer - Real basic conversions, but seems well organized. Enter what you know, and it will figure out the rest. It is $4.95 to purchase it. It is likely you will not be able to use this on a test, since the proctors will confiscate your tablet and phone before going into the testing area.
Misc
Trade-A-Plane I used this weekly for a while on my old phone. Really handy for looking up used plane prices, or avionics or whatever you used to see in the yellow paper. Loved it, but I am not looking to buy things these days, so sadly, I haven't used it in a while. This app is free.
Aviation Exam just had a huge upgrade, it is very pretty now. I most recently used their app to earn my AGI rating. The Flight/Ground instructor review was really helpful, and allowed me to get a good grade the first time. The app is free, but you need to buy the test you want to study from. The tests are mostly $9.99-13.12 for 2 months, and can be had in bundles (IE PPL, IR, CPL). The tests are for EASA and FAA. Hooks into http://aviationexam.com and allows sync'ing tests and results.
GPS Status isn't just for aviation, but if you use GPS for anything, it may give you more insight about the accuracy of your GPS receiver. It shows the receivers in the sky right and their relative position. On the bottom, it shows the relative signal strength in a bar graph. Most Androidn GPS receivers will allow picking up US GPS and Russian GLONASS GNSS satellite signals and use them to give even more accurate position reports. This will show most of the relative position information the device can provide, including error information (DOP/HDOP/VDOP and absolute error in ft).
Ultimate Flight Checklist Mobile is a huge name, and will put it in the bottom of any alphabet list, but it is a great checklist tool. It allows adding any number of checklists for various aircraft. It comes with the three popular training aircraft; Cessna 172, Piper Cherokee 180, and Socata TB-10. You may add your aircraft and customize the checklist for any particular aircraft. Set your checklists in a way that works for you and be safe.
This again is not an exhaustive list of the aviation apps out there for the Android. It is a collection of some that I have used, or thought were interesting. If you have a favorite, let me know, and I'll take a look. Authors, users, doesn't matter to me, I'd love to hear what your favorites are.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Aviation Software For Android
There used to be a web site that was dedicated to what aviation software was available for the android platform. That we site has gone somewhat dark. It used to be, there wasn't much to report on for Android use in the cockpit, but recently there has been almost an explosion.
The big tablet software names are not out there saying how wonderful the Android is, but that doesn't mean there is no software for the Android. There have been E6-B type applications for many years, and a couple aviation charting apps. The big guys are seeing the light, and noticing there are customers for their apps using Android tablets and phones.
The following is a sample of apps that I think is significant.
There is are several pretty good moving map package available for the Android.
Naviator is another app that is all charts for everyone. It will show as a PFD, HSI, weather or mapping and can split the screen and show two screens at once. Runs on phones and tablets, and allows you to share one license between two devices. It works with external devices, like the Zaon XRX for traffic.The subscription is $49.
Avare is a great app. Mostly it just shows charts, the FAA ones. You have to manually load them, which puts you in control, so check before you want to leave if you need any new chart updates. It works with WAC, IFR Hi/Lo and sectional charts, and merges them to a smooth display. It only works in the USA and Canada, because of the chart limitations.It supports external GPS devices as well. Best of all, it is free!
GPS Air Navigator is a navigation app for the rest of the world. It seems to be mostly VFR only, and the maps appear to be open street type maps, with airports located on them. This is free.
Fly is Fun, I just found this one. It looks interesting, but I haven't installed it. It says it has terrain, and worldwide navigation database. It says it will do approaches (ILS, VOR, NDB, GPS, DME) and the screen shots show a HSI looking device below the maps. There is a free version, and the pro version is 19.90.
The big name here is Jeppesen. Jeppesen has made terrific charts for decades, and I have used their products. They have some really amazing tools. Their web site is pretty awful, and if you can find anything useful on it, it will be by pure luck. Their Mobile terminal charts (TC) app is available for the Samsung Galaxy line of tablets. As some other sites have noted, their charts are great, too bad they can't find someone to write better software.
There are others, just hit the play store searching for "Aviation Chart".
E6-B's are the aviator tools to rely on. The Wiz Wheel is still needed for taking FAA tests and such, since they don't want you googling your answers. When you aren't taking the test, it is really fine to use a computer!
