***** Updated June 3, 2011 *****
Thanks again to everyone who helped with the beta testing. Just wanted you to know that I just posted version 1 to the Android Market. It's free and you can get it here:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.greggreno.whattowatch
-Gregg
***** Updated May 5, 2011 *****
Uploaded a new version to the same location. Here are the changes:
- Improved the scrolling position after adding more titles to the bottom, but still not perfect
- Fix bug leaving the Netflix registration window open
- Set maximum title list retrieval to 50 at a time
- Fixed bug with extra Edit Search Criteria icon showing in apps list
- Fixed size and look of loading images
- Added ability to turn off ads by buying an unlocker from the Android market
Netflix still hasn't fixed their problems with TV series and getting the data right in their API
***************************
Hi all. I've been working on a new Honeycomb only app called What To Watch, and I'm looking for some beta testers. Anyone interested in helping out?
I wanted a better way to browse for Netflix movies and also manage my queues. For example, I wanted to do something like "show me all Sci Fi movies available on Instant with a 3 star rating or higher, rated PG-13 or R, sorted by release date". I couldn't find any other web site or app to do this, so I figured I would build it myself.
There are 3 main sections:
1) My Searches - this is where you can create your own searches and save them for later. I create two to start with. Click on one and it will display the list in the panel on the right, 25 at a time. Once you click on one of the My Seaches items, you can edit it by long pressing it or clicking the Edit button at the top. Note that this uses a beta API from Netflix called OData. It's the only API that lets you do sophisticated searches like this, but unfortunately it is subject to change from Netflix and it may not always be current with the main Netflix library.
2) Netflix Queues - what you would expect. For example, what is in your DVD and Instant queues.
3) Top Lists - this comes from the Netflix web site rather than the API. It shows what the top titles are for each category. This method won't show the star ratings until you drill into a particular title.
You can download the apk here (note this is case sensitive):
http://jigawattlabs.com/temp/WhatToWatch.apk
Known issues:
This is the first release. Should probably call it an Alpha!
Authenticating with Netflix isn't quite right yet. You may wind up with the web browser still open after exiting the app, and you may get another instance of the app. But just exit everything and it should be ok
There is a bug with the Netflix API with TV series and specials. This is a problem on their end, so you might get some unexpected results when browsing TV shows
I would appreciate any and all comments in terms of general UI impressions, bugs, performance, usability.
You can reach me directly at [email protected].
Thanks!
-Gregg Reno
I just tried it out, seems to work great. I just wish there was a way to actually watch Netflix on my zoom
Thanks for trying it out. I'd love to be able to watch netflix movies as well, and I think we will see that at some point. Hopefully once Netflix makes that possible, I can integrate that into the app.
I'm also going to implement a friends feature, where you can mark your favorite movies and share it with friends, and see what their favorites are.
Comments from other folks are welcome!
My first impression of the app is that it has some shared elements with amazon's web page, which is great. But the reason I say first impression is that it isn't registering with netflix.
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.
chbennett - thanks for testing. Can you give me some more info on the problem you had registering? When clicking almost anything it should prompt you to register. If you say ok, it should take you to a Netflix web page. You may have to log in and then it should prompt you to give permission to the What To Watch application. If you approve,it should take you back to the app and you should be able to run any of the searches on the left.
Where did you run into problems?
I installed it on my XOOM. Log in into Netflix without any problems. Searching also good, but could be good to add additional information about movie like Availability (for some of it shows when it will be available in stream).
It's a pity that we still missing Hulu or Netflix apps on our XOOM. Get used to watch it on my iPad(
greno1 said:
chbennett - thanks for testing. Can you give me some more info on the problem you had registering? When clicking almost anything it should prompt you to register. If you say ok, it should take you to a Netflix web page. You may have to log in and then it should prompt you to give permission to the What To Watch application. If you approve,it should take you back to the app and you should be able to run any of the searches on the left.
Where did you run into problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically all it did for me (ill try it again) was stall out on the "registering with netflix" in app pop up, going no further.
Edit: still doesn't work
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.
Great app! Forcecloses when I click on New Instant Choices under Top Lists category
Also when going into the Instant Que list; I click one of the movies and it takes me to the description. I can also click on Similar, Drop from Instant or Add to Disc. If I choose Drop from Instant and click the back arrow it still shows in the Instant Que listing. Can we have the option of clicking the Instant Que button on the top left corner in the movie description to go back to the Instant Que listing and if we do happen to press the back arrow could the Instant Que listing automatically update with the removal of the movie?
