I am wondering is it possible to do all these on an Android phone? Example, Samsung Galaxy S phone
To automatically launch a video clip upon phone start up i.e. from off position or phone ‘reboot’/’restart’
To run the video clip while the phone is idling
To launch to a particular wap site when interrupted
To restrict user from going to other portal other than the 3 steps above
To restrict user from running other application on the phone.
1) Yes but it may be hard to completely replace the phone's own screens and animation effects thus giving the smooth experience I think you're looking for. It's also pretty user-hostile.
2) What is 'idling'? If you mean standby, absolutely not. You'd kill the battery in 20 minutes in any case.
3) You can launch a website when the phone comes out of standby but it would be really annoying for the user. As for WAP .. I have no idea if you can view WAP on Android. Probably someone has made a viewer. I wasn't aware WAP was being used by anyone since some time around 2008.
4) Not without making your own custom build of Android and flashing it (very difficult technically). Sounds pretty evil for the user.
5) Again, not without making your own custom build of Android. You're reducing the phone to a brick pretty much with this stuff.
Yes, though it is user-hostile.
I have no idea what you are talking about.
I have no idea what you are talking about.
No, except by making your own firmware. Even by replacing the home screen, the user can boot into the Android equivalent of "safe mode" and bypass a replacement home screen app. You would need to have your home screen be the only one on the device, and your apps be the only one on the device.
See #4.
I will add only to question (1), since all the questions have been already answered. If you talk about replacing the standard boot and shutdown animations, then yes, it is very possible and pretty much any custom ROM for the SGS will let you do that. It's just a matter of assembling the sequence of PNG files you want. There are two image flashes before the animation, one is built-in in the bootloader, the other is hardcoded on the kernel.
Examples: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=869347
You can do all these things, however you will need to flash a custom image - I assume you want to customise in-house handsets for a specific project, rather than have this as a generic app - I can't imagine normal users installing this kind of lockdown, and it sounds similar to an approach I was looking at for a project needing cheap PDAs with GSM connectivity.
If that's the case, and volumes are low, you might be better off targeting developer handsets, which can be bought through a publisher account on Android Market. I think this limits you to 10 handsets.
Hope this helps,
Phil Lello
Related
I'm planning to deploy an app on my android smartphone which is supposed to be used by multiple other persons. Now of course I do not want them to do things with the device they are not supposed to do so I informed myself about several different ways to make it as safe as possible (Lock-down apps, Kiosk mode, Mobile-device-management, Code-tweaks and so on).
I found some solutions that look really promising but they all share the same problem that a user could just restart the device and boot it in safe-mode where those helpful apps won't be started. However, there is one exception: I've installed a MDM app called maas360 which somehow manages to apply the restrictions that I defined even in safe-mode, for example by blocking access to the menu settings. How is that even possible? The thing is just that this is not a free app and it offers a huge variety of functions - overall it seems to be a bit excessive for my goals.
So my general question would be: is it somehow possible to restrict access to the safe-mode somehow? Maybe like a password? From what I understand it is not even possible to set a system password for Android devices that you'd have to enter once it boots (except if you set up a password for unlocking the screen first which would then be the same one... very redundant).
Disabling physical switch of volume down (in case of samsung devices) will stop access to safe mode on device. I dont find any other way to do so.
I've developed an application which seems to work on most tablets/phones I've tested it on (S2/S3/S4/Xoom/some emulator configurations etc)
However, I've noticed a few complaints around a "Pantech Burst" - I can't seem to find any of these phones to pick one up (possibly it's specific to the US) and thought perhaps I could simulate one.
I know its 480 x 800 pixels, and has 1GB of memory
http://www.gsmarena.com/pantech_burst-4429.php
Is it possibly to simulate this kind of phone?
Or are some phones inherently different based on hardward that you could never simulate?
(I have a gut feeling it might be related to mp3's and Soundpools, but I'd rather prove it)
Short answer: no. In my experience if you have device-specific problems really the best way to debug them is to get your hands on the specific device.
Failing that, I can recommend integrating some kind of crash-reporting framework into your app, if you haven't already. These really help in capturing, tracking, and sending errors (with stacktraces) to you and have helped me fix problems on devices I can't get my hands on.
One I use is bugsense, there is also ACRA and others.
http://www.bugsense.com/
https://github.com/ACRA/acra
If you're having a problem on one particular device, then it is likely a hardware + software bug, and simply simulating the hardware configuration will not solve your problem.
That said, you can always duplicate the hardware by setting the RAM, screen size, storage etc. to its specifications. You probably won't get the same processing speed due to the fact that you're on an emulator.
If getting device is not really an option for you, you might want to consider using the Apkudo service, assuming they have the device your app is having trouble with.
