[REVIEW] Choice Dialer - BT Dial/Command Entry - Captivate Themes and Apps

I recently purchased Choice Dialer, and thought I'd start a thread with somewhat af a review, and hopefully learn from others too about how to make it work well for us.
Ever since moving to Android, I have sorely missed Microsoft Voice Command. Choice Dialer is a start toward that direction. Of course, some will think of Vlingo, which in fact may be better now than when I last used it. Seems there is not one voice app that does everything.
Among features that it has are;
Of course, Dial by name, or number
Play/pause music; Next/Previous song; Play by artist; Play from album; Play songs by title
Send email
Send text
Set Facebook status
Create contact
Open App
Schedule an event on calendar
Enable/Disable WiFi, Blue Tooth, GPS and some more
Tell you the time
Add to calendar
I have only had the app for a few days, and this review will not be comprehensive.
Does it understand?
I am struggleing a bit having it understand me. I frequently have it say "Try again". Sometimes it does something completely different from what I asked.
I am finding that it has a learning curve for speaking so it understands, as it is getting a little better. Interestingly, it understands better if I speak faster. When talking to a voice recognition, I think people have a tendency to speak slow and enunciate clearly. Interestingly, i find that makes it worse...at least, speaking slow does, for me.
I also think the app needs to mature some. For example I had this conversation with it yesterday:
Me: Enable Blue Tooth
CD: Did you say Disable Blue Tooth?
Me: No
CD; Disabling Blue Tooth.
Uh...it should have understood NO.
Another thing, as all voice dialers need, it needs a fairly quite environment. Background noise, radios, etc. will really throw it off.
Playing Music
First off, the only music player it plays through at the moment is the native android music app. I use MixZing, so prefer that.
It is nice that it will play by Artist, Album, or Song. But a glaring omission is it will not play by Genre. I asked them about playing genres, and got this response:
As to your suggestion for genres, for now perhaps you can approximate the effect through playlists? I steer clear of genres, as Android does not support the concept in its data model (I cannot ask the phone to tell me which songs are "pop").
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dialng
I find it to do fairly well at dialing when the person is in the contacts. Occasionally need to retry. I really like that it has voice confirmation.
Send Email
When I go to dictate an email, it uses Google Voice to hear the message. And often I get "Server problem Speak again" message in the Google App. I suppose it is a problem for the Google App, not Choice Dialer. But in the end, not too great. I attempted an email 7 times, and it worked twice. When it works, there is no way that I know of to have it use punctuation.
Open App
I can say Open <program name> and it works fairly well.
An interesting challenge for it is this one: "Open GPS Test". It never gets that. I presume because GPS is not a word.
Enable/Disable Functions
It works pretty good to enable Blue Tooth, and WiFi. Again, I sometimes need to repeat.
But, interestingly, enabling GPS is not what you expect. It launches the settings for you to click it, rather than just turning it on. I contacted them about it, and this is their response:
That is because that is all it CAN do.. nothing more direct is permitted a non-Google app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That one perplexes me. If you can directly enable Wifi, and Blue Tooth, I wonder why you couldn't do GPS. Certainly, there are apps that you can toggle it with.
Support
I find them VERY responsive. This is a good sign, and hopefully the app will mature and improve.
Wish List
If only this, or some app somewhere, could be as solid and capable as I found Microsoft Voice Command to be.
Would like to be able to : Play music by genre; Of course, have improved understanding and accuracy; tell me what is on my schedule today, and tomorrow. I'm sure there are others, but I'm running out of time for now on this post.
Conclusion
I may continue to use this for basic stuff, including dialing, and turning on BT when in car, opening apps etc. But for now, its too much effort repeating and so forth for the other features to be of much value to me.
So, are you using Choice Dialer? Better luck with it? Suggestions for use?