Kozdoba - I will be adding additional information like directors and awards, but I'll also look at adding availability. Do you have an example title in mind I can test with?
bishop72 - thanks for finding the problem with the New Instant choices. I'll look at that one, but it may be because that's a really big list and I'm not handling it correctly. Also, good idea about removing titles from the instant titles if you click the remove from instant button. But the problem with that for me is if I remove it from the list, it should probably close that title window because it's no longer in the instant queue. Maybe someone hit the remove button by mistake and they want to re-add it?
Also I notice that there is some type of caching going on with the adding and removing from queues. When you add or remove, it does that action and then sends another request to netflix to get the current status. But it may not register that quickly. So you may hit remove from instant, and then I get back a status from Netflix saying it's still in the instant queue. If you click it again, it shows up ok.
I appreciate the feedback - good or bad!
greno1 said:
Kozdoba - I will be adding additional information like directors and awards, but I'll also look at adding availability. Do you have an example title in mind I can test with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look this series soon will be available online.
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Death_Note/70081003?trkid=2361637
downloaded the apk to nook but just got a parse error failed to load. I really love my netflix and was looking forward to tablet style look on nc.
The app installed fine, the Netflix login auth worked fine as well. The fit & finish look good as well. Some of the images and searches render a bit slow, but that could be my wifi. I will play with it more through the day and report back.
I believe i heard that Netflix was going to do a live stream with Netflix only productions, so a Top List of Netflix Original or something would be good.
Everyone - thanks for testing and for the comments. I really appreciate it! It's interesting it worked for some but didn't work for dbolton. Not sure why that is.
dbolton - can you post a screen shot of your error, or email it to me at [email protected]? I also took a few screen shots so you can see what it should look like:
http://jigawattlabs.com/w2w/screen1.png
http://jigawattlabs.com/w2w/screen2.png
kiteOregon - once Netflix posts a list of their own content in some type of list, I'll definitely look at adding that. For the Top Lists section, I'm just using the Netflix RSS feeds linked from the bottom of the page. Modified it somewhat to return no more that 50 at a time though since it would load too slow.
Thanks again!
-Gregg
Thus far all is working well. I really like the interface too, great job!
I am going to keep tinkering with it and let you know if I run into any issues or have any suggestions.
Thanks for the great app!
chbennett said:
Basically all it did for me (ill try it again) was stall out on the "registering with netflix" in app pop up, going no further.
Edit: still doesn't work
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I heard that Netflix was having problems with authorization from 3rd party apps. As a work around the suggest launching your browser and log into Netflix. Leave the browser running, and then launch the app and try to register again. Can you let me know if that works?
-Gregg
garyh2 said:
Thus far all is working well. I really like the interface too, great job!
I am going to keep tinkering with it and let you know if I run into any issues or have any suggestions.
Thanks for the great app!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Working to add more features.
somehow I now have a 'edit search criteria' icon (same as main apps icon) in my app drawer as if it were a separate app.
My initial reaction is very positive, but I have the same issue as garyh2. When I tell it to uninstall, I am informed that it is part of the main application so obviously I left it there. This is a weird bug though...
The only other thing I noticed is that the placeholder icons that appear before titles and images populate are slightly larger than the images and titles that replace them. This doesn't really cause problems but is slightly distracting.
I really like the power search function and the ability to save searches and haven't really seen this functionality elsewhere. Good job!
Thanks garyh2 and vidriera - ill take a look at that. The edit screen is a separate activity rather than a fragment, which is probably its somehow getting its own icon. Just one of the differences with honeycomb I need to figure out.
Also good point about the loading graphic. I'll fix that too.
Because I have such a large library, and a 60 GB max per month, I started uploading my library manually. I think next month I can switch it to use my iTunes library to finish off the rest. Does anyone know if the service is smart enough to know that the stuff I uploaded manually is the same as what I have in iTunes??
Why not just stream directly from your PC, with Audio Galaxy, or similar?
Well, I don't love the idea of leaving my desktop on all the time, and I like how you can manage your entire library from anywhere. I have used audiogalaxy so I know it has many of the similar capabilities. Also, I just like to try out new services, and I would imagine Google will only get better and better, and I am interested in getting started now. I have really come to prefer cloud based services over server based, I see more potential in this than audiogalaxy (personally).
I can respect that - I'm giving Googles music cloud a try at the moment also, but there are drawbacks with the file management.
For example:
If I notice an error in one of the file names on my PC and correct it, Google appears to think it's a new file, and uploads a new copy - keeping the old file, also...
If I notice an error in the id3 tags and correct that, Google thinks it's the same file, and does nothing...
