Today, it became official. My FlashLight application has reached the highest download rating available on Android Market. The current stats are:

• Total Downloads: 251209
• Total Active Installs: 159017 (63%)
• Total Reviews: 1601 (~4.5 Stars)

As “lame” of an application you could argue FlashLight is, it has shown to be both popular and well received. I’m glad so may have found it useful. Now, if I only charged a $1 for it!

Well, if that’s not proof that Android is a growing market, I don’t know what is. It took me nine months to get the first 50,000 downloads, and only one and a half months to get the second 50,000 downloads! Clearly the Sprint Hero and Verizon Droid played a large part. And, let me thank all the European folks that have downloaded and enjoyed my application.

My super lame application has reached 50000 downloads! I wish I was making money from it, but it feels pretty good that so many people are able to “make spliffs” and “beat their meat” at night because of me.

I recently rooted my Android G1 one, with wonderful results, using the following online guides:

• Guide: Rooting Your G1
• Partitioning Your SD Card for Apps2SD
• Installing Cyanogen

If you decide to do this yourself, be warned that doing so is at your own risk. It is possible, if steps are not followed exactly, to “brick” your phone. Essentially, breaking it beyond repair. You also void any warranty you may have with the phone, and will loose any data you have not backed up.

Why Rooting Rocks!

1. Speed
   I can’t speak highly enough about how much faster your G1 will run after you root it, and all your applications are moved to your SD card. Scrolling is smoother, your applications load faster, no more “wait” errors, etc. It makes the experience of using your Android phone nearly as snappy as the iPhone.




2. Power Control Widget
   If you manage your WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS status a lot like I do, you will love this widget. Single touch all your power settings right from the home screen, without pouring through the cumbersome settings lists.




3. Storage
   With all your applications moved to your SD card, you basically have an unlimited amount of storage space. Download to your hearts content without worrying about filling up your phone, or sacrificing performance.




4. Camera
   If you decide to run Cyanogen’s ROM, and I do recommend it, you will notice a much improved camera. It takes pictures faster, provides better quality photos with automatic brightness correction, and adds extra functionality like digital zoom and timed shutter.




5. Applications
   Do you miss Dark Keys? Well, with root access it works again! Also, while tethering is available for non-rooted phones, there are many many more tethering options for rooted phones, including: Bluetooth DUN, WiFi access point, and wired communications.




6. Extras
   There are some extras that you get as well that I don’t use, but are worth mentioning: pinch zoom in the browser, VPN network configuration, five home screens, and MS Exchange email access.




7. Faster Charging
   As of Cyanogen v3.9.3, they added an improved kernel which charges your batter much faster. What used to take 3-4 hours, now only takes two! It’s a noticeable, and much appreciated improvement.

For me, having a faster phone was reason enough for me to take the plunge. I’m very happy with my choice, and hope this article helps in making your decision to root.

I recently updated my FlashLight application to 1.2 on Android Market. The new version supports the changes that Google made to the SDK for application brightness control. Unfortunately, this update has put me in a catch 22.

Either I update the application with the new SDK calls and get it working on Android 1.5, and break it for all Android 1.x devices. Or, I don’t update the application, and everyone who gets the Android 1.5 upgrade this month will have a broken application.

I decided to update the application now with cupcake support. If you already have the application installed, it will continue to work and the upgrade will fail. If you get the Android 1.5 update, the update will work fine and the FlashLight will work.

In Case You Don’t Have Or Delete Old FlashLight

The down side is, anyone who does not already have the application and does not have the Android 1.5 update will not be able to install FlashLight from Android market. For those people, I am providing the APK file for you to download here.

Note: To be able to download, use your Android phone with a WiFi connection and be sure to have enabled “Unknown Sources” on your Android device at: Home > Settings > Applications

I’ve been working on my new application on and off. It’s basically the earthquake RSS application that you make from the Wrox book. Only, I’m adding my own flare to make the application more polished, usable, and purposeful.

One thing I want all my apps to have, is a continuing theme that reflects the Android OS. This includes menu icons that keep with the theme. Many of the icons you can glean from the Android SDK, but they don’t provide everything that you need, so you have to make a few.

This is how you make an Android menu icon using Adobe Photoshop 7+.

Step 1: Make a new image.

Make a new image with a width and height of 48 pixels. Set the Contents to Transparent.

Step 2: Draw a shape.

There are many pre-made Adobe shapes that you can make with the Custom Shape Tool. Or, draw your own using the Pen.

Step 3: Add Inner Shadow Layer Effect

Open the Layer Effects wizard for your shape. Check the Inner Shadow box. Set Blend Mode to Multiply, Opacity to 60%, Angle to 90, Distance to 1, and Size to 2.

Step 4: Add Gradient Overlay Layer Effect

Check the Gradient Overlay Layer Effect. Set Blend Mode to Normal, Opacity to 100%, Left gradient color to #666666, Right gradient color to #999999, Style to Linear, Angle to 90, and Scale to 100.

You’re Done!

That’s it! All you have to do is save it as a 24 bit transparent PNG file. Save your Photoshop file to use it as a template. You can create new Layers with shapes in them, then copy the Layers Effects (alt drag-drop) from your first shape Layer.

Download this example (sample.zip)

Hope this Howto has been helpful!

Brenton

So I released a second version of the FlashLight on Android Market the other day.  I added a few new features:

• Balloon Toggle
  You can now turn off the brightness balloon that tells you your percent brightness when you make changes.  Some people found this annoying.
• Input Method
  Someone stated that they wanted Track Ball support.  So I added an input method preference that allows you to choose Track Ball, Screen, both, or none (effectively allowing you to “fix” a brightness setting).
• Light Color
  Some people wanted the light color to be green, others blue.  There’s no “color picker” widget for android at the moment, maybe “cupcake” and a new SDK will resolve that.  I just made a list of a few popular color options you can choose from.

Hope you all like it, I’m hoping to release my next application in a few weeks.

Cheers,

Brenton