CityTime Alarms Beta 2.0

[Guest chaznet]

I'll 2nd that request :)

Quickly stopped using the beta as the alarm ringing itself is confusing. Some sound files only repeat once, others repeat more, but with too much time between -- and nowhere near the maximum loop setting. The current version works fine in that respect though, have yet to sleep through an alarm.

Ideally, there would be an A/C mode -- just ring the alarm really really loud, indefinitely, until I shut it off. I understand the concern about running the battery out -- but for the most part it's plugged in and charging when used as a morning alarm, so that isn't a concern. Would be nice if there were an option for this as opposed to 'maximum number of loops' etc...

is there any way to turn off the 5 second incrementation between sound loops I like a few seconds between loops but I find the 5 second then 10 second then 15 seconds a bit confusing when half asleep

[Guest kennyg]

I'll 2nd that request :)

Quickly stopped using the beta as the alarm ringing itself is confusing. Some sound files only repeat once, others repeat more, but with too much time between -- and nowhere near the maximum loop setting. The current version works fine in that respect though, have yet to sleep through an alarm.

Ideally, there would be an A/C mode -- just ring the alarm really really loud, indefinitely, until I shut it off. I understand the concern about running the battery out -- but for the most part it's plugged in and charging when used as a morning alarm, so that isn't a concern. Would be nice if there were an option for this as opposed to 'maximum number of loops' etc...

Well, the alarms sound at the same frequency in 1.6 as they do now. The seperation between repeats declines from 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds and 30 seconds, then repeats this pattern for 5 times and then stops playing. In an older version it was 1 second, 2 econds, 5 seconds and 10 seconds repeating fine times, this might be the one you remember.

The reasoning behind the delay is that I usually can't find the phone and I didn't want it to be TOO persistant when someone was actually trying to shut it off. The loops is there for very short sounds that need to be played more to make a single repition.

What if I add an Alarm Personality for each alarm/timer and define 3 modes

- Subtle - as it is today (5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds and 30 seconds between repeats).

- Persistant - Delay repeats 20 times with 3 seonds between each.

- Obnoxious - Delay 1 second between sounds and repeating forever, until the phone is dead :)

Any thoughts? I worried that there are TOO many options, maybe need a default "simple" mode where you can only pick the sound and personality...

What does everyone think of that?

Kenny.

[Guest kennyg]

ok after playing with it a while now i have a few comments

I feel the option to set up new timers and alarms is a bit hidden the thing you want to do most is is open a new alarm or timer so where the left soft key says disable how about making it open the new timer alrm menu

ad the disable button to right soft key

so the right soft key titled menu would read

1 edit

2 dismiss early

3 disable

4 delete

5 settings >(i think city time alarms could be missleading)

6 done (I feel more people will want to get to the done option fatser for exiting)

*Settings*

1 Time and world time

2 options

3 about/ register

4 Help

left soft key title

new alarm

1 Alarm

2 Timer

3 Stopwatch

4 Mobile Task

dont know if any one else would agree but personally I feel most people will find this menu set up faster to navigate and easier to use.

PS I am missing the "sort" feature found it very usefull in the past.

This is close to what I had in the last beta, I placed a New menu on the left menu and the other stuff on the right, what I found was that most people create their alarms and then just change them occationally, so I optimized for daily usage (Start/Stop timer and stopwatch, Enable/Disable an alarm, etc.)

I would personaly like to hear from others on this, I can be swayed either way, but I'm starting to like the way it is :)

Kenny.

[Guest kennyg]

i love this applet used it for ages and ages now and the update is superb I can actually look at removing another piece of software now to make more space

I have one problem however i can not access files stored on my SD card when I went to opt to run a proram the /Storage Card/Files is as far as I could get thing is my programs are stored in

/Storage Card/Program Files

then they are all in sub folders also I may want to run a MP3 at a set time or maybe a Movie so how about making the /Storage card/ user configurable IE type the adress in of what you want or can city times not explore the folders and files you have installed to SD instead.

nor can i access any program links through the start menu to run them

am I missing something?

ps I have all my programs in the start menu in sub folders for ease of use is that the problem if so can we make the whole run program user configurable by typing in the address

thanks

Rik

EDIT ok figured it out you have to keep going to the top and highlighting the down again then up again this should be simpler

Are you refering to the lack of a "back" or "up" selection? I need to add that, as for file types, I default to EXE files (Programs) but you can select Programs/Files and it will let you select anything.