AvDroid Wow, I have seen this app get better and better over the last few months. It is more than E6-B functionality, since it will get the weather, show airport information and organize it in a way that will make setting up for an approach a simple task. The free version has some limitations, the paid app is $1.59.
Aviation Pocket Knife has some basic conversion tools, gets weather and NOTAMs, and can find approach charts. It does some really handy things (like calculate descent by altitude) in an easy to use format. So many features I won't list them here, but being Free it can be quite handy.
Flighttools E6B is a really basic E6-B calculator. It doesn't try to do anything else. It calculates the time-speed-distance that you may need, cross wind calculations, and does conversions to and from everything. Again, this is free.
There are many more E6B apps for the Android. To find the E6B apps, go to the play store and search for E6B apps.
Getting weather on the tablet can be very useful. It will allow you to make some preliminary plans around a flight. Getting the weather on the tablet is better than nothing, but may not qualify for flight planning purposes. Using DUATs or Flight Service will still be needed.
Aviation Weather is an app that allows quickly getting the weather for specific airports. It comes up with the local airports, and then allows you to search for other airports. It used to be free, but now is $1.85.
Avitation Tools is more than weather, it will fetch charts, and organize alternates. Probably pretty handy if out on a flight, and you have access to data. I have the free app, and it tries to cover the world.
There are so many other aviation related apps that I couldn't categorize. I could put together an exhaustive list, but it would take months. Trying these tools and properly reviewing all of them would be very time consuming.
IATA/ICAO Dictionary this is one of those tools, that if you work for an airline you probably need to have. Airport codes are a mess, since IATA only uses 3 letters and only covers airline operations, where ICAO uses 4 letters and covers GA, helicopter, and airline operations. Knowing that KBBG is Branson Missouri can be handy, when the ticket on the airline say BKG. (Branson is a relatively new airport, and the Butaritari Atoll in Kiribati already used the BBG designator). It can also be handy to know that DAL is the ICAO designation for Delta airlines, and DL is the IATA designation. The tool does so much more (including weather and maps).
In-flight Instruments well this seems to be an attempt at a panel app for the Android. It doesn't quite work on my Samsung Note 10.1, but I have other apps that don't work on the note 10.1 as well. The apps shows the potential of the android platform for a backup panel. There are probably a whole slew of other apps that do it better, using the gyro and GPS fused.To be safe, it would be best to have an external attitude heading reference system bolted into the plane, and the tablet would only display the results.
X-Plane it is a limited version of the full PC simulator. I don't think it is limited because of the hardware, other than memory limitations. The controls are the tilting of the device, which I guess is similar to yoke type actions, or not. I've been able to show people what it is like to land a 777 at SFO on a VFR day, and just have fun with it when I am waiting for the dentist or something.
I could go on and on, but I want to limit this to a few titles that I have used, or thought looked interesting.
The big tablet software names are not out there saying how wonderful the Android is, but that doesn't mean there is no software for the Android. There have been E6-B type applications for many years, and a couple aviation charting apps. The big guys are seeing the light, and noticing there are customers for their apps using Android tablets and phones.
The following is a sample of apps that I think is significant.
Moving Maps
There is are several pretty good moving map package available for the Android.
Naviator is another app that is all charts for everyone. It will show as a PFD, HSI, weather or mapping and can split the screen and show two screens at once. Runs on phones and tablets, and allows you to share one license between two devices. It works with external devices, like the Zaon XRX for traffic.The subscription is $49.
Avare is a great app. Mostly it just shows charts, the FAA ones. You have to manually load them, which puts you in control, so check before you want to leave if you need any new chart updates. It works with WAC, IFR Hi/Lo and sectional charts, and merges them to a smooth display. It only works in the USA and Canada, because of the chart limitations.It supports external GPS devices as well. Best of all, it is free!
GPS Air Navigator is a navigation app for the rest of the world. It seems to be mostly VFR only, and the maps appear to be open street type maps, with airports located on them. This is free.
Fly is Fun, I just found this one. It looks interesting, but I haven't installed it. It says it has terrain, and worldwide navigation database. It says it will do approaches (ILS, VOR, NDB, GPS, DME) and the screen shots show a HSI looking device below the maps. There is a free version, and the pro version is 19.90.
