Cactus Album app

[Snowcat]

with thousands of device and OS combinations to support

I know, I am a game designer in a company that makes games for mobile devices, both iOS and Android, so I am very familiar with problems of both platforms

No Android, sorry!

Ahhh too bad, because having both types of devices at work I definitely prefer to use Android for myself.

[adetheproducer]

You need andriod there is a lot of people out there who use it. Dont give apple the monpoly they want.

[AKNicolle]

What Android devices do you guys use? Is it all about Samsung these days, or are there other popular ones overseas?

[Snowcat]

Mine is "third party". Samsung are nice but are TOO expensive and I HATE their screens with those awful colors. But the question is not really the model, the main question is resolution and, the most importantly, screen width to height ratio.

Mine is 16:9, full HD (1980*1020), 4 core ARM 7 CPU (MTK 6589T). Actually, if you still decide to port to Android you can count on using 16:9 ratio and you'll already at least double your audience

[AKNicolle]

I've been busily working on the app, and have a few more screenshots showing where I'm at so far:

Cacti list screen

CactusAlbum_Jan2_Cacti.png (176.64 KiB) Viewed 2571 times

Cacti Info screen

CactusAlbum_Jan2_CactiInfo.png (137.58 KiB) Viewed 2571 times

Cacti Photo screen

CactusAlbum_Jan2_Photo.png (337.8 KiB) Viewed 2571 times

I'm hoping it'll be ready for Beta testing by the end of the month, but might be as late as February if I hit any unforeseen snags.

Send me a message if you'd like to Beta test! Note the app will only be for iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or higher.

[adetheproducer]

Mine is "third party". Samsung are nice but are TOO expensive and I HATE their screens with those awful colors. But the question is not really the model, the main question is resolution and, the most importantly, screen width to height ratio.

Mine is 16:9, full HD (1980*1020), 4 core ARM 7 CPU (MTK 6589T). Actually, if you still decide to port to Android you can count on using 16:9 ratio and you'll already at least double your audience

I got a samsung its full hd these are very popular in uk and HTC with similar specs are very common as they all cost less than iPhone.

[Daniel]

Might just have to buy an iPhone for this... I have a Google Nexus 4 and the Nexus 7 as well. Both great devices and a lot cheaper than their Apple cousins.

[AKNicolle]

Here are a few more screenshots, this time showing the watering schedule screen, along with what the main cacti list looks like when plants need watering. The device will also receive a local notification when one or more watering schedules trigger based on the dates entered. I figure it'd be better to get a notification for the schedule (which is mapped to multiple plants), rather than a notification for every single plant.

Watering schedule screen

CactusAlbum_Preview3_WaterSchedule.png (96.01 KiB) Viewed 2526 times

Cactus list, showing plants due for watering

CactusAlbum_Preview3_Cacti.png (169.07 KiB) Viewed 2526 times

[AKNicolle]

This weekend I completed the app icon for Cactus Album. I went for a more realistic approach, in-keeping with the album theme of my other app, Bonsai Album:

Cactus Album

Cactus Album Icon.png (227.98 KiB) Viewed 2499 times

Now I’m working on the last few features including the iPad interface, CSV import / export, and local notifications for watering. The app should be feature-complete sometime this week, with a Beta test to follow shortly thereafter.

If you've got an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and want to take the Beta version for a spin once it's ready, let me know!

[LophoFan]

This is a great idea. I see that you also have made a few PC apps on your website. Is there any chance you will be making this for PC as well?

[AKNicolle]

The PC apps are works in progress and haven't been released yet. There's a good chance I'll bring Cactus Album to the PC at some point, but it's more likely to be ready for Mac before then.

[JamesEG]

I love this idea too, and you have inspired me to make my own log which I have now done, less things to think about and remember! and it will prevent me from checking the plants and looking at them unnecessarily. I have an android phone (Sony Xperia Z1) so I couldn't get the mobile app, but like LophoFan said, a computer app would be great like your bonsai album app, (I have a mac) and something with notifications that I wouldn't have to check as much would be even easier to use.

[AKNicolle]

Shortly I'll be adding a bunch of species names (scientific + common names) to the app. I was thinking 500-1000 names would pre-populate the list, with the ability to edit these or add more to the list. Is that too much? Too little?

Would it be annoying to scroll through so many names to pick the one you want, or would it be nice to have them there?

I'm curious if I need a better way of selecting the species other than scrolling through a standard iOS picker list.

[LophoFan]

I was thinking that maybe everyone could add genera and species yourself then update with pictures of the plants. Maybe then it could go to some kind of cloud to be downloaded. Then everyone else could do the work for you. I'm not programmer though, so I don't know how difficult that would be.

[melodies]

I would use be using an iPod touch. And I think it is a great idea!