Andriod Phone Apps

Gordonmc said:
A bit of Fred Drift, but if you have got your head around the Android rooting protocols, perhaps you have a few pointers.
I have been trying to manipulate a couple of cheap android tablets to use apps from Google's Market. I have Navionics and a few other marine apps on my HTC Desire but the idea of having the same on a sub-£100 tablet with a 7-inch screen is appealing.
The problem is that Google's licensing arrangements with device manufacturers prevents access to the Market if the user's Google account is not associated with a phone or tablet they approve of.
So - you can't download the apps.
I have managed to download CM93 charts to a tablet but of course the application will not work. I have found an application called MXMariner for Android but again, it is only available via Market and there are no European charts available.
I could buy a Samsung Galaxy tablet, but at roughly the same cost of a Netbook that defeats the object of the exercise.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Apropos of the above and the responses from Jokerboat and Elton, I don't think Gordonmc is advocating anything underhanded. He's highlighting that there is a huge problem with Google's stranglehold on the Android Market (AM). I have had a long email interchange with Navionics about the availability of their app on Android platform. In short, if your device is not on Google's approved list the AM will not sell you anything and that is that.

I want to buy the Navionics app because it is good value and it does run on most android (v2.1 or greater) tablets, which can be had for much less that a laptop or a dedicated plotter. No doubt Navionics is keen to sell it to me but Google's computer says no. Navionics' response is that there's nothing it can do about the situation.

The devices that are approved by Google are mainstream products that are sold in millions; as an example the Galaxy S - 20 million. Any small-scale producer that sells a few thousand devices is frozen out. This includes the likes of the Flytouch3/Superpad2.

I had great hopes for MXMariner, which is under a fiver, but the developer is selling through the AM so that's off limits as well. He agrees that Google's stranglehold is restrictive but there's no alternative route to market for him.

There is a way to accommodate low-volume devices and some app suppliers do use it. By releasing a free to all version via the AM and then offering a paid upgrade route that is not via the AM, users of non-mainstream devices are accommodated. Maverick GPS was the first example that I found that was a free app on the AM that could be upgraded to Maverick Pro for a couple of pounds. There are others.

To be fair to Navionics they did take on board my wish to buy their product and my frustration that Google prevents me from so doing. Whether anything ever comes of it we will see.
 
Norman_E said:
Whilst I have not used the Navionics app, I have been to a Cruising Association meeting where a sailing couple had found them useful when they went to parts of the world where there simply were no reliable paper charts. They were using them on an I-phone.
Click to expand...

I am probably an idiot for not undersatnding this but...

arn't electronic charts just digital forms of existing paper charts.

So if the paper is not reliable, how can the electronic be?
 
JackFrobisher said:
I want to buy the Navionics app because it is good value and it does run on most android (v2.1 or greater) tablets, which can be had for much less that a laptop or a dedicated plotter. No doubt Navionics is keen to sell it to me but Google's computer says no. Navionics' response is that there's nothing it can do about the situation.

The devices that are approved by Google are mainstream products that are sold in millions; as an example the Galaxy S - 20 million. Any small-scale producer that sells a few thousand devices is frozen out. This includes the likes of the Flytouch3/Superpad2.
Click to expand...

omg, I never knew that... so you've got to be really careful when buying a cheap tablet or your choice of apps is really limited. What about stores like Amazon Apps? are they ok? it should be a lot easier to convince a supplier to also upload their app to a second (reputable) store than to do a direct transaction.

btw, as people seem to be trying to build definitive lists of Android apps can you add mine? Gotta pay for it but you get annual UKHO tide data on a limited number of uk ports. Am about to get licence for 2013 data. link is in my signature.
 
elton said:
Any ideas for boaty apps you'd like to see, that don't already exist? I'm just completing a big Android app and looking for something new to write.
Click to expand...


First off, I know nothing about apps, tho I have a notion of what they are, however.

Years ago I bought a secondhand Psion, mainly for WP on the go, it came with a Nav program (NAVCOMP IQ) and a tide program (grafTIDE).

