Adding IM reader support

I started a new project to create a plug-in for A2DP Volume to support reading chat/IM messages when a device is connected.  This spawned from issue 76 but also related to issue 79.  You can see the new project here: http://code.google.com/p/a2dp-volume-chat/

I chose to make this a plug-in rather than add all this overhead to the A2DP Volume application.  I will document the interface so others could also use it to integrate other message sources into A2DP Volume.  Those that want these features can simply install and configure the plug-in.  This helps reduce bloat and scope creep on A2DP Volume.  If anyone is interested in participating on this new project let me know.  The project name is "A2DP Volume Chat".

A2DP Volume Chat uses XMPP implemented via a modified version of Smack.  Unfortunately Android did not implement all of Java Beans so the normal Smack libraries don't work.  Luckily there is a modification to this here that does work with Android.  So far I created a basic app that will allow you to connect to Google Talk and see your list of friends.  You can also send and receive messages.  Much work to do.  I will be creating a database in A2DP Volume Chat that will allow the user to configure many different IM services.  For each service it will have a roster (held in another table).  The user will be able to configure who on the roster would be enabled for reading chat messages and sending to A2DP Volume to read out when connected.  It will act just like SMS does for A2DP Volume today.

25,000 Downloads

Last night A2DP Volume finally exceeded 25,000 downloads!

2.3.14 Released

See update log here: http://code.google.com/p/a2dpvolume/wiki/Updates

I finally figured out how to get this app to show up in the market for non-phones.  It required some changes in the manifest.  It is now available for more than 850 devices.

I added some checks to ensure the GPS listeners were cancelled.  I was never able to verify there was a problem to begin with but I had a couple comments saying that A2DP Volume was keeping the listeners alive and reducing battery life.  I have seen other apps do this though.  I suspect that services might get killed on low memory and the listener does not get killed properly with it. 

I made a few other robustness improvements based on crash reports from the market.  This is why it is so important for users to send crash reports.   Developers can then see the nature of the problems and fix them.

Here is an update on the current installs:

1	English (United States)	49.2% (2,156)
2	French (France)	8.4% (370)
3	English (United Kingdom)	7.3% (321)
4	German (Germany)	5.6% (247)
5	Spanish (Spain)	3.2% (141)
6	Spanish (United States)	3.2% (139)
7	Russian (Russia)	1.9% (85)
8	English (Australia)	1.6% (69)
9	Chinese (Taiwan)	1.5% (65)
10	Dutch (Netherlands)	1.2% (53)

Many thanks to the folks who helped with translations!  French and German have a much larger percentage for this app than typical apps in the same category.

4,000n Active Installs

There are now over 4,000 active installs of the main version.  Feedback remains positive too.

Released 2.3.10 to market

Comments reached 100 on the main app.  The Android 2.1 version is slowly dropping active installs, thank goodness.  I am hoping to just dump it completely before the end of the year as the vast majority of devices are now Android 2.2 or higher.  The ratings are mostly positive for the main app too.

I released 2.3.10 last night.  The only change was to complete issue 64: have the SMS reader read out the contact name instead of the number the text came from.  I tested it on the emulator, Droid 3, and Bionic.  It was a small change.  Thought it would make a nice Christmas present.

Passed 20k downloads

The main A2DP Volume app passed 20k downloads today.  Now that 700k Android devices are activated a day it seems downloads are following.  The are 97 ratings too, getting close to 100.  The active installs are 3875.  Below is the language breakdown.

French now exceeds UK English

Check this out.  French now exceeds UK English and becomes the #2 language.  This shows to me that good language support is very important.  Not only does the app support French properly but there is also a French language description page on Android Market.  So far the Android Market description page is only supported in English and French.  I think if we had that page in German that we would get more German installs too since the app does have good German translations already.  Many thanks to the work of Uwe and Sebastien on the translations!

a2dp.Vol

1	English (United States)	54.3% (1,657)
2	French (France)	7.1% (217)
3	English (United Kingdom)	6.9% (210)
4	German (Germany)	4.5% (138)
5	Spanish (Spain)	2.6% (79)
6	Spanish (United States)	2.2% (66)
7	Chinese (Taiwan)	1.9% (57)
8	Russian (Russia)	1.5% (46)
9	English (Australia)	1.4% (44)
10	Dutch (Netherlands)	1.3% (41)