Feedback for Android app.

Started by mbottrell, August 27, 2010, 11:52:19 AM

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mbottrell

Okay... 

Initial feedback.

  • Load time - seems extremely long.  Sits on 'Loading Guide Data' in what seems ages.  I find exiting and coming back minutes later gets around this sometimes.
  • Crash - Force Closed twice on me in 10 mins - when going into the TV guide


Device:  HTC Desire (Telstra Firmware - unmodded)
Firmware: 32.30.00.28U_4.05. 2.1-update1
Baseboard : 3 2.30.00.28U_4.05.00.11
Kernel: 2.6.29-3cb3dfbf  htc-kernel@and18-2
Build: 1.16.841.1 CL171554 release-keys
Software: 1.16.841.1
Browser: Webkit 3.1
     

tonymy01

#1
Yep, I had a crash also.  And the initial setup to enter account password and get token sits for ages doing nothing with no spinning clock/whatever.   And the webpage bits in it, e.g. IceTV News, won't let you resize the page (unlike the stock phone web-browser).
I see this error in logcat when launching:
08-27 12:42:55.349  8955  9173 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:55.459  8955  9172 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:55.789  8955  9170 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:55.979  8955  9171 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:56.109  8955  9173 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:56.269  8955  9172 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:57.199  8955  9171 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:57.369  8955  9170 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:58.349  8955  9172 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:58.529  8955  9173 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.
08-27 12:42:58.689  8955  9171 W ExpatReader: DTD handlers aren't supported.

"My Shows" not avail in beta (sniff)

TV Guide was blank and I had to reset (probably due to the crash it had while sitting loading EPG data forever before crashing), is now ok after resetting it (settings- reset application).

I can't seem to delete my recordings any more (nor from the mobile web browser, I tried this last night).  For the android app, I can choose "My Week", and choose a recording, it will let me add or remove fave, it will let me schedule a new recording from the entry (why?), but nothing happens when I click "key word recording" or "episode scheduled to record on" (I am trying to cancel one of my keyword recordings coming up.. not remove the keyword completely, but cancel the ep recorded).


Phone is running hacked 2.1/ERD79 Motorola leak on DEXT.

Regards
Regards
Tony

Beyonwiz DP-S1 & Topfield 5K (using PerlTGD to upload ICE EPG/timers for the 5K, normal ICE interactive for the Wiz).

ozgreg

Firstly Love that we are starting to get some Android love happening from IceTV!!

Running Froyo 2.2 on a N1..

Initial Startup VERY slow to load but responsive after that (Loaded via internal Wireless Connection V / ADSL2)

Firstly Very colourful ;)

TV Guide, love the scrolling, I miss however the option to specify what TV Guide I want to show by default that is (Afternoon / Night etc)
My Shows functionality... No doubt that is on your roadmap.. :) 
Store, IceTV News, My Account, personally I find link to Webpages not optimal, more so when you have to re-authenticate yourself and the webpage is NOT designed for a mobile device which a plugin/theme you can install under wordpress!!  if you are going to do a account webpage link, already authenticated would be nice..
Links to shows already to be recorded is excellent, I had the feeling we could also control pre/post show padding but maybe I am getting confused because they are missing..

Clearly a few release, I like the UI some great thought has been done on the presentation, and no doubt more versions will improve on the functionality..

Suggest maybe publishing a roadmap to stop getting repeated posts like when is my shows going to be working.. might be a good idea :)




tonymy01

#3
I do like how fast the interface is though (e.g popular section is very quick to show show synopsis when you click on the show names).... just a shame I can't do things like cancel a keyword recording (I just tried on series also and can't cancel those eps either, only the whole series.   There is a green right hand arrow to suggest there are options when you click on it, but unlike some of the other rows, nothing comes up)....   I tend to have a very general keyword recording setup to pick up many varieties of shows, and then go thru and purge the ones I don't like during the week, often while sitting on the couch seeing what is on the Beyonwiz, so would be nice to have control of this from the android app.
Regards
Tony

Beyonwiz DP-S1 & Topfield 5K (using PerlTGD to upload ICE EPG/timers for the 5K, normal ICE interactive for the Wiz).

hothurtleice

nice....

Load time -  Sits on 'Loading Guide Data' for a while sometimes.  not consistantly but enough to notice

series recordings have defaulted in the app to "prefer High def" despite being setup on interactive site as "prefer standard def", (checking the ineractive site they are still flagged as pref standard def)...

HTC Magic 1.6 Build DRC92

tonymy01

Perusing the guide on it tonight, I see the channel filter is not sticking, and I have to toggle the filter to another channel and back again to get it to filter.  The guide browsing is FAST! I love the speed of this app once it loads up... keep up the good work ICEtv!
Regards
Tony

Beyonwiz DP-S1 & Topfield 5K (using PerlTGD to upload ICE EPG/timers for the 5K, normal ICE interactive for the Wiz).

Nem

I think the app needs a refresh button. I had to browse back to the main menu after leaving the app on the EPG last night to get it to refresh.

I also found that the app was looking at monday's epg but said "today" though I cant remember the exact circumstances that made this occur.

Also a button to report EPG errors might be a good app feature.

