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SmugMug Android app beta
Ben
Vanilla Admin Posts: 513 SmugMug Employee
We got a lot of feedback on Facebook recently that Android users were desperate for an app, and wouldn't mind beta testing said app.
We mean it when we say beta
If you don't mind playing around with admittedly early-beta software, and have an Android phone running at least 2.1, we would really appreciate your feedback. The app isn't ready for wide release yet (you will notice that even some art assets are still missing), so if beta software intimidates you... you should probably hold off at least a week or two.
Why are we releasing a beta in this state?
Due to the varied nature of hardware and software configurations available on the Android platform, we are still running into configuration issues with certain devices. The best way to iron out all of these problems pre-release is to get it into as many different phones as possible, the earlier the better.
We have run the app on a lot of different phones already, but these are QA devices and not heavily used and customized phones. Real Android users will always beat us QA frauds on figuring some of this out.
How do I install?
Go here to download. We are keeping it on the wiki page, so that we can rapidly iterate the app as needed and still have a single location to download it.
How do I report bugs?
Please report them here in this thread. That way other people running the app will see known issues, and we can keep people updated as we fix them. As always, the more details, the better. Phone, Android version, and please double check that you have the latest build we have posted. Thanks!
If you feel technical enough to try and get at crash logs, we would love to get them. Just let us know in your bug report and we will walk you through it. (Eron, the author of the app, is going to write up notes on how to access crash logs and put it on the wiki as well)
What about feature requests or design feedback?
Absolutely. That is one of the reasons we want to get it in use right away. If you think something doesn't work the way it should, speak up. We may not always make the change, but we will definitely listen.
We mean it when we say beta
If you don't mind playing around with admittedly early-beta software, and have an Android phone running at least 2.1, we would really appreciate your feedback. The app isn't ready for wide release yet (you will notice that even some art assets are still missing), so if beta software intimidates you... you should probably hold off at least a week or two.
Why are we releasing a beta in this state?
Due to the varied nature of hardware and software configurations available on the Android platform, we are still running into configuration issues with certain devices. The best way to iron out all of these problems pre-release is to get it into as many different phones as possible, the earlier the better.
We have run the app on a lot of different phones already, but these are QA devices and not heavily used and customized phones. Real Android users will always beat us QA frauds on figuring some of this out.
How do I install?
Go here to download. We are keeping it on the wiki page, so that we can rapidly iterate the app as needed and still have a single location to download it.
How do I report bugs?
Please report them here in this thread. That way other people running the app will see known issues, and we can keep people updated as we fix them. As always, the more details, the better. Phone, Android version, and please double check that you have the latest build we have posted. Thanks!
If you feel technical enough to try and get at crash logs, we would love to get them. Just let us know in your bug report and we will walk you through it. (Eron, the author of the app, is going to write up notes on how to access crash logs and put it on the wiki as well)
What about feature requests or design feedback?
Absolutely. That is one of the reasons we want to get it in use right away. If you think something doesn't work the way it should, speak up. We may not always make the change, but we will definitely listen.
Smug since 2003
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Any plans to make the app available for us early Android adopters? Or is the tech not up snuff?
SmugMug QA
My Photos
You need to first allow your phone to install from an unknown source (or something similar to that) -- Something like the following: Settings -> Applications -> Unknown sources.
Once you have the .apk file, there are many ways to install. You can navigate your browser to the linky with the .apk file. You can copy it to your sd card and install. There are also various apps that allow other methods of installation, e.g. installing from a gmail attachment.
I don't know if this is a request, but more of a suggestion/advice. Check out the app "floating image". this app links up directly to my flickr and gives a sweet "floating" slideshow of my portfolio on my phone. maybe this app can have something similar or a slideshow feature.
either way, thank you very much for doing this.
Oh great magic man ... one thing that really intrigued me with the iPhone app was te geotagging of shots when uploaded. I don't see that in this beta version. Any plans?
