Apodidae

We’re preparing for the updated (1.2) release of Barcode Assistant.

This build (.72) has enhancements and bug fixes including:

• Create color barcodes – Choose a color from the Settings screen. Barcodes displayed full screen will be in color.
• Ability to delete an entry from the history screen. Previously, you could only delete all history.
• When viewing data, you can now display the full-screen barcode by scrolling up to the barcode thumbnail (or clicking on the barcode on Storm and Torch).

Beta versions are available for all devices running OS 5.0 and BB6. Currently there isn’t a device-detector set up on the website, so select your version below:

BB6 High-Resolution – Torch, Bold 97xx, Style running BB6.

BB6 – 320×240 – Curve 93xx running BB6.

OS 5.0 High Resolution – Bold (97xx, 96xx), Tour, Storm, Pearl 3G running OS 5.0.

OS 5.0 – 320×240 – Curves (93xx, 85xx) running OS 5.0.

We’re working on 4.6 and 4.7 versions as well and hope to have those ready for beta testing soon.

After releasing Barcode Assistant two weeks ago on Mobihand (and just one week on App World), there have been over 20,000 downloads!

We are so thankful for everyone who has downloaded Barcode Assistant! There are so few barcoding apps for BlackBerry, and hopefully Barcode Assistant is filling that gap . The fact that you can create barcodes with Barcode Assistant has probably been the biggest item we’ve heard back about.

Over these past two weeks, we’ve received approximately 30 support requests (less than 1%). We take pride in responding to every support request, and we have found some repeating requests from most of the support questions. I thought I would address those issues here to hopefully help others who may have the same issues:

BlackBerry Bold 9700

• The Bold 9700 running OS 5.0 doesn’t seem to like the default camera setting (640×480). Barcode Assistant does have the option to change the camera resolution on the settings screen. By changing the camera resolution to 1024×768, people have been reporting that the camera/scans work on the 9700. In the next update, the 9700 will default to 1024×768.

BlackBerry Devices Running BB6

• A great feature of BB6 is automatically scanning barcodes. The problem people have had with scanning barcodes has mainly been due to being too close to the barcode. The scan uses pattern recognition to find the barcode, and uses the camera’s autofocus while searching. While the scan is active, the LED blinks red. If the LED stops blinking, then it isn’t searching anymore. The most common reason is that the camera can’t focus on the image (being too close). Simply moving the BlackBerry slowly away from the barcode seems to reactivate the scanning process and captures the image.

BlackBerry Curves

• The Curve doesn’t have autofocus. This means that the image has to be in focus on the screen prior to pressing a button and capturing the image (OS 5.0). If using BB6 on a 93xx Curve, the scan is still automatic, but still needs the image to be in focus by moving the Curve away from the barcode.
• Changing the camera resolution to 1024×768 seems to help Curves (OS 5.0) as well. Since the Curve has to be far enough away to focus on the barcode, using a larger image to process helps have enough detail to process.

Hit or Miss Scanning (5.0)

This is one of those things I have heard from some of the forums. It seems to be only a problem with 5.0, and there is a reason for that.

OS 5.0 only allows us to process a captured image. Pressing the trackpad/trackball/screen activates autofocus, then captures one single image for processing. A scan can fail for several reasons:

• The image is not in focus (common for Curves).
• The image is skewed and doesn’t look square (shooting at an angle).
• The image is at an angle (rotated) and is not straight on the screen.
• The image has too much contrast or looks overexposed (usually from scanning another BlackBerry screen).

All it takes is something to interfere with the quality of the scanned image causing the scan to fail. While testing the 4.6 OS version on a Pearl Flip, it took many many tries to get an image to scan. Quite often, the image was out of focus, or the white sections flared over the darker sections of the barcode. The image quality was awful. I had to make sure the light around me was bright enough to get a good quality image, and that the screen I was scanning didn’t overpower the dark parts of the barcode. The Pearl Flip also doesn’t have autofocus, so I had to make sure I was far enough away for the barcode to be in focus – I was capturing around 12″ away to get a good scan (using 1024×768).

With BB6, the scanning process is automatic. It uses the video camera to capture multiple images. Individual frames are scanned for the barcode over and over until a successful scan has been recorded. By the time it finds a successful scan, it may have process several images that have failed (you just don’t see the failed frames).

Hopefully these tips help those who were having problems getting scans to work. The very low number of support requests tells us we have created a product that has been well received.

THANK YOU to everyone who has downloaded Barcode Assistant! We’re working on an update to include some feature requests, as well as supporting more devices (and possibly OS 4.6 & 4.7). Don’t forget to follow us on twitter for news and announcements about upcoming versions and other applications!

Apodidae now has a discussion forum on CrackBerry.com! We want to do what we can to make using our products as easy as possible. We’ll be posting tips, hints, and answering questions about our software products there.

Stop on by and say “Hi”!

Barcode Assistant v1.0 has been approved for inclusion in BlackBerry App World! We’re excited to see Barcode Assistant showing up at many different application portals! App World is probably the most used app store for BlackBerry, and we’re excited to see it showing up there!

If you don’t see it on your device yet, please be patient as it propagates through their system. It should be available to everyone within the next day or so. You can also look at the application information on their web portal.

Barcode Assistant is available for devices running OS 5.0 and BB6. We are currently looking at supporting older OS versions.

StormOTA.com

Barcode Assistant v1.0 is now available for download on StormOTA.com.

StormOTA.com caters to apps and information related to the BlackBerry Storm devices. With Barcode Assistant being available for the Storm, we are honored to have our app available through them!

You can find apps and more BlackBerry information on their website – not just about the BlackBerry Storm, but pretty much all current BlackBerry models.

Click here to view Barcode Assistant on StormOTA.com, or scan the barcode to view the download page.

Would you like to see Barcode Assistant in another language? So would we!

We’re currently looking to localize Barcode Assistant. If you would like to help us convert the English buttons, prompts and wording, follow us on twitter or facebook, then send us a message letting us know which language you can help with. As a “thank you”, we’ll give you a copy of one of our upcoming paid products (since Barcode Assistant is free)!

The Barcode Assistant v1.0 is now available!

For more information, head on over to the MobiHand website. We have also submitted to App World and will post that link once approved!

Mobile devices can go to this link to view and download, or scan this barcode.

Versions include both BB6 and 5.0 devices.

The Barcode Assistant beta is now open! Versions include BlackBerry devices running BB6 and OS 5 operating systems. If you installed the previous BB6 beta, make sure to reboot after updating.

Please remember that these are beta versions. We hope to finalize these versions soon for submission to App World in the very near future!

We have a beta discussion thread open on Facebook, as well as on Crackberry.com.

Barcode Assistant for BlackBerry devices running the BB6 operating system has now gone into beta!

Barcode Assistant scans and creates QR (2D) barcodes from within the app, as well as being integrated with the BlackBerry Calendar, Address Book, Tasks, and native web browser!

Check out our Barcode Assistant page for more information.

If you have a BlackBerry running on BB6 and would like to be a beta tester, follow us on Twitter and send us a request. We’ll be sending links out through twitter, along with updates!

We’re currently working on the OS5 version, so if you don’t have a BB6 device yet, don’t fret, we’ll have something for OS5 devices in the near future!

Apodidae is the genome for a bird called the Swift. The swift is one of the five fastest birds in existence. Our goal is create mobile software that works fast and efficiently on multiple platforms. With that, we felt that the swift was a perfect representation for what we want to achieve.

Swift Mobile Software