ewingr said:
I recently purchased Choice Dialer, and thought I'd start a thread with somewhat af a review, and hopefully learn from others too about how to make it work well for us.
...
Conclusion
I may continue to use this for basic stuff, including dialing, and turning on BT when in car, opening apps etc. But for now, its too much effort repeating and so forth for the other features to be of much value to me.
So, are you using Choice Dialer? Better luck with it? Suggestions for use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the free version and really found it to be barely on par with the VoiceDailer.apk. Additionally, though there were lots of settings, it seemed overly complicated to me (I am a huge Voicedial fan from MS6.5).
I really only want the dial bit with confirmation (I never got that to work with the free version), and maybe reading/sending texts via voice.
I am not ready to step up and buy the app, and a 1 day trial is sort of silly. Give me 3-4 days. I did not realized there was a 1 day trial when I got the free version from the market, so I did not have an opportunity to test the paid version.
It is good to hear that their support is responsive. Let me know how you progress with this. I will let you know if I purchase the product.

I'll post back in a while.
I am still finding it a bit frustrating. I love the confirmation. But, I find it has a LOT of trouble understanding me. I think it is due to background noise.
Last night I tried it a bit driving home. I drive a Lexus, so road noise is not that bad, but with my Motorola T505 speaker phone unit, I had to scream at it for it to hear me.

Well, I'm about to give up on Choice Dialer. It just has way too high a percentage of not understanding.
I'm very disappointed. This is the only app I've found that has verification by voice.
I find Vlingo and Google Voice to have its share of misunderstanding, but not near as bad as Choice Dialer, but then they require hands on methods for verifications.

The major omission I found when switching from Windows Mobile to Android Eclair was voice dialling thru bluetooth. When I updated to Froyo I immediately tested the Voice Dialler with my Jawbone II - disappointed is an understatement. Recognition of contact names was abysmal, half the time it would dial the wrong contact without any confirmation. Other times I'd have to select an option on the screen - hardly hands free!
I tried Vlingo, but soon found it would only listen and speak thru the phone, not the bluetooth. Apparently a headset with A2DP profile is required.
So I tried Choice Dialer free, and found it better than the stock voice dialer because it offers voice confirmations thru bluetooth. That alone makes it worth using.
Recognition is good using the Jawbone, I haven't tried a built-in bluetooth or separate speaker phone yet. I'll report back when I've done so.
Anyway, I was impressed enough to purchase the Choice Dialer Plus. Can't say I've used the text and email capabilites for real yet, because although you can dictate a message thru bluetooth, you can't send it without pressing a button on the screen. Apparently the developer is working on making texting fully hands-free. He seems pretty active, judging by the change log on the site.
So I would recommend that those who are disappointed with stock Voice Dialler give Choice Dialer a try and see how the voice recognition works for you. Or if you have an A2DP headset, try Vlingo.

Related

request - TTS ringtone.