The big name here is Jeppesen. Jeppesen has made terrific charts for decades, and I have used their products. They have some really amazing tools. Their web site is pretty awful, and if you can find anything useful on it, it will be by pure luck. Their Mobile terminal charts (TC) app is available for the Samsung Galaxy line of tablets. As some other sites have noted, their charts are great, too bad they can't find someone to write better software.
There are others, just hit the play store searching for "Aviation Chart".
E6-B apps
E6-B's are the aviator tools to rely on. The Wiz Wheel is still needed for taking FAA tests and such, since they don't want you googling your answers. When you aren't taking the test, it is really fine to use a computer!
AvDroid Wow, I have seen this app get better and better over the last few months. It is more than E6-B functionality, since it will get the weather, show airport information and organize it in a way that will make setting up for an approach a simple task. The free version has some limitations, the paid app is $1.59.
Aviation Pocket Knife has some basic conversion tools, gets weather and NOTAMs, and can find approach charts. It does some really handy things (like calculate descent by altitude) in an easy to use format. So many features I won't list them here, but being Free it can be quite handy.
Flighttools E6B is a really basic E6-B calculator. It doesn't try to do anything else. It calculates the time-speed-distance that you may need, cross wind calculations, and does conversions to and from everything. Again, this is free.
There are many more E6B apps for the Android. To find the E6B apps, go to the play store and search for E6B apps.
Weather
Getting weather on the tablet can be very useful. It will allow you to make some preliminary plans around a flight. Getting the weather on the tablet is better than nothing, but may not qualify for flight planning purposes. Using DUATs or Flight Service will still be needed.
Aviation Weather is an app that allows quickly getting the weather for specific airports. It comes up with the local airports, and then allows you to search for other airports. It used to be free, but now is $1.85.
Avitation Tools is more than weather, it will fetch charts, and organize alternates. Probably pretty handy if out on a flight, and you have access to data. I have the free app, and it tries to cover the world.
Other
There are so many other aviation related apps that I couldn't categorize. I could put together an exhaustive list, but it would take months. Trying these tools and properly reviewing all of them would be very time consuming.
IATA/ICAO Dictionary this is one of those tools, that if you work for an airline you probably need to have. Airport codes are a mess, since IATA only uses 3 letters and only covers airline operations, where ICAO uses 4 letters and covers GA, helicopter, and airline operations. Knowing that KBBG is Branson Missouri can be handy, when the ticket on the airline say BKG. (Branson is a relatively new airport, and the Butaritari Atoll in Kiribati already used the BBG designator). It can also be handy to know that DAL is the ICAO designation for Delta airlines, and DL is the IATA designation. The tool does so much more (including weather and maps).
In-flight Instruments well this seems to be an attempt at a panel app for the Android. It doesn't quite work on my Samsung Note 10.1, but I have other apps that don't work on the note 10.1 as well. The apps shows the potential of the android platform for a backup panel. There are probably a whole slew of other apps that do it better, using the gyro and GPS fused.To be safe, it would be best to have an external attitude heading reference system bolted into the plane, and the tablet would only display the results.
X-Plane it is a limited version of the full PC simulator. I don't think it is limited because of the hardware, other than memory limitations. The controls are the tilting of the device, which I guess is similar to yoke type actions, or not. I've been able to show people what it is like to land a 777 at SFO on a VFR day, and just have fun with it when I am waiting for the dentist or something.
I could go on and on, but I want to limit this to a few titles that I have used, or thought looked interesting.
FMI
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Night Flying VFR
I am only a private pilot, but I have flown at night a little bit. Flying at night can be very pleasant, but it has it's challenges. On an airline flight one fourth of July, I saw a spectacular fireworks display. The lights are very pretty, and are sometimes helpful.
Looking at the image above, it is hard to tell, but that is an airport. The lights at an airport are mostly directional. The runway lights are brightest when the aircraft is lined up with the runway. Various other lights are in the airport vicinity, occasionally, and may help identify the orientation of the runways.
