RaceChrono 2.0 for Android Feedback

edited February 2012 in RaceChrono for Android
As we all know, RaceChrono for Android is a dramatic departure in UI and other functionality than previous versions. I belive that we should provide feedback to aol and let him know what we like about the new version, and maybe some of the stumbling blocks that we have run into.

This is NOT a suggestion thread for features, we already have that. This is also not a complaint thread, I'm sure aol gets enough of that already (or at least feels like he does).

I'll start.

One: UI improvements are welcomed. The new UI is graphical without being overdone, simple without lacking, and overall a marked improvement IMHO.

Two: Improved capabilities. The Google Maps background for tracks is very nice and really spruces up the app, plus it allows easy track creation without being on the track itself, a fantastic feature. Heck, I've already created my "track' for my first trackday thats comming up in June, and now I get the fun of second guessing all my split point between now and then, LOL.

Three: Easier navigation. Right now, and time will tell as feature come online, but there is less sub-menus, less getting lost and a little better flow to the overall layout.

Ok, now for some of the stumbling blocks I had.

One: The start button is nice, but also messes me up a bit. I know what its there to do, but sometimes I feel it isn't quite what I'm looking for since I don't know the app is all setup and ready to go when I push that button. Also, I feel new users might get confused and think its supposed to just "work" by pushing that button without setting up tracks and etc in the background.

Two: Some items are just pictures and you don't know what they do till you push them. Sure, a padlock in the track section is fairly clear as to function, as is a garbage can, but the other buttons arn't so clear. Had to play around pushing buttons till I figured out what each did, and not sure I'll remember what they do in 2 months when I'm making a new track.

Overall, its AWESOME and the hard work is appreciated.

Anybody else out there with some complements for aol? Let him know!
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Comments

  • edited February 2012
    Thank you for the feedback! Nice to hear you like it overall! This is very early life of the app anyhow, so I was a bit unsure of the reception it would get.,,

    I agree about the graphics, they need improvement.

    The start button idea was just what you think, it should just work... I think better not remove the button, but improve the automation. Currently it automatically detects and downloads the track if it has been already created. If not then couple of button presses required. Also the device setup can be changed while recording, so you can switch from Internal to Bluetooth without pausing.
  • Great stuff already! 100% stable on both Galaxy Nexus and Nexus One on ICS. Easy and intuitive to use. Its such a pleasure and joy to use apps made by people with brains, that know what they do. Really looking forward to following this!
  • edited February 2012
    Why only 2 decimals on the times?? The old RC has 3 decimals... I mean 1:13:526, for example... Now it's 1:13:53. I don't understand why...
    Maibe you plan to put some setting for this?
    The overall impression is very good.
    It' a great beginning, aol!
  • edited February 2012
    Tronikx: As you noticed there's no settings screen anywhere yet. I guess I will put this there then.

    Point of putting only 2 decimals was that the realistic real-life error margin is much higher than the 3rd decimal. Also the value of the 2nd decimal is a bit questionable when using standard GPS hardware. I have one 800 euro GPS that I can say gives rather good 2nd decimal but 3rd is still random :)
  • got it!
    the reason of my comment... lap times is usually with 3 decimals. at least in motorbike sports.
    So in the old RC the third decimal is casual? I did not know...
  • Tested the app yesterday on public roads. It definitely works stable, fast and easy-to-use. Was surprized by track autodetect. I've tested WM version on the same roads few years ago, and imported all the splits I had. And splits worked! =)

    It still lacks some important features, but allows you to collect and analyze data with Android phone.
    Great job!
  • Great! I love it. I don't mind the pictures, actually I prefer them, makes everything looking simple, and friendly. I love the intuitiveness. I'm one of those guys who doesn't bother with reading instructions. I like the design it's stylish. I like how easy it is to pair the external GPS. It takes few minutes fiddling with the application to understand it completely. Great work. Thank you.
    You're a class above the competition already in my eyes.
  • and few more things that I forgot to mention; love the Rotate function, instead of locking into landscape or otherwise, it's just a tap and it stays this way. Love the Tap to analyze. Everything is in plain view to explore without being over imposing or confusing. Awesome app.
  • edited February 2012
    Well done Antti! a great first 'release'. I haven't used it in anger yet and just did a desktop trial on a Asus Tranformer Prime Tablet. I think the 'settings' issues mentioned before are valid and my take on it is to consolidate the settings and allow acess from the front page. Fewer nested menus than the last is a definate improvement. This has made things clear and easy to follow. However, it seems we get to different features in different screens. I'd like to get to them all from the front screen before pressing "start".

    I like the start button....but could we have a stop button that is persistent on all logging screens?

    Will this application work properly without a network connection?, Please make sure it can because some tracks are outside the 3G data networks...

    Lastly, as a future idea, ensure support for large screen devices without scaling will provide a better visual experience. That said it was bad on the large screen, but keep it in mind as you build and improve.

    going to test it on my GalaxyS next.
    C
  • edited February 2012
    Excellent twice! Did my first tracking last night (just had it running on the way home). Couple of comments: the GPS does start looking for a lock until you press "start", it would be good if we could choose to start the GPS earlier so we have lock earlier (especially for those that choose not to always run google location tracking or have no data access).

    Love the track editing options, very intuative, great work.

    The little pop up menus are good too.

    The timing numbers were too big for the screen in portrait on my GalaxyS - the minute number was being obscured by the label.

    Forget my previous comment on the "stop button" the hardward return button works well for Gingerbread (need to check with new software button on ICS will do on TransPrime)

    and a question: are you planning to also log accelerometer data?

