myLock in Market! Skip the Lock Screen!

[MJ5150]

I'm about to begin assembly of a massive update.....

Yes! This is one of my top five apps on my Droid.

-Mike

 

[slinky]

Sometimes it works, sometimes it just turns off for a reason I can't explain. Don't know if a log makes any sense to send since I dont' know when it turns off and sometimes it seems to come back. I also have my general backlight settings get deleted at random times too and the light will shut off in like 5 seconds. Stuff like this just seems to happen. With the Droid totally clean, nothing running, startup seems to take FOREVER. I don't think I have that many hooks - each time I look it's not many.

Bottom line, Android IMHO is still pretty flaky. May take a few more tries but certainly not 100% there yet. Still I'd take it over the iPHone.

 

[Martin030908]

Android may not be perfect but its far from "flaky".

the log will help the developer see how the os interacts with mylock.

myLock still runs 98% of the time without showing the lock screen.

 

[petjakob]

Slinky, I think what might be happening in your incidental & temporary stops is a handcent glitch. Do you have handcent going?

Martin - I've been counting on you as my main promoter. Are you still rocking a1? Or did you move up to the market ver once we got the handcent workaround worked out?

I think the stability & performance of the update for it that I'm about done with will be good for you. I'm a few downloads from passing 800 active users, so I know we have solid performance with only rare malfunctions.

 

[slinky]

I only just installed Handcent two days ago. I've had MyLock disable itself for reasons I can't explain. I discovered how the phone kept going into silent mode thanks to the ringerlock or whatever app it's called - the poorly designed side volume buttons. But the backlight settings being deleted so frequently? A few times a week the icons on the home screen disappearing? Several times a week messages of process.google.apps or whatever going on?

Please... don't insist the Android system isn't flaky. It's so obvious that denail is a poor way to defend it. It's like the Palm OS only much earlier. Unless the OS is solid and applications are written solidly, all sorts of things will fly all over the place.

As it stands right now, without anything installed adn with replacements, I don't get that com.process.google.whatever error I used to get too often so taht it was noticeable. perhaps some hook is replacing code that used to run. I don't know. But Android is still glitchy and to be expected to some degree.

I'm hoping that 2.1 will provide stability and build in some options that should have been in the OS but require hacks. Stuff like myLock should have been built into the OS from day one. It's rather inane that it isn't there. An option for an answer/deny button or swipe is another option that should have been extremely obvious. Having a dock on the app screens that includes the phone icon and common phone functions (that you can turn on and off) is another head slapper when you don't have a dedicated phone button. Live wallpapers... I can't believe I keep hearing about it.

But this thread is about myLock. Great app, I use it, glad when it works which is most of the time. I do get some weird screen (I see numberst hat look like a clock) that flash for an instant before the lockscreen goes away but that is what it is (I think it's mylock.)

 

[petjakob]

Hey slinky, then it sounds like you're using the complete test release. If you send me a log it could really help me see what is going wrong with yours. I have seen one particular failure that happens if you are trying to wake it back up after the timeout sleep, and manage to press the key at the exact 5 second mark when myLock is trying to kick in the lockscreen interaction, it will fail and you will have a regular lockscreen come up.

my goal is to provide the best lockscreen replacement and modification utility possible for free through user feedback and suggestions.

 

[MJ5150]

If I had any problems with this app, I would send you my log file. Happily for me, I have never had one single problem with any version of myLock.

My only "complaint" is I don't like the icon. I tried opening the APK, changing the icons, and reinstalling, but I broke the app and had to re-install it.

-Mike

 

[slinky]

Hey slinky, then it sounds like you're using the complete test release. If you send me a log it could really help me see what is going wrong with yours. I have seen one particular failure that happens if you are trying to wake it back up after the timeout sleep, and manage to press the key at the exact 5 second mark when myLock is trying to kick in the lockscreen interaction, it will fail and you will have a regular lockscreen come up.

my goal is to provide the best lockscreen replacement and modification utility possible for free through user feedback and suggestions.

1. I'll send you the log later and thanks.

2. Best suggestion I can make. Icon is green when enabled and red when disabled. I see the icon in the bas but when I go to prefs it says mylock is disabled.

3. I'll check on version but the market hasn't told me that another version has been released to update. I will see what I am running.

 

[slinky]

Hey slinky, then it sounds like you're using the complete test release. If you send me a log it could really help me see what is going wrong with yours. I have seen one particular failure that happens if you are trying to wake it back up after the timeout sleep, and manage to press the key at the exact 5 second mark when myLock is trying to kick in the lockscreen interaction, it will fail and you will have a regular lockscreen come up.

my goal is to provide the best lockscreen replacement and modification utility possible for free through user feedback and suggestions.

1. I'll send you the log later and thanks.

2. Best suggestion I can make. Icon is green when enabled and red when disabled. I see the icon in the bas but when I go to prefs it says mylock is disabled. Also option to hide icon altogether.

3. I'll check on version but the market hasn't told me that another version has been released to update. I will see what I am running.

 

[petjakob]

Well, most people just don't want the icon at all. I've found it is highly unlikely that it is necessary. All it does is keep the myLock mediator alive in case of low memory where the system starts looking for something to temporarily close. In earlier versions it was very critical to prevent stoppage because of the older lockscreen-interacting tools in the SDK were inflexible and failure would mean the app would not work again till the phone was rebooted, even if force quit or reinstalled. I have plenty of users who never use the icon Persistent mode and have told me it is always very reliable for them. So if you don't like having it, flip it off by unchecking Persistent mode. I'm going to continue to leave the option in and make it up to the user. I am going to implement a toggle style button however which will display the status within the settings activity.

BTW: I gladly accept submissions of any and all content-- from code, to feature ideas, to icons, and so on. This project is open source, ideally meaning anyone who would like to should contribute.

 

[petjakob]

Market updated

any objections? perhaps users which had some issues could retry this one and let me know if we're on target here?

If you have some critical problem, help me out by emailing me the details. You can revert to the alpha 2c if you need to by downloading it: http://mylockforandroid.googlecode.com/files/myLock_alpha2c.apk

Head to the blog for full list of revisions and improvements

 

[MJ5150]

Can I swap out the icons on that APK for ones I want?

-Mike

 

[petjakob]

Also, I need some icons for the widget button, as I'm taking priority to update all versions also so the widget can turn the service on and off.. so I need an icon/design that would mean when you click the button, you're locking down the phone with the lockscreen, and one for the opposite meaning you're engaging myLock and pausing pattern security. that's the idea. right now i'm pushing the update into the market with just the plain icon on it.

 

[Matth3w]

Is there a list of changes? Just curious if you got around to fixing the part where the program would basically get disabled after a call, etc.

 

[petjakob]

Yep, I went ahead and put together a new post at the blog. Link has been added to post above.

Would you like to make some icons for the app? I don't have the time or the talent graphically.