Hopefully this is ok to post here since it is a request for dream development. Sorry in advance if this belongs in Q/A or something.
The #1 thing I miss from my old Sanyo dumb-phone was the TTS ringer. When ever I received a call, my phone would:
"beeeep, incoming call from ([name] or "unknown-caller")"
I found this very handy as if my phone was out-of-pocket in my home, I could decide to get off the couch and get it or not without moving a muscle.
I have searched all over for the same basic TTS functionality in both WinMo and now Android but have not found anything.
Is it even possible within the Android system to use the TTS service to speak the contact name on incoming call instead of a ringer?
EDIT: And while I'm posting development requests, I would also like to see an app that lets you re-assign buttons (like vol+/- could page up and down unless there is sound playing, and the camera button which does nothing in Hero could be assigned to launch an app [HTC Camera] or even bring up a menu of apps to select from). They have lots of button programs for WinMo, but I've seen none for android.
I know winmo has this feature as my friend's old tilt had it.
There were a couple apps in the market that announced the name that called but they were not very good. IMO the current TTS in the market sucks, can't even understand it half the time.
I imagine someone could cobble together an application that could sense the ringtone call and hijack the audio, and then just use the TTS library to speak out the name / phone number, with "Incoming call from" prepended. I don't know if that's what the apps are doing. I don't see any apps like that on the market, either.
Search market for:
NameRinger
TalkingCallerID
voicecallerid
who is it
All have their problems. I think only voicecallerid is actually free.
What I did
This is what I did, its a hassle but works. went to
http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php
typed the name of my contact downloaded and insert to sd and set as contact ring tone. yeah it suck but u can tweak it with different spelling to make it sound like the actual name. hope it helps
Here you go!
I tought I could do something back for the community so I started a new project =)
The only problem is that I have no visa to pay the registration fee to get this on the market.
I uploaded the apk to http://wilma.vub.ac.be/~lhoste/TTSNotifier.php (!UPDATED)
Based on the open source design of SMSPopup (thx!)
Speaks:
"Incoming call from <NAME>"
name = "unknown" if the number is not found in the contacts
can you start a google code page for this? im sure you can get some support and bug fixes from the community. maybe even one of the devs might upload to their account for you
upload the apk to somewhere else cause we cant access it
rpmccormick said:
Hopefully this is ok to post here since it is a request for dream development. Sorry in advance if this belongs in Q/A or something.
The #1 thing I miss from my old Sanyo dumb-phone was the TTS ringer. When ever I received a call, my phone would:
"beeeep, incoming call from ([name] or "unknown-caller")"
I found this very handy as if my phone was out-of-pocket in my home, I could decide to get off the couch and get it or not without moving a muscle.
I have searched all over for the same basic TTS functionality in both WinMo and now Android but have not found anything.
Is it even possible within the Android system to use the TTS service to speak the contact name on incoming call instead of a ringer?
EDIT: And while I'm posting development requests, I would also like to see an app that lets you re-assign buttons (like vol+/- could page up and down unless there is sound playing, and the camera button which does nothing in Hero could be assigned to launch an app [HTC Camera] or even bring up a menu of apps to select from). They have lots of button programs for WinMo, but I've seen none for android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My question to you is.. Why stop there?
My teacher once told me... "Why hope to make bridges made of sticks when you can dream of making bridges in the sky?"
Meaning... lets raise the bar.. lets dream bigger... So "Why stop there?"
You want TTS ringer... well I want TTS Notifications linked to any notification I enable.
ex. "Open home download completed", "you have 30 tweets", "USB connected", "You have a text message from XXX, Dictate?"
It may not have artificial intelligence.. but after how many years we have had technology and computers... couldn't we train it to be intelligent for us? You can train a dog to sit... so how come we can't program our phones to verbally say "Plug me in! Battery LOW!", "Open Wifi Signal in range", "So-n-So's birthday is today, bought them a gift?"
That does not require artificial intelligence right?
