Okay, so I've been dabbling with app development for a while now but I haven't found the motivation to actually work on a sizable project. I just don't have any good or interesting ideas.
So, I'm turning to you, XDA. Are there any apps that you'd like to see exist? Or any apps that you use that you'd like to see a better version of?
I'm not promising to actually do these and release them, I'm just looking for ideas to motivate myself to start on a project. Obviously, if I actually get something worthy of release, I'll share it.
So, any ideas? Thanks in advance.
I have way too many ideas and lack motivation lol I also have a very screwed up memory, like right now I can think of 5 ideas I had but I can't place them. One had to do with location but until I get home and find the notebook I write all my ideas in I couldn't tell you. Hell I can't even remember what happened 5 minutes ago with out seriously focusing on what happened 5 minutes ago
This is just my add kicking in but I wondered if I could parse an md5 checksum in android terminal emulator and it turns out md5sum utility is built it...neat!
The first app I ever wrote was born by asking myself, "What do I want my phone to do that it can't currently do?"
This made development much more enjoyable as it was something I was interested in and that kept me going and gave me the will to follow thru until it worked.
If you're looking to make an app for someone else, here's my suggestion:
I'd like a 1x1 toggle widget that does the following:
Toggle On (potato mode):
Screen Brightness at lowest
Bluetooth off
GPS off
Mobile Network off
WiFi off
AutoSync off
Toggle Off (radsauce mode):
Return to whatever settings I was using before pressing Toggle On
Nice.
I have a bunch of baby videos (baby Einstein and whatnot) in avi format that I use a third party player to play when traveling. The problem is that I can't give the phone to my daughter because she presses a button or something that stops the video. Same with YouTube vids. So i have to hold the phone the whole time.
Would love a kind of baby lock that disables the touchscreen and buttons but allows third party apps to run behind it (like third party media players and YouTube) so that she can hold the phone herself while her videos or music is playing. It should then be able to be unlocked by pressing a combination of buttons at the same time or something like that. This would be ideal on those long car rides. You parents know where I'm coming from...
There's an app out there already that does something similar, but it's limited to the stock video player only.
How's that for an app idea?
fachadick said:
I have a bunch of baby videos (baby Einstein and whatnot) in avi format that I use a third party player to play when traveling. The problem is that I can't give the phone to my daughter because she presses a button or something that stops the video. Same with YouTube vids. So i have to hold the phone the whole time.
Would love a kind of baby lock that disables the touchscreen and buttons but allows third party apps to run behind it (like third party media players and YouTube) so that she can hold the phone herself while her videos or music is playing. It should then be able to be unlocked by pressing a combination of buttons at the same time or something like that. This would be ideal on those long car rides. You parents know where I'm coming from...
There's an app out there already that does something similar, but it's limited to the stock video player only.
How's that for an app idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a pretty interesting idea. Sadly, I won't know if anything is possible until I give it a try, because I'll be learning a lot as I go (I already know Java and I've studied some guides to making apps, as well as a book that I have, but it isn't enough to just magic a useful app together). I'll keep a list and I'll give each thing a try to see if I can pull anything off.
Thanks!
louched1 said:
The first app I ever wrote was born by asking myself, "What do I want my phone to do that it can't currently do?"
This made development much more enjoyable as it was something I was interested in and that kept me going and gave me the will to follow thru until it worked.
If you're looking to make an app for someone else, here's my suggestion:
I'd like a 1x1 toggle widget that does the following:
Toggle On (potato mode):
Screen Brightness at lowest
Bluetooth off
GPS off
Mobile Network off
WiFi off
AutoSync off
Toggle Off (radsauce mode):
Return to whatever settings I was using before pressing Toggle On
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will consider this one as well. On the surface, it doesn't seem like it would be overly complicated.
fachadick said:
I have a bunch of baby videos (baby Einstein and whatnot) in avi format that I use a third party player to play when traveling. The problem is that I can't give the phone to my daughter because she presses a button or something that stops the video. Same with YouTube vids. So i have to hold the phone the whole time.
Would love a kind of baby lock that disables the touchscreen and buttons but allows third party apps to run behind it (like third party media players and YouTube) so that she can hold the phone herself while her videos or music is playing. It should then be able to be unlocked by pressing a combination of buttons at the same time or something like that. This would be ideal on those long car rides. You parents know where I'm coming from...
There's an app out there already that does something similar, but it's limited to the stock video player only.
How's that for an app idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as media players go, Mx player locks so u have to press the unlock on screen icon to unlock touch buttons.
