[Android] MP App Concept (1 Viewer)

[DieBagger]

I recently installed winamp for android and absolutely loved their user interace. I think it's one of the best implementations of android user interface available atm!

I also think that this concept would really fit well for an MP Android App as well. The principle is that you have a home-screen with icons for the major screens of the app (e.g. Remote, Music, Pictures, Videos, TV, Plugins) in a 2x3 matrix. For my concept I took the icons from Blue3 BasicHome screens (slightly modified) which I think would fit great as home icons. When the user rotates the screen into landscape the icons can be rearranged into a 3x2 raster with left/middle/right icons like in B3 BasicHome.

On the bottom you have a quick-access bar with a)most importants controls for controlling music/videos/tv (playlist, pause, next, prev,...) and b) a so called slidingdrawer. The user can drag this slidingdrawer to the top to reveil a "now playing" screen. This screen displays information on the currently playing item (e.g. artist/song info for music, epg for tv, ...). This slidingdrawer can be accessed from every screen.

The icons bring you to different sections of the app from which the user can always return by pressing the home button in the quick-access bar (bottom right).

That's it for now with the concept, enjoy the photoshop mockups:



More on the different section at another time.

 

[kiwijunglist]

Nice concept I really like it

I'm quite interested in the development of an android remote.

To further develop on yours ideas:

re: quick access bar's playlist button

If current media = music , playlist button shows music playlist
If current media = live tv , playlist button shows tv channels mini guide style list
If current media = video , playlist button shows video playlist*

Your thoughts??

*Not sure if video playlist is useful, maybe, not sure if below is possible within mediaportal as I'm not sure if you can detect what plugin triggered a video to play, so the below idea might by irrelevant.
If current media = video from moving pictures , playlist button shows moving pictures, movie list
If current media = video from my tv series , playlist button shows tv series, series list.
If current media = video from my videos , playlist button shows list of videos in last directory browsed???

 

[Spragleknas]

Looks great!
Glad you can find time to develop this further! (?)

 

[Mike Lowrey]

Looks really good! Do you plan to make the app theme able(e.g. changing the icons?).

 

[DieBagger]

I think we should design the app in a way that allows skinning, yes...

But tbh I haven't yet done anything like that (additional themes for an app) for android so I'll have to look into this.

 

[codemann]

I'm loving all these ideas... Keep us posted mate!

 

[kiwijunglist]

Just an idea draggable the menu bar to access controls/settings.

Choose which tv server the android remote will control
Choose which mp client the android remote will control
- This will influence which database the remote will use as well
Sleep & Wake clients or servers by sending a wake on lan network message or triggering s3 sleep
Remote control - the idea behind this is not every plugin will be supported by the remote control, therefore you need an on screen remote that has the following functions: Arrow Keys , OK/ENTER , Back , F9 context menu , Home key (for client) , RWD/FFWD , Play/Pause/Stop/Rec , Prev/Next , Ch+/Ch- , Vol+/Vol- , ?Delete key/0. Pressing the hardware back key will return the android application back to the screen that it was on prior to dragging down the top menu.
Keyboard - Full qwerty and 0-9 keyboard. Pressing the hardware back key will return the android application back to the screen that it was on prior to dragging down the top menu.
Settings - self explanatory

The advantage of a draggable menu is you can access it anywhere within the application and then easily return to the previous screen. It would allow quick access to keyboard or remote from any screen and easily be able to return to that previous screen.

 

[DieBagger]

The problem I see with a second slidingdrawer on top of the app is that you already have the android slider on top of the screen. So you'll probably end up always selecting the wrong one...

 

[kiwijunglist]

yup i wondered about that too, the other idea is a top menu or popup menu slides down with a press of the hardware menu button. btw - your concept should have a wifi signal on the status bar at the top, otherwise your concept will never be able to connect

 

[DieBagger]

yup i wondered about that too, the other idea is a top menu or popup menu slides down with a press of the hardware menu button. btw - your concept should have a wifi signal on the status bar at the top, otherwise your concept will never be able to connect

I'm too cool for wifi, I'm doing it all over 3g