Woophoo Client 1.0.4

The upload of the client version 1.0.4 to the Woophoo server is currently running. 271Megs (2 languages, 225 devices, 900 files) so I have some time to write about the new release:

Predictably under the beta test: this is a 'pull yourself together' release which means that the main focus was on usability: We added only essential functionalities but a lot of usability improvements:

• Context sensitive help
• Welcome screen at the first start with basic information about Woophoo, the technical requirements and internet costs.
• Place search functionality which should be the first implemented feature in a mapping application. It's done by using the Open Street Map Name Finder - a good starting point with nice syntax like 'main st, new york' or 'restaurants, budapest'. Integration with local search providers and 'near me' search is coming in the next release.
  
  
  
  
  
• Heads Up Display (HUD) with speed, current time and arrival time - (The truth is that this is an On Screen Display (OSD) but the name HUD is much more hotter. Sorry for that...)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The HUD wants to be unobtrusive: It is translucent and comes up automatically if you don't touch the phone for a while but hides when you press a key. It moves on the screen so that it always tries to shadow the least interesting map areas. The info on the HUD and its behavior will be configurable in the next version.
  
• Some minor improvements like 'loading...' alerts, icons on the vehicle selection screen, better command priorities in the menus, better and safer settings page (no more password on the screen when you lost the phone - however no stars while you enter the password), distance information on the bunch page and the most important: screen transition effects.

That's it. We need at least one more run to achieve a really viable state but this one is a huge step that way. Try it!

Woophoo client 0.9 is out!

It makes me very happy to introduce version 0.9 of the Woophoo client which is the last feature release before the beta test.
There are some shiny features and a lot of usability improvements in this release so let us take a look at the highlights:

• Redesigned menu system
  The main menu is less fancy but more usable now. There is no separated map-menu so if you press the menu button on the map you will get to the main menu. The main menu has two columns for faster access and we throw out the icons because they used a lot of space on the display. I personally think that icon-based menus are less usable anyway.
  
  
• State icons on the map display
  Small icons indicate the state of the software on the top-right corner. You can see if the tracking is active, if your fleet is visible, and the vehicle you use.
• Notifying system
  We added a little notifier to the map, similar to the one on the site: it notifies you about every event in the client. It shows events like "loading you bunch" and errors like "cannot log in". We hope that it can shorten the learning curve of the key mapping too.
  
• Experimental route planning
  We integrated the client with the Open Street Map based route planner at http://yournavigation.org.
  
  You can generate a route plan by pressing '6' on the map if you specified a destination. The route plan is displayed as a simple blue trackline yet. You can redesign the plan by pressing '6' twice. (The first press hides the plan, the second loads a new one)
  
  Note that this feature is experimental now, we just want to see the usability of the OSM-based route planning. If we found it usable we will enhance the look-and-feel and start our own route planner server.
  

You can download the client from the Woophoo site or using this direct link: http://woophoo.com/d