Look, listen & learn with Android!

When asked ‘If you were to develop an Android app for kids aged 0-5, what would it do?’ I was rather daunted... As a young child I had a very short attention span and a very low boredom threshold, I couldn’t concentrate on anything that was good for me and procrastinated to such an extent that my life consisted of half-finished projects, which to say the least is very unrewarding!

The first thing I needed to do was come up with a list of questions, and one by one fill in the blanks as my ideas filter through the rubbish and become ‘app-worthy’. Below are the main Q’s and A’s.

What genre would the app be?

As much as this sounds like a cliché, I really believe an educational app would work. The app would basically be almost a desktop on its own, a main menu containing a number of different games and activities, a wide choice would be offered and the child would eventually find their favourite activity, all of which would be educational in some way.

What features would the app have?

As mentioned in the previous question, the app would feature numerous activities, I believe reading, writing, basic mathematics and progressive hand-eye co-ordination exercises should be disguised as mini games and very short projects. All progress can easily be stored and reviewed by parents. Some examples of activities on this app are Trace & Write, Tilt Maze, Photo Taking, Paintshop, Listen & Speak, Block Stacking etc...

How would children interact with the app?

The most obvious factor for me here, as Android is synonymous with touch-screen I think touch-navigation will be the main medium of interaction. The marvellous thing about touch screen is the ability to draw, trace and gesture (i.e. swiping & tapping). Most apps would utilise touch-only interaction, but I would also like to see a Speak & Listen game in which a child is required to respond to spoken commands by speaking, for example answering questions, this would use the speech command and recognition functionality. The camera can be utilised for customisation, creating a simple user profile and activities such as Paintshop.  A very important feature for child development would be the hand-eye co-ordination features, which would use the accelerometer, compass & other motion sensors, some mini games would use just motion sensors and others would use both motion and touch gestures (i.e. stacking blocks and balancing them) depending on the level of the childs ability.

How will this app be rewarding to the child?

As children tend to have very short attention spans, I sympathise with them as a lot of games are hard to progress in, it feels like ages before you can see your progress, and the horror of seeing ‘You have completed 1% of this game’ is the most frustrating thing of all! As 0-5s have such a wide range of abilities and development levels I feel it would be fair to have many different skill levels within, all with individual achievement ‘score boards’. Individual tasks and games would be very short as to reward progress at shorter intervals and keep children interested. The main reward is when a child shows their parents what they have learned by showing new skills that have been picked up. The praise after, from the parent is the main reward.

How will it look?

I think that customisation is important here. When a user sets up their user profile (or more likely when the parent sets up the user profile) the child will have a number of choices of themes, colours and selectable characters. A lot of age, gender and skill based features will be selectable throughout the experience.

Here is a very rough mocked-up image of what the main menu may look like, the colour, theme and images would be fully customisable to suit the taste/level of the child.

Let me know what you think!

ShredderBenjamin.

Get Motivated! Using Your Android To Aid An Active Lifestyle

Gadgets are here to make our lives easier, and when we think of typical gadget-users, the last thing to spring to mind is the image of a sporty, active character, but that’s well and truly all over now!

First of all, it’s easy to search for fitness-dedicated apps on the Android Market, some popular examples include Calorie Counter, My Tracks, Cardio-Trainer etc... But I am going to concentrate on how you can use your existing hardware and apps to keep track of your health, fitness, and general lifestyle without Fitness-Dedicated apps.

Here are a few tips, food for thought if you will, to get the most out of your android phone and genuinely associate gadgetry with a healthy lifestyle.

Tip #1: Seeing is believing! – the simplest way to track your progress with your phone would be to use your camera, before starting a new routine, take some ‘Before’ pictures, don’t look at them again until you feel comfortable in taking your ‘After’ pictures. Remember, ‘Before’ and ‘After’ pictures don’t have to be pictures of your body in a mirror reflection! Use your imagination – Take pictures of your meal ideas, portion sizes, your bathroom scales, sporting events etc... All this ties in with the next paragraph.

