FlyScreen Blog

It’s that time of the year again! (Almost) the entire mobile industry gets together for four days at the Mobile World Cngress in Barcelona. And you better believe Team FlyScreen will be there! We don’t have a booth, but will be floating around. If you’d like to meet with us, just drop us a line (mwc@myflyscreen.com) or hit us up on twitter! (@flyscreen).

Co-founder Itamar Weisbrod will also be speaking at the MOTODEV panel, on Monday 15th at 11:30 am.

Details here: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/exhibition/app_planet.htm

See you in Barcelona!

-Team FlyScreen

Back in December, we soft launched our integration with TuneWiki, offering Android’s first music controller right from your lock screen. Since then, our teams have been busy squashing some bugs, FlyScreen underwent a major UI upgrade, and a lot of under-the-hood screw tightening.

Today, TuneWiki has rolled out a message to all their Android users announcing the cooperation. TuneWiki users will be able to download FlyScreen directly, and enjoy this awesome integration.

ROCK ON!

We’re very excited to have partnered with TuneWiki on this, and look forward to offering FlyScreen users many more exciting integrations in the very near future! (hint, hint)

Enjoy!

-Team FlyScreen

Yesterday, we offered some people a preview of FlyScreen for Android v1.6. We did quite an overhaul on several levels, so we’re looking to have it crowd-tested just a bit more before the market release. The response was so overwhelming, we felt the need to make a proper beta testing group. The main issue is that we’re happy to have many people test and provide feedback, but since the regular updates still run through the Android App Market, we want to make sure we have a proper list of testers so we can let everyone know when to go re-download through the market again!

So to join the FlyScreen for Android Beta group, sign up for it here (see update below).

(*by signing up, you’re acknowledging that you’ll receive emails from us when there’s a need to re-download from the market)

Enjoy!

-Team FlyScreen

**UPDATE- JANUARY 18th**

Due to the great response we got, we decided to set up a proper Google Group to keep it organized. We added a signup on the right side of the blog, or you can

Enjoy!

-Team FlyScreen

Here at Team FlyScreen, we aim to provide the absolute best user experience possible. Our Android version of FlyScreen has been a great success, about to hit the 50,000-250,000 downloads category, and currently powering over 225,000 widgets since launch!

However, there are times that we don’t have access to certain things that would make the FlyScreen for Android experience even better. Since FlyScreen is a lock screen replacement, it’s a much more integrated experience and there are a few areas that we’d like to tighten the screws a bit more. Close to 90% of our not-so-positive feedback relate to issues that could be easy fixes, but that we just don’t have access to. Yet.

Until now.

We have decided to call upon our awesome FlyScreenation to help spread the word to the powers-that-be, that FlyScreen should get access to certain things for better integration. For example- some devices have camera keys tat could activate FlyScreen by accident. We’d love to find a simple way of shutting that off to greatly reduce the number of accidental clicks.

“So how can I help?” you’re asking yourselves, no doubt. Well, we’ve made it very easy.

Introducing our Tweet your Beef campaign! Simply choose the network/OEM that you’d like to help reach out to, then choose your specific issue, and Tweet! That’s it!

We have never asked for donations, and FlyScreen is still free. All we ask is for our lovely community to tweet out some love to the ones who can help us a bit more- and in the end, will hopefully make the FlyScreen experience better for YOU!

If there are any more options you’d like to see (either for more OEM’s/Networks or problems you’d like solved), then please tell us here in the comments!

Thanks!!

-Team FlyScreen

Today we released FlyScreen for Android v1.5, featuring one of our favourite features yet- a MUSIC WIDGET!!

We have partnered with TuneWiki for this incredible integration. Now you can control your music right from your lock screen! Also included in the TuneWiki widget are three direct link buttons, linking you directly into TuneWiki. There are links to your music library (featuring TuneWiki’s famous lyrics display), videos, and music maps. And this is just version one of the TuneWiki widgets- more features are on their way!

FlyScreen for Android v1.5 is now in the market, and the TuneWiki widget requires the latest version of TuneWiki, also available now in the market.

Enjoy!

-Team FlyScreen

**Update: Thanks to TechCrunch (and Mike Butcher) for the post!! http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/12/16/tunewiki-hits-nokia-store-and-integrates-with-flyscreen/

That’s right! We rolled out a brand-spanking new Google Reader widget today!

