Thread: Archive

Hybrid

I dont wish to be negative because i'm glad you guys are working on this, but I see this as still in the catch up phase with the other players out there developed by single people, not paid programmers. I keep waiting for something other than the basic mp3/video player, but so far have been very dissapointed. I found the GUI workable with small sets of songs, but I just couldn't get to grips with it for large song lists. The 'hold a button down for a long time' is a major UI dont-do. UI designers have long strived to make interfaces exploratory, meaning if you play with it you can discover for yourself the features and functions. Its not considered intuitive to hold something for a period of time and expect something to happen. The hardware headunit guys only do this sometimes because they dont have the luxury of a full featured screen to interact with the user. I abandoned the MMC after it didnt offer incremental db updates and takes over half and hour to build the database. You have to do that in the background *after* the app starts....

So when will we see some innovation? Something beyond the ability to play music and videos (dvds etc)?

I dont like being negative, but you are a company right, not a guy with a pc sitting there doing it for the fun and praise of peers, like Frodo et al, so I hope this is received in the contructive spirit it is written.

The BMW + iPod (http://www.apple.com/ipod/bmw/) thing is innovation... The 3D GPS (http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6146656870.html) is innovation... The Prius bluetooth cellphone integration is innovation...
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.//Daren
(Epia M10000/C134) (C137/MII 10000) Liliput 7"/DVD/512MB/80GB/Hummer H1
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Sorry I can't disagree with everything you just said more... Mediacar was my player of choice for a long time, it was never close to being stable, then the developer up and just disapears? I like the idea that this is a company, I hope they charge money for it, that way theres accountability and hopefully updates Your comments about the gui, well, I don't really get that either, the biggest don't do is select text objects with your finger (you gotta fix that ), I have no problem holding something down if it gives extra functionality, granted all the basic functions being present without. Then you slam the guy asking about innovation? C'mon, the visuals are better then anything we've seen yet, the layout, look and feel rock, and hopefully they won't listen to posts like yours and become discouraged. The fact that they have xm integrated and almost ready to test should be innovative enough...

Sorry if that seems like I snapped, I didn't, I don't really see anything all that constructive in your post. Innovation is all subjective, if you want something you can plug an ipod in then buy it, if you want a japanese 3d gps then buy it... if you want to check out a player in it's infancy that looks cool, limited due to the developmental phase, has a very cool visual element, with developers that actually seem to be listening to the people that are going to be using it rather then the old "It's good enough for me" attitude, then hey use this app. I think this app is very promising, I like the fact that it's not just some guy with the "I got mad developer skilllzzzz look at my app" mindset that'll disapear before finishing his work.

The biggest laugh is that you call ipod-bmw innovative? Mp3 players like this have been around for ever... as far as integration, wow a cable hanging out of the glove box and steering wheel controls.... wow, almost as cool as my empeg with the sony steering wheel post controller I had 2 years ago. I realize it's all controllable through the head unit, but don't see too many people buying a 50 thousand dollar car just to do that. The ipod itself? apple just gave it a nice gui and a pretty wrapper for yuppies (no offense to ipod owners) I understand they are nice but but hardly innovative the rio karma supposedly has a nicer GUI with more features, and the creative one is supposedly nice too.... the 3d gps stuff is cool, but it's only for the sony hardware they are shipping it with, you won't see anything like that easily available in the open source community for a while, plus it's all in Japan right now, everything in Japan is innovative! Finally, prius bluetooth... never used it but I'd have to think anything with integrated bluetooth has to be more innovative then an ipod that jacks into your car stereo....

I need a lot of XMPCR testers for this new update. We now have XMPCR support! I will need a lot of feedback on various setups, issues, etc.

Please lemme try it... I have an xmpcr wired up in the trunk right now that I painstakingly use touchxm with.... please! I'll give you as much feedback as you could ever want

The route of writing you're own GPS software (if done right) may very well be the best idea. It will be really really nice to have the GPS part integrated with the rest of the software (something all of the other players lack) but will probably take a lot of work. It does seem like you have the skills to do it so good luck! Be prepared for tons of feature requests with the GPS part to take it up to par with the other GPS software. Can't wait!

Dunno, as long as V.O.I.C.E.S is still in active developement I'd wait and get all the other crap developed. Yeah it'll be nice but there are a lot of GPS alternatives out there that work really well VOICES being the best in my opinion. I'd shoot for making externals easy to launch and get all the other stuff worked out before biting into that sandwich.... XM, FM radio and a few other things have still yet to be released in a usable, stable way from a functional stand point. I'd get that stuff worked out first, it'd be cool if you guys could get onboard with the voices guy, but I understand if your a company and thats not possible.

Once again... just my 2 cents