While it doesn't work for YouTube app, u can use it as default streaming and to watch downloaded movies.
Issue ?partially? solved..
Ask me about my ability to annoy complete strangers!
Touch block comes to mind, last I checked it didn't offer a hardware unlock solution. It disables the touch screen, except for the notification bar. You lock and unlock from there
Thank both of you - I had no idea those were out there, I'll check both of them out!
How's about an app that let's you keep your extSDcard in your phone so that when flashing roms, said app would protect it from being reformatted. It's a pain in the arse having to unmount it/pull it out.
The U.S government wouldn't lie to us...would they?
I don't pull my external sd card when flashing ROMs and I've never had it get formatted. Do you use TWRP?
no app will protect you from recovery since there is no android environment to run the app. Theres also no reason to pull sd card from phone when flashing a new rom.
Iv actually been a lil preoccupied to do anything w/my phone. The only thing Iv done w/it is Zedomax's root method and have yet to flash any roms
The U.S government wouldn't lie to us...would they?
---------- Post added at 12:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 PM ----------
SoraX64 said:
Okay, so I've been dabbling with app development for a while now but I haven't found the motivation to actually work on a sizable project. I just don't have any good or interesting ideas.
So, I'm turning to you, XDA. Are there any apps that you'd like to see exist? Or any apps that you use that you'd like to see a better version of?
I'm not promising to actually do these and release them, I'm just looking for ideas to motivate myself to start on a project. Obviously, if I actually get something worthy of release, I'll share it.
So, any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My other idea wasnt gud so how's about this one. There are quite a few games still floating about that were pre android. I guess this would be an emulator for pre android games. One that comes to mine is a game by glu 'Transformers'.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=muOBTLXUmqM&desktop_uri=/watch?v=muOBTLXUmqM
The U.S government wouldn't lie to us...would they?
There's a full java me port of that game, you just need to convert the jar/jad files and run it in an app called j2me player. Can't guarantee it will run but a lot of java games do
With JB android has started to meet expectations of using tablets and cells for audio engineering apps. I'm a comm engineer by day and run a recording studio by night and hate to admit the integrations of apple iPad etc work very well with multi track audio apps, up until now, android latency issues have preventd good audio multimedia apps so I would love to see more of that development. There is an app called audio evolution now which is amazing and touches the surface of android JB potential.
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
Wasn't the latency due to the fact that android didnt use a realtime kernel? Every distro on the PC side that I've used, I've had to patch or replace the kernel to get realtime support for audio
How about a working Bluetooth keyboard and mouse software? One that actuallys good pairing and better features.
Side stepping the Bluetooth connection would challenge you a little. The kcm and no file with matching dictionary would also be a good challenge.
an app that can decompile and recompile apk
How about an app that let's you download apps that you know will run on your phone but the playstore says your device is not supported for that app. App device support bypass?
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
The U.S government wouldn't lie to us....would they?
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
as most of you may have probably learned .. windowsandroid lets you use android (I.C.S) in windows without emulation ... so i have side-loaded 2 or 3 apps but when i press them in windowsandroid .. it opens the app then suddenly closes it .. does this happen to you also ?? and how can i increase its resolution to run it in "tablet mode" ???
Someone help plz !
Maybe this'll help...a little
If you're into disappointment, maybe, that is.
I was interested in the same thing (among other things), with this emu (which, basically it is).
I found this Reddit post on the topic; basically, it says you should merely ADD the following line to the 'build.prop' file in the WindowsAndroid root folder--that's right, just ADD it, no reason to plug it in anywhere specific, or use it to replace anything there:
ro.sf.lcd_density=120
It's important to note, however, this is a density setting rather than a resolution setting, and so caused my own installation to show up in tablet mode, but, as I'm using an older low-res LCD Projector as my monitor (and, er, Windows knows this quite too well, BTW), my copy kept showing up with the screen out of registration--in fact, it looks like you're in 'settings', choosing between active screens (see my screenshot).
Ooops--my writing compositional skills must be lapsing, because--how do I know this stuff about your monitor res having anything to do with anything in this app?
Glad you asked!
An answer posted to a well-worded question that ended up on this site:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...in-socketeqs-windowsandroid/14885130#14885130
Note I reverse-answered his question with the same stuff I posted here--I'm so cheap!
So, for people using regular ole hi-res monitors, and not lower (pretty much 1024x768 for me, the trade-off being it's HUGE!) monitors, this may be okay for you.
Lol thx ... Have you tried side loading apps .. If yes do they work ?