Tip #2: Don’t go it alone! – The best thing about smartphones today is that they all promote social networking, announcing your change of lifestyle, weight-loss progress and organising sporting events has never been easier or more effective. With literally a few taps of a touch screen you can upload pictures and video to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and various other hosting/social networking websites. There really is no better feeling than reading the congratulating comments on your new slim figure or your local five-a-side football teams win...

Tip #3: Clever Navigating! – One of my favourite features of the Google suite, all available free on the Android Market, is the Maps package. The Google Maps ensemble consists of many components including Navigation, Google Places, Google Earth and the core Maps program, the possibilities of these components are endless. Have you recently started cycling to work recently? Use Maps to plan your route, calculate the distance and make a note of your times. Don’t forget the most common feature of Google Maps too – finding your nearest gym, football ground or Weight Watchers Club is as easy tapping the magnifying glass icon in the corner of your screen, from there you don’t just find locations, you are aided with the ability to sort locations based on distance, navigation routes, review recommendations and all sorts of other categories.

Tip #4: Let music set your pace! – In many studies it has been proven that listening to music increases your potential in the gym, listening to music relaxes you, regulates your heart beat and entertains you whilst you exercise, and any form of entertainment distracts you from any strenuous activity. Use your phones built-in music player and you’ll find cardio sessions more enjoyable, I have found on my ‘Warm down’ sessions on the exercise bikes made easier with Angry Birds too!

Tip #5: Routine Routine Routine!!! – The most effective way of retaining an active lifestyle is to keep a routine, setting specific days/times for regular activities and sticking to it, after a month or so you’ll automatically find yourself doing what once felt like a real pain to keep up. Guess what? Your Android phone has built into it an alarm clock with multiple alarms, a full calendar with schedule/reminder alerts and a social calendar which links up to Facebook and other social networking sites, so no excuses!!

These five tips are not an exhaustive list of the possibilities, and as a self confessed gym-phobic I am using my android phone to create an active new routine for myself – If any of you have any suggestions yourself for how your stock-apps can help you with your lifestyle feel free to comment!

ShredderBenjamin

An Android-Aided Day In The Life – Nip To The Shops In t’Bolton

Luckily for myself I live right in the centre of Bolton, so my first move is a quick tumble downstairs and brisk walk into the precinct with my Samsung Galaxy S 2, and my accomplice, also Galaxy S 2 equipped. As I have my 8 Megapixel camera, why not give it a shot? Here are a couple of landmarks!

I’m out today to look for a couple of PS3 games, and maybe to price up a nice new tab, so my first tactic is to reach for my GS2 and find out where my closest Currys store is.

What do you know?? There’s one right round the corner. The first thing that catches my eye is the marvellous Galaxy Tab 10.1, but am I getting the best deal? Again, reach for the GS2, Google Shopper to the rescue!

After some consideration I decide to head down to HMV as Digital Banking proves my budget won’t push that far this month! But what’s this?? I can sell my games to HMV, and there’s even an app which allows me to scan my games for an instant price for exchange or cash!

 After being on my feet for a little while too long I consult Google Maps – which tells me within 2 minutes walk there’s a Costa coffee. It’s on.

Dodging the scones I go for a Peach Ice tea – Not too relevant to the shopping trip, but after finishing it I managed to get a pretty picture of my ice – How artistic of me indeed!

Let’s compete for that 3 star record on Angry Birds...

And check out the devastation in the football...

All of a sudden, my accomplice receives a phone call – an exciting opportunity arises to apply for an interesting new job, we’re away from our computers, but not to worry.

Open Polaris Office (Free as standard with GS2), locate CV. A couple of changes need to be made to the CV but this isn’t a problem with this fantastic office software, just as simple as edit/save.

And send!! Magic!

After this unwinding session we declare this quick 'nip to the shops' a success... A total of about one and a half hours are spent in Bolton town centre – a trip made short and sweet all thanks to the help of Android, Samsung, the Google Suite and of Course, my accomplice! We’re now at a stage where I almost take these gadgets for granted. How long would it have taken to locate Live football scores, shops, instant accurate price comparisons for buying and selling products, product reviews, and even send photos of our day-to-day lives to relatives across the globe?

All photos we’re taken on Samsung Galaxy S 2 devices, all highlighted text indicates need to use phone features.

Shredder.