Okay, I need some opinions from you, my fellow geopher lite users. And because of that I have now turned on comments by anyone, you don't need a blogger account to comment.
I have a rough compass working. It works great if you're travelling in a car. If you are just walking around in a small area it is wildly inaccurate. I'm not giving up and still have some ideas on this. However, until l can get that working in a place where I feel good about it I'm not going to release the compass rotation.
That's where you come in.
I'd like to hear your opinions on if you would like me to make more regular releases to apple and have geopher lite change over time or would you rather have me take a bit more time and just release one or two updates that get it all right? There are pros and cons both ways.
I'm not making this a democracy, but I would like to know a general feel of what you all would prefer. You know, other than have it all done tomorrow and all working. =)
Thanks for your continued support. Additional feedback is always welcome.
About Me
- DadGuy
- DadGuy has been working with apple computers since the mac classic. I love games and puzzles and like to solve problems. I'm having a blast developing for the iPhone and iPad.
27 comments:
Updates as you make improvements would be great but I guess you have to submit that to Apple and then wait for them to release it which takes time?
If the time issue is the case a major release would be better providing that major releases don't leave us all hanging for an update for months.
I am a big fan of many small releases. This way you can get more feedback and continue to make Geopher Lite a great product. Great work for far, looking forward to the next release.
I should note that regardless of the release scheme I go with there will be a release soon which should clear up a few issues. I've heard lots of good about the next version in development from the beta testers.
I prefer more frequent releases. I can't stand the anticipation. :) Hopefully Apple will fix the turnaround time for getting updates approved. Looking forward to the next release.
As Geopher Lite is an application for recreational use, there could be a new release for every improvement, when you think it's worth a release. As tiger said, you will get more feedback, even some silly notes from me.
Yes, more frequent releases would be nice. This way you would certainly get more feedback ... and we could start to play with all the new features.
Thank you very much for your dedication on developing this great app!
I appreciate the efforts you are making to keep users of your app up to date as to what you are working on to improve the experience and usability of the app. Because you are doing this, I would say that smaller, more frequent updates are fine.
One request: would it be possible to be given the bearing that the compass arrow is pointing to?
I wouldn't mind minor updates to the current app, and the majority of the effort put into a 2.1 firmware app for a fall release. As I understand it looks like the compass functionality would be better with it anyhow.
I'll go with the crowd in favor of lots of small releases, with the caveat that bigger releases are alright if it's a matter of Apple headaches.
I would agree...lots of smaller updates is better. Also have you thought about using wap.geocaching.com instead of the full website? And there was another person coding something similar a while ago at http://www.ayefon.com maybe there is something there that will help you. He seemed to have a lot of great ideas. Thanks again!
I'm of the mind that regular releases are good, as long as the issues addressed are substantial. Minor tweak updates aren't as necessary, I would think.
I also wanted to say we down loaded this this weekend because my 7 year old read about geocacing in Ranger Rick and wanted to try it out. It was a blast, thanks to your app. The current compass image was a bit confusing, and at times we moved faster than the iphone was updating, but it definitely worked and we found the cache. It was well worth the $1.99. I'll post this on iTunes as well...
Add my vote to the frequent releases, as long as something noticeable has been fixed. Mainly, I want the map link to give me actual coordinates instead of the snap to street thing, but I know you're fixing that.
In the minority I guess. I would rather wait for a bog improvement than have constant small updates.
Take your time and make a good enterprise version. If compass rotation is a problem with 2.0, we should wait for 2.1.
I agree with the minority decision and feel that substantial updates are better than a bunch of little one. Honestly I am satisfied with the app as is. I would want time and effort well spent making a substantial improvment rather than simply updating frequently for the sake of a new release.
Hello, I am a new Geocacher. I took your app out for a run last weekend. I found the search feature very useful, the compass did not assist in my hunt in any way, then again all I was doing was park and grabs. When I found a cash I want to look for I would go to safari and enter the GCxxxx number in to geocaching.com to get the google map. With google maps on the phone I am not sure I would ever use the arrow feature even if it moved or not. I will test the arrow this weekend as I am planning to grab some caches that are more of a hike. I would say any update you have send it out! No need to wait until you do big changes.
I am having a really good time with the software. We have located several caches with it so far and are having a blast. I have two fixes that I think would be of benefit to most people. One, connect the Map button to the second google map link on the detail page for the cache and the street direction mess goes away. Two, I have had trouble with the built in spellcheck not being able to deselect while in geopher and logging in my find. Thanks for the app and I am looking forward to your updates. I would have paid much more for the app also.
I agree with smaller updates as well, even if they are just small fixes behind-the-scenes that aren't noticeable for stability/security etc.
I think this has been suggested in the past by someone, but I want to throw it out there again: Bookmarks. After we have set the target info it'd be great to have a bookmark list of all the locations where you could enter names for the location, whether or not you found the cache, and perhaps take a couple notes.
The bookmark feature would potentially be helpful for people who are searching for more than one cache at a time (or day) and want to have all the coordinates easily accessible along with any notes on the find before they log it.
If the targeting screen eventually saw more options like bookmarks a more intuitive name for it may be something like "Target Locations" or "Target Menu" as opposed to "Set Target" ... but that's not a huge thing. Another small intuitive thing for new users may also be to have the "Return" button say "Compass Screen" or something of that nature.
Also, this is probably a less important feature, but it could be cool to have other search options like search by zip code, city name, etc, in addition to current location, in case someone knows they are going to be somewhere else and want to store some locations ahead of time.
If those were implemented it could also be worth it to throw in an "options" menu do you could change your default search method, along with your default start screen (so you could choose between the app launching on the compass screen or the target location screen).
Just a few ideas, nothing really major but thought that may spur some other ideas for you as well.
Frequent updates for issues that bug me! My beef is having to enter NSEW in the target box or the coordinate only keeps the most signifcant digits is N 29 0.000
default is north & east (I am west). So since default is N I should be able to just enter the numbers, & for W I want to use the minus sign which is on the numbers screen while entering coordinates
Thanks for the app
Signed Selfish
@anonymous
That's already mentioned (http://geopherlite.blogspot.com/2008/08/update-in-works.html) to be fixed in the release he's planning to do. He's also mentioned he's releasing that soon whether or not he picks frequent minor or infrequent major updates.
Dadguy
I have figuered it out. I finally know what I want updated. Forget about the compass, I don't even care about the map. All I want is to be able to see the text in the screen when I post comments on the log page. That's it, not sure if it's simple but that's what I think would makengeopher the best geocaching app bar none! Thanks!!
@dh
Just zoom in on the web view, just like you would in Safari. There's nothing he can do about that, not with the restrictions GroundSpeak places on not scrapping the page.
We appreciate your efforts - smaller more frequent releases are preferable. Thanks for a great app! It gets better every time.
Being a fan of small updates instead of waiting for the "next big one" I go for the regular updates. Great product so far and I am glad that you have taken the time to create a great app for a great phone!
It would probably be better to wait, I think, and publish it ready to go. An aprox. date would be a good idea to post on the app page. To let potential buyers know what's coming. I can't wait for the final product!
I agree with dadgguy, there should be a release here quick to clear up some basic issues. thanks!
Lol Lots of answers so I'll respond befor i get "poluted" by others opinions. well with all the Apple release hickups on itunes small releases would be on top of each other in a que at apple. there is a risk that the newest release at itunes is not latest release from you.
So I'd rather have a bigger "propper" release that manages to go through apple verification squeeze and let you get proper responce before you rush off to next update...
Alpha > Beta > Release
I'm all about testing out the newest version of whatever you've come up with. Great application.
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