Unfortunately, I don't really see us supporting the older versions of Android at this time. Sorry, I know it is a bummer.
I will take a closer look at this today. I am not familiar with how Android geotags their photos, but it should be writing to the metadata. We definitely don't want to be stripping that, so it should just work.
Have you checked in your camera settings on the phone to see whether Geotagging is turned on or off? I know it can be toggled.
As Ben said most Android phones have a built-in mechanism to automatically geotag photos. Typically you'll need to enable some location options in your main phone settings and also enable geotagging in the settings available when running the default camera application for your phone.
If you can't get this to work let me know what kind of phone you have and I'll look into it.
-eron
The app looks very promising, but the interface and navigation is REALLY confusing. And it looks like it distorts the aspect ratio of some images on my Evo 4G running stock 2.2.
My issues:
1. There simply needs to be a button on all screens that will return to the main menu where you can choose a category to view. Right now, you go to "browse" and "change" to change the current category. Rethink this navigation, because it's not intuitive at all.
2. Needs the ability to sort galleries by date or other options.
3. Where is the ability to download photos to the phone memory? Would be great if you can background download a gallery to memory for faster performance or for viewing later. Obviously, you'd optimize the photos for screen viewing by default but we'd need the ability to choose the resolution we want to download.
4. Needs a slideshow option with custom timing, etc. Add Ken Burns effects for extra credit.
5. Ability to modify control panel options on individual galleries would be wonderful. That way, those of us with pro accounts can adjust pricing, etc. remotely.
The "floating image" app is pretty neat. I'm not sure we'll be putting this into our App but a slideshow type feature is certainly a possibility.
Thanks for the feedback - we'll take a look at the aspect ratio problems. Can you email me the URL for an image which is having issues? eron@smugmug.com. Lots of good suggestions - hopefully we'll be able to get them into the app.
I don't trust myself to load an app manually as this one requires, but would love to load an Android app as soon as one is available through the marketplace. Thanks.
Download and install were fast and easy.
Uploads are also fast. I set my digicam to take HD photos to they're not so big and upload quickly. Also saves on my mobile internet bundle
* One wish I already have to be able get a checklist of photos and check a whole bunch to upload. Having to choose from the Gallery is a pain and slow. Esp if I have a series to upload.
I don't know if all Androids use the same dir on the SD card to store photos, but you could let the user pick a location and a quick "upload all" selector... just an idea.
* is it me or is there no option "create gallery"?
one question, if and when its updated, how will we obtain it? same way?
I have shot a video of the app running on my HTC Incredible 2.2
See the video here
To correct myself in the video...when I uploaded the video from the phone to SM I got an error message, but the video did post when I checked it later from my desktop computer, so the error message isn't correct.
Fuji X shooter
Thoughts and Images
I was trying to upload a video and the app tells me that I must have a 'Pro' or 'Power' account to upload a video. I have a Pro account.
Any ideas??
Jarman Photo
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Knoxville, TN SMUG Leader
The password input does not handle the keyboard properly when show suggestions is turned. While you type show suggestions pops up little dialog with word suggestions, but it seems to arbitrarily decide where words end and insert spaces every now and then. Other app's override this behavior, for example the LastPass password application.
http://www.danalphotos.com
http://www.pluralsight.com
http://twitter.com/d114
http://www.danalphotos.com
http://www.pluralsight.com
http://twitter.com/d114
Fuji X shooter
Thoughts and Images
Making it easier to upload a group of photos is one of our higher priority features. There's a few approaches we might take and we haven't started yet but its certainly something we'd like to have.
There is currently no option to create a gallery. We will only be supporting a small subset of the actions available through your control panel on smugmug.com - ideally those which you will need most frequently in a cellphone environment. Less frequently needed tasks will need to be done using your web browser. We'll be adding a button onto the settings screen to quickly take you to your smugmug site using the phone's browser.