Kenny.

[Guest scottb]

Hi Kenny,

The new CTA betas have been working well for me. I am ok with the menu changes you made, except for one thing. Most applications I use have an "Exit" selection on one of the softkeys. Although CTA has always used "Done", "Exit" would be consistent with other applications. More important than the word used is that it's been moved two levels deep in the menus. Would it be possible to put it back so it's only one level deep?

Also, the SmartLabel setting still doesn't "stick."

When moving through the cities with the D-Pad right button, there is a slight shift up of the next alarm's time. This causes the alarm's title to be cut off on the bottom. Nothing major, but noticeable.

Thanks for your work.

[Guest yoos]

Problems that still exist for me:

1. When the keypad is locked you can't dismiss the alarm (you can snooze though). The keypad stays locked and a battery pull is the only option.

2. Larger font does not display seconds on screen in full.

New input:

3. What scottb says below (both points)

Most applications I use have an "Exit" selection on one of the softkeys. Although CTA has always used "Done", "Exit" would be consistent with other applications. More important than the word used is that it's been moved two levels deep in the menus. Would it be possible to put it back so it's only one level deep?

4. The following sounds good to me!

What if I add an Alarm Personality for each alarm/timer and define 3 modes

- Subtle - as it is today (5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds and 30 seconds between repeats).

- Persistant - Delay repeats 20 times with 3 seonds between each.

- Obnoxious - Delay 1 second between sounds and repeating forever, until the phone is dead

[Guest yoos]

Here's my opinion on the menu structure (similar to conan):

Right soft key:

*Menu*

1 Edit

2 Dismiss Early (I really think the word "Early" should be here)

3 Disable

4 Delete

5 Settings/Other

0 Exit

*Settings/Other*

1 Options

2 Time and world time

3 about/ register

4 Help

Left soft key

*New*

1 Alarm

2 Timer

3 Stopwatch

4 Mobile Task

Edited June 22, 2006 by yoos

[Guest yoos]

And other ideas for predefined tasks? I have two ideas:

- Homescreen Layout switcher (work vs play?)

- Time Sync to time server. (Is this necessary? Does windows mobile sync with towers yet?)

I like #1. For #2, my phone seems to sync with the pc's time when synced via activesync.

Here are a few other thoughts (mainly from memory of others posts and programs that do some of this stuff):

1. Reboot the phone at a specific time (I would use that too)

2. Turn flight mode on/off

3. Profile changer

I haven't messed with the tasks yet and I can't think of much else, except for maybe the ability to open an app and send arguments and key presses... So I could for example have it open up my RSS newsreader program and click the right soft key and 3 so it updates it everyday at 8:30am. I THINK xbar has this ability with macro functionality, but I never messed with it....

Also, the snooze times (1 min, 5 min, etc) are now displayed and can be scrolled through, even when the keys are locked.

[Guest conan_troutman]

Are you refering to the lack of a "back" or "up" selection? I need to add that, as for file types, I default to EXE files (Programs) but you can select Programs/Files and it will let you select anything.

Kenny.

the lack of back feature if you end up in the wrong file....you have to go right back out again ie start a new alarm

[Guest kennyg]

the lack of back feature if you end up in the wrong file....you have to go right back out again ie start a new alarm

That is an oversight/bug, I intend to fix that ASAP.

[Guest scottb]

Hi Kenny,

A few more observations/requests.

The profile switcher is awesome--love it! It's one thing I missed after moving back from a PPC to a Smartphone.

When looking at the list of alarms/tasks, the D-Pad center button used to put you in Edit mode. It does nothing now, you have to select edit from the menu. I assume this is by design, but I did prefer it the other way.

