Jelly Bean 4.2 Now Supported & Need New Name for A2DP Volume

Need New Name for A2DP Volume

Jelly Bean (Android 4.1 & 4.2) finally implemented what should have been there all along.  When you adjust the media volume with a Bluetooth device connected, it will remember this volume on the next connection.  It will also remember the volume before the connection and return to that upon disconnect.  This was the primary feature of A2DP Volume, hence the name.  Today A2DP Volume does much more.  Now that this primary feature is really not needed (and in fact will cause strange results with Jelly Bean) I need a new name for this app.  I posted an issue here: http://code.google.com/p/a2dpvolume/issues/detail?id=161.  Please share your thoughts on what I should call it.  In fact, I am thinking about adding more features aimed at removing driver distraction so the app will be more focused on that.  I am thinking something like "Eyes Free Driving", "Eyes on the Road", or maybe just "Drive". Would love to hear from others as naming things is not my strong point.

Jelly Bean Now Supported

I finally figured out how to access and use the hidden functions in Android 4.2.  I posted my approach here.  I created A2DP Connect2 and published it to the Play Store.  I also implemented this in A2DP Volume.  A2DP Volume is still missing the interface to access the user defined Bluetooth device name since both interfaces cannot exists in the same app.  My thought is that I will eventually retire A2DP Volume as we know it today replacing it with the app names above and it will be for 4.2 and up. 

Finally making progress on Jelly Bean 4.2 Bluetooth interfaces

I finally purchased a Droid Bionic on eBay to use as my primary phone so I could put CM10.1 (Android 4.2.2) on the old Droid 3.  Last night I finally got the IBluetoothA2dp interface working with CM10.1, sort of.  I implemented what I have so far in A2DP Connect 1.0.14 (now available for download).  It does not work on the first try since the binder to the interface finishes after the call to use it.  I need to redo a bunch of things to fix that but at least I know how to use the interface now which is a huge step. 

It starts with this

---

Intent i = new Intent(IBluetoothA2dp.class.getName());
if (context.bindService(i, mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE)) {
return ibta2;

---

This calls mConnection:

---

public static ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {
@Override
public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName name, IBinder service) {
ibta2 = IBluetoothA2dp.Stub.asInterface(service);
}
@Override
public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName name) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
};

---

mConnection gets called when the service is connected or disconnected calling the functions within it.  The problem is that these calls happen after the ibta2 is needed.  So, the function I have in the code to get the ibta2 tries to use it before it is returned.  This stays bound though so the 2nd attempt worked because the prior attempt actually bound the service and kept it.

More work to do be done but significant progress.  It REALLY helps having a 4.2 device to test with.  Before that I was just guessing and hoping someone else would test.  I also did not have logcat to see what was going on. 

Update

Here is the latest Play Store developer dashboard.

A2DP Connect has ramped up faster than A2DP Volume.

Here is the distribution of Android versions for A2DP Volume:

User feedback

Getting user feedback is a great way to stay connected to what folks want out of your app.  I use the issues lists in Google Code to manage defects and enhancements too.  The user reviews and comments from the Play Store are generally very helpful too.  However, sometimes the ratings and comments in the Play Store just leave me baffled.  Here is one example of that.



That rating and comment was recently left for A2DP Connect.  Apparently the user has never placed a widget on his home screens.  Because of his lack of knowledge on how to use widgets, A2DP Connect now has a 1 star rating and a scathing comment.

What this really comes down to is people get frustrated trying to work high tech things.  They read just enough to understand the basics (or in the case above not even that) and just use the device.  I can relate to this as I sometimes do it myself.  Who has time to read all that confusing stuff anyway.  I would be embarrassed however to find out I gave an app a bad rating just because of my own ignorance.

When creating apps it is important to make them as intuitive as possible.  In the case above, I need to think about how I could have guided that person to placing the widget on the home screen without annoying the rest of us who already know.  Do I have the app just put a widget on the home screen for the user?  Do I pop up a dialog after install that give the user a short tutorial? 

Google Talk Reader now implemented and working in A2DP Volume 2.9.1

I think A2DP Volume Chat plugin app can now go away.  I implemented a Google Talk reader directly into A2DP Volume instead.  This is much simpler as it uses a broadcast listener and some URI's  to capture and parse the messages.  That means you just have to have Google Talk signed in and active for it to work.  I would like to test it some more before pushing to the Play Store.  2.9.1 is available for download on the Google Code page here: http://code.google.com/p/a2dpvolume/downloads.
Make sure you download the latest release as it is still in test.  Please test it and let me know any comments, bad and good. 

Work in IM integration starting again

I implemented a message receiver in A2DP Volume version 2.9.0 and up (not yet released).  I documented it here: http://code.google.com/p/a2dpvolume/wiki/Interfaces.  I also tested it with some test code in A2DP Volume Chat.  Now other apps can use this interface to alert via text-to-stream while a device is connected.  So far I got the A2DP Volume changes working and tested.  Now I need to get A2DP Volume Chat working.  I am having trouble with receiving IM messages.  It can send but not receive.   Ironic since it does not even need to send IM's.  I also have issues with instability with A2DP Volume Chat so far.  It will connect to the server and log in the user fine.  Sometimes however, it seems to randomly crash right when the app initially starts or shortly after login. It's very inconsistent and works most of the time.  I am leveraging a hacked version of Smack for the IM client and I suspect there are gremlins in there.  I may need to get more creative and instead make my own XMPP implementation.  I hate to do that if it is not completely necessary though.  Anyone want to help out? 

Replaced ugly icons

My daughter finally had it with my ugly icons and made all new ones for A2DP Volume and A2DP Connect.  I had found those old icon parts on a quick web search and then rescaled them.  This left JPG noise and shadow effects in therm.  Bottom line: they were terrible. She created new ones from scratch.  I also had not optimized them properly for various screens.  This bloated the app and added negative value in terms of icon quality.  Removing all the extra graphics, and a few other improvements found my Android Lint resulted in 55kb reduction in the APK file. 

Here is the latest snapshot from the Play Store developer console






A2DP Connect has only been out a few days.  I will leave the Android 2.1 version of A2DP Volume out there a bit longer but it will eventually be retired.