Sent from my GT-S5570 using xda app-developers app
Turned-off notifications...sorry
Yarp...if you count merely dumping them into the '[root]\system\app' folder (methinks)...tried that the first night, and got so many that didn't work (even pretty simple, 'non-graphicky' ones) that I gave up on this OS that very first night...'til later...maybe.
Too much janky behavior from that otherwise very cool idea. I got into some other things temporarily--I'll look back in (some things in mind) in a week or so.
That thing was locking up pretty consistently every time I ran an app on it other than the 'system apps' that came with it...I was interested in trying out my favorite old news & weather app--the 'geniewidget.apk' I loved from Froyo on (see here), post by username VJKotts with attachment--worked for me!
I may have time to list apps that worked, and didn't, later today, but many of them are specific to me (like, my over-use of the Ulysse speedometer while driving my last car, which didn't have a working speedo, so, that was priceless!).
Some various media player apps are of interest to me, since I build HTPCs, and am getting into using the Android OS for the same purpose (with portability offered by the new Android mini PC's!)
Some reviewers of that thing are reporting tons of happy success with using them as basic HTPCs, and lots of people love XBMC and Plex (not me necessarily--I've had limited success with each of these, and resort to much simpler playback of my own 'Windows-Recorded TV' files using Skifta, so I'm happy with that app.
sebas98619 said:
Lol thx ... Have you tried side loading apps .. If yes do they work ?
Sent from my GT-S5570 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Alright, So we've seen Firefox running on Android Wear, however we can't enter any menus due to no softkeys on the device. I have been trying to install apps such as "Virtual Button Bar" and SoftKeys for Root Users onto the watch and they install and run. But only the home button works. Neither the back or menu button seems to work in any application.
Has anyone else attempted to get some softkeys for controls in unsupported apps that may be able to enlighten me more on why these keypresses seem to be ignored by the OS..
ShadowEO said:
Alright, So we've seen Firefox running on Android Wear, however we can't enter any menus due to no softkeys on the device. I have been trying to install apps such as "Virtual Button Bar" and SoftKeys for Root Users onto the watch and they install and run. But only the home button works. Neither the back or menu button seems to work in any application.
Has anyone else attempted to get some softkeys for controls in unsupported apps that may be able to enlighten me more on why these keypresses seem to be ignored by the OS..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With LMT all the keys that can get on-screen are working just fine in apps that support them but the problem is the app can't be launched (FC-most probably because it has an action bar) so you can't edit the buttons or the size of them, they just work but are over sized.
Ranomez said:
With LMT all the keys that can get on-screen are working just fine in apps that support them but the problem is the app can't be launched (FC-most probably because it has an action bar) so you can't edit the buttons or the size of them, they just work but are over sized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if you can install LMT on your phone, customize it first, then go to /data/data/... or an appropriate location to grab the config and push it into the watch.
I'm also considering buying a GW, so if this somehow works, please let me know.
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AndyYan said:
I wonder if you can install LMT on your phone, customize it first, then go to /data/data/... or an appropriate location to grab the config and push it into the watch.
I'm also considering buying a GW, so if this somehow works, please let me know.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
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Click to collapse
Yes ofc it will work but the problem with that is that it will take a lot of time to customize the settings right for the watch and each time you copy the files to data/data remember that you will need to set the right permissions, owner and SELinux context for each and every file and considering that currently SELinux contexts can differ from one device to an other and from one ROM to an other that will be really time consuming and hard as you will have to find an app on your watch that has the same types of files to see the SELinux contexts for each of them.
To say it short yes you can do that but it will probably take you at least 1 day and I don't have the time or patience to do that and I doubt many people on this forum will but ofc if you do buy a G Watch have a go at it and tell us just how much time you've wasted.
Ranomez said:
Yes ofc it will work but the problem with that is that it will take a lot of time to customize the settings right for the watch and each time you copy the files to data/data remember that you will need to set the right permissions, owner and SELinux context for each and every file and considering that currently SELinux contexts can differ from one device to an other and from one ROM to an other that will be really time consuming and hard as you will have to find an app on your watch that has the same types of files to see the SELinux contexts for each of them.
To say it short yes you can do that but it will probably take you at least 1 day and I don't have the time or patience to do that and I doubt many people on this forum will but ofc if you do buy a G Watch have a go at it and tell us just how much time you've wasted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I doubt it would take that much effort, because I've tried manually moving config for some other apps without even touching the permissions, and they seem to fix that automatically. System apps don't like that way, though.
