CSCI 412 Mobile Development

Assn 01: Critical Analysis

Roberto M Vergaray

April 7, 2014

0.1 Intel Software Adrenaline

Intel Corporation

0.1.1 Key Features

Intel Software Adrenaline is an electronic magazine by the people at Intel. This app is meant to

provide access to the articles and videos from the magazine about Intel technology. For exam-

ple, current articles available online are Embedded Development: Advancing the Internet of

Things and Assembling the API Puzzle. Recently, there were also articles about concurrent

programming and big data.

0.1.2 Target Audience

The target audience of the Intel Software Adrenaline app is software developers and members of

the software industry. It is especially relevant for people who rely on Intel technology and want

news on new Intel APIs. Primarily it is for people who subscribe to the magazine and want to read

the articles without waiting for the email notification of their existence.

0.1.3 Pros and Cons

Pros Cons

Articles are interesting and often highlyrelevant (if it had worked)

Must read in vertical orientation

Unable to retrieve articles

0.1.4 Evaluation

I opened the application with the tablet sitting on my desk propped up horizontally. When it

opened, the view rotated to a fixed vertical orientation automatically. The screen was blank except

for a generic title-bar and the text Unable to retrieve articles at this time. I know that I was

connected to the Internetso, that wasnt the problem.

I tried various swipe-gestures to search for any menus or options, with no response. Then

tapped the title-bars menu icon. A pane opened from the left with a search field and vertical tabs

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labeled: Latest, Articles, Videos, Topics, Favorites, and About. There was also a

settings cog-wheel at the bottomwhich I tapped first.

This replaced the side-pane with tabs labeled Login, Font Size, Notifications, and Of-

fline. I tapped Offline and set Download Image Galleries to on, but left Cellular Downloads

off. This didnt appear to change anything. Next, I used LinkedIn to loginwhich opened a tab

in Chrome. After clicking Sign in and allow I was returned to the app and a little notification

popped up near the bottom reporting that the login was successful.

I looked through the rest of the tabs. Latest and Favorites just closed the side-pane.

Topics, Videos, and Articles were all empty. I tied android in the search bar: No search

results found. The last thing I tried was to click the About tab and then repeatedly taped a

FAQ link until it finally opened in Chrome. Unfortunately the link didnt lead to an FAQ, but just

to an advertisement for the app.

I was disappointed that this app didnt work, I had been looking forward to using it for a

while now.

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0.2 Star Trek Text Game

Slade

0.2.1 Key Features

This is a conversion of the classic text-based Star Trek game, which was originally written in

BASIC. In the game you are the captain of the USS Enterprise, searching through an 8x8 grid

of quadrants (each further subdivided into 8x8 sectors). The object of the game is to locate and

destroy invading Klingon warships using phasers and torpedos, before a time limit expires.

Your ship has a certain amount of energy which can be used for the ships shields, for combat,

or to navigate via impulse or warp drive. Starbases are randomly distributed in the galaxy which

can be used to recharge the ships energy.

This version of the game includes sound effects from the original Star Trek and navigational

calculatorsboth of which were not featured in the original game.

0.2.2 Target Audience

The audience of this game is Star Trek fans. Also, anyone who has played any of the numerous

versions that have come into existence over the past 50 years or sosince it was first created for the

SDS Sigma 7 computerwould enjoy it.

0.2.3 Pros and Cons

Pros Cons

Original Star Trek Sound Effects

Classic Gameplay

ModernizedNavigation and Targeting Interface(while still retaining original system)

Randomized Setup for Replayability

Mostly Non-Graphical

Annoying Background Sound(Though toggleable)

Small Instruction Text

Easier to beat than original

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0.2.4 Evaluation

When I opened the application, I was surprised and delighted to hear the Original Star Trek theme

song. I rotated the view from landscape to portrait, in order to view the entire Starfleet Report

without scrolling.

The classic ASCII art welcoming screen displayed the data for this instance of the game: 24

Klingons need to be destroyed before stardate 2355 (30 days); there are 5 starbases; and, I will

begin in the Canopus I quadrant. Two buttons allow me to either Accept Orders or learn How

To Play.

I tapped How To Play and a window popped up to the top of the screen and began shaking

back and forth. All I saw of its contents were a button labeled Done. After a few seconds the

pop-up window unfurled and the scrollable instructions appeared in very tiny text. Attempting to

zoom in made the text glitches but didnt increase text size. I glanced through the section headings:

Objective, Start of Game, Short Range Sensors, Tactical Commands, Library Computer

Commands, Status Reports, Klingon Warships, When Klingons Attack, Bad Navigation,

Shield Energy, Starbases, and End of Game.