The FAA will depict the runway lighting on the airport charts, and in the airport facility directory (A/FD) the specifics of the airport lighting will be spelled out. Some of the lighting specified in the AF/D include:
If someone has been flying VFR at night, the navigation is probably very similar to instrument navigation. Radio aids are usually used to locate specific places, or distance. The cockpit isn't conducive to much lighting, so the nav systems should have dimmed lighting as well, so the pilot doesn't hamper their night vision acuity.
There are various schemes that can be used to identify landmarks at night. Looking for local landmarks can help (IE 2 miles south of the city). Using the pilot controlled lighting, is another trick, click 3 or 5 times on the CTAF of the desired airport, and see if the lights change. If the visibility is lower than about 5 miles, VFR conditions exist, but VFR navigation will not be suitable.
Flying at night, it may be desirable to use oxygen. The eyes work hard all the time, but especially at night, they need all the help they can get. Some people describe using oxygen during night flights, as a way to turn the lights on.
Flying at night can be pleasant, but has its pitfalls. Fly extra careful at night.
The FAA will depict the runway lighting on the airport charts, and in the airport facility directory (A/FD) the specifics of the airport lighting will be spelled out. Some of the lighting specified in the AF/D include:
- ALS - Approach Lighting System
- MALSR - Medium Intensity Approach Lighting System With Runway Alignment Indicator Lights
- PAPI - Precision Approach Path Indicator
- PCL - Pilot Controlled Lighting
- REIL - Runway End Indicator Lights
If someone has been flying VFR at night, the navigation is probably very similar to instrument navigation. Radio aids are usually used to locate specific places, or distance. The cockpit isn't conducive to much lighting, so the nav systems should have dimmed lighting as well, so the pilot doesn't hamper their night vision acuity.
There are various schemes that can be used to identify landmarks at night. Looking for local landmarks can help (IE 2 miles south of the city). Using the pilot controlled lighting, is another trick, click 3 or 5 times on the CTAF of the desired airport, and see if the lights change. If the visibility is lower than about 5 miles, VFR conditions exist, but VFR navigation will not be suitable.
Flying at night, it may be desirable to use oxygen. The eyes work hard all the time, but especially at night, they need all the help they can get. Some people describe using oxygen during night flights, as a way to turn the lights on.
Flying at night can be pleasant, but has its pitfalls. Fly extra careful at night.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Careful With Cheap Tablets
Google has had a policy that unless a tablet meets some specification, you cannot participate in the Google PlayStore. Sometimes tablets would meet the specification, but they weren't tested for it.
It used to be, most tablets, if they could get the PlayStore app loaded, will allow loading apps on your tablet. Now, Google seems to be enforcing the policy, and not allowing tablets and phones with Google PlayStore to download applications. The list of approved devices is pretty extensive, but not complete. One of my favorite vendors isn't on the list at all (JXD).
Like everything, there are ways around this. Sideloading is an old concept, and can be used. There is another way to load apps to your Android device, called pulling. I am not sure about the technicalities of the differences, but the idea is, if you have a legitimate Android device, that is approved to use the Google PlayStore, then you can get apps on the other device. They may not always work, but they probably will.
These loading methods won't let you get paid apps for free, but they will let you run free apps on devices that maybe Google doesn't think you should be able to run them on.
Probably the first app to load on these "unapproved" devices is GetJar. GetJar is another playstore like place that you can download apps to various devices. GetJar is smart about the devices you have, so you don't get Intel or Mips binaries on ARM devices. True, if you have a fat binary, the app will probably run on any processor, and most OS versions, but some apps require a minimum OS version (IE 4.1) and a specific processor (IE ARM).
The cheap tablets work, and can be used, but you have to know a little more than using a name brand tablet.
It used to be, most tablets, if they could get the PlayStore app loaded, will allow loading apps on your tablet. Now, Google seems to be enforcing the policy, and not allowing tablets and phones with Google PlayStore to download applications. The list of approved devices is pretty extensive, but not complete. One of my favorite vendors isn't on the list at all (JXD).
Like everything, there are ways around this. Sideloading is an old concept, and can be used. There is another way to load apps to your Android device, called pulling. I am not sure about the technicalities of the differences, but the idea is, if you have a legitimate Android device, that is approved to use the Google PlayStore, then you can get apps on the other device. They may not always work, but they probably will.
