Yesterday I was interviewed by Michael Li of The Gadget Masters. I show off a few of my BlackBerry 10 apps including the soon to be released, version 3.3 of Pixelated.
Countdown to BB10 with Michael Li
Morse Code app expands support to BlackBerry 10
The Morse Code app in BlackBerry AppWorld has been updated to version 2.0, adding support for BlackBerry 10 phones. The number of supported devices has also increased for phones running the traditional BlackBerry operating system, with all phones running OS 5.0 or newer, being supported.
About Morse Code
This app will take your text, and translate it back to you in Morse Code. Any text can simply be entered, and then by pressing the “Play Morse Code” button, can be turned into an audible Morse Code signal. The application also allows you to adjust the speed of the playback in words per minute in order to accommodate different skill levels.
Links & Information
Mileage Tracker version 1.0 released
Version 1.0 of Mileage Tracker has been released into AppWorld for BlackBerry 10 phones. This free app is designed to help you track the miles you drive on each trip for use on tax deductions, accounting, or reimbursements from your employer. Instead of keeping this information charted on your computer, it makes much more sense to be able to track this mobiley from your phone, which you would have with you in the car anyhow.
In order to start a new entry select the ‘Add’ option on the bottom of the screen. For each trip, you must include a reason, a date, and the starting odometer reading. Selecting an existing entry gives you the option to edit any of these fields or to even delete the listing all together. This app allows you to create different categories, so that you can have separate lists for different billing periods, each vehicle, or on a per project basis. You are in fact free to organize your data any way you wish. Categories can be renamed from the menu, and giving two categories the same name will automatically merge them.
Following a one time in-app payment you can export your data into an excel compatible .csv format and a pretty (and sortable) .html format. Using data from my own trips in 2012 I have created a sample of what the exported files look like for both html and .csv.
Links & Information
15,000 apps
During last weekend’s virtual port-a-thon 15,000 BlackBerry 10 apps were submitted to BlackBerry AppWorld.
First lets acknowledge that most of these apps are probably junk. This event was clearly about quantity over quality, and the event delivered on the big round numbers. In all likelihood the majority of these apps were repackaged html sites, or quickly ported Android apps. The good news is that I am sure that some people will find some of these quickly ported apps very useful, and that the mix is probably not any worse than a random selection of 15,000 apps from Apple’s App Store would be.
The good news is that fifteen thousand is a very impressive, very big number. To give some context, BlackBerry AppWorld was originally launched in 2009 with less than 2,000 apps. It wasn’t until at least two years later that the total size of the store grew to 15,000 applications. Windows 8 (which launched three months ago) is currently showing only 19,337 apps available in my region, and there is no doubt that BlackBerry 10 has long since blown by that number.
I really hope that RIM has a plan to get all of these apps through the approval process in a timely manner. I will be submitting some more apps later this week, that I would really like to have in the store by the time that BlackBerry 10 phones are on the shelves. The fact that 15,000 apps just got placed ahead of them in the queue is slightly worrying.
Creating Animal Sounds in 12 hours
After proposing to create an app in 24 hours this weekend, I instead finished the app in after only 12 hours. The steps taken are presented below via Storify, which was apparently not designed for this use case.
[View the story “A BlackBerry 10 App created in 12 hours” on Storify]
24 hour app challenge
From now until midnight tomorrow, BlackBerry is offering $100 for every BlackBerry 10 app that is submitted to AppWorld. Currently I am on track to have nine applications available in AppWorld at launch. Given that it would be much cooler to have 10 apps for BlackBerry 10, and that I can get a bonus if I finish an app by tomorrow, I have decided to challenge myself to completing a new app within the next 24 hours.
I have an idea for a free app that should be fairly simple, but I have not yet started on it at all. And while this idea will require a bit too much time editing images (and audio), I think I should be able to get it completed by this time tomorrow. I will post an overview of this app making experience early next week.
A 27″ tablet is not as stupid as it sounds
At CES Lenovo has announced that they are planning on launching a 27 inch, 17 pound Windows 8 tablet this summer. At first glance this seems ridiculous, and the product has already received it’s fair share of mockery. But the truth is that it really isn’t that terrible of an idea, at least once you stop thinking of it as a tablet.
The image to the right is from Lenovo’s promo video, and shows how incredibly awkward it would be to carry it around like a traditional tablet. And while I can fit my PlayBook into my pocket, this beast would not even fit into a backpack, and is truly not ‘mobile’ in any sense of the word.
But it doesn’t have to be.
If you consider it less as a tablet, and more as a nice 27″ all-in-one desktop PC that happens to have a touchscreen, then it is actually pretty nice. The Verge recently wrote about how touch screens can be useful on non-tablets, and I think we can eventually expect all screens to support touch. While the $1,700 that Lenovo is asking for is a bit much, prices will come down. In a few years, it probably will not be possible to buy a monitor that doesn’t support touch input.
Where are PlayBook users from?
The PlayBook is seeing a much more diverse installation base then when I looked at it last year. While the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom combine for 71.6% of users, another six countries held claim to over one percent of the instal base, and downloads were seen from 142 different nations.