The tide program hinted that you could enter Harmonic Constants from Admiralty Tide Tables III, and thus get tidal predictions for any port covered, anywhere. I thought that was neat, I can never understand why tidal data seems to be a state secret in the UK..... Existing Apps probably have it taped?

The Nav thing would give you courses for any two ports, plus suggestions for the best time to set off, for a fair tide. Probably standard fare now but I thought it was good at the time.
 
dedwards said:
btw, as people seem to be trying to build definitive lists of Android apps can you add mine? Gotta pay for it but you get annual UKHO tide data on a limited number of uk ports. Am about to get licence for 2013 data. link is in my signature.
Click to expand...

Does your app use the full harmonic series, SHM, or do you just purchase raw prediction data from UKHO ?
 
If you are rooted download and install the following
"gapps-ics-20120429-signed" ( this one is for ICS) and it will install all the Goggle apps.
 
Gordonmc said:
A bit of Fred Drift, but if you have got your head around the Android rooting protocols, perhaps you have a few pointers.
I have been trying to manipulate a couple of cheap android tablets to use apps from Google's Market. I have Navionics and a few other marine apps on my HTC Desire but the idea of having the same on a sub-£100 tablet with a 7-inch screen is appealing.
The problem is that Google's licensing arrangements with device manufacturers prevents access to the Market if the user's Google account is not associated with a phone or tablet they approve of.
So - you can't download the apps.
I have managed to download CM93 charts to a tablet but of course the application will not work. I have found an application called MXMariner for Android but again, it is only available via Market and there are no European charts available.
I could buy a Samsung Galaxy tablet, but at roughly the same cost of a Netbook that defeats the object of the exercise.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Provided the device is rooted then you can edit the build.prop file (which is in /system). This is a file that contains, amongst a bunch of other stuff, a text string that tells the Play Store what make and model your device is. The file contains a whole load of entries and you should be very careful about changing any of them if you don't understand what they do - some of them could brick your tablet if you set them incorrectly.

The two lines you're looking for are ro.product.model and ro.product.manufacturer. Simply edit the file with a text editor to something like a Samsung for the manufacturer and Nexus for the model (this is usually picked as it is Google's "pure" Android phone) and you can download anything that Google has approved for that device. In my experience you can change the file back once you've downloaded the app and it will carry on working but that's based on a sample of two. I actually have two files on my Dell and simply rename the files if I want to try an app that it won't let me and then just swap the filenames back again.

There's a good guide here http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-install-incompatible-apps-from-android-market-for-unsupported-devices/.

If you google build.prop you'll find a load of guides as well as details of what the various entries do. Incidentally, if you find your getting the 'phone UI and not the tablet UI (which some of the cheap tablets do) then change the value of ro.sf.lcd_density to "175" and it will use the tablet UI instead.
 
dedwards said:
omg, I never knew that... so you've got to be really careful when buying a cheap tablet or your choice of apps is really limited. What about stores like Amazon Apps? are they ok? it should be a lot easier to convince a supplier to also upload their app to a second (reputable) store than to do a direct transaction.

btw, as people seem to be trying to build definitive lists of Android apps can you add mine? Gotta pay for it but you get annual UKHO tide data on a limited number of uk ports. Am about to get licence for 2013 data. link is in my signature.
Click to expand...

I think Amazon's App Store does the same - it certainly has a compatibility checker in it. Don't quote me though.

The problem isn't the developers, its the device manufacturers. Google's device compatibility scheme is actually free and pretty much automated. Once they've got through that the device manufacturers need to ask Google if they can upload the Play Store, again for free - Google will usually allow this unless there's a problem with knock-off's, etc. If the device is blatantly a copy then Google usually won't allow it (the Play Store isn't Open Source). Many of the really cheap tablets having simply never bothered asking Google though or just may not pass the compatibility test suite. If you're interested it's all on here http://source.android.com/compatibility/overview.html. Remember this is hardware compatibility we're talking about - it's all about making sure the hardware is compatible with both Android and the Apps written for it.
 
John Barry said:
Does your app use the full harmonic series, SHM, or do you just purchase raw prediction data from UKHO ?
Click to expand...

