New radar app for Droid

[Shawn Rampy]

Hello Joe and All Others,

My name is Shawn Rampy. I am a meteorologist with 25 years in the commercial sector and am the T-Mobile user that Joe referenced above. Many thanks, Joe, for staying with me and digging into this this.

I believe David Poch's diagnosis above is the most likely as I have just upgraded to 2.2 via the "official" Vibrant upgrade that Samsung released last week.

I'm hesitant to employ any solution that requires rooting as the phone is employer-issued. So, a question for David or anyone else with knowledge in this area: As a possible work-around, Joe was kind enough to provide a link to the .apk file so that I could try to install the app "off-Market". Unfortunately, I am unable to download and install this file directly from my phone, but I'm wondering if it would be possible to download this file to my desktop and then move/install to phone via Samsung's official Kies Content Management desktop software?

Your help is appreciated. Looking forward to working through this as I think Joe's is clearly *the* radar app for serious users/professionals.

Thanks,
Shawn Rampy

 

[Mike Parker]

Hey Shawn. You may want to try Astro File Manager. It is a free app and I don't think you have to be rooted to use it. I could be dead wrong on the root part though. If you can use it without being rooted it is simple to just connect your phone to your computer, copy and paste the app file that Joe gave you to your internal sd and then use Astro to install it.

Even if you do have to root it is not the stressful crazy thing it sounds like. It is really simple and can be reversed just as simply. Your Vibrant is and incredible machine. Unfortunately, T-Mo and/or Samsung has decided to hold back some of its true capabilities. By rooting and using a myriad of other programs and custom roms that are available for it you will truly fall in love with this little phone. A great place to start to learn about its true value and how to use it is HERE.

I hope that works for you because Joe's app is really good and on its way to being great.

I would be more than happy to help you get that app installed properly if you need it. Just PM me if you want.

 

[Rob H]

Unfortunately, I am unable to download and install this file directly from my phone

Maybe I'm missing something, but perhaps this is as simple as going to 'Settings' -> 'Applications' and then making sure you've enabled the functionality to install apps from unknown sources? I don't think you can sideload APKs without doing this first, and you don't need to be rooted to do this.


edit: @Scott - Wow, I had assumed with Motorola and the whole eFuse thing and actively telling hackers/rooters they didn't want their business, my Droid X would be one of the more locked down devices. If Samsung is really that draconian, there might not be an option besides rooting at this point.

 

[Scott Hammel]

Maybe I'm missing something, but perhaps this is as simple as going to 'Settings' -> 'Applications' and then making sure you've enabled the functionality to install apps from unknown sources? I don't think you can sideload APKs without doing this first, and you don't need to be rooted to do this.

I have a friend who has the Samsung Galaxy S phone for AT&T and he has the same restricted Market problem as on the T-Mob version. Unfortunately you can't just adjust the settings for unknown sources apps like you can on the HTC and Moto devices. I'm not really sure why Samsung did this or if it's the carrier that crippled the market access. I suggested to him using Astro or Linda file managers and it still wouldn't install apps. I believe the only way around this is to root, and install some sort of patch that enables full market access. It's tricky but it can be done...

 

[Lawrence B Smith]

I got the Storm Chaser and the Stormchase buddy they both look great still need to play around with them to see what all they can do if anyone else has them post what you think

73's

 

[joe.jurecka]

Just a quick update for the folks out there. Looks like I have solved the out of memory issues that had been plaguing me for a while. Back to making the looping work like it should and have it behave (multiple threads often induce funny results!) Then, need some more work on the file acquisition service code. Mostly Android specific learning curve stuff. Have also spent some time cleaning up some of the portrait to landscape transition dialogs as well as checks to ensure that internet connectivity exists before sorta hanging up for 30 seconds before the connections time out when the program starts.

Joe

 

[Jarrod Barnett]

I got the Storm Chaser and the Stormchase buddy they both look great still need to play around with them to see what all they can do if anyone else has them post what you think

73's

I just downloaded the "stormchase buddy" app after reading this. Didnt hear of it until now.

Best apps so far are "Storm Chaser" and "PYKL3". The built in weather radio on "stormchase buddy" is pretty slick though.

 

[Gerard Jebaily]

I know this isn't technically a help forum but is anybody having issues with the PYKL3 constantly switching colors between interstates, state boundaries, and county lines? Mine seems to flicker between Red, Yellow, and White about twice every second..

 

[joe.jurecka]

I have seen this on my HTC hero. but nobody else has. Appears to be a bug in the phone. What phone do you have?

 

[Jeremy Den Hartog]

It happens on mine also - but not all the time. I have the HTC Droid Eris

 

[joe.jurecka]

Only thing that I can figure is it must be an HTC OpenGL implementation error. I have noticed that the more datapoints that get pushed to the engine, the more likely the flashing colors appear. I wish I could fix it, but I don't think there is any workaround for it. I have spent many hours looking for anything in the code which would cause it, but I turned up nothing. At least it only seems to occur on line segments. You may also notice that line width is not supported either (at least on my Hero). My wife's Samsung Moment does support line width, however. (State boundaries and interstates are programmed to be 2 pixels wide) Urban boundaries 3. One thing that neither phone seems to support is point antialiasing. Therefore, in the upcoming version, the cities will appear as squares vs. the intended circles. That will go for any point derived element, including the potential of SpotterNetwork locations (not committed as of yet for the next release, but possible). These are all the things we get to work through as the platform evolves and better supports the various specifications.

If any non-HTC user experiences this problem, please let me know via private message. I am certainly not opposed to creating a matrix of what phones support what on my web site if people let me know what they observe.

Thanks!
Joe

 

[joe.jurecka]

Just to give ya'll an update on PYKL3 Radar, my beta testers are providing feedback on pre-beta software and I'm getting pretty close to putting a halt to the new capabilities for this release. Thereafter, I will work on polishing and then enter beta testing and subsequent release. Looping itself works well although still addressing issues when one wishes to immediately request previous volume scans. Effectively, the program has really been re-written to accommodate easier feature additions in the future. All in all, I think it will be a pretty nice upgrade of the program and I'm excited to let the fantastic user base out there make use of it. I'll be updating the feature queue page with the new capabilities and provide a summary here on this forum outlining the final content.

Joe

 

[DRMabe]

Good news Joe, very nice program! Looking forward to the update release

 

[Jeremy Den Hartog]

Looking great! Can't wait to get my hands on the new version

 

[Jarrod Barnett]

Looking great! Can't wait to get my hands on the new version

+1000000000000000000000