Why not bring Android toward "Fruition"
Damn... If I had the programming knowledge... I think I'd try this myself...
Sorry, link is fixed now
gho0o5t said:
My question to you is.. Why stop there?
My teacher once told me... "Why hope to make bridges made of sticks when you can dream of making bridges in the sky?"
Meaning... lets raise the bar.. lets dream bigger... So "Why stop there?"
You want TTS ringer... well I want TTS Notifications linked to any notification I enable.
ex. "Open home download completed", "you have 30 tweets", "USB connected", "You have a text message from XXX, Dictate?"
It may not have artificial intelligence.. but after how many years we have had technology and computers... couldn't we train it to be intelligent for us? You can train a dog to sit... so how come we can't program our phones to verbally say "Plug me in! Battery LOW!", "Open Wifi Signal in range", "So-n-So's birthday is today, bought them a gift?"
That does not require artificial intelligence right?
Why not bring Android toward "Fruition"
Damn... If I had the programming knowledge... I think I'd try this myself...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep posting your great ideas. Everyone has a different view on how to make this easier so if we all combine that we can make something great.
I think the usb connected, sms, battery, wifi, birthday is possible. Ill try to extend the app today and open a github.
You can also start making up sentences the phone has to speak because hearing the same stuff all the time makes it boring.
Zillode said:
I tought I could do something back for the community so I started a new project =)
The only problem is that I have no visa to pay the registration fee to get this on the market.
I uploaded the apk to http://wilma.vub.ac.be/~lhoste/TTSRingtone.php
Based on the open source design of SMSPopup (thx!)
Speaks:
"Incoming call from <NAME>"
name = "unknown" if the number is not found in the contacts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's probably down to stupidity on my part, but how does the app work?
it installs fine but then it doesn't seem to do anything when someone rings, it just plays my ringtone.
also, does this work on Hero? that could be my problem.
cheers for making this app btw, been looking for something like this for a long time
Meltus said:
It's probably down to stupidity on my part, but how does the app work?
it installs fine but then it doesn't seem to do anything when someone rings, it just plays my ringtone.
also, does this work on Hero? that could be my problem.
cheers for making this app btw, been looking for something like this for a long time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should have the TTS Service installed (search for it in the market). When receiving a change in ACTION_PHONE_STATE, it starts a services that takes care of the speech.
Do mind that your 'Media' volume is about equally high as your ringtone volume.
Zillode said:
You should have the TTS Service installed (search for it in the market). When receiving a change in ACTION_PHONE_STATE, it starts a services that takes care of the speech.
Do mind that your 'Media' volume is about equally high as your ringtone volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i've got that. Do i need to mess with the settings in it or anything? still just getting my normal ringtone playing.
I had a similar problem. I had to uninstall the TTSRingtone.apk (system/sd/vub.lhoste.ttsringtone.apk), re-install the TTS library (Text To Speech Service on the market) and then re-install the TTSRingtone.apk. After all of this was done, it started working on its own.
Nifty.
new build (and projectname)
Ok, I started to make the TTS notification more global. This means we will try to support more and more.
You can find the new build at:
http://wilma.vub.ac.be/~lhoste/TTSNotifier.php
NOTE: UNINSTALL THE OLD (TTSRingtone!) BEFORE INSTALLING THIS ONE.
I started a new thread so the intrested ppl can follow the changes
-> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4376431
rpmccormick said:
EDIT: And while I'm posting development requests, I would also like to see an app that lets you re-assign buttons (like vol+/- could page up and down unless there is sound playing, and the camera button which does nothing in Hero could be assigned to launch an app [HTC Camera] or even bring up a menu of apps to select from). They have lots of button programs for WinMo, but I've seen none for android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if it's possible to 'unbind' the vol +/- key.. any1 has an idea?
It is possible to use the same structure as TTSNotifier or SMSPopup to capture the cam button press, but since I'm running the cyanogenmod it is occupied and useless to start a 2nd app