I'll add my support for the flight mode on/off task.

I like this idea too:

Subtle - as it is today (5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds and 30 seconds between repeats).

- Persistant - Delay repeats 20 times with 3 seonds between each.

- Obnoxious - Delay 1 second between sounds and repeating forever, until the phone is dead

Please consider more repeats, or a user defined number, for the Persistent setting. I like this one, but would prefer more repeats since I tend to use short duration sounds for alarms.

Thanks again for your work on this.

[Guest conan_troutman]

the option to pick the typ of alarm from sublte to nag is a brilliant idea

I and yoos seem to like the other menu set I missed the early beta so didnt see how much similar it was to how I would like it to be

but how about this for a all round solution

1 edit

2 dismiss early

3 disable

4 delete

5 settings >(i think city time alarms could be missleading)

6 done/exit (I feel more people will want to get to the done option fatser for exiting)

*Settings*

1 options

2 Time and world time

3 about/ register

4 Help

left soft key title IN alarm view

new alarm

1 Alarm

2 Timer

3 Stopwatch

4 Mobile Task

left soft key in List view

Disable as is now

Start/stop when timer/stopwatch is highlighted

also the option in setting to pick a defult view when start up at the moment it is list view

choices are could be

List

Alarms

Calendar

Clock

City Times

the lack of back your dealing with

As for the profile switching I use another program to do that as it also links directly to the calendar thus changing your profile to any you define for different types of appiontments you have

so it loud at the football and quite in the office and returns to what ever you want it to when the appointment is over but i can see the use it offers here.

one other small niggle when in the option setting the repeats default is 1 to change this you type in the number but if you in advertantly press the action button as I have done repeatedly it takes you out of the options setting without saving any changes ideally it could do with being disabled.

dissmissing of alarm with key lock is only possible if the option to confirm delete is switched off its the confirmation screen that locks up not city alarms as such either warn people of it or please fix the bug

Edited June 22, 2006 by conan_troutman

[Guest conan_troutman]

one other small suggestion as someone who works shifts how about the ability to make alarms repeat every two weeks and every 3 weeks on a daily or week day basis

at the moment your options are every 2 weeks then sub menu

monday tuesday wednesday etc etc

but you can alny pick one so in order to have an alarm for a two week shift pattern you need ten alarms one for each work day set up to go off every two weeks and for a three week work pattern it would need 15 alarms now if you opted for three weeks then in the sb menu the week days where tickable so you could select it to work say monday tues,wed thurs fri then you could reduce the number of alarms needed to just 3

what do you reckon?

[Guest chaznet]

Sounds good to me. I've not experienced the delay in 1.6 you mentioned, I guess because I have 'loops per ring' set to 9999...? Personally, I like an alarm to just make a bunch of noise until I shut it off. With CityTime Alarms, I have not once overslept -- prior to your wonder-program, it was an issue for me :)

One thing that would be nice -- to somehow just create an alarm that rings at a certain time that is either on or off, not dependant on a 'recurring' or 'day-of-week' setting. Would be great if it turned off when I hit the 'dismiss' button, to be turned on again as needed. The only real issue I've run into is forgetting to turn off an early morning alarm, and then having it go off the next morning when I could've slept in. Sort of how an regular alarm clock works.

Well, the alarms sound at the same frequency in 1.6 as they do now. The seperation between repeats declines from 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds and 30 seconds, then repeats this pattern for 5 times and then stops playing. In an older version it was 1 second, 2 econds, 5 seconds and 10 seconds repeating fine times, this might be the one you remember.

The reasoning behind the delay is that I usually can't find the phone and I didn't want it to be TOO persistant when someone was actually trying to shut it off. The loops is there for very short sounds that need to be played more to make a single repition.

What if I add an Alarm Personality for each alarm/timer and define 3 modes

- Subtle - as it is today (5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds and 30 seconds between repeats).

- Persistant - Delay repeats 20 times with 3 seonds between each.