It’s a first version, and we’ll be adding support for more Google reader functionality soon. Let’s call this G-reader widget v1.0

So everyone should go into the Android App Market and download FlyScreen version 1.3.5 now!!

Enjoy!

-Team FlyScreen

(Note: FlyScreen for Symbian and versions on Android lower than 1.3.5 will not run this widget. For Android users, simply upgrade. For Symbian, we’re sorry, but will need a bit more time!)

About a month ago, AndroidGuys.com had a great post asking “What’s on your FlyScreen?”

So we thought it would be interesting to find out how Team FlyScreen rocks the FlyScreen!

Part 1 of this 7 part series features our awesome designer, Anna!.

So Anna, what’s on your FlyScreen?

• Calendar
• Twitter
• Facebook
• NME
• Accuweather
• Engadget Mobile
• FlyScreen Blog

“I too would love a music widget. Itamar, get working on it!”

Fascinating!

Stay tuned for Part 2- who will it be? DJ? Justin? Only time will tell… In the meantime, what’s on your FlyScreen??

Wow- we’re so excited that we’ve been voted into ADC2 round 2! The competition is fierce, and we’re honoured to have even gotten this far.

Check out the list of the other 199 here: http://code.google.com/android/adc/adc2_top200.html

Everyone please bear in mind that since we aren’t allowed to update the version submitted to ADC2, it’s a relatively old version of FlyScreen being tested. We certainly have advanced since, and it wasn’t even built to work on Donut 1.6 then. So these issues aside, we still encourage everyone to download the ADC2 app and vote for FlyScreen!

Thanks again!!

-Team FlyScreen

Since we opened our first API for 3rd party themes support two days ago, we have seen a great response from our new, beloved developer community. The guys at ModMyFlyScreen were excited to create the first batch, and from what we hear from them, downloads have already topped 3K and growing! It’s really cool seeing community involvement in FlyScreen, and to think, this all started two months ago when they starting hacking away at our graphics right after we launched FlyScreen for Android into private beta.

What’s particularly touching is a theme they created yesterday called “Think Pink”, which is a premium theme on sale in the Android App Market, and the creators say all proceeds will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

This is a beautifully designed theme too, and proceeds are going to a great cause. When I asked Chris from ModMyFlyScreen why he created this theme, he told me:

“My fiance’s entire family has a very bad history of breast cancer so I’ve spent a lot of time in as many ways as I can supporting the fight for the cure (walks, donations, even the pink ribbon on my cars).

Kudos to you Chris and the team! I really hope many people download the theme and support the cause!

We’re very happy that our first API is being used for a good cause, and we think everyone should go check out the documentation and give it a try! This is only the beginning for our API strategy. Over the coming weeks, there will be some major API advancements, opening up a lot more possibilities for both users and publishers. It’s very exciting, so stay tuned!

Here are some of my personal favourites, along with a sneak peak of one under development that is, well, Super-fly

**Update: Here is a video preview of the theme. Enjoy!**

Yes, we know you love the colourful background FlyScreen has. In fact, we know you think at times it might be a tad too awesome. So to fix this problem, we are pleased to announce FlyScreen for Android v1.2.0, which will now support 3rd party themes! (applause).

Awesome right? So how do I get me some of those?

Our friends at ModMyFlyscreen have generously provided the first batch of themes, available in the Android App Market now! Just search for “FlyScreen” and brand new themes will appear.

How can I make my own? Excellent question! In honour of the FlyScreen themes support, we have created our first API, documented here: http://flyscreen.pbworks.com/

So if you’re a designer, Android developer, and/or FlyScreen enthusiast, give the API a whirl!

And in the spirit of customer support, we have set up a new Twitter account, specifically for API questions: @flyscreenAPI

What else is new in this release?

• SMS Widget will update names upon arrival.
• Major battery enhancements.
• More updating messages so you know what’s going on. (i.e. “Contacting server,” “Generating widgets,” etc.)
• General bug fixes.

That’s it for now, but there’s much more to come! We’re really looking forward to seeing what kind of themes people will create!

Enjoy!

-Team FlyScreen