Speech-to-text app

I searched already for this and didn't find an answer (If another thread does exist, however, I apologize for putting this up)
But, I am wondering if there is a speech-to-text messaging app out there.
As you probably know, the G1 has a voice dialer and voice commands. I'm wondering if someone has used this to make a "voice-texting" sort of app, where what you say gets turned into text and you can send it to the contact.
This would be very useful in a car, especially now that the law (in California at least) prohibits texting while driving.
Is there an app for that out?
I would love to have an app that does this too... been looking all over.
Check out Voice Text in the market. Says it works with any app. Basically it replaces the keyboard as an input method. Comments say that it doesn't work with Cyan's mods though. I haven't tried it myself.
and something that is able to pronunce the name of the caller on an incoming call??? This option is avaible for some nokia, and is very useful expecially when using the earpiece.

Share texts between phone and tablet

Anyone know of any apps (current or in development) that allows for text messages that come in to an android phone to be answered and responded to from a tablet?
I know theres similar functionality for answering from a computer, but this would be great over wifi or bluetooth.
(Also thinking out loud here, if the two are paired over bluetooth, would it be at all possible with some kind of development to use the tablet like a headset to answer or place calls from the phone?)
These are things that I dont expect people to say "Heres an .apk" but want to get these ideas out into the open to see if anyone has anything to contribute or point us in the right direction.
text
Try using Google voice on both phone and tablet with the same account then you can get ye messages and text.
Thanks but...
1) Google voice isnt currently available for the Xoom.
2) I'd like something that doesnt require me to notify all my contacts of a number change and have them be confused about which is actually my cell phone number.
Google voice works fine through the browser
Yes you can. You can send texts from your phone on your tab using the free app Remote Web Desktop.
This app gives you your phone desktop on your tab, send texts, add files to your SD card, etc.
Gotta admit, that one is pretty great, i can see myself using it on my comp.
A little sluggish and slow on the tablet going through the browser though.
What im looking for is essentially the functionality of that on the phone side, but a dedicated app on the tablet, obviously optimized for the screen real estate and interface that will refresh on its own, have its own notifications on the tablet etc.
Basically an app that looks and acts like a dedicated sms client on the tablet, only its doing all the actual sending and receiving on the phone side and pulling it over wifi or bluetooth.
This is basically what HP has in store for the touchpad and pre3 so im not exactly expecting someone to just link to it and move along. I'm really hoping someone developing some kind of similar solution sees this and reaches out to the community.
Thanks for the suggestions and please keep them coming...always love seeing new apps.
WHY?
gbenj said:
Anyone know of any apps (current or in development) that allows for text messages that come in to an android phone to be answered and responded to from a tablet?
I know theres similar functionality for answering from a computer, but this would be great over wifi or bluetooth.
(Also thinking out loud here, if the two are paired over bluetooth, would it be at all possible with some kind of development to use the tablet like a headset to answer or place calls from the phone?)
These are things that I dont expect people to say "Heres an .apk" but want to get these ideas out into the open to see if anyone has anything to contribute or point us in the right direction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am wondering why one would want to do this? just really curious as to your thought behind the question....
Kent_Davis said:
I am wondering why one would want to do this? just really curious as to your thought behind the question....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want this kind of app too... heres my reason. My phone sits on its dock once i get home in the bedroom and i tether the wifi to my tab. So i dont have it nearby but my nook always is
Sent from one of those missing Droids
Another reason is that its much more comfortable to text and type from the tablet. (Its amazing how tiny my Incredible feels after using the Xoom for a few days.)
Like the previous post says, if I can be sitting on the couch with the tablet, leave the phone plugged in in my room, and get notifications etc on the tablet that would be great.
Plus, if i'm gonna be using the tablet more and more around the house, it would be much easier to sit there with one device on my lap instead of constantly switching between the tablet to the phone when I get a text.
