First, an overview ~ What is Key Ring?

Leave those pesky club cards at home!  With Key Ring you can create a digital copy of any club card by simply scanning its barcode or by manually entering the barcode number / membership ID.  Key Ring currently provides logos for over 150 retailers.  If your retailer isn’t listed, no worries just select “other” retailer from the drop down and manually enter its name.  At the point of sale, simply launch the Key Ring application, select your saved card from the home screen and have the retail associate scan the barcode from the screen.  Yes, you can scan a barcode from your screen.  We’ve enhanced the Key Ring user interface to increase the scanning success rate.  For best results, please use with handheld laser, CCD or image scanners.  If possible, avoid using Key Ring with flatbed laser scanners.    

Features:

+ Supports EAN13, EAN8, UPCA, UPCE, Code128, and Code39 one dimensional barcodes

+ Retailer logos automatically added to 150 plus retailers

+ Integrated barcode scanner

+ Supports adding non-barcode cards such as Hertz rental car, American Airlines etc

+ Manually add your own retailers

+ Enhanced user interface to aid with scanning from device screen 

+ Stores unlimited cards

Screenshots

Key Ring home screen with cards that were previously added.


Select “Add Card” button. You can add cards with and without barcodes.

Select “Yes” card does have a barcode. Barcode scanner is automatically displayed.

Select “Yes” card does have a barcode. Select “Use Keypad” tab

Select the retailer from the drop down list

Select “No” card does not have a barcode.

View your saved card

Card viewing menu options. You can delete, adjust the brightness, and send Froogloid an email requesting a certain retailer be supported (this option is only applies when a logo is not provided for a retailer)

So, the question is… how did a2b make its way to China since China doesn’t sell android handsets, and even if they did, they certainly don’t support “fee based” downloads.

• +Did someone from the US/Europe that has access to paid apps download a2b, travel to China, and use the app on china’s gsm networks?  Are the existing android devices even capable to operate on China GSM frequencies? 
• +Has a2b been hacked and is being distributed all over the world? 
• +Are Chinese device manufacturers using a2b to test the networks with phones not yet released to market? 

What are your thoughts?  Any other android developers seeing their apps being used in China?

Steps:

1)  Get unlock code for your T-mobile G1.  Call 1-800-T-Mobile customer care, tell them you’d like to unlock your G1.  They’ll gather your phone info such as the IMEI, process your request without any fuss, and your unlock code will be emailed to you within 24 hrs.  Btw, the phone I unlocked has never been associated with my T-Mobile account.  

2)  Take your ATT SIM and insert it into your G1.  Turn the phone on. You’ll then be prompted to enter your unlock code.  Once you’ve successfully unlocked the phone you’ll now be prompted to associate your phone a GMail account but DON’T!  At this point, you’ll have to implement a small trick outlined in the next step.

3)  Power the phone off the hold down the “menu” button and power the phone back on.  Do not quit pressing  the menu button until you see a “safe mode” transparent icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. 

4)  Once the phone has successfully rebooted and your in the safe mode, select the menu button again.  Select APN Settings.  Once at the APN Settings select the menu key again then “New APN”. 

5)  Configure new APN settings.
Name: AT&T
APN: wap.cingular
Proxy: leave blank
Port: leave blank
Username:WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
Password:CINGULAR1
Server: leave blank
MMSC: http://mmsc.cingular.com
MMS Proxy: wireless.cingular.com
MMS Port: 80
MCC:310
MNC:410
APN Type: leave blank

6) Save Settings

7)  Now you either create a new GMail account or add your existing one.  Btw, I’m guessing your ATT SIM will need to be data capable otherwise you won’t be able to configure our phone with an account.  If this is the case, you might want to borrow a friends T-Mobile SIM and follow this how-to http://www.bukisa.com/articles/44515_how-to-activate-and-unlock-boxed-packed-t-mobile-g1

8)  Once you’ve activated and/or associated your GMail account with the phone, you can now use your T-Mobile G1 with ATT.  

