New Speed Dial Widget - Sign

[Simply Applied]

Also just received our second "official" review, rjax's on this site was the first real review.

We’re really excited about the recent review of Sign from the team at Best Android Apps Review, a great resource for discovering new apps. Some highlights from the review!

“Saves plenty of time and effort”

“Faster and more efficient”

“beautiful implementation”

Go read the full review of Sign and other apps at their website: Best Android Apps Review.

[Simply Applied]

Just wanted to post an update with a couple of reviews that I missed earlier.

This earlier review by mic_888 on xda was from shortly after the release in July.

xda developers


For those not familiar with the xda Developers website/forum, its another great resource (like Droid Forums!) for all things Android and Windows Mobile. Definitely check it out, especially if you have any questions or problems with your Android or Windows Mobile device.


Also, Android Phone Geek posted a great review of Sign last week, that we somehow missed. David Wasserman, aka The Android Phone Geek, does a great job of providing keen insight into the Android community and we’re really happy that he took the time to try out Sign and provide a fantastic review.

Anyways, wanted to pass these along and thank both mic_888 and David for their reviews.

[HEMLOCK]

Im not really sure if this has anything to do with Sign since it does work great, but when i go into my contacts with this app, each contact is displayed 6 times?? Makes no sense to me.

Either way, great job on this app dev! Was happy to pay the low price for a useful tool like this!

[Simply Applied]

Im not really sure if this has anything to do with Sign since it does work great, but when i go into my contacts with this app, each contact is displayed 6 times?? Makes no sense to me.

Either way, great job on this app dev! Was happy to pay the low price for a useful tool like this!

HEMLOCK:

Thanks for buying Sign! We're happy to hear you're enjoying it. As far as it pulling in the same persons name multiple times, we're looking into handling the list of contacts differently. Sign doesn't currently maintain a completely separate database of the contacts, instead pulling in that data as needed. When we added the ability to sync with EAS contacts, it appears that some 3rd party EAS programs like to pull in and sync with your personal and business contacts, creating their own "complete" database of contacts.

Currently, Sign pulls in from all of these databases. So for instance, if you have a friend with a home and mobile number in your google account contacts. And you also that same contact in your Microsoft Exchange list of contacts with a work number and a direct line, and your EAS program syncs with your google account and adds the mobile and home numbers into its own database, Sign now sees all of those numbers and pulls them into the list of contacts, so you would see 6 total numbers - 2 home, 2 mobile, 1 work, 1 direct line.

This doesn't affect how Sign works, but we're looking at reworking the gesture entry interface and utilizing our own database or changing how Sign assembles the data to avoid this issue.

One thing I discovered is that your Google account can also sync with some of these EAS contact systems and add the EAS contacts to your Google Account contact list. I had this happen and ended up with a lot of work contacts in my personal Google contact list, which I didn't want. So in the above example, now the work numbers would also be repeated because that data has been added to the Google Account contacts.

This isn't a Sign issue, but it is worth checking your accounts and settings to ensure your contact "syncing" isn't adding contacts where you don't want them.

Thanks again for the nice feedback. We are currently repairing a couple of other small bugs, but we also have numerous cool features we are looking at adding after we fix those issues.

SA

[mikejody]

Greetings,

I'm interested in trying this out but could not find the free version in the market. I use Slidescreen on my Droid 2 which is a homescreen replacement. I'm wondering if Sign would work the same way on Slidescreen as with the factory homescreen.

Also, what wold the exact steps be to call or text somebody? Is it like this:

1. Find and open Sign
2. Accomplish the sign connected to their contact info.

If we could somehow eliminate step 1 above, I know I would get this for sure. If I could just draw a sign on my homescreen at any time it would be wonderful. But if we have to go looking for the app, open it, then do the sign, I would stick with my current speed dial app.

Thank you.

[andd64]

Hi SimplyApplied,

I have two feature requests - a. Open the default text messaging app instead of the stock one. E.g. I have HandcentSMS which has been set to default, but Sign opens the stock text app instead of that. And b. Can you include a quick email feature? In addition to the call and text?

Thanks,
Andrew

[Simply Applied]

and:

Sorry I didn't see this and respond earlier. To have Sign open up a different texting application you will have to clear the Sign defaults. From your homescreen, hit your menu button>applications>manage applications>Sign>Clear defaults.

That will clear the defaults for Sign and the next time you try to send a text, it should ask you which program you want to use. Please let us know if that doesn't work and we will look into the issue.

We are looking at expanding Signs functionality, which includes opening email, other applications, and other shortcuts. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Simply Applied]

Greetings,

I'm interested in trying this out but could not find the free version in the market. I use Slidescreen on my Droid 2 which is a homescreen replacement. I'm wondering if Sign would work the same way on Slidescreen as with the factory homescreen.

Also, what wold the exact steps be to call or text somebody? Is it like this:

1. Find and open Sign
2. Accomplish the sign connected to their contact info.

If we could somehow eliminate step 1 above, I know I would get this for sure. If I could just draw a sign on my homescreen at any time it would be wonderful. But if we have to go looking for the app, open it, then do the sign, I would stick with my current speed dial app.

Thank you.

I'm not familiar with Slidescreen as an alternative homescreen. However, Sign works on a variety of other launchers and alternative homescreens, so I don't think there would be an issue with slidescreen. Sign can be added as an application or as a widget, so it should be able to be added to lock screen replacements like Widget Locker, as well as to any homescreen, and even to replacement home "docks" like the ones on ADW Launcher or Launcher Pro.

We have had people who couldn't locate the paid version of Sign; however, that is due to their location and Google's restriction on paid apps in some countries. I'm not aware of any reason you wouldn't be able to find the free versions; however, we will be happy to send you the APK for the free version. Please send us an e-mail at simplyapplied@gmail.com.

One thing we considered was removing the requirement to activate Sign and make it work all the time. There are several challenges with this; however. The two primary issues are that since the screen is touchscreen and that is how the user interacts with the phone, it would be relatively easy to accidentally draw a "Sign" and have the phone identify it and initiate a call/text. This could be alleviated with a smaller "widget" which we have looked at doing. However, by having the widget always "active" and ready to receive input, it would have to be running, which would drain the battery. Having a minimal impact on the phone's performance and battery life is something that was a prime consideration in creating Sign.

That being said, we are still looking at implementing auto-detect in the future. Thanks for your interest in Sign.

[andd64]

Hi SimplyApplied,

I tried that, but the "Clear Defaults" button was unclickable. I'm using Sign Lite, maybe that's why?

[Simply Applied]

Hi SimplyApplied,

I tried that, but the "Clear Defaults" button was unclickable. I'm using Sign Lite, maybe that's why?

Now that I think about it, I believe the "default" setting lies with the application that is being launched. If it is launching the stock messaging app, clear the defaults for the stock messenger just the same as you attempted to do for Sign. That should work and Sign will ask which program you want to set as default for texts the next time you try to send a text.

Let us know if that works - I just tried it and that worked on mine.

Thanks,

SA