Google Android Development Lab
We were lucky enough to get a spot in the Google Android Development Lab on the 8th of Dec. It’s a day structured around working with up and coming phones and devices that run the Android Platform. Might I add, a very useful one. Now, I’m no developer and while it was very unfortunate that we couldn’t take one of our hot shot dev guys with us to work with the app and these really sexy new devices, (including the HTC Tattoo… mmmmm) it was great to see how the Mewbox app functions for all of you out there. And be able to understand some of the things we need to look at for you.
It’s helped us alot and we are going to be working closer and closer with some of the Android development team at Google to make sure we cover off a few of the things we found, and indeed any future bits that might arise.
From the brief session we realized that some of your screens are cluttered by the Mewbox layout, we are going to thin it out a little bit, reduce the feature album layout a little so you’ve got a little more room to breath. There were a few spacing issues which I’m looking at right now.
We also found a very large and silly error which I’m happy to say is totally our fault. Using the Archos 5 Internet Tablet for the initial structure (it was our first release) we obviously had alot of screen size to play with. We’ve kept the error screens the full width of that screen. So, if by chance the Mewbox application hits a wall (and let’s be honest, it’s brand new, we are still fixing a few things) then you lovely people report it for us… only to find the close button is then located OFF the screen. Stupid us.
We are looking at a new release this week to take care of that and a few other bits. The addition of a track preview will keep some of you happy and we are working on that at the minute. If we hit no snags with the API setup, that’ll be in there.
Google were most helpful in giving us more of an insight in how we can run your downloads and access your media stores in a quicker, more direct manner. So we are looking into that as well, hopefully we’ll make getting your favourite tunes straight to your mobile and filed away even quicker. We have also logged a few other improvements based on a day of device testing that are on the list, it;s a long list, but we are working hard to make this stuff what it needs to be.
Not being developers, we didnt stay all day, we thought we’d probably get in the way, and/or get involved in a conversation about tech stuff we just simply didnt understand. So we thanked them for their time and found our way out.
That said, we’ll be taking our dev team in there very soon to dig deeper into what we can do with music on the android.
Cheers to everyone at Google for the day as well as giving us access to the wonderful new devices. We’ll be back soon.
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What's a Mewbox?
Mewbox is the world's first DRM-free music download service for Android. Initially being made available in the EU, Mewbox offers around 4 million tracks from over 23,000 labels all behind a custom user interface. Mewbox released it's version of the music store as a base for development and is committed to improving the service over time. Good things will come, we promise.
I’d just like to second Ry’s thoughts on this, it was a really useful day, and the Google people (particularly Reto) were very helpful, and very understanding of our technical incompetence. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the Google team in the very near future. Cheers!
Hello, I recently got a Samsung Galaxy i5700 and I have to say that I really like Android it is by far the best mobile os I have played with. The endless supply of great apps makes every day with my phone an new experience.Sorry for my wall of text I just wanted to give you my experience with android. Have a nice day and thanks for a superb blog.
Hey Myles, glad you’re enjoying Android, and also that you like the blog. Why not pop over to the Android Market and give the Mewbox App a try if you have a minute? We think you’ll like it. Cheers!