I clicked Done and then looked at the menu options: Settings, About, and How To

Play. The How To Play option opened the same pop-up window as before. The About option

opened a similar window except that that in that view I was able to zoom.

Next, I looked at the Settings which provided some check-boxes: Background Sounds,

Fix Bug in Background Sounds, Sounds, Text to Speach Voice-Over, Vibrate, Direction

From Tail, More Klingons, No Time Limit, and Green Text. Of these, only Background

Sounds, Sounds, and Vibrate were checked on by default. There were also options for changing

Galaxy Map Font Size, and Normal Font Size.

I increased both font sizes to the maximum (20pt). Then checked for a change in the How

to Play text. There was none. I changed it back, then selected Text to Speech Voice-over

and More Klingons. Upon selecting More Klingons the theme song started over and a female

voice read the beginning of the Starfleet Report. I closed the Settings window and reviewed

the changed game data: 64 Klingons warships to be destroyed before stardate 2401 (85 days); 7

starbases in Galaxy; and, beginning in Anteres II quadrant.

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I accepted the orders and immediately heard the Red Alert sound effect followed by one of

the original Star Trek computer beepsthe one with four whistles. The beeps droned on in a loop.

I fired a photon torpedo, using a rotating blue arrow overlaying the classic 1.00-8.99 directional to

aim. In the original you would type in the number indicating the direction; here you could see the

number that would result from the direction indicated or enter the number in a field as desired.

Killing the Klingon didnt stop the incessant beeping sound, so I went back to the settings

and turned off Background Sounds. I went around killing a few more Klingons. When opening

the Tactical: Fire Photon command, a window pops up which covers the map. So, you need to

remember where the Klingon was relative to your ship to select the proper trajectory. This makes

it not too easy. However, whenever one of these windows opens up the status text in the main area

of the game is cleared. I would have preferred a running log, but its no big deal. Perhaps I am

misremembering, but it seems that the shields take 110th

of the energy they do in earlier versions.

There is also a feature that if you are hit before raising shields, the shields will automatically be

raised by 200 or more. Perhaps this helps to prevent instant death in some casesbut, I seem to

remember that there should be a hull damage capacity in addition to variable shields. However, in

this implementation the hull damage is not used. This, in addition to damaged subsystems being

automatically repaired pretty quickly, made the game a bit easier to beat.

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0.3 DJ Master - Dubstep

Music Apps Free

0.3.1 Key Features

This app provides two virtual turntables and music pads. It is used to create dubstep music. The

description claims that the pad fx can replaced with your own. There are three sets of 6 pads,

and a 8-key keyboard. The left set of pads have togleable beats to play with. The middle pads

each have a vocal phrase: Check, Ha, Here we go, Lets go, Free your mind, and another

unintelligible one. The right pads each have a percussion or synth sound.

0.3.2 Target Audience

This app is geared toward people who like dubstep music and want to make their own mixes. Once

the user realizes that the app is useless for music creation, perhaps young children (under 8) are

the target for retaining the app. They could be content to play with the buttons and once in a

while accidentally click an add.

0.3.3 Pros and Cons

Pros Cons

Six Dubstep Beat Tracks One button useable at a time

Each Turntable effectively justanother vocal pad

Unable to modify fx as claimed

0.3.4 Evaluation

When I opened the app it flipped by horizontal view, forcing me to rotate the device 180-degrees.

A banner add occupies the lower 18th

of the screen. Two buttons are available on the welcoming

screen below the title of the app: a play button and a cog-wheel. The only setting under the

cog-wheel was a volume bar.

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I clicked back and then play. The turntables were rotating clockwise, and when I tried scratch-

ing them the rotation didnt change, and it played the same sound effect no matter how I rubbed it.

Indeed, I just tapped it and it played the exact same effect. Additionally, both the pseudo-scratch

sound effect contained a vocalization. The left turntables vocalization was identical to one of the

vocal pads effect.

I tried playing with the keyboard and pads and realized that only one button would sound

at a time. This made the application completely useless for mixing dubstep or any other kind of

music. I held one of the pads for a few seconds to see if a menu would pop up for changing the fx,

but nothing happened. Then I looked in the tablets settings: apps menu for the app and looked

through the options for another way to modify it. But there was no such option, as was claimed in

the description.

While the tablet was sitting on my desk, without anyone touching it, Chrome suddenly opened

and closed and then the play store popped upas if the advertisement link in the app had been

selected. I went to the app store, gave it a one-star review, and uninstalled it.

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