Otherwise no crashes so far and been running fine on my HTC Desire (Telstra)
Device: Beyonwiz DP-S1 & Beyonwiz DP-P1
Region: Darwin NT
RSS: Firefox 3 with RSS Ticker plugin

mtb

#7
First up, sorry but I don't think this is beta quality, it's more of an alpha or late proof of concept... there are too many missing features.  You seem to have fallen for the Microsoft approach of pushing out an incomplete product and letting the users do the testing for you.  This is certainly how I felt about the first version you released and the second one is only a small improvement on that - just my personal opinion as a developer with twenty(mumble) years at the keyboard.

Ok, with that out of the way, a number of issues and comments...

Issues:

Sign up: Selected Existing Member, entered credentials and press Login, entered a name for the device and pressed Approve, pressed Back as instructed - the app. simply exits.  Checked web site and device is listed.  Tried to run app. again, it wants me to select New or Existing again, entered credentials and press Login, didn't enter a name for the device and pressed Approve, pressed Back, it exits again.  There are now two device Tokens listed on the site, one without an identity.  Try running the app. again, it finally loads.  Have tried this a couple of times and had mixed results.

Sign up: device shows the New/Existing Member screen, Back button just redisplays the same screen again and again instead of exiting.

Tried running the app. without a data connection - it appears that if the data is old, it displays a none too helpful error dialog (certainly doesn't explain that it can't get data).

Schedule a programme from the device with no data connection.  The app. doesn't give any obvious indication whether it has or has not been able to schedule the programme, no error or warning... the programme simply doesn't schedule (as checked on the website).  It doesn't seen to cache the request either as restoring the connection and scheduling something else doesn't cause both to schedule.

Deleted Token from website, app. was still able to run and set programmes - very poor from a security point of view.

Aesthetics:

Popup (long-press) menu on a programme, with quick record/delete options, would be VERY useful.

Time-bars between programmes should include the day and date, not relying on the filter at the bottom.

Programme entries have a lot of wasted space which could display (user optional?) additional info. (end times/duration, repeat).

Displaying start (and end) times for programmes and hiding time bars between programmes as an alternative display style would save on a lot of wasted space.

Scroll buttons do not scroll beyond current selected day but are not disabled when limit reached.  Need to be able to scroll over date boundaries (more than an hour) in one continuous scroll, not have to stop, change filter, then restart.

Channel filter also needs Networks as well as channels.

Recording a series, the Network filter should also include Channels!  This is again inconsistent with the Channel filter which is used for filtering but is probably because the web site is equally inconsistent.

Time option in series recording dialog operates differently to the web site, only offers time(s) of the show on the current day whereas web site offers list of five minute intervals - both should offer the same, preferably a user configurable time range or at least hourly slots.

How about an all devices button? - the same applies to the web site.

I too have found, when looking at data late in the evening after nine/ten, that the day/date seems to get out of step, but then I've also seen this on the main website.  Seems to get confused by the time zone here in Perth.  I guess I'm just used to it!

Cancelling recordings is not obvious or consistent - selecting the "Episode queued to record" entry is obscure - there should be an explicit option (in the previously mentioned popup menu too).  The approach seems to vary according to if it is a series or single recording.

Deleting a recording doesn't remove the icon from the guide.

Refresh button is needed desperately.

Home screen icon order seems confused - things like Store should be near the bottom and My Week, My Shows should be higher.
Beyonwiz DP-P2, Epson EH-TW5500, Pioneer VSXLX52 & BDP-320, Screen Technics 100” screen, WD Live TV x2, 6Tb NAS (Linux)
Beyonwiz DP-S1, VIERA TH-42PA60A
HTC Desire (rooted) Froyo
Topfield 5000MP

Paul55

This app looks interesting but there haven't been any new posts for a month.
Has there been any progress/upgrades to the Beta? Is it still being developed? Is there a final release coming soon?

tonymy01

There needs to be.  The primary thing I use ICE for these days it to purge shows I *don't* want (as I do keyword recordings, and so it picks up a lot of stuff I don't really want to watch) and you can't do that with the widget :-(.
Regards
Tony

Beyonwiz DP-S1 & Topfield 5K (using PerlTGD to upload ICE EPG/timers for the 5K, normal ICE interactive for the Wiz).

Paul55

#10
I used the app to set a timer for a show that looked interesting (Toppy 2400).
For this basic task, it worked as expected. I've previously used the m.icetv.com.au site to do this, so the functionality isn't new.
I like the interface of the app, it's quite intuitive and load time/response time seems OK - but I'm very new to my Android phone so I haven't got much experience to compare with.

tonymy01

Well, ICE has done another update to what they are saying is the official app now, but it has a problem still.
I cannot delete a timer created from a keyword, I can only delete the keyword itself.   On the other hand, you can delete a series recording timer.   If anything, being able to delete a keyword based timer is *more important* than a genuine series recording, since usually you want to record certain series, but keywords might pick up things you don't want from time to time.

Regards
Regards
Tony

Beyonwiz DP-S1 & Topfield 5K (using PerlTGD to upload ICE EPG/timers for the 5K, normal ICE interactive for the Wiz).

Gary

Mine keeps crashing with the new update!

Loads okay but tap on any icon and it crashes. Not happy. :(

tonymy01

Mine is great on the Samsung Galaxy S running Froyo (JPO with Speedmod K9 kernel, ext4 data mounts).
Regards
Tony

Beyonwiz DP-S1 & Topfield 5K (using PerlTGD to upload ICE EPG/timers for the 5K, normal ICE interactive for the Wiz).

Gary

Just had an update to 1.01 and it is fine now - thanks Ice :)