Left To My Own Devices Computer Solutions

As a developer, I often find that working on a real project is the best way to learn a new programming language, or in this case, language and platform.  And after reading numerous books on Android development, and following numerous blogs and forums, and working through countless examples, I found myself looking for that first project that would solidify Android development for me once and for all.  And so, my foray into developing Android applications started off with the Fringe Glyph Translator.

Fringe Glyph Translator is not a complicated application.  It does very little.  As you watch the TV show Fringe, on the Fox network (Thursdays as of this writing), you’ll notice various glyphs appear just before a commercial break.  There was much speculation about the meaning of the glyphs until Julian Sanchez finally cracked the code.  After reading an article about this whole glyph thing, I thought that it would make a great little application for the Android.

While the application itself is simple, it certainly presented numerous challenges along the way, mainly in the execution of the interface.  I wanted something very simple for users to work with.  Something that allowed the user to find the glyph quickly.  Glyphs appear on the television screen for roughly 1 to 2 seconds.  The user has to remember what they just saw on TV long enough to find that same symbol on the phone application.  If you get caught up in looking for a particular symbol, you’re likely to get either confused or forget what you saw on TV.  Part of the problem with these glyphs is that the same symbol represents up to four letters of the alphabet.  The symbols are not identical, however, with a yellow dot, and mirror images creating the distinction between letters.   In the end, the application went through four design iterations until I was happy with the look, feel, and execution of the program.

Fringe Glyph Translator was launched into the Android MarketPlace in May of 2010, and became an instant hit.  The app is quickly approaching its first major milestone of breaking the 5000 download mark, which I believe will happen in August of 2010.  It is also great to see nothing but positive feedback from the users – with a 4.8 (out of 5) rating, and many great comments.

Now, there is always room for improvement, and this is why I recently released a quick update to the app, making it version 1.04.  I’d love to hear from the users with feature requests, comments, and any issues.  If you have an Android device and don’t have the application yet, be sure to pick it up.  Its in the Marketplace, and it is free.