You submit your app, and they run it on their set of devices using Monkey, returning to you a logcat and a stack trace when the application crashes on a particular device.
Please don't tell me what a bad idea this is. I am not using it as an Android tablet. It is the interface for a propitiatory medical system my company is designing. It's only function ever will be to control the system we are building.
That being said, how can I remove everything from the tablet and only run my app until the tablet dies or the standard firmware is reinstalled?
The tablet is being used exclusively as an interface control panel and CPU to my program which controls the medical equipment externally. I don't want anything else on the tablet. I don't want the users to do anything other than run my program on my equipment.
How can I lock the users into only using my program for the life of the tablet?
(I am building a system that happens to use an Android tablet to control it. Basically, I thought it would be easier to use a tablet, rather than design from scratch a system based on one or more microprocessors and which uses a custom designed and built color interface panel. If the doctors want to use an Android tablet for their offices, they are welcome to buy one.)
Thank you in advance.
Thank you all for your advice.
You will have to build your own version of Android if you wish to do this. For several reasons it is not possible to make an application that will do what you want and have it work on consumer devices.
Exactly how you need to go about customizing the OS build is going to depend on your exact hardware. But the simplest modifications will be removing the unneeded apk files from system/app/ and data/app/
AOSP and XDA-Developers are two great resources for learning the ins and outs of building a custom ROM.
If the device has reasonable power to it, you shouldn't need to worry about background processes.
If this is a consumer product, then it probably has the Google Apps suite and other related items, in which case rooting it and not installing those would be the best route. AOSP only runs processes that it needs to run Android out of the box.
Edit: You might just write the apps a Launcher and not allow opening other apps as the best route to accomplishing your goals.
You might need a custom ROM. It really depends on what version of Android your device supports. Check out the last in the list below.
http://www.redmondpie.com/best-most-popular-custom-roms-for-android-and-why-you-should-try-them-out/
I'm facing similar obstacles utilizing my business tablets. I want to restrict all the pre-loaded applications & only allow the tablet to be utilized for certain applications. White listed websites & such. I wonder if a 3rd party service such as ZENPRISE might offer a mobile management system that would take care of this for me?
zenprise
We want to place a device in a store that operates as sort of a kiosk device. As in customers walk up to it and start interacting with our custom app. The app could be developed for Android or the iPad, so I'm trying to decide which one to use and would like comments on the following ideas:
Is it possible for Android or iOS to access services over the USB port? This would enable us to disable the network.
Is one particularly better for 24 hour always on?
I like the iPad as I think its supply will be more constant as we move forward and need to replace devices due to ones gone bad. Also, our app will probably work on future generations of the iPad. With Android, I'm not sure there will be that sort of consistency from the tablet vendors.
Kiosk mode? I think with the iPad by putting it in a kiosk case that removes access to the home button and turning on the restrictions we'll get what we want. What about Android? I'd rather not have to get into rooting devices and replacing their firmware.
Remote control? Any way to remotely control iOS or Android in a standard means? Our app will be a client to a master server which will obviously be able to control the app somewhat (when used purely as a display device to a customer, controlled from behind the counter).
My feeling is that neither Android tablets or the iPad is best suited for this. Are there other options?
I will try to answer your points, but know that I am probably biased towards Android, because that is where my experience lies.
With Android 3.1+, at least with the Xoom, you have full USB host capabilities. Things like USB flash/hard drives, keyboards, mice, even digital cameras, all work. If you need custom interop with a USB device, you could go as far as to write a driver for it.
24 hour always on is not good for any device with a battery, but neither is better in this situation.
While android apps are forward-compatible, bad programming practices and/or deviations from "vanilla" Android software and hardware CAN break forward compatibility. That being said, if you grab a Google Experience device like the Xoom, you won't meet as many surprises.
In Android 3.0, the navigation bar is built-in at a low level, and it is not possible for apps to remove it. Therefore, it is trivial for anyone to break a "software nanny."
I know that it is possible to control android devices remotely, but without knowing your specific needs, I can't really offer more information than that.
Good luck!
iPad NOOO believe me I am a convert to Apple for my home and business but when we went to launch kiosk the iPad FAILED Big Time.. Here are a couple of little (Big) issues we ran into.
If the device reboots you cannot auto launch you iPad app since Apple does not allow that.
There is a serious memory leak in the iPads browser. We were running javascript / CSS3 and it cratered intermittently. I literally spent 2 hours "today" on the phone with Apple getting the MAJOR run around. I finally said let me speak to an Enterprise Sales Manager as my project could mean thousands of iPads and I got NO WHERE. One Apple employee even told me they don't have enterprise sales managers.