But seeing how Android Wear hates ActionBar, thus making many of my apps unavailable, I don't know if I'd still buy one. Yes I do want something Android on my wrist, but if it's just time-telling and Google Now (which is not even available here in China), then I'm not paying that chunk for it.
What apps do you have, then?
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
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AndyYan said:
Hmm, I doubt it would take that much effort, because I've tried manually moving config for some other apps without even touching the permissions, and they seem to fix that automatically. System apps don't like that way, though.
But seeing how Android Wear hates ActionBar, thus making many of my apps unavailable, I don't know if I'd still buy one. Yes I do want something Android on my wrist, but if it's just time-telling and Google Now (which is not even available here in China), then I'm not paying that chunk for it.
What apps do you have, then?
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
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Click to collapse
Well you are talking about moving configs to the same phone I guess? Also if not were you on android 5.x+ cause if yes SELinux has became really strict, to the point that if you mess up some contexts on any file in the data partition you could even get a bootloop (happened to me) or have all your apps disappear and be unable to install any app until you fix up the SELinux context (again happened to me), which you will have to do using adb in that state if you don't happen to have and file manager with root capabilities installed in /system/app or /system/priv-app.
Also to answer your question: yes most normal android apps don't work but there are some that do, even some games and some are even really playable, moreover there are enough useful android wear apps out there, I don't know what you plan to use your watch for but for me it does way more than enough, after all it's a watch, it's not like I'll ever want to spend a lot of time looking at it doing anything but I can do some fast reading on it when I need (not like I'll ever read a whole book on it, that's why I have an android e-book reader or even my phone in the worst case scenario), browsing the internet fast (ofc it needs to be connected to a phone with a data connection), receive and send messages, reject calls, even some light or not so light gaming, even things as Temple Run 2, can play music when I don't have my phone using a bluetooth headset/speaker), the only thing I miss is a full office suite, really, I am writing a novel at the moment and never know when I get some inspiration and have to write down what I have in my mind pretty fast so I don't forget, would love to just be able to write on the watch and not have to take out my phone for that.
Also I would suggest that if you have the money you should go with a watch that has wi-fi like the G Watch R or Urbane cause then you will be able to use the internet without a phone, also the screen of the G Watch is really bad in the sun, I had a Sony Smartwatch 2 before and that was way more limited software wise (and for that reason had a battery life of over 1 week) but the screen was miles ahead, I could see everything in powerful sun light without even setting the brightness to the maximum, on the G Watch I can barely see anything with the brightness at maximum in not so powerful sun light.
Does LMT contain the menu button by default? I could care less if it's a little oversized (as long as it's not to big for 150-175 DPI), but I'm about to reset my watch using the restore tools because I screwed up root while trying to get SoftKeyz (EDIT: I believe was the name of the softkey app I was trying to make work, can't remember and just finished resetting) to work correctly.
Ranomez said:
Well you are talking about moving configs to the same phone I guess? Also if not were you on android 5.x+ cause if yes SELinux has became really strict, to the point that if you mess up some contexts on any file in the data partition you could even get a bootloop (happened to me) or have all your apps disappear and be unable to install any app until you fix up the SELinux context (again happened to me), which you will have to do using adb in that state if you don't happen to have and file manager with root capabilities installed in /system/app or /system/priv-app.
Also to answer your question: yes most normal android apps don't work but there are some that do, even some games and some are even really playable, moreover there are enough useful android wear apps out there, I don't know what you plan to use your watch for but for me it does way more than enough, after all it's a watch, it's not like I'll ever want to spend a lot of time looking at it doing anything but I can do some fast reading on it when I need (not like I'll ever read a whole book on it, that's why I have an android e-book reader or even my phone in the worst case scenario), browsing the internet fast (ofc it needs to be connected to a phone with a data connection), receive and send messages, reject calls, even some light or not so light gaming, even things as Temple Run 2, can play music when I don't have my phone using a bluetooth headset/speaker), the only thing I miss is a full office suite, really, I am writing a novel at the moment and never know when I get some inspiration and have to write down what I have in my mind pretty fast so I don't forget, would love to just be able to write on the watch and not have to take out my phone for that.
Also I would suggest that if you have the money you should go with a watch that has wi-fi like the G Watch R or Urbane cause then you will be able to use the internet without a phone, also the screen of the G Watch is really bad in the sun, I had a Sony Smartwatch 2 before and that was way more limited software wise (and for that reason had a battery life of over 1 week) but the screen was miles ahead, I could see everything in powerful sun light without even setting the brightness to the maximum, on the G Watch I can barely see anything with the brightness at maximum in not so powerful sun light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for compiling such a long response for me :thumbup:
As my signature says most of my devices are on 5.1. Moving some game saves across devices works nicely, though moving contacts database involves modifying owner and permission, but not SEL context - to be honest, I don't even know that ever matters.
