A few months back, the thought of developing a widget for the CBS News Android application surfaced. I was interested in working on the project (it would be a good break from web development and Android suited me better than iOS) but I had never coded in Java before. I also knew only the basics of Android applications, so I thought it would be a good idea to develop a widget in my spare time. But what should I build?
I played around with a little bit of code but couldn’t decide on anything specific. I happened to be browsing the Android Forums and came across a request for a Predator clock widget. It sounded like a good option, a relatively simple widget that would let me focus on learning the basics and consider efficiency in terms of battery life.
The project went well, and I released an early beta build April 27th with a quick update two days later. I was a bit surprised at seeing a few hundred downloads and the positive comments on the Android Market. I released a few more updates, slowly adding some of the highly requested features such as changing of colors, activating the stock alarm clock, etc. Now the app has seen over 16,000 downloads and over 250 ratings with an average of 4.5 stars. Not bad considering I expected a dozen downloads, haha.
I do read all of the comments (and wish the Market had a way to reply or, at the very least, see the device and Android version of commenters), and I read all the emails I get too. I try to respond to most of them, but some days it is a lot of work, particularly right after an update. I would never have thought people actually took advantage of the ability to email a developer directly, but they do, and it creates a much more connected community than most other platforms. Of course, with user feedback so readily available, it helps to maintain a sense of humor and thick skin.
As with any project, there are a lot of things I would do differently (particularly around the organization of code and code style), but I’m still quite pleased with the result. Android is an extremely easy OS to develop for and the basics of Java can be learned swiftly. The most complicated parts were understanding the life cycle of the widget, which is a bit different from a standard Android Activity life cycle, and considering multiple devices.
Was “fragmentation” a real issue? Sort of. The first mistake I made was simply not considering that some Android phones could rotate their home screens (or, I should say some implementations of the home application could rotate), but that was an easy fix. I’ve also had a few reports of issues with some low-end devices, but I’m not sure whether the problems are with the Android version that those phones run or their lack of memory (and my lack of consideration for the rebuilding of the widget’s resources after a memory dump). I’ve made a few changes, and things seem well, but I ordered a Motorola Cliq with Android 1.5 as my new low-end testing device anyway. It’s a good idea to test on multiple devices anyway (even on a close platform like iOS) and the Cliq cost less without a contract than any new (good) smartphone does with a new contract.
Anyway, it was an excellent learning experience and a great intro to Android. With that, I’ll end with some of the entertaining comments left for the Predator Clock Widget.
- phil (May 3, 2010) Doesn’t work at all on my gw620. Garbage. (1 star)
- Mike (May 31, 2010) Dude this is like the greatest app ever! Thanks sooo much! Any chance you can make the timer count down from a user defined time and sound an alarm? (5 stars)
- daniel (June 1, 2010) .miux nimii.Polo Loo O (2 stars)
- James (June 3, 2010) Good idea, 5* if alien time would update. It shows the same symbols no matter the time. (4 stars)
- del (June 4, 2010) @james: display changes all the time. Must be your zack morris style phone (5 stars)
- John (July 1, 2010) Coolest app out there (5 stars)
- Jon (July 11, 2010) Can’t set countdown time, sound effects aren’t the same as the film, which us pointless (2 stars)
- JJ (July 11, 2010) This is really useless and stupid (2 stars)
- Ryan (July 14, 2010) Dont understand the point….and im a huge predator fan! (2 stars)
- Hailee (August 1, 2010) Love it! My whole family has fun with the bomb feature. 5 stars!!!! (5 stars)
- Chris (August 10, 2010) Loved it….but uninstalled (5 stars)
