0.3.1 Beta - Get it while it's hot!

[Paddy Foran]

Sorry this took so long to get to you, guys. But the latest and
greatest beta build is now posted to the group:
http://groups.google.com/group/android2cloud-beta/web/android2cloud-0.3.1-beta.apk

Features/Improvements:
- All the features of the unreleased 0.3 (Accounts are much more
intuitive)
- The "Cancel" button has been removed from the prompt to add an
account
- A new "Help" button on the New Account page
- Sharing from Twitter, Maps, and other sources is now supported.
android2cloud will parse out any links, and if it doesn't know which
to send, will ask you.

Any bug reports or feedback would be greatly appreciated. I would like
to release this on September 1st, if everyone wants to put it through
its paces and get back to me before then. You guys are amazing. :)

Thanks,
Paddy

[Eric Mill]

Works great for me! The first-time dialog will certainly help users,
too.

But I wonder if we can go further - how important is it for the user
to have multiple accounts on different android2cloud instances? I
don't foreesee any users, except actual android2cloud developers,
using this. If this were removed (or made so you have to dig in to
access it), and the user given a default account to
android2cloud.appspot.com that they never saw or cared about, I could
see the workflow for getting started shrinking to nothing.

-- Eric

On Aug 24, 1:04 am, Paddy Foran <foran.pa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry this took so long to get to you, guys. But the latest and

> greatest beta build is now posted to the group:http://groups.google.com/group/android2cloud-beta/web/android2cloud-0...

[Paddy Foran]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the feedback. :) I'd like to, ideally, just have the default account there for users when they start the app, and leave the button for people who want multiple accounts, or who want to use a different server, or whatever. Unfortunately, because of OAuth demands, I can't pre-load an account; the user has to do it themselves, and get a unique token, etc. Otherwise, I have no way of distinguishing between who sent what link.

The best I could do is greet them with the Google login page when they first run the app. I thought a walkthrough would be a bit friendlier.

If anyone else has any ideas on how to lower the work someone has to do to get their account set up, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks,
Paddy Foran

[SwimDrewid]

I'm in the school of thought that if you have an Android phone, you
are (probably) a bit of a tinkerer or a tad tech savvy (otherwise
you'd probably have an iPhone :D)

My biggest grievance with c2a is that I can't add my own account (or
it hasn't been apparent to do so). So, I would take it a step further
in the other direction and have the walk-through on initializing a2c,
keep a2c as the default, but maybe have a link to a page (the a2c
google group?) with instrux on how to create your own server.

But I'm a developer and hate stock stuff :P

[Paddy Foran]

I'm inclined to side with Drew on this one, but I would argue that only tech-savvy people have Androids. My mother's best friend from college's son isn't tech-savvy at all, and rocks a Droid Incredible.

I don't quite understand what you meant by "I can't add my own account (or it hasn't been apparent to do so)", though. Can you elaborate on that? Do you mean you can't add an account on the android device? Or on the server? Or in Chrome?

Sorry, Just a little confused.

Thanks,
Paddy Foran

[okcnyyfan]

I installed this today. Works great so far. I will put it thru the
paces and see if I have any issues or if the timing changes any.

[Eric Mill]

Good point about OAuth. My suggestion then would be that upon first run, the user is presented with the Grant/Deny access screen, and is then good to go from there. If the user wants to go to their settings later and change the server URL (and go through the auth process again) then they could do that.

I know I'm jumping in here new, at the end of a beta cycle, and suggesting these big changes that mean throwing away a bunch of already-done work. Sorry, I'm sure that's a bit annoying.  But I am gonna push back a bit against the idea that only tech savvy people have Android phones. Just from a) knowing a bunch of non-tech savvy people with Android phones, and b) knowing there are over 200,000 Android phones activated each day. We were the early adopter crowd, but it's beyond that now.

The type to use this app in particular is gonna skew more savvy than the rest, for sure. But I think good user experience is good for everyone, and in the end means simpler code at that.

-- Eric

[Paddy Foran]

Eric,

You definitely have a point. I'm thinking perhaps that first popup, on their first run, but instead of just taking them to the account list page, there are two options. The first says "Use Basic Setup", and brings them straight to the authentication page. The second says "Advanced Setup" and brings them to the account add page, with the server option.

I just think it's not a very clean user experience for an app to launch, then kick you immediately, unexplained, to an auth screen. =\

Don't worry about this being at the end of a beta cycle-- I probably won't get to include it in this release (we've gone waaayy too long without a release) but it would probably squeak in with the next release. :)

I don't mind throwing away a whole bunch of work. I basically abandoned the current server code, along with its data storage mechanics, to start work with the Channel API. :) The stuff I'm working on is definitely exciting-- though it may make the name not make sense anymore. Such is life.

Thanks for all the feedback, guys. :)

Thanks,
Paddy Foran

[okcnyyfan]

I'm in the same boat as Eric with jumping in here late. I think you
are on the right track with the basic and advanced setup. There would
definitely be some questions if dumped straight to the authentication
page. I think a brief explanation on the start page when the app is
first launched with the two buttons at the bottom might work.
Something like "Android2Cloud needs to connect to your Google account
to push web pages to your Chrome browser. Please select a setup
option below."

[Paddy Foran]

Yeah, that sounds like a Good Idea(tm). I'll put it on the to-do list for version 0.3.2.

The problem with the new Channel API is that I need to keep six platforms up to date and moving forward-- the stable Chrome extension, Android app, and App Engine server, and then the development Chrome extension, Android app, and App Engine server. I can't just relabel the development as the stable, and make a new development, like I used to.

Thank god people aren't building from source consistently... I shudder to think how I'd even begin to handle six different repositories.

Thanks,
Paddy Foran