These loading methods won't let you get paid apps for free, but they will let you run free apps on devices that maybe Google doesn't think you should be able to run them on.
Probably the first app to load on these "unapproved" devices is GetJar. GetJar is another playstore like place that you can download apps to various devices. GetJar is smart about the devices you have, so you don't get Intel or Mips binaries on ARM devices. True, if you have a fat binary, the app will probably run on any processor, and most OS versions, but some apps require a minimum OS version (IE 4.1) and a specific processor (IE ARM).
The cheap tablets work, and can be used, but you have to know a little more than using a name brand tablet.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
The Future of Avionics.
In the last two weeks a couple articles have hit my in box, showing me why the avionics market is about to make a huge change. The current system of all-in-one boxes is not gonna work, and we need to accept that. It is time to go component with the avionics.
The electronics in the boxes have a life. They don't really wear out, unless you believe in the smoke theory of electronics. The other parts do wear out, knobs, displays, and other mechanical parts. The manufacturers aren't making some of the components any more (chips, knobs, etc). J. Mac McClellan who writes a great blog for the EAA pointed out that the Garmin radios are starting to go obsolete. So 10 or 15 years ago, you spent $20,000 updating the panel in your airplane, and now you need a new radio. There are no slide in replacements, so do you glue on something for now, until you can afford a whole nuther panel?
Another company was mentioned in the Canard Squadron email I get where they are using Android tablets and phones for a PFD. The company is called Talos Avionics. The product is a-efis, and can be bought today! No nothing certified, but probably good enough for daily use, with steam gauges as backups. Sure why you can't use certified instruments as backups to your non-certified panel? Well, the non-certified panel is more functional.
Another project I am working on is based on the STMF429 discovery board. This board has a display, CPU, gyros and accelerometers, and costs under $25. Have a look at the picture on page 9, and how detailed the graphics are. Why couldn't a small AI or better device be built for about $100 using this technology. It would be aviation throw away ($100 hamburger range). Right now any hole in the panel will cost at least $500 to get filled. The 6 pack that IFR pilots rely on costs a minimum of $3000, could we take that cost down to under $1000, I think so.
I've been talking about doing engine monitor on Android for about 3 years, what is so hard about it. (I've had a few distractions...). There are challenges, certainly, but giving people a full time job to do this stuff, and it should be quick and easy.
Prove me wrong, until then, it is time to change the world.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Some Vendors
A while ago, it was my son's birthday, and I thought I'd get him one of the JXD 7300's. I thought it would be better than the JXD 5110, it is bigger and I thought it would be more useful. I waited too long to order it from China, so I looked for a US vendor. I had no luck finding a US vendor. I thought I might be OK getting it express shipped.
I ordered it on a Thursday, and paid the extra $30 for 3-5 day shipping. The device arrived 15 days later. The correspondence with the company was challenging. On Sunday they sent me a note:
Since the value for your order is a little expensive, to protect the safe of your paypal account,
we want to confirm some info from you, hope your kindly understanding.
1st, Could you pls confirm your shipping address whether correct or not
Well I appreciate that they are worried for my safety, but $144 isn't that much, I have spent way more than that on Paypal before. I also realize it is already tomorrow in China, so my Thursday order was really Friday early morning, and the Sunday correspondence was really Monday, but follow along. I did tell them that it was me, and that I thought my Paypal account was verified. I responded on Sunday, which I am sure they got on Tuesday. Their response Monday at 2AM my time was:
May I know when do you expect to receive the parcel? then I will arrange a shipment, since normally we will ship the order within 3-7 working days.
Ok, shouldn't they expect that if I paid for 3 day shipping I might want it really soon? What is there about 3-7 working days before they ship it? Holy cow, it seems really obvious now I am not going to get the thing in time. So I decide to look for a new vendor, maybe someone in the US. I look, and there is a vendor in New Jersey who has 10 of them listed on Ebay. I decide to order the one from ebay, and try to work something out with this Chinese vendor.
I sent the following message:
I expect to receive the device by Thursday 10/10/2013.
The response I got was:
Can we just Cancel this order?
It will be late, and I will just give your company a bad review.