Think of it as a phone extender where the main phone functions are accessible on the tablet over WiFi or bluetooth, whatever is easier.
I just wanted to throw my +1 here. I feel silly juggling my phone and tablet. I'd love to be able to walk away from my office and only have to worry about grabbing one device.
Didn't find it sluggish, xoom tethered to my N1 on Tmo's fast network. If you find something else, please share, thanks!
There is definitely a need for this. I use the google voice app on my iPad for SMS more than on my N1. I also use the talkatone ios app for voip google voice calls as well. Not having a google voice app for Honeycomb is ridiculous.
Ditto I will be needing some sort of app like so. Reason- I dont own a cell phone but I wouldnt mind pay the $20 a month for the data service and being able to text using sms.
Basically he (and me too) is looking for something that acts like Motorola's Webtop App.
neonerz said:
I just wanted to throw my +1 here. I feel silly juggling my phone and tablet. I'd love to be able to walk away from my office and only have to worry about grabbing one device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
thefoss said:
Basically he (and me too) is looking for something that acts like Motorola's Webtop App.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly!
I concur. This is one thing I did like about the Galaxy Tab before I sold it for the Xoom...I could answer email and TXT from one device. When you're at home using your Xoom it does make a difference in lifestyle having to grab my phone every time it beeps for a TXT...lets face it most people don't talk as much over the phone as they used to.
Very much needed app. I'd be willing to pay $10 easy for it too.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
I believe that this on the new HP Toucpad when its synced with WebOS phones. This would be awesome!
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Still rocking DJ05 with Voodoo5 Blazed Eclair 1.2ghz with GingerLiberty
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DungeonDefendersUsername: TheSonicEmerald
I've been thinking about this alot over the past couple of days even to the point that I began to investigate and play around with the Android SDK to see what I might be able to do, which is not alot at the moment.
I thought of this app functioning as follows:
1) We currently have a bunch of applications that allow the user to view and respond to their text messages through an interface on the browser or computer application using an app on the phone that "broadcasts" the messaging features of the phone out over either WiFi or bluetooth. (For example, the ones mentioned earlier in this thread.)
2) We also have something called "Remote Notifier" that sends out a "ping" when a new message is received to a listening service on a computer which notifies the user on the desktop.
3) If the existing functionality of those two are combined, we have an application that can put together a list of the messages on the phone (primary location), send it out to a secondary location (in this case a tablet), while also notifying the secondary location (tablet) of a new message received.
The app on the phone also gives the secondary location the ability to respond and edit the message list on the phone.
4) The second piece of the equation we would need is an app for the tablet, preferably optimized for the screen size in a 5manner similar to the way Gmail and the native email client handle messaging, (with a list of messages on the left, and the conversation view on the right) that allows the user to browse their messages on the phone and reply within the app.
If the app on the tablet could "look" to the phone as the service provider instead of the network, I could even see notifications being created from within that app and displayed on the tablet just as if it was actually receiving the texts itself.
While I am technical enough to debug a little and troubleshoot alot, I don't have the programming background to create this from the ground up. Is there anyone out there that would be interested in working with me to build something like this?
I feel as though I have the Idea of how this will function pretty well planned out, and if there is someone who wants to do the legwork involved in the building/programming, I can definitely write and draw up use cases, user flows, and wire-frame designs for how both sides of the application would work in both the front and back end.
So, is there anyone out there interested in and capable of helping to put this together for the community? I really feel that if it is done well enough, it could take off and maybe even Google would take notice and build it in natively moving forward...If they're not already working on it.
Thoughts, questions, concerns? I would appreciate any and all feedback.
Thanks for reading....this has been a long post
if you really want to try without having to code anything try the appinventor.appinventor.googlelabs[dot]c o m/learn/setup/[/url]
ill try messing around with it later once im finished working on my woodshop project (im 14). But it you want to id try it out.