9)  Power off phone and reboot in regular mode (i.e. do NOT hold down menu when booting up).  If you don’t, you will not be able to to launch installed applications from the market.

Hope this helps!

Link to podcast

Enjoy!  If you have any questions, comments or your own experiences, post em up!

First, chose an application idea that’s do-able.  For example, don’t try to invent a time traveling mobile application your first time out the gate :)  Once you have your idea, do some research to see who else is offering a similar product.  If someone has already built an application that’s very similar to your idea, don’t be discouraged.  The reality is, your idea is probably not an original.  Study what other people have built and figure out a way to add additional features and streamline the apps usability.  Often times it’s better that someone has already built a product similar to your idea so that you can learn from their design shortcomings.

Now that you have your idea, let’s get started with the design.  First, if your not familiar with the Microsoft office application “visio”, I HIGHLY encourage you to learn. It’s a simple application that will allow you to create screenshot designs very easily and fast.  If you’re a newbie check out the visio how-to video’s on youtube.  Here’s one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmDjmm0btO8 Here’s the best part…. a company by the name or artbitfuls has created a custom visio stencil specifically designed for android UI creation.  You can download the stencil here and also see some of the designs they’ve created using visio.  Keep in mind that visio is very helpful in regards to designing your layout and picking which android widgets to use.  However, visio is not a great tool to design custom buttons and graphics.  I would strongly encourage you to use photoshop for this.  When designing, don’t try to reinvent the wheel. The android SDK has provided a wealth of existing widgets to use in your design.  USE THEM!  Trust me, it will make your life so so so much easier!  The previously mentioned visio stencil provides graphics of most of the widgets however, go here for a complete list.

When I make design I try to focus on one thing ~ “make the application as user friendly and intuitive as possible”.  Here’s a tip:  try to find the most non-techie person you know, in my case it’s my girlfriend, and without telling them anything about the application you’ve designed ask them to review the screenshots and provide a play by play on what the application does and how the user will interact with it.  If you’ve designed, let’s say, a bowling game and they think you’ve designed a baseball game you’ve got a problem :)  It’s best to change your design as early in the process as possible.  Otherwise you’ll have a very angry developer :)

Here’s a couple before and after screenshots of a2b.  You’ll notice the layouts are very similar but the actual graphics are different.
Visio Designs:

Built Application:

So here’s my point ~ right now there is only one android capable phone on the market, T-Mobile G1. The phone itself is okay, not as sexy as an iPhone but it gets the job done. However, the underlying operating system, android, is very robust. The G1 proved 2 things; 1) the android operating system works, and works well! 2) The mobile application development community, companies like Froogloid, Big in Japan etc, are very committed to building fun/useful innovative applications for the android platform. Android beta phase is OVER and it’s the calm before the storm!

So what’s looming in the horizon? Well, 48 open handset alliance partners ready and willing to build android capable devices and deploy them on their networks. Android is open, which means android can and will be available on EVERY carrier (i.e. Verizon, sprint, vodafone, TIM etc..) no matter what type of network ~ GSM v. CDMA etc. Imagine android as a snowball. Right now, it’s at the top of the hill and has juuuussstt started rolling forward. As it moves, it picks up momentum, and with this momentum consumers all over the world will start to use and hear about android/”Google Phones”. But it really all comes down to one very simple ideal ~ consumers want cool phones. If there are 2 phones on display, lets say oh I don’t know, maybe an iPhone and the G1. The average consumer is going to pick the iPhone because it has that wow appeal. The consumer has no idea what the android operating system is and honestly doesn’t care. All they want is a cool, user friendly phone that they can show off to their friends. Obviously google and the OHA partners get this. There’s not going to be one iPhone killer, it’s going be death by a thousand cuts! :) Here’s a few examples of the android capable phones we’re going to see in 2009!