Either way, I have to manually track all changes. It would be nice if there was a more intelligent interface...
Yeah, I haven't experienced that, but that's what I was afraid of. I have enough faith that Google will fix and improve all those things, and probably fairly quickly since it's Android related.
Would making some of those changes on the web interface help?
I wanted to know since the tab has a screen that is 3x as big as a Galaxy S (3 phones put side by side on the tab) is there an app or a home launcher or something that will allow me to have multiple things running on different screens.
For example, I need to take information from one document and organize with another and I can easily switch between them on Windows and Linux.
I then need to tag along to other places and want to continue to edit both documents on my tab, I have to keep opening one document then remember a sentence or piece of information for a second and close that document and open the second one to continue typing it up.
It is a real hassle and very time consuming and frustrating. Our tabs are pretty big and I would like to utilize it to the fullest of its capabilities as a tablet/big smartphone.
What my suggestion is if anyone feels like making an app that I can do just this and more on my tab, they couod design an app that works like the home screen.
For instance you open a document, email, or webpage and want to look at another document or note you made for yourself or another email. All you do is swipe to the left or right and it is a clear home screen or something to that effect or maybe a list of documents, notes, emails, webpages you can open. You then choose/open what you need and can continue with the first page having the second one open for reference or whatever the case may be.
You can then easily switch between the 2 or however many pages you have opened just by swiping the screen just like you would your homescreen.
If someone knows of such an app or had the resources to make one please let me know.
Also this would make for a great multi-tasking app if made correctly.
What might be an issue here is that most programs themselves are going to detect the loss of focus and handle things. Either saving/reverting to front screen/closing down completely, or leaving things up and running.
I can see what you're after, more a 'cards' type thing, and it might be possible, but you'd have to override what the OS is sending to the apps (don't send the lose focus thing), or get the apps to handle things differently.
Either going to be impossible, or trivial. And even if it was possible to be hacked, apps are going to be assuming their running and might use more power. The way it works at the moment is to assume you're being shut down, and handle that gracefully so you're using minimal resources on a phone.
If one were to change how android handles the multi-tasking, would this sort of app be possible?
Another question is, are there any document editors that can do something like this?
I have an iPod Touch and an app named iFile, and it has multi-window type thing that I am describing where I can open many pages and view many documents at a time.
That's the main thing I want it for, editing documents without having to open and close constantly.
I was thinking of this the other day. This would be something you'd have to build into a ROM. It'd be a nice mod, and since Android already takes screenshots for the recent apps bar, it wouldn't be too hard to implement once the source is released. My thought is it would be a four or five finger gesture left or right. It could possibly zoom out similar to how the screens zoom when you drag an icon on the launcher so that the other tasks could be visible at the same time. The normal activity lifecycle would continue as usual (i.e. onPause() would be called as soon as the gesture starts, and onStop() once the activity is off the screen). A screenshot would be used in place of the actual Activity until the gesture is over (meaning the Activity has "snapped" into place).
(once again, this time within the right sub-category )
For the moment, i am completely free of any Sense-Apps, except SenseTV. As i really would like to get rid of Sense completely in the near future, i wonder if there's any app that could substitute what SenseTV does at the moment. I really like the idea of browsing the current TV program and just click on the channels name for switchting the TV to it. I know that OtrtA can send custom IR-Codes via URI-Call, so i'd just need some kind of TV Guide that lets me configure a specified action for clicking on the channels (or shows) name. Any ideas?
I'm new to this 'invention' (Android Auto) and as soon as I did check it out the first thing came to my mind - "as usual, Google tries to be smarter than everyone"... I mean - I cannot even scroll my playlist down because Google says "I have to park to do that"... Stupid enough to get really irritated.
But to the point... The idea to cast a screen to car's multimedia screen is perfect. As I've heard it's hardware based, so the only useful feature Android Auto has is the software (driver?) that can push media thru the USB cable (can it via WiFi?). This is what I need because my phone is configured perfectly already, does not need any stupid dashboard or players.
So basically... has anyone 'hacked' this solution to push screen/audio from _any_ app/desktop/etc?
Pleeeeease tell me someone has...? Or at least that someone works on this... Or maybe there is any other software that can cooperate with car's multimedia interface...?
The protocol has been documented in the Headunit Reloaded app.
It's just waiting for a clever developer to come along and build an Android Auto app replacement for the phone that mirrors the entire display.
As far as I can understand reading quickly post from the link you have provided, it's not quite what I wished to be, but maybe it's close . Nice to know. Thank you .
I hope there are many interested people and we will see effects soon . I would gladly dig it myself if I had a time for this, maybe one day...