Ya, I'll be posting a couple upgrades per week to the wiki. http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Android+Beta+Client
This has been fixed in the latest build: http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Android+Beta+Client
Please let me know if you continue to have problems.
Hello! Super excited about the prospect of being able to contributed to the cause! I am an abstract photographer who can generate a huge amount of images very quickly so my angle is going to be much more focused on the management of a smooth and efficient workflow. So I hope we can work together. :-)
What very few apps provide us today is serious help with managing our assets beyond one at a time. Please focus on helping us rapidly curate our content, manage our keywords, and create custom views based on those keywords.
Suggestion for help curating:
1. Clicking on Upload tab should present you with an a list of optional links to data stores which when clicked will present a set of thumbnails.
1a. Once presented with a thumbnail view, a person should be able click a button to enable multiple selections, else they should be able to click a thumbnail for a fullscreen view of the image.
1a1. Once a group of thumbnails have been selected, there should be functions that can be brought to bear on this selection such as {delete, apply keyword, upload}.
How's this for a start?
I really hope this information is helpful. I will continue to add more if it looks like the time is worth it. Please let me know.
Thanks, respects, and regards,
Steven Boothe (Pro Account: Pictrade)
http://pictrade.net
http://boothefam.com
http://twitter.com/boothefam
All good ideas. After fixing bugs - support for uploading multiple photos is the next thing we'll add. It will likely be a bit of an iterative process - starting with full support for sending multiple photos via the built-in gallery "Share with" option.
Sounds great Eron. Is there a wiki then that I can use as a work bench in which can hammer away at refining a suggested work flow?
Finally, I would argue SmugMug charge $3-$5 for this app to offset the real cost in labor associated with development of this new app and all the requested features that are sure to come, in addition to the cost of providing tech support. In fact it may even be worth considering a subscription fee if we really want to see the app stay viable as a sustainable platform which users can continue to benefit from more and more value and support for over time...
Heck I know it would sure make sense to me to pay for something of real value like this. I'd even apply for the job if there were an opening... a future dream perhaps.
Cool. I'm going to look for that wiki page.
Respect and regards,
Steven Boothe
I must say that thus far I LOVE the Android app, and I can't thank y'all enough for your work to make our lives more fun. I will add that the option the create a gallery seems like a pretty basic task, in fact for me it is often the first thing I do when I log in the the website. If I'm on the road shooting a ton of pics and video with my phone, then it would be very, very handy the be able to create a new gallery and upload to it on the spot, rather than creating a gallery through the browser and going back to the app to upload to that same gallery. So I suppose that this is my plea to the Grinning Gawds and Gawdesses to consider such an option in the app.
Humbly yours,
-some dude with a camera
Thanks for that info about Smugfolio. I went ahead and downloaded the trial version, and here's what I liked about it:
1) When I opened the app, I was immediately brought to a page of my galleries, similar to when I choose my Homepage on SmugMug. SmugMug beta always opens to a *specific* gallery, and then there are a few more steps before I can view the gallery list.
2) In Smugfolio I chose a pic, did a longhold on it, and was given the option to get info on it, read comments, send it, delete it, OR to download it as a wallpaper!
3) The order of the galleries in Smugfolio is the same as on my SmugMug Homepage. Currently SmugMug beta lists the galleries by when I added them, rather than the order in which I've put the galleries. But this may just be a bug.
Things I'm not so hot on with Smugfolio:
1) I can't seem to take a photo on my phone, choose to make a new gallery, and then send it on it's way... I need to create the new gallery first and then populate it (I need to pick a gallery first, choose 'upload', and then snap my shot). I like that the SmugMug app has an Upload button up top above the galleries which then allows me to take a shot or send something already captured. (This stuff seems nit-picky, but I feel that it's worth a mention).
2) Photos load slowly, but it is possible that this is a function of the trial version.
3) I can't figure out how to log out or even force the program to end. I tried the log in options while the app was open, had the option to log-in, but discovered that I hadn't been logged out.
Thanks again for the suggestion!