Hi John,

I purchase the data from UKHO. I personally wouldnt trust an app that gave different values to the almanac so presume there are others that think the same way. Unfortunately, its also quite expensive. Hence the limited port coverage until the app gains popularity.
 
grumpy_o_g said:
I think Amazon's App Store does the same - it certainly has a compatibility checker in it. Don't quote me though.

The problem isn't the developers, its the device manufacturers. Google's device compatibility scheme is actually free and pretty much automated. Once they've got through that the device manufacturers need to ask Google if they can upload the Play Store, again for free - Google will usually allow this unless there's a problem with knock-off's, etc. If the device is blatantly a copy then Google usually won't allow it (the Play Store isn't Open Source). Many of the really cheap tablets having simply never bothered asking Google though or just may not pass the compatibility test suite. If you're interested it's all on here http://source.android.com/compatibility/overview.html. Remember this is hardware compatibility we're talking about - it's all about making sure the hardware is compatible with both Android and the Apps written for it.
Click to expand...

ok. my line of thinking was that the implementation of the restrictions may have been inside google play and therefore Amazon might not have the same code. Google have precedence in adding functionality to google play that fundamentally changes the way apps downloaded through it operate. I know of one case where a change has broken apps downloaded through GP yet those same apps worked fine when downloaded through Amazon.
 
Does anyone know of an android app which will display nmea-0183 data taken from wireless?

I've written the beginnings of an anything (file/serial/udp broadcast/tcp stream) to anything nmea-0183 multiplexer for linux which I'm looking for a way to test without buying an iphone to run iNavX or similar...
 
Gordonmc said:
A bit of Fred Drift, but if you have got your head around the Android rooting protocols, perhaps you have a few pointers.
I have been trying to manipulate a couple of cheap android tablets to use apps from Google's Market. I have Navionics and a few other marine apps on my HTC Desire but the idea of having the same on a sub-£100 tablet with a 7-inch screen is appealing.
The problem is that Google's licensing arrangements with device manufacturers prevents access to the Market if the user's Google account is not associated with a phone or tablet they approve of.
So - you can't download the apps.
I have managed to download CM93 charts to a tablet but of course the application will not work. I have found an application called MXMariner for Android but again, it is only available via Market and there are no European charts available.
I could buy a Samsung Galaxy tablet, but at roughly the same cost of a Netbook that defeats the object of the exercise.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

As said before edit the build.prop and install a copy of the market from something like goo.im.

Otherwise use an app called 'titanium backup' to backup the apps to sd card and then install on the tablet manually. You may need to install another app called 'astro' or another file manager to do this. The apps should scale to the likely different aspect/resolution of the new device, should.

I'd like to see an app which uses a bluetooth dongle or similar to interface with my depth/wind direction instruments. I can do this on my car with the app 'torque' and an elm327 OBD adaptor. It's an amazing app. You can even read/reset fault codes from the engine. Useful if you have the MOT coming up. :o
 
laika said:
Does anyone know of an android app which will display nmea-0183 data taken from wireless?

I've written the beginnings of an anything (file/serial/udp broadcast/tcp stream) to anything nmea-0183 multiplexer for linux which I'm looking for a way to test without buying an iphone to run iNavX or similar...
Click to expand...

I'm working on such an application, doubting a bit on what wireless to use, bluetooth or wifi.
Can display any NMEA-0183 field in a matrix from 1x1 up to 10x10.
demo1.png

demo2.png


What features should such an application need more?

Regards
Hans Fix
 
Navionics is not bad and used to be quite reasonably priced, but they now seem to have replaced it with the "HD" version and tripled the price!
 
An NMEA repeater app is exactly what is required. This needs some low cost hardware to link to the nmea network without having to use a PC. The only thing I have found so far is the digital yacht wifi converter but this is very expensive.
 
What I am looking for is something to display information whilst anchored without having to get out of my bunk. Windspeed and depth both with trends would be good with perhaps an anchor watch alarm with amber and red circles. (and maybe a video link)(voice annunciated wind speed and depth would be really good)
 
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