In call Warnings

pcb007 · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 20, 2004 Posts: 122

Love this app, but it has 1 annoying habit (something in common with most sat nav software at the moment.) I have this installed on a Samsung galaxy S3 which obviously is a smartphone. Therefore to me its logical that when on a phone call the conversations takes precedence, however cameraalert constantly warns me of cameras which on particular road close to me makes a conversation pointless. Is there anyway its possible to mute cameraalert during a call or at least have an option for those who want to mute and those who Dont want to mute. Its for this reason i always mute the sound on my sat nav, all sat nav apps seem to exhibit the same situation. Or is this a problem with the Android system, if so someone needs to address that problem because to me its a phone 1st and a sat nav /cameraalert second.

M8TJT · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:32 am Post subject:

I would have thought that when you are on a phone call and your attention is distracted from driving (proven fact), the alerts would be more appropriate than when paying full attention to driving by not being on the phone.
But that's only my take on it.

pcb007 · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 20, 2004 Posts: 122

Off course its a proven fact just like fiddling with the radio, lighting a cigarette eating, drinking any distraction other then total concentration on driving will distract. That's why i go to the expense of fitting Bluetooth in the car to minimise the distraction as much as possible. But its even more distracting when you are on a call and and you get the warnings cutting into the conversation, thats also a proven fact by me.

Andy_P · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:15 pm Post subject:

My feeling is that if I install a system to warn me of things, then I want to be warned, irrespective of what else I'm doing.

Taking it to silly extremes I certainly wouldn't want a fire alarm to keep quiet if I was on the phone!
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MaFt · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:20 pm Post subject:

If all the other apps do this then it may be something we can't do within Android. We will, however, look into it to see if we can 'mute app audio' during a call.

MaFt

pcb007 · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 20, 2004 Posts: 122

Thank you for a reply that i was looking for. I really didn't start the topic for people to give their personal preferences, i started it here because I thought it was the correct place to post for questions to do with technical questions. I know people prefer different ways which is why I suggested an option to have it on or off during a call. I also understand as a programmer myself tho not with Android, that the may not be an api you can call to implement this, even Google own sat nav doesn't mute,. But thanks at least for looking into it. I do have to say apart from that little niggle it us an extremely useful and we'll thought out app.

MaFt · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 2:30 pm Post subject:

OK, I've been chatting with Code Monkey about this and the most logical method is NOT to detect when the phone has an active call but instead to see when it is not 'off the hook'.

Checking for the phone being off the hook doesn't require any new permissions either.

Before making ay alerts we can check if the phone is off the hook; if it is then we can play the alert as normal. If it is NOT off the hook (i.e. a call is in place) then we can change the alert to a gentle 'ding ding' to announce the alert without being too overbearing.

Would this work for you?

MaFt

Andy_P · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 2:52 pm Post subject:

MaFt · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 2:58 pm Post subject:

Ah, but to be fair to pcb007, M8TJT's reply wasn't so much of a "I prefer to keep the full warnings" reply, was it?

MaFt

MaFt · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 3:02 pm Post subject:

Anyway, it seems that this could be a unique selling point and chance to one-up Google Nav (among others) Wink

AliOnHols · Pocket GPS Verifier Joined: Oct 15, 2008 Posts: 1942

Sorry pcb007 & MaFt, I'm with M8TJT & Andy_P on this. When CamerAlert first came out it was perfect. Simple to use and reliable. I don't find it so now since many "improvements" have been made to appease individuals who appear to be unable to multi-task. Slide, Tap or Switch On/Off.

Although I have checked and double checked my settings on the latest version I do not get warned of some cameras as I drive by, some warnings get cut short, it sometimes switches itself off when in the background, just to name a few. As an app specifically to warn about SpeedCameras, they are bordering on major fails in my book.

I have vowed not to "upgrade" to any further versions. In fact I would welcome access to a repository to be able to choose from legacy versions to establish where I was most happy with CamerAlert. But I guess this is against Google's rules.

Please don't take this as criticism, I value the work you do & I wouldn't want to be without CamerAlert but nostalgia is beginning to creep in.
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M8TJT · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 4:27 pm Post subject:

MaFt · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 4:40 pm Post subject:

STOP IT! PLEASE!!!

He's asked for a feature, it's something that can be done and won't require any extra settings in the app - so what's the issue?!

MaFt

GerryC · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 4:55 pm Post subject:

Er MaFt, that would be a user setting though. I'd guess there are users out there that want the current situation and have the phone call interrupted by the usual audio warning.

Gerry

MaFt · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:05 pm Post subject:

Well, perhaps we need to simplify things by not giving user options? Go the Apple way and tell the user what the app does instead of allowing customisation.

It'd make the settings much simpler for a start...

MaFt

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