I ordered it on a Thursday, and paid the extra $30 for 3-5 day shipping. The device arrived 15 days later. The correspondence with the company was challenging. On Sunday they sent me a note:
Since the value for your order is a little expensive, to protect the safe of your paypal account,
we want to confirm some info from you, hope your kindly understanding.
1st, Could you pls confirm your shipping address whether correct or not
Well I appreciate that they are worried for my safety, but $144 isn't that much, I have spent way more than that on Paypal before. I also realize it is already tomorrow in China, so my Thursday order was really Friday early morning, and the Sunday correspondence was really Monday, but follow along. I did tell them that it was me, and that I thought my Paypal account was verified. I responded on Sunday, which I am sure they got on Tuesday. Their response Monday at 2AM my time was:
May I know when do you expect to receive the parcel? then I will arrange a shipment, since normally we will ship the order within 3-7 working days.
Ok, shouldn't they expect that if I paid for 3 day shipping I might want it really soon? What is there about 3-7 working days before they ship it? Holy cow, it seems really obvious now I am not going to get the thing in time. So I decide to look for a new vendor, maybe someone in the US. I look, and there is a vendor in New Jersey who has 10 of them listed on Ebay. I decide to order the one from ebay, and try to work something out with this Chinese vendor.
I sent the following message:
I expect to receive the device by Thursday 10/10/2013.
The response I got was:
Hi friend,
Thanks for your email.
I will ask the warehouse to ship it by Thursday, pls wait patiently.
Hope your understanding in advance.
Best regards,
This is almost comical. I want it by Thursday, so they will ship it by Thursday? Maybe they know it is yesterday here in the US, so they can ship it and it will arrive Tomorrow? By now, I've had enough, since this won't make it even the week of my son's birthday, so I am ok with cancelling the order. Remember the first message, they weren't even sure it was me, they ought to be cool with me cancelling the order. I send a note back:
I wanted it at my house on Thursday!
Wow, that seems pretty clear. I am asking, not telling, but I have things arranged, and I no longer want the unit from them. Their response is:
Hi friend,
Even though we ship it yesterday, it is impossible to arrive you in one day. It will usually will take 3-7 working days via DHL.
We will urge the warehouse to ship it in 1 day, is it OK?
Looking forward to your reply.
Best regards,
Did they ship it yesterday? Am I in a time warp? I realize they are adjusting days, and this message I got on Wednesday, I know I don't want it. I did send them a note, that I thought was pretty clear:
If you are going to ship it anyway, then it doesn't matter.
It will be late, and I will just give your company a bad review.
I'd rather you not ship it, refund my money and we both
go away disappointed.
go away disappointed.
Is this clearer? "I would rather they not ship it and refund my money". I felt that was pretty clear. They did send one more note:
Hi friend,
Thanks for your email.
We will ship it today, pls wait for a while patiently.
It arrived 9 days later. Unbelievable, did they expect me to say good things about them? What do you think, did I miss something? I've bought most of my Arduino stuff from China, and I expect those things to arrive at my house 2-3weeks after I pay for the item. This took 2 weeks using express mail! I don't get it.
I'll share the vendors name, if you ask.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Starting With Android Studio
Over the summer, well at GoogleIO, Google introduced a new way to develop apps for Android, called Android Studio. Android Studio is based on IntelliJ instead of Eclipse. I've been using Eclipse for 7 years, so this change might be a challenge.
The install was really straight forward. Everything is on developer.android.com. The link about halfway down the page will have the various install packages, one for Windows, one for Mac and another for Linux. The only thing these packages don't include is the JDK.
I had a JDK6 installed on my Linux box, and was able to install without any issues. I adjusted my PATH environment variable in the bashrc file, and everything worked the second start (the first start complained about double something being created). Start.sh seems generic, but that is what they use.
Once it came up, there was the tip of the day, and then a warning that there is a new update. There wasn't anything obvious about the update, and how to get the update. I clicked on the "more info" button, and it said to go to help->Check for updates in the menu. I clicked that, and it offered "get updates and restart". The studio GUI went away for about 2 minutes, and gave me status of what is happening. Applying patch was the longest part.
Once it comes up, it starts with a prebuilt app called "My First App". Not sure what it is, but it is a place to start.
