This time I will be reviewing an application I actually paid for.  Although there is a free version, I feel that the added functionality of the paid app easily justifies it’s $1.99 price.

For those not familiar, Couch to 5K (C25K) is a running program that takes a person who doesn’t run at all to someone who can run 30 minutes straight for approximately 5K.  I’ve been blogging about my experiences with the program itself on my blog, but I wanted to mention the application here.

At its heart, this application is a timer.  But, it’s a very well done timer.  This takes the running and walking intervals and gives an audible (or vibration) alert whenever it’s time to switch.  It also includes a large clock and a description of the workout.  To finish it all up, it offers to post to Facebook for you.

There are additional features as well.  It can run the MP3’s for you, and it has a turnaround notification if you plan to run there and back again.

Setup is easy.  You simply choose which day of the program you are on and press the start button.  Given the various intervals used throughout the program, I’m not sure how I would track this properly without the application.  In fact on at least two occasions, I was surprised that the tones went off at a different time than I had expected.

In order to allow you to listen to your music, the notification uses the ringer set of controls.  That means if your ringer is muted, so is the notification.  The pro version also allows the program to run in the background which is important if you want to use any other program to map your run or track calories and pace.  It would be nice if this program offered those features as well, and indeed there are several free programs that do, but allowing it to work in conjunction is a good alternative.

When I started, I had a couple of glitches.  The first was entirely my fault.  I picked the wrong day and didn’t realize it until I was halfway through the warmup walk.  There was no way to fast forward when I started over, but I’m not really sure there should be on something this simple.  The second was that the notification tone stopped working.  I was carrying my phone in my hand at the time and I’m sure I must have somehow caused it, but there was no way to get the tone back on without restarting the application.  Instead, during one of the walking intervals, I found the setting that makes it vibrate as well and turned that on.

Even the free version doesn’t put ads on the screen, I’m fairly sure this is because they know we will buy the full version after messing with it.  In fact, if you are looking into the Couch to 5K program, I would recommend just avoiding the free application and going straight to the full version.

My wife and I try to be list makers, but we really aren’t that good at it.  Consequently, we are likely to forget things especially when grocery shopping.  A work compatriot recommended this application, and we’ve been using it for well over a year.

The basic premise is that we share a list that either of us can access from our phone.  More specifically, we share a set of lists.  We have a list of items from each of the two grocery stores we use, a list for the hardware store, and even a list of what to pack when we go to the lake. 

If either one of us is out and about and thinks of something we need to add, we just do it.  If one of us is shopping the other can still add to the list.  We can also see as items are crossed off if for some reason we want to have a real time view.  It’s even possible to add to the list from a computer by going to the website and signing in.  That’s a key feature I’m noticing with a good phone application, an integrated website.   This application can even be used to share lists between different types of phone, so those who have a house divided between Apple and Google can still communicate about the groceries.

The application remembers items you have entered an allows you to select from a list that shortens as you type.  That way you don’t have to remember exactly how to spell zucchini. 

What the list can’t do is force you to buy something that’s only on the list.  My family is bad about checking it before going but still deciding against running across the store for that one item.  It might be nice if we could customize the sorting to shop by aisle, but to be honest I don’t think we’d use the feature.

Ultimately, this application has helped stop some of those niggling little fights.  If we didn’t come home with something we talked about for dinner, we should have put it on the list.

I decided it would be worthwhile to review some applications.  I have a Sprint EVO 4G, and have become a bit of an App Junkie.  I’m not on the leading edge, most of the applications I work with have been around and likely been reviewed by countless other people.  Still, one more opinion isn’t going to hurt so I might as well give it.

The EVO itself has been a fantastic phone.  So far it runs every application out there, something my old Sprint Hero wouldn’t do.  I’m running FroYo, and its ability to save applications to the SD card is the only reason I’ve been able to feed my addiction to this point.  I use this phone for work with email, RDP, and Ping applications; for home with grocery list and shopping applications; and for play with games and applications to help my workout.  It has become fully integrated to the way I live my life.  We no longer have a landline, so this phone is always close to me.

As the name of the feature suggests, I will be providing mostly positive feedback on applications that I like.  At least in the beginning there are far too many good things to say about what this phone does to waste alot of time complaining about the apps that don't work.  There may be a few comparisons between like applications, and I will always list what I wish an application does better, but there really isn't a need for a star rating on these reviews at this time.  If I'm taking the time to talk about it, I probably liked it.

I downloaded the beta of the Audible app for my Android phone. I am running a Sprint Hero by HTC that has been upgraded to 2.2 Cupcake.  Overall, I am impressed, but I had been waiting so long for this capability that it would have been difficult to make me upset.

The installation wasn’t overly difficult.  It was not yet available on the marketplace when I installed it, but a barcode scanner and the page I was sent to after joining the Google group made it easy to get started.  I did have to change the setting on my phone that allows me to install applications from sources other than the marketplace, but this setting came right up during the install process.  I was a bit concerned about space since the 2.2 operating system is supposed to leave only a small amount of space for applications left on the Hero.  I would have preferred it took advantage of the new version to install to my SD Card.  It did however fit on with the other “necessary” apps I have on my phones.

Initial setup was very easy.  I simply input my user ID and password and it went looking to the main Audible website for my library.  I began downloading the first book to the device in moments.

The application currently only supports the Enhanced Format and this is my only real complaint.  The files generated by this format are over twice the size of Format 4 and four times the size of Format 3.  My untrained ear doesn’t notice a big enough difference between Format 3 and the Enhanced to warrant the extra space requirement, or more importantly the extra time it takes to download that large a file.  I was unable to download a full file from the 3G service near the Plaza in Kansas City, but my home Wi-Fi was able to get them just fine.  The 241 GB file took roughly half an hour.  The good news is that I didn’t have to wait for the whole file to download before I began playing it.  This meant I could listen to the book on my way home, and then download it completely once I was there.  Still, I think supporting other formats would go a long way to increasing the usability of the service while traveling.

The application loads relatively quickly, compared to other apps I use, and it does a great job of keeping my place even after the phone has been turned off and rebooted.  This is important since I have long felt that I have to reboot the phone more than once a week to keep it snappy, and some of the books I listen take longer than a week of traveling back and forth to work to finish.

The features inside surpassed my expectations.  I have previously used two different MP3 players and an Blackberry with Audible so have seen several different levels of features and interfaces.  This was the best I have worked with.  Once a file is selected for play I am given the following tabs along the top:  Now Playing, Details, Chapters, and Bookmarks. 

Now Playing has all the tools for navigating the file including a “back 30 seconds” button and a button to set bookmarks.  The time that the file has played displays on the left and the time remaining displays on the right between them is the chapter number.  There is a beautiful summary section in the center of the screen that includes title, part number, author, and the cover art.

The Details screen gives the Audible book summary as it appears on the website.

The chapters screen gives a listing of all the chapters in the file.  Here I would have liked it to continue chapter numbering between parts rather than to list the chapters in that part beginning with 1.  However, I suspect this has more to do with the files themselves than the Android application.  It is still nice to be able to get directly to the beginning of the chapter.  The chapter numbers from the Now Playing screen correspond to the chapter numbers here.

The bookmark section simply allows me to navigate directly back any section I have previously bookmarked with the button in Now Playing.

Overall, I haven’t had any real problems with the application.  I’m looking forward to seeing what if any improvements they make to the final release when it hits the marketplace.  Until then, I am just excited to finally have this capability on my phone.

See this other blog entry for some excellent screenshots and another opinion.

http://www.droiddog.com/android-blog/2010/05/audible-private-beta-for-android/