Sure I don't have many things in mind when it comes to "what to do with GW"... Back when I was using the Gear, I had quite some apps on it, but most of the time I use it as a timekeeper. But not being compatible with ActionBar is so shocking - I can't imagine how many apps I've used on the Gear so nicely won't work with GW, the most important of which are Greenify, LMT and Root Explorer. Looks like I still have to do much research before I decide on a purchase.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
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AndyYan said:
Thanks for compiling such a long response for me :thumbup:
As my signature says most of my devices are on 5.1. Moving some game saves across devices works nicely, though moving contacts database involves modifying owner and permission, but not SEL context - to be honest, I don't even know that ever matters.
Sure I don't have many things in mind when it comes to "what to do with GW"... Back when I was using the Gear, I had quite some apps on it, but most of the time I use it as a timekeeper. But not being compatible with ActionBar is so shocking - I can't imagine how many apps I've used on the Gear so nicely won't work with GW, the most important of which are Greenify, LMT and Root Explorer. Looks like I still have to do much research before I decide on a purchase.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
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I just looked at your signature and now I know why you had no problem with moving data from one device to an other: all your devices are running CM so they will all use the same security contexts but CM's security contexts are different from normal stock AOSP's contexts and both are different from the contexts used in Samsung TW ROM's, I can bet that if you try to move the data to a stock nexus or some other device running a manufacturer ROM or an other custom ROM than CM (most do use the same contexts but some don't) you will get into problems. SELinux contexts seem to be now just as important as permissions, sometimes you can get around with the wrong owner but if you have wrong Permissions or SELinux contexts you might mess up more than what you were changing.
Also about the app compatibility thing....I don't really miss many apps that I run on my normal devices, the only one I can actually think of is Titanium Backup (and an office app as I said), I found a good replacement for root explorer in MiXplorer, greenify is totally un-needed and wouldn't be too useful even if it worked (I'm actually not sure if it does or not, to me that layout looked like the action bar is either a non-default implementation so it might work without it) because the xposed installer doesn't work (FC-same reason, action bar) but I think xposed could work if someone adapted the installer (doesn't seem to me that the OS-level differences are so big, it's more of the framework), didn't yet try but just for a lol will flash the xposed lollipop zip and see if I can still boot.
An other option for you might be to buy a Gear S, as far as I can see there is some development going on towards running (initially) android wear on it and further afterwards full android.
Ranomez said:
I just looked at your signature and now I know why you had no problem with moving data from one device to an other: all your devices are running CM so they will all use the same security contexts but CM's security contexts are different from normal stock AOSP's contexts and both are different from the contexts used in Samsung TW ROM's, I can bet that if you try to move the data to a stock nexus or some other device running a manufacturer ROM or an other custom ROM than CM (most do use the same contexts but some don't) you will get into problems. SELinux contexts seem to be now just as important as permissions, sometimes you can get around with the wrong owner but if you have wrong Permissions or SELinux contexts you might mess up more than what you were changing.
Also about the app compatibility thing....I don't really miss many apps that I run on my normal devices, the only one I can actually think of is Titanium Backup (and an office app as I said), I found a good replacement for root explorer in MiXplorer, greenify is totally un-needed and wouldn't be too useful even if it worked (I'm actually not sure if it does or not, to me that layout looked like the action bar is either a non-default implementation so it might work without it) because the xposed installer doesn't work (FC-same reason, action bar) but I think xposed could work if someone adapted the installer (doesn't seem to me that the OS-level differences are so big, it's more of the framework), didn't yet try but just for a lol will flash the xposed lollipop zip and see if I can still boot.
An other option for you might be to buy a Gear S, as far as I can see there is some development going on towards running (initially) android wear on it and further afterwards full android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, you got a good point there. I also move data between one of the CM phones and the TF300TL tablet, but SEL is nonexistent in Android 4.2, so I guess you're right.
Gear S is way out of my reach - if I had that cash I'd buy a ZenWatch, a 360 or even an Omate TrueSmart without hesitation. But thanks for letting me know all this anyway - I choose not to look at GW and Android Wear at this moment.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
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AndyYan said:
Hmm, you got a good point there. I also move data between one of the CM phones and the TF300TL tablet, but SEL is nonexistent in Android 4.2, so I guess you're right.