If those weren't enough even though we are just in the proof of concept phase, we are already getting request for other options. These other options are going to require access to the OS which Apple yea right. We are moving to Android immediately.
Sorry Apple I love you but you loose here.
If your using an Ipad you should consider if it can support the power for the USB thing. Watch this Using Powered USB Port
Your idea about putting the tablet behind another piece of glass/plastic is neat. To then deal with remote controlling, you might consider doing some Bluetooth programming.
My mobile development has been primarily with iOS, so I am biased toward that SDK. I will mention that the data/sync/charge port for iOS has (I believe) never changed. Your Gen 1 iPhone sync cord works on your iPhone 4... and your iPad or iPad 2. So, in terms of third party hardware, you may see more consistency with Apple.
I haven't found a good answer regarding whether it is easier to do Bluetooth programming for iOS or Android, but I think to stay cost-effective, you might see which one is more open to third-party devices. Here is an SO post/answer about iOS and third-party Bluetooth devices; I've not found anything on Android regarding third-party Bluetooth remotes, but considering a lot of hardware running Android is third-party, your chances from a naive perspective seem pretty good. Here's the Android Bluetooth API.
Buying an iOS or Android handheld to remote control an iOS or Android tablet does seem a bit steep, but then again, maybe not. Cost also depends on your ratio of remotes to tablets. 1:1? 1:N? N:1? N:M?
The lowest end iPod goes for $229 as of May 20, 2011. Android does have more variety in terms of hardware. You may be able to get a cheap Android phone with no service plan to act as a Bluetooth remote for an Android tab.
I have provided a solution for the kiosk mode using iPad here Lock-down iPhone/iPod/iPad so it can only run one app
I am afraid that I don't really know for Android if the same thing is possible.
To address the issue of crashing applications you can use an exception trampoline (see discussion here https://blog.compeople.eu/apps/?p=275) to catch the crash and reboot your app.
If the entire device is restarted however then other apps that are on the device can be started and will subsequently be locked in.
To answer your other points:
You can use a configuration profile to control network access. Force it to use a VPN or Proxy that only allows your custom app with embedded credentials to use. That way other network access can be prevented.
Your concern over future compatibility is spot on. The Android marketplace is so fragmented then maintaining a fleet is difficult.
If you have an app that is behaving as a server and is locked in then remote control is possible.
We manufacture tablet kiosks that support both android and iPad devices. In fact we are the only iPad kiosk that has achieved apple approval.
Generally speaking i think you will have an easier time with an iPad as the software and hardware will remain more consistent over time. Which is important if you have to change out a fault unit or deploy more kiosks 6 months or year from now when the original device is no longer manufactured.
I started developing android applications. And am testing with the android emulator. Do I really need android phone before releasing it for public usage?
Short answer No. You can test and build a android application package with the SDK and an emulator. But I would say there are usually many things which it would be wise to test on a device.
Personally I have noticed that the emulator does not give a good indication of response times for UI controls. It is usually necessary to move functionality which has long processing times into background threads to maintain user interactivity without the 'force close' pop-up. Testing the effectiveness of your UI responsiveness must be done on a phone to be meaningful.
Network connectivity is another aspect which can be vastly different on a phone, 3G or wifi.
Device sizes and Android platform versions can be tested effectively on the emulator.
Some phone allow hot-swapping of the SD card (replacing the SDcard without turning off the phone). I am not sure how to replicate this on the emulator.
There may be many more things which may only become apparent when using your application on a real device. I would strongly suggest to always test under real conditions when feasible for any commercial project.
From a technical perspective there's no reason why you can't develop purely on the emulator. You're not going to be able to test on every available device, so there's always going to be possibility of device specific bugs that you've missed.
However, I'd strongly recommend getting an actual phone to test your application on.
For me the biggest difference between an actual device and the emulator is the difference between using the interface with your fingers and using a mouse. Interactions which make sense in the emulator sometimes don't work as well when you start using touch on the screen. So if you develop purely on an emulator you'll won't lots of little improvements to your UI that would obvious when you used your app on a phone.
You can't feel a real app in your hands until you have a real phone. (I'm telling you as an Android developer)
So, developing w/o real phone is possible, but real phone gives you a lot more experience, fun & usefulness.
It depends on what type of application you're developing, for serious ones you need at least one device to test it on. For complex applications you would need a range of devices, for example with or without hardware keyboard, different navigational button etc. For basic, simple applications you'll probably do fine with just the emulator.
I would imagine with games you would definitely need to test on real devices.
Thanks to you all. I am going to get HTC Legend and test it, so that I can hope that my apps can be used by others :)
You guys suggest me HTC Desire or HTC Legend?