The PlayBook continues to have an outsized popularity in RIM’s homeland of Canada, accounting for 37.8% of users. The PlayBook also showed surprising popularity in India and the Philippines, which both saw a higher share of PlayBook users than traditional BlackBerry hubs such as Indonesia.
The vast majority (83.93%) of these users have English as their primary language. The next most popular languages were Spanish, French and German.
96.5% of PlayBook users are running OS 2.1.0, and well over 99% of users are running some version OS 2.x on their devices. For more details see yesterday’s post on BerryReview.
These statistics are generated from PlayBook downloads of the strategy game Xploding Boxes, from September 1st, through December 31st. Data was collected by BlackBerry AppWorld at the time of download.
Over 1 in 3 BlackBerry phones running OS 7
December continued the recent trend of growth of the marketshare of OS 7. The most recent BlackBerry OS is now being used by 34.1% of users, while the percentage of users on OS 6 (or higher) climbed only slightly to 60.1%.
This data was taken from downloads of the free BlackBerry strategy game Pixelated. Data shown on the chart is from the beginning of December 2011 through the end of December 2012.
Version 4.2 of Xploding Boxes
Xploding Boxes has been updated to version 4.2 across all platforms. This version adds ten new levels as well as adding sharing options to the Windows 8 and BlackBerry 10 versions of the game.
About Xploding Boxes
Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Android, Nook, Windows 8, and BlackBerry 10 where the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve.
The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while an in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while maintaining your progress from the free levels.
New in Version 4.2
In addition to the ten new levels, version 4.2 of Xploding Boxes adds some sharing options and fixes some bugs. While the BlackBerry version of the game has included BBM sharing options since version 2.1 this update allows Windows 8 users to easily share their in-game progress through the share charm, and BlackBerry 10 users can share their game progress through an option on the menu.
The BlackBerry 10 version of the game also has a redesigned icon set.
Links & Information
- Xploding Boxes News
- Xploding Boxes Website
- Ebscer on FaceBook
- Xploding Boxes at BlackBerry AppWorld
- Xploding Boxes in the Windows 8 Store
- Xploding Boxes for Android at Google Play
- Xploding Boxes for Android at the Amazon App Store
- Xploding Boxes for the Barnes and Noble Nook
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Microsoft’s Windows 8 problem
Like most geeks, I spent my Christmas fixing my parent’s computer. Replacing the hard drive was easy, choosing what OS to instal onto the machine was not. My Dad wanted the Windows 8, just so he wouldn’t get left behind, while my Mom wanted nothing to change (although reinstalling Vista was never my plan).
In the end I decided to give them Windows 7. While I have a Windows 8 Tablet, and use both Win7 and Win8 on my laptop, my day to day desktop is still Windows 7. While Windows 8 is a huge improvement on tablets (at least when you don’t have the desktop open), there is no need for then Windows 8 start menu on a standard PC.
As a developer I love Windows 8. It is easy to develop for, and even more importantly it is easy to distribute and sell my apps on. However, most traditional PC users have little need for Microsoft’s app store, and are not looking for the apps I am selling. My true market is not Windows 8 users, but Windows 8 users with touchscreens.
This is a much smaller market.
For those looking to use their Windows 8 device as a tablet, and use it in a similar manner as you would a PlayBook or an iPad, the Windows Store is the perfect place to look for apps, but for everyone else I can expect my apps to be ignored anyhow. The number of Windows 8 licenses sold should not matter to developers, unless they are for a touch screen device.
2012 in review
I wrote up a post like this last year, so I figured I would give 2012 a review…
- Binary Clock app updated to run when charging
- Runaway Trains launched in March
- I declared OS 4.x to be dead
- First app ported to Android
- I presented at BarCamp Rochester in April
- I presented at BBJam in Orlando
- Xploding Boxes was released on Android in June
- I win a Windows 8 Hackathon in July
- Pixelated released for Windows Phone
- I attended BlackBerry Jam in San Jose
- Mileage Tracker (my first Cascades App) was released
- Xploding Boxes released on Windows 8
- Pixelated released for Windows 8
- Farkle released for BlackBerry 10
- Liar’s Dice released for BlackBerry 10
Lets hope that 2013 is just as exciting…
Runaway Trains expands to 170 levels
Runaway Trains has recently been updated to version 2.3 across all platforms. The new version of the game adds 10 new levels, and also adds the use of active frames on BlackBerry 10.
About Runaway Trains
Runaway Trains is a colorful strategy game for all ages where you must route the trains to the proper station. Each level progresses in difficulty and presents an unique puzzle which you must solve by finding a way to guide the coloured trains causing a collision or running out of track.
This is done by touching the intersections to toggle the open path of the tracks. If at any time the trains crash or end up at the wrong station, you will have lost and have to try again.
Links & Information
- Runaway Trains at AppWorld
- Runaway Trains for the Nook
- Runaway Trains on Google Play
- Runaway Trains on Amazon
- Runaway Trains News site
- Runaway Trains Website
- Ebscer on Facebook
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Seven apps already on BlackBerry 10
With more still to come…
Merry Christmas
Lets just try to ignore the fact that many smart people have reason to doubt that Jesus was born in the winter, and just be happy with the fact that Christ entered this world at all.