VersatileMonkey.com Forums

Wanted to open up the discussion on the next VersaTool applet. What do you think it should be?

Definitely the custom LEDs and Call Blocker. Those two are options that premium apps offer and if VersaTool can really pull this off, it would just make it THAT more amazing.

Well, custom leds is super easy since I already have an app for it that I never published (called DingBot), so if that wins it should be pretty easy to integrate.

I'm actually looking forward to the GPS tools one, because to do it right is really hard and I like a challenge

Call blocker is pretty easy as well, so I may add that one anyway, but I'm definitely interested to see what people want...

-Marcus

ive got to go with the custom leds, then call blocker, then gps

Maybe too old school.. Graphical ftp client?

How about just for fun add every single feature on this poll?

dx169 wrote:How about just for fun add every single feature on this poll?

That's the goal, actually. What I want to do is have a new applet every couple of weeks (3?). That way it keeps it fresh all the time.

mikeda wrote:Maybe too old school.. Graphical ftp client?

Heh, doable, but what would you use an FTP client for on your berry?

-Marcus

I would love an applet like ccleaner.. that will let you disable other programs hooks into the blackberry os... like ringscheduler or vlingo menu items.

Integrate Honeydew, and "other"...

My "Other" is for an RSS reader. Not sure whether this will be feasible within VT or would need to be a whole seperate App, but either way it would be cool - big fan of Hd and PT, and soon to be big fan of VT!

Searching for a nice clean, simple, and working RSS reader, and for you to include one (or release a monkey-styled reader) would be stunningly great!

Viigo and Snaptu both very bloaty and slow, and Aarr!SS never seems to work for me. Bring on the monkey! (haha!)

Barljo

I'll second that. Viigo is way too much. FreeRange is what I have now but no updates or bug fixes in two years. Could PodTrapper be made to do RSS too?

How about something to silence the device for a user configurable amount of time?
Two applications have something like this: RingScheduler and Fixmo Tools.
RingScheduler takes control of your device and changes the profile and then changes it back after the period you select times out.
The downside to RingScheduler is that it requires you to not have a password on your device and not put it in standby mode, so it can wake up and change the profile once the timer expires.
It appears as if Fixmo tools will go about disabling the LED (possibly bedside mode???) and somehow mute the alerts without changing profiles.
Fixmo Tools can deal with a device being locked or in standby.
I'm considering paying $20 for Fixmo tools, just for that function alone...
I'd gladly pay you $40 to write something in VT which does the same thing.

The things that would be nice are:
-I can assign this to a convenience key.
The application will pop up with the following:
-Choose the duration of the silencing.
-Choose whether or not to disable the LED during this time.
-Preserve previously used values, so I can do this quickly.

Thoughts? Do other people seek such a thing?
I'm often times at work and will have my headphones on, or will be in a meeting or on a call where I don't want my device making noise. Not even the vibration noise, so I commonly would set my profile to silent, but once in a while I forget I set it to silent and end up missing calls and messages. So it's an ideal solution for me to simply go back to my normal sound profile after a certain amount of time without having to think about it.

Thanks!
Steve

This is a tough question.

VT has a lot of functionality in one package; some of which are unique, some of which can replace an existing application, some of which are convenient but other applications out there do. Before I can think of what I'd like VT to do in the future, I look at what it does now.

While I'm no BB expert nor can I possibly know all the applications out there; I look at VT sort of in this way:

Auto Reply: there is only one other major auto responder out there, but it only works on emails, not SMS. There is another auto responder out there that has all but faded away that did act on SMS and emails, but it had no filtering ability. IMO, this makes VT's unique.

Run on Start / Schedule / Event: I know of only one Run on Start type app out there, but Event and Schedule I don't know of any offhand. Backlight Off being the only option in Run on Event is a bit limiting but I'd guess API's might not allow much more. On Receive New Message, On Incoming Call, etc. might be more useful but I guess most 3rd party apps have their own listeners, and schedulers for that matter but these make VT unique that it can launch other apps. I like the Scheduled Reboot ability, as there is really only one app out there that does this (not that either it nor VT works for me on my current OS). There are a few apps that turn WiFi off and on, but VT can replace that for me too.

Just Take the Picture: great and unique idea!

Convenient Keys and Popup Menu's: also a great idea/feature although I haven't had a chance to play with them much, I have read up on what they can do. These make VT unique also.

Home Screen Bookmarks: there are a couple of these apps out there but the inclusion with VT is great and can replace those other apps.

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Alarms, Flashlight, Tip Calc, Unit Conversion, Weather: these all have a plethora of apps out there that do the same thing. That said, not many will buy an app for Tip Calculation or Unit Conversion as stand alone apps, so these being included make VT convenient (although currency conversion with dated data may be a concern).

The ability to move these apps to the homescreen as shortcuts as a bookmark is pretty cool.

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Okay. So I've assessed the personal value of VT to me (basically in the order I listed them), realizing that of course everyone's needs are different. Part of it is based on apps I already have, apps that I don't have that VT does, and applets that I am indifferent to. So what would I like to see VT do?

Scheduled Profile Changer? There are three major players out there, but none can overcome the locked /holstered keystroke injection limitation yet. Can VT do it with a work-around? e.g. if VT cannot actually change the profile from Normal to Quiet, could it instead programmatically mute the speaker and suppress the vibration, thereby "simulating" the Quiet profile? If so, it'd be a winner.

LED Notification? In the last couple of years, the market went from having one app to now having at least a dozen. That said, if you use the same filtering techniques as with Auto Reply, VT would be in there with the best of them and would be a fine addition, even though I personally already have almost every one of these apps out there, hehe.

Call Blocker? Like LED notification, there were only one or two out there two years ago, but now there are at least thirty similar apps.

HoneyDew: I am indifferent on this one, as I bought both VT and HoneyDew already.

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My suggestions / wish list?

I'd still like a selective database backup to SD card, which can be restored from on-the-fly. By selective I don't mean certain messages from a message database (I know that it's all or none basically on database restores), but what I do mean are, my top 3: Profiles, Service Books, Contacts. Profiles because occasionally we bork them up, Service Books because sometimes resending them without wireless service is a pain, and Contacts as a last resort restore for those that don't sync or backup through DTM. There are now a bunch of apps that back up contacts, calendar, tasks, etc. out there, wired and OTA, but not many, or any, that save the actual database(s) on-device and less that can do a restore (overwrite current) that I know of.

Spam Filter? There is only one on-device email spam filter on the market now, oh and it's $50. I already purchased that one but I think it'd be a nice addition for VT. By incorporating filtering code used in Auto Reply, you can create rules based on your existing contacts, domain names, address black/white lists. No need to get fancy with heuristic engines and such; just basic filtering, some basic logging of what's been filtered, and a small size-configurable self-cleaning database of filtered messages.

Those are my top two. Probably not for everyone, likely not viable for inclusion with VT even (the Spam Filter might be better off stand-alone), and maybe neither are worth the cost/benefit/need/effort to program.