Wendong’s Smart Phone Weblog

The new launched Google Moderator has this question as one of the featured votes. And here are some top ones in each category at this moment:

Games:

Tetris… you can’t go wrong with Tetris.

Be sure that FLASH PLAYER games stored locally could be played… The lists of games available on the web is amazing, and any developer can make is own game quickly.

Lifestyle:

Travel logger for all kinds of trips: bike rides, hikes, etc. Logging events (configurable) on the phone such has time, GPS coordinates, compass orientation, time, currently playing song, photos, local temperature, etc. Syncs to Google Spreadsheets.

Share your position with friends on your gTalk/IM list. e.g. if you want to meet someone, you can check where he is or pinpoint the location when you don’t see each other. Or, an alert when some buddy is approaching/nearby you.

Multimedia:

Podcasting app that lets you subscribe to podcasts, and automatically keeps a few downloaded for you to listen to.

I’d like to see a VLC portable application to see tv streaming from my internet provider!

Productivity:

An application to synchronize local contacts with Google contacts?

Would anyone like to see an android to do list?

Shopping:

Wishlist App. Scan any barcode, and that item is placed on a wishlist that you can view and share with family and friends. Adding a note to each item would be allow friends to understand the item. ex:”Rachel would love this for her birthday!”

Best prices: You are in front of an amazing sales, but you are not aware of the real price of the product… Type the product name and find the lowers prices on the web. (not sure an app is needed a lot of websites do that). More like a widget.

Tools:

PDF Reader

SSH client to remotely administer servers

I think some of them already exist. For example for SSH client you may try Connectbot. Compare Everywhere is all about instant checking to find best price. For the applications that are not available yet, it is the perfect time for mobile developers to jump in and code them. Personally the first one I wish I could have (or write) is a podcatcher application. Currently I am using Canola 2 on my N810 daily to download and listen podcast program. For me it is the top one I wish to have.

I am not sure when Android handsets will have Flash support. The T-Mobile G1 does not support Flash, but later Android models will according to Bill Perry from Adobe. To be able to download and store a Flash game locally is a good feature. For desktop computers, now you can drag and drop an Java Applet to desktop with new Java SE update 10. For iPhone and possibly Android you can create a desktop shortcut for a webpage. Be able to do it for Flash files is an intuitive thinking.

Maybe it is the time to get a T-Mobile G1 before it is sold out again

I was excited when the news about T-Mobile’s brand new “App Store” first leaked last month. It was all about how it will be different from the “traditional carrier deck”. Now the official T-Mobile DevParner Community is open. WapReview has a detailed review on it. It is a huge disappointment to me. I did not see anything new comparing to the “traditional carrier deck”. On the contrary it is much worse than any Java ME carrier decks in the US such as the ones from AT&T or Sprint.

Certification

Applications must be tested, verified and signed. Is this needed for protecting customers from vicious applications? No. That is just an excuse for the carrier to abuse Java ME signing for its own advantage. T-Mobile even blocks unsigned applications from network access. I am a T-Mobile customer because I still keep a good deal of an old plan. But I usually just buy unlocked phones instead of handicapped handsets from the carrier.

Testing price

The testing price (~$200 per handset) is prohibitive. I could not imagine any freeware developer could spend that amount of money to put his/her free software on T-Mobile Deck. Symbian signing has free program for freewares. Apple iPhone App Store will list free softwares for free. I know the price is still cheaper than True BREW Testing from Qualcomm, but Java applications are supposed to be safer than native code, thus the testing should be easier and cheaper.

No games

Unfortunately I think games are majority of the Java ME application sales. In last year’s JavaOne, one session’s title was something like “how mobile developers work with carriers”. One representative from a major carrier in US said if you are a mobile game developer and your name are not one of the big names such as EA, just forget about it. I guess T-Mobile has deals with those big name companies, which are worrying innovations from small development shops (and individual developers) will kill their revenue stream.

Via Apple’s App Store, individual developers like Eliza Block and Steve Demeter will become millionaires with their popular games. T-Mobile does not even give you a chance to make a penny.

Greedy 50%+ split

Five years ago, I checked the revenue split rate of Handango. It was 30% or 40% (I could remember the exact number). I thought that was a big chunk. It might make some sense if the application uses network bandwidth intensively. However for simple applications, what T-Mobile provides is just a distribution channel. It is the developer who makes the big investment in front and takes the risk in case of commercial failure. 50% and even more split by T-Mobile does not make any sense to me.

An ideal Carrier App Store to me should be:

(1) Certification is only for developer identification purpose. All APIs should be open to developers. Let end users set permissions (per app) on API accesses such network, PIM, file etc.
(2) Reasonable testing price to cover the cost. Free application should be listed for free.
(3) Do not deny applications unless it has really improper content (like violence and porn). Let the end users make the judgment and vote.
(4) Do not make carrier deck the sole source. Users should have other choices to install apps to their own devices.

I am thinking about getting a T-Mobile G1 as my next phone. Now the T-Mobile DevParner news makes me a little nervous. I hope tomorrow’s Android Dream announcement will not turn out to be a big disappointment. We will see, a few hours later.

Here are the top 10 Android Developer Challenge (Round 2) winning projects:

* cab4me: call a cab to any location worldwide
* Compare Everywhere: scan a barcode to check price and reviews
* Ecorio: calculate travel carbon footprint
* GoCart: shopping cart on-the-go
* Life360: a multi-channel messaging system and neighborhood-centric social network
* Locale: advanced settings manager based on conditions, such as location
* PicSay: personalize and share your pictures
* Softrace: turn your workout into a thrilling race and challenge the world in real time
* TuneWiki: play audio and video while displaying synchronized lyrics or translated lyric
* Wertago: find the hottest parties in town and connect with friends and others all night long

All of them use location API (GPS and cell based) or at least Map API. So it is a good list of mobile LBS applications.

HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1) is rumored to be launched on October 13th. But GPS is not mentioned in the (rumered) spec, which is quite a surprise to me.

Inovaworks is working on a “Java on iPhone” development kit that allows Java developers use Java to write iPhone applications. The goals of this devkit are very appealing:

* Using the familiar Java programming language
* Using a familiar IDE like Eclipse or Netbeans
* Generating 100% valid and compliant iPhone applications
* Explicitly avoiding software black boxes and developer lock-in
* Allowing for Xcode Instruments tuneups if needed

For one second I thought it is the company Innaworks, which announced a while ago providing an automated J2ME to iPhone porting solution. Those two company names are very close.

Image source: sevenclick.com

I used to use Google Send to Phone service and the FireFox plugin to send SMS. But today I found that free SMS service has been stopped by Google. I remember that Yahoo had a similar service before. It turns out Yahoo Web2SMS is not longer available either. I do not know when that happened.

Here are a list alternatives I know:

(1) Via Email

AT&T: number@txt.att.net
T-Mobile: number@tmomail.net
Sprint: number@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: number@vtext.com
AllTel: number@message.alltel.com
Where number = your 10 digit phone number.

I did not use this method for quite a while, I hope those emails still work.

(2) Via carrier websites

They often provide simple web forms to send SMS. For example Sprint has messaging.sprintpcs.com, T-Mobile has t-mobile.com/MESSAGING.

(3) Gizmo SMS

GizmoSMS.com site allows you send SMS globally. You can pick the country name from a long list.