- Obnoxious - Delay 1 second between sounds and repeating forever, until the phone is dead :)

Any thoughts? I worried that there are TOO many options, maybe need a default "simple" mode where you can only pick the sound and personality...

What does everyone think of that?

Kenny.

[Guest kennyg]

Hello All,

Just a bit of status.

- I've fixed the confirm screen bug where is locks up the keys when the keylock is on.

- I've added the Alarm Personality as described above.

- I've changed the menus such that the left softkey is always context sensitive, but when the Alarm List is displayed, the context menu is "New". I've also moved the Exit selection back to the Right conext menu. I've used it over the week-end and it gives relative easay access to adding new alarms easily, but offering easy context button for Stopwatches and Timers.

- Cleaned up the formatting a bit for the Q and the QVGA versions.

- I've fixed the Browse for File dialog so the softkeys are "Select" and "Up" and Back will cancel.

- Saves the SmartLabels option on exit now.

- Other minor annoyances fixed.

Two things left before new beta (tonight I hope).

- Random sound directory and "[Random]" entry for an alarm, the Random directory will default to the application directory.

- Fix a few icon issues with the applicatiton Icon and the Browse for directory screen on QVGA devices.

Thanks for all the interest and ideas, it will hopefully make this better for all.

Kenny.

[Guest conan_troutman]

its starting to sound pretty awesome dead easy to use and suitable for all kinds of users not many applets suit every one

one quick suggestion a sort of can i have

is add the option in options to choose the default start up at the moment it defaults to list view when ever you open the program can you make it user definable some user may prefer the list view to start stop timers and enable disable alarms others might like the view that shows one alarms others might like to see the time in there location and at home

I think it would be a really nice touch.

[Guest scottb]

Hello All,

Just a bit of status.

[snip...]

Two things left before new beta (tonight I hope).

[...snip...]

Thanks for all the interest and ideas, it will hopefully make this better for all.

Kenny.

Hi Kenny,

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to the next version. :)

[Guest rogueqd]

Hi Kenny,

First... CityTime Alarms rocks! :)

imate SP5

My bug list:

WMA files don't play when selecting sounds in the edit alarm form (They do play if you play a sample alarm) and scrolling quickly through many short WMA files (my ring tones) crashes the phone, seems like 100% cpu usage.

If you create a new mobile task and then delete the program you pointed it to, when you edit the task and point it to a new program the changes aren't saved. You have to delete the task and make a new one.

I'll post any more I find.

One request, the profile switching 'alarms' are great. Any chance of other switching alarms, like bluetooth and wifi on/off. I'd especially like wifi.

[Guest conan_troutman]

to swirch bluetooth on off down load bluetooth toggle it free and run it as a program hopefully a wifi toggle will follow shortly so we can do the same

[Guest rogueqd]

to swirch bluetooth on off down load bluetooth toggle it free and run it as a program hopefully a wifi toggle will follow shortly so we can do the same

Yeah, that's what I'm doing at the moment. I just thought it would be cooler if you didn't need a seperate app to do the switching. :)

[Guest conan_troutman]

no i understnd that i just wanted to let you know its possible now so you didn't have to wait but a you already knew it was added info for any one who didnot.

[Guest conan_troutman]

Hi Kenny,

any news on when the next beta will be released or will itt be straight into RC now?

I is getting itchy to get the new version before I have ti to get my internet disconected

Edited June 30, 2006 by conan_troutman

[Guest kennyg]

Hi Kenny,

any news on when the next beta will be released or will itt be straight into RC now?

I is getting itchy to get the new version before I have ti to get my internet disconected

I've added Bluetooth and Flight mode tasks and most of the features I've been discussing. I do need to add the random sound piece and fix a bug and I hope to release this version this weekend. My day job has just been sucking up all my spare time lately.

Kenny.

[Guest conan_troutman]

sorry mate with an applet this good i thought it was your day job

look forward to the final version hope a few of my suggestions make it too

[Guest rogueqd]

I hope to release this version this weekend.

Sorry to hear your so busy. Do you have a new ETA on the next version?