Gear S is way out of my reach - if I had that cash I'd buy a ZenWatch, a 360 or even an Omate TrueSmart without hesitation. But thanks for letting me know all this anyway - I choose not to look at GW and Android Wear at this moment.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
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Click to collapse
You could instead look at a Gear Live then, it at least has a heart rate sensor and a way better screen for outdoors and at least in my country it is in the same price range as the G Watch (actually cheaper) but yes, I can't totally recommend android wear as it is right now, it's good enough (at least for me) but I can also see why a normal pure android watch could be way better yet I have faith that this will change.
Also I really can't recommend the Omate or any other MediaTek smart watch as 1st most of them have no resistance to water whatsoever, 2nd they have no support from and 3rd the firmware on them has so many security holes and other flaws it looks like a schweizer.
EDIT: I forgot to say that if you want full android you could search for a SmartQ Z-watch, as far as I know that is a pretty good one and also pretty cheap (on pandawill when it was on "last time sale" it was sold for 30$ and I am talking about the normal not the lite one, the lite one isn't worth it) but I don't think it will be updated anymore, yet android 4.4 is pretty good compared to other android smart watches.
Ranomez said:
You could instead look at a Gear Live then, it at least has a heart rate sensor and a way better screen for outdoors and at least in my country it is in the same price range as the G Watch (actually cheaper) but yes, I can't totally recommend android wear as it is right now, it's good enough (at least for me) but I can also see why a normal pure android watch could be way better yet I have faith that this will change.
Also I really can't recommend the Omate or any other MediaTek smart watch as 1st most of them have no resistance to water whatsoever, 2nd they have no support from and 3rd the firmware on them has so many security holes and other flaws it looks like a schweizer.
EDIT: I forgot to say that if you want full android you could search for a SmartQ Z-watch, as far as I know that is a pretty good one and also pretty cheap (on pandawill when it was on "last time sale" it was sold for 30$ and I am talking about the normal not the lite one, the lite one isn't worth it) but I don't think it will be updated anymore, yet android 4.4 is pretty good compared to other android smart watches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Z Watch? No thanks, I've tried that *before* the Gear, and I sold it within a week and lost $15 in the process - crappy 1GHz MIPS which is not only slow but also lacks compatibility for almost everything I throw at it - not even a custom launcher or a weather app would work. Omate's MTK is indeed unfavorable, and that's why I haven't already got one. And there aren't many people who sell Gear Live here. Which leaves me zero feasible choice.
I guess I could call it an end to my hunt of smartwatches, until something like Neptune Pine (but thinner and lighter) shows up. Thanks for helping me analyze the situation all this time!
AndyYan said:
Z Watch? No thanks, I've tried that *before* the Gear, and I sold it within a week and lost $15 in the process - crappy 1GHz MIPS which is not only slow but also lacks compatibility for almost everything I throw at it - not even a custom launcher or a weather app would work. Omate's MTK is indeed unfavorable, and that's why I haven't already got one. And there aren't many people who sell Gear Live here. Which leaves me zero feasible choice.
I guess I could call it an end to my hunt of smartwatches, until something like Neptune Pine (but thinner and lighter) shows up. Thanks for helping me analyze the situation all this time!
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Well the compatibility thing has changed as ingenic released a compatibility layer (something like libhoudini for intel CPU's) so as far as I can see from a friend's Z Watch it can run almost anything one would throw at it (ok, anything a bit rational, only apps that can actually be useful on a watch) but yes that CPU is not the fastest and the firmware is not really optimized enough so you would need a custom ROM and perhaps some RAM management script like L Speed to get it lag-free yet I can say my friend's z watch behaves pretty well on Dj Droid, it wasn't really lag-free the 2 weeks time we exchanged watches so I could test it but that's just cause I was using xposed and quite a few modules and also had about 100 apps installed, the lag wasn't really the problem for me, the annoying thing for me was the app load times, it would take me up to 1 minute to launch a 3d game.
This being said I would still recommend you to wait for something better, smartwatches right now are good but I see a lot more potential and I am sure in a few years we will see amazing ones, perhaps as good as our older phones in regards to app compatibility and flexibility, who knows, perhaps they'll even be as powerful as our current phones (as far as it goes phones in 1 year will probably be much powerful than our current phones so anything's possible).
EDIT: I also forgot to say that many apps have been adapted for MIPS since then so even without the compatibility layer there are enough apps working on the Z Watch.