The developers page has a link to some tips. These tips offer easier ways to do some editing, and navigation using control keys like emacs and other editors.
The layout editor give an easy start, but isn't intuitive. I added a button, and it looked like it was attached top and center. When I re-sized the button, it jumped to the upper left. The proper way to re-size the button was to change the text and font. I'll have to play with that a little more, so I can figure out how to align buttons and such (assuming I have an app with many buttons).
Most of the default devices are Nexus, and generic low resolution ones. I don't think a 5.4" screen will likely come in 480x854 pixels. I created a Galaxy NoteII with a 5.5" screen at 1280x720 pixels, since that is a phone I use. It doesn't reall matter, since whatever you create will just change presentation on the different devices.
At the top of the edit area, are tabs for the editable stuff, and at the bottom are the tabs for the view. The view can be changed between "Design" and "Text". Design is the drag and drop part. Text is the place where the XML and Java are edited for the project. The java code is where the callbacks and such go. The XML is where the properties of the display is set. While much of the screen layout can be adjusted in the drag-n-drop section, sometimes certain tweaks require editing the XML.
Building is easy, pressing the build menu, and selecting make project will create a set of executables that can be used to build an APK file. The APK file must be signed with a given key. Either a self signed key, or an official key from a register can be used. To self sign an app for testing, you can use the Keytool.
Once your app is running in the emulator (and maybe on a device), the adb tool can be displayed. Selecting on the Android in the bottom part of the frame, or selecting run->debug from the top menu, will enable debugging.
This is a powerful tool. Android Studio has many options, and will take some getting used to. It may not happen the first time you use the tool, or the second time, but it will be a good tool to use.
Give it a shot!
The install was really straight forward. Everything is on developer.android.com. The link about halfway down the page will have the various install packages, one for Windows, one for Mac and another for Linux. The only thing these packages don't include is the JDK.
I had a JDK6 installed on my Linux box, and was able to install without any issues. I adjusted my PATH environment variable in the bashrc file, and everything worked the second start (the first start complained about double something being created). Start.sh seems generic, but that is what they use.
Once it came up, there was the tip of the day, and then a warning that there is a new update. There wasn't anything obvious about the update, and how to get the update. I clicked on the "more info" button, and it said to go to help->Check for updates in the menu. I clicked that, and it offered "get updates and restart". The studio GUI went away for about 2 minutes, and gave me status of what is happening. Applying patch was the longest part.
Once it comes up, it starts with a prebuilt app called "My First App". Not sure what it is, but it is a place to start.
The developers page has a link to some tips. These tips offer easier ways to do some editing, and navigation using control keys like emacs and other editors.
The layout editor give an easy start, but isn't intuitive. I added a button, and it looked like it was attached top and center. When I re-sized the button, it jumped to the upper left. The proper way to re-size the button was to change the text and font. I'll have to play with that a little more, so I can figure out how to align buttons and such (assuming I have an app with many buttons).
Most of the default devices are Nexus, and generic low resolution ones. I don't think a 5.4" screen will likely come in 480x854 pixels. I created a Galaxy NoteII with a 5.5" screen at 1280x720 pixels, since that is a phone I use. It doesn't reall matter, since whatever you create will just change presentation on the different devices.
At the top of the edit area, are tabs for the editable stuff, and at the bottom are the tabs for the view. The view can be changed between "Design" and "Text". Design is the drag and drop part. Text is the place where the XML and Java are edited for the project. The java code is where the callbacks and such go. The XML is where the properties of the display is set. While much of the screen layout can be adjusted in the drag-n-drop section, sometimes certain tweaks require editing the XML.
Building is easy, pressing the build menu, and selecting make project will create a set of executables that can be used to build an APK file. The APK file must be signed with a given key. Either a self signed key, or an official key from a register can be used. To self sign an app for testing, you can use the Keytool.
Once your app is running in the emulator (and maybe on a device), the adb tool can be displayed. Selecting on the Android in the bottom part of the frame, or selecting run->debug from the top menu, will enable debugging.
This is a powerful tool. Android Studio has many options, and will take some getting used to. It may not happen the first time you use the tool, or the second time, but it will be a good tool to use.
Give it a shot!
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