    :-) a happy vegemite

    C
  • KACKAC
    edited February 2012
    >>The timing numbers were too big for the screen in portrait on my GalaxyS

    it is not a bug! It is done by purpose. In racing nobody is interested in minutes)
  • Same for me on my Acer Liquid (Numbers too big) but its not very importante.

    Your second version is perfect, i have created my own track (just for test) and it work great. We have a libray with french race (youpiiiiiiiiii)

    You could be very proud of your work. Many thanks. I continu to test it if I find any what else i will post it.
  • edited February 2012
    does anyone tried this on LG E510? ....

    how can i upload some tracks? also there is no premade like the 1/4 mile, 0-60 mph, 1 mile runs... is there anyway how can we incoporate this? also doesn't detect satellite while the windows mobile phone can get of 7-9 sattelites.. :(
  • Welcome,

    If you have further specific questions feel free to start a thread. Trying a tiny bit to keep this for feedback to aol, plus your questions deserve answers and they might get lost in here.

    To answer your questions though, the performance tests will be comming in future releases, this is just the initial developers release to make sure core functions work "in the wild" as you will. As far as tracks go I'm not sure if that feature is turned on yet. I believe aol has answered questions about that in other threads but I am unsure where at this point. I caution that you be careful just uploading tracks, best you upload quality material for the rest of the community to use vs. some Google Earth jabs at placing a Start/finish and some split points. Not to discourage you, if you feel you have quality tracks to upload then please try so the rest of us can benifit from your work.

    As far as satelites go, that is handset specific, if your handset can find them the program should be seeing them as well. Have you tried to see if your handset is getting a GPS lock with another program? Tons of GPS utilities out there to download for free, see if you can get a lock with one of those too.
  • Hello there. I've tested android version on my Galaxy Mini. I didn't race. I was skiing and set the track start/finish line on middle of ski lift. I've noticed that there's huge range of measurement error. As you know ski lift always goes on the same line but track drawed by Race chrono does not always cover. Every ride looks different. ? What's the accuracy of standard gps in Samsung galaxy?
  • edited February 2012
    b182: "What's the accuracy of standard gps in Samsung galaxy?" Short answer: Quite bad :)
  • edited February 2012
    Tested on a frozen lake yesterday.
    Although, I'm using internal GPS and there were a lots of hairpins near start-finish line, no problems in lap measurement were found. Still stable and reliable =)

    Missing some features that would be really helpful:
    -ability to continue previous session(or split sessions afterwards) instead of creating new one. Currently, I have three sessions from yesterday, but can't compare the laps between them.
    -data export
    -video recording(although I know that it could be a little bit tricky on Android)
  • b182: you said
    Every ride looks different. ?

    of course it will be different! Question is how much differ? You did not say error if it is minutes, then something wrong. If error is not more then 3-5 seconds then it is ok.
  • Litte question

    In the futur, RC Android could analyse .NMEA doc ?
  • Romulus: Yes I plan to do NMEA import.
  • KAC: I mean that when I was traveling by ski lift, track drawn by Racechrono is not always the same (but it should be-ski lift goes always on the same path, isn't it? :))
  • b182:
    mismatch in track could be up to 10-15 meters:(
    it is GPS.
  • Thanks aol :D
  • anyone got track for quarter mile? need it badly.. i was testing it to run.. though so far create starting and finish runs great i tried it on highway road..
  • Performance tuning isn't in implemented yet, when it is you will have 1/4 mile, 0-60, etc. Right now if someone sent you a 1/4 mile track you would meet to go to their location to get it to work, not that it would.

    Don't worry, RaceChrono will will have these features in future releases.
  • @kyle thanks for your reply... I will wait on the future releases on it soon. So far i'm just trying to do a record on the road and gps gets 10-11 satellites.. which i think more accurate..
  • I tried this out on track last week and was very impressed with the looks and usability using my Samsung Galaxy s2.

    One function that i'm missing from previous symbian software is that when you view travelled route all of the route appears in red, where previous versions came displayed in different colours to show satelite/signal strenght, which was very handy when determining if some ambitious speeds/times were legitimate or caused by a poor signal.

    On another note is there anyway of adjusting the travelled route in accordance with the google maps? Its a great function to be able to see my lines on the actual circuit but at pressent the whole map is approx 3 meters off to one side.

    Thanks for great work, Ben.
  • I just downloaded the preview 3 version today.
    It run fine on my HTC HD2 hyperdroid CM7 build for what concern the "offline" part of the app. I successfuly imported old sessions from the wm6.5 version and laps and splits time correspond. Overall, I find it quite robust, easy to use and sexy. The google map integration is really nice. No bug for the moment. Just a slow down at on point after the importation of the sessions, android asked me If I wanted to force quit or wait, I pressed wait and a few seconds after everything was fluent again.
    I will try it when going back home this evening with the internal gps and tommorow with my external 5Hz Qstarz 1000ex and report back.

    For what I have tested for the moment, everything works good! Great work! Congrats!
  • Hi I have used RC in my Nokia N95 and in my HTC TYTN since the first steps, long long time, I am your Fanatic, and spammer of you solution. am a race driver, I have a Race car and a Race motorbike in Brazil.

    I realy want to try the RC for Android, so please, consider to send me a test version of RC for android.

    Thank you

    David Brunstein
    e-mail David@brunstein.com.br
  • Hi, works perfectly on Galaxy s2. I hope that the Data Logging feature (as in v1.45) will be implemented in version 2 as i only use RaceChrono to record NMEA-0183 data.
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