Questions before purchase

Hey guys,
I'm looking at getting a G2N in the next few days (if I can find a shop that has them in stock!)
I just have a couple of questions...
1. Does it show WhatsApp messages? I tried YouTube but the ones that talk about WhatsApp is in German.
2. Does it show the weather forecast?
3. How accurate is the S Voice on it?
I'm using a Galaxy Note 2 (DN3 RC2 on 4.4.2).
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I don't use whatsapp messenger so I can't answer the first question, but I do use it to receive Facebook, espn, and other notifications. I'm site if you choose to see those it will display them. It also has a ten day forecast. And as far as s voice I think it's pretty spot on, I've been using it for a week and only once have I had to re-say what I meant. I have it paired with an s5 to for what it's worth
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
kdogguk said:
Hey guys, I'm looking at getting a G2N in the next few days (if I can find a shop that has them in stock!) //
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Does it show WhatsApp messages?
I don't use WhatsApp, but *all* the apps that I have used with the watch DO show notifications clearly.
(GoogleNow, Business Calendar, Feedly, a couple of others/ etc.)
2. Does it show the weather forecast?
Yes, it even has a watch face with time and a weather logo that show the temperature and a current weather
symbol (clouds, clear, rainy). If you push the logo, you get a scrolling weather forecast in more detail (for several
days). It works well -but the fastest/most current updates in settings is hourly (I'd like 15 minutes!). I also use WeatherBug
and it pushed weather to the watch --turned it off since I was getting multiple weather more or less the same times!
3. How accurate is the S Voice on it?
- S Voice does work, and I use it to respond to text messages. (So, if you get a text message on your watch -you can read the whole thing, and there is a menu to reply (settings: either 3-4 stock "canned" messages, or using a "free form" reply with S Voice. I used S Voice, but to do so you need to a) be in a reasonably quiet location (outdoors on a windy street does not work well, riding in a car with the window open and music playing does not work well...etc.).
- Secondly, I found I needed to think through the reply completely in advance and then say it slowly. Whenever I tried to create and speak and pause and continue to speak, S voice just caught a portion of the reply and offered "here is your reply shall I send it"? (no no no! delete!). However, when I knew exactly what I wanted to say, and said it slowly but clearly, S voice did well. I would NOT recommend it for LONG message replies on the watch, (Send several short replies -that works!) However, S Voice does not seem to be as good at dictation as Google's voice keyboard, or Swype/Dragon's voice type. It is pretty good at searches.
We are very close to Android Wear devices being released. Are you prepared to possibly feel remorse after dropping money on one of these and then just a few months later, new devices will be out that may eclipse them in function and app ecosystem? I bought and kept my Neo with the knowledge that its a stopgap for a few months and I'll most probably ditch it for Android Wear this summer. There's still a lot of missing functionality that the older Gears and even Pebble watches can do that need to be caught up because Samsung decided to ditch the old platform for Tizen. So it's pretty much like a gen 1 device again instead of building on the existing ecosystem from the original Gear, which means waiting on features, apps and stability/bug fixes.
Because I love the IR blaster and mic, I kept my Neo in the chance that devs can come through and fix/add the software/apps to address my problems with it. I don't know if an Android Wear device will come out that has the IR blaster, so I'm keeping the Neo for now. Even though the WatchOn app sucks right now, because it's very limited in what devices it can control.
You must be willing to gamble on whether those apps/software features will ever come around, because those of us who buy Samsung devices regularly, know that if you don't buy one of their devices that have decent developer support, you're kind of screwed due to their penchant to release so many new devices and subsequently forget about supporting their last-gen products with updates. We'll see if the decision to go Tizen will help or hurt this product. So far the app store is pretty thin and I expected there would be a bounty of awesome apps by now since one of the advantages of Tizen promoted was that it's so easy to develop on this platform compared to android. Given that, the only reason for the lack of apps I would think is lack of developer interest.

[Q] Two application types? Seems limiting...

Doesn't the two "application types" of "audio" and "notifications" seem horribly limiting? I mean, I can envision a lot of cool ideas that dont fall into those categories but would still be ok on the road.
For example - if you can "proxy" access to the phone's Bluetooth connection - you could write a "dashboard extension" that uses a Bluetooth OBD II connector which is able to display a good deal of extra information on your Android Auto screen.
Anyone else feeling limited?
Google is working on other app types; The code shows a few presumably experimental.
Audio & notifications is just the start.
But Google is trying to be rigorous about ensuring no distraction, and that's part of why things are moving slowly. Google has never pre-approved apps before.
Yeah... so far the only documented APIs are for audio playback and messaging. There is another group to come, and that is vehicle info. Unfortunately the example apps I have seen are things like roadside assistance, service intervals, and the like.
I am hoping for more... something akin to Torque-like displays, but there is no info just what the new APIs are capable of. The existing ones seem to be pretty opaque.
While I like the Pioneer head unit, AA is kind of a wait and see process. It actually requires more interaction for calls and texts than my Moto X. And you will miss all your notifications outside of phone calls, Google Now, and texts. I had one from SmartThings that notified me if I left my garage door open. I had to rewrite that app to use texts instead.
Oddly enough, some Tasker stuff comes through. I have a text to speech task tied to a charging profile, and it still announces the charging status when connected.
Solutions Etcetera said:
There is another group to come, and that is vehicle info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google wants to mine this data. Auto OEMs are tending to hold back.
Auto OEMs want to make money on the new technology, and not become "dumb pipes/terminals" for Google and Apple, and while the OEMs take all the risks of distracted driving lawsuits as Google and Apple are trying to do.

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