HM 7000 Android App availability

[Brush 47]

Is there a date for the android app version.

[96RAF]

No change from the last time we said we don’t know, but it will be after it has been tested.

[Fishmanoz]

Any chance the title can be amended by deleting Decoder and adding Android App Availability?

[Rallymatt]

The HM7000 Q&A from yesterday quoted Android version 4 weeks away from being released although a testing group should be about a week away.

Common sense says that should that test group uncover any glitches, that could affect the 4 week schedule George suggested.

[Chris-351037]

app came out last week, around the 28th March, already downloaded and waiting for some hardware

[SteveM6]

app came out last week, around the 28th March, already downloaded and waiting for some hardware

 

 

The only app released to the public so far is the Apple (iOS) version. The android app will not be available for a few weeks yet - after testing.

[Rallymatt]

C3, unless you are part of the extended test team, you have not downloaded the HM DCC Android App, it’s not on general release yet. People have loaded the HM DC app by mistake due to not paying close attention to the details. It’s important to read the instructions for these things (Don’t do a Sam’s Trains)

[ColinB]

Actually Rallymatt I did read the instructions unusually and it gave me the wrong app via their QR Code. I gather that error has now been fixed, so it appears we can all make mistakes. I still can't get over a company releasing a product that relies on a software app, that is not available. Fortunately it is model trains, if had been a phone then the company would have been inundated with returns . I also watched the Sam's trains review and I don't remember there being an issue with not reading the instructions. If there was, it was insignificant against all the other things he found.

[dBerriff]

The app is available, just not for Android. Hornby and their retailers can at least generate a bit pf cash flow and get get feedback from the early adopters. This should feed into the Android version when it is finally released.

The only alternative would have been to have left the decoders sat on the shelves for yet another few weeks.

[Rallymatt]

@Colin B, when Sam couldn’t get his sound functions to work, if you look on the shot of the tablet, F1 (sounds on) was not activated…. A lot of people are making mistakes, not checking what they are doing against the instructions and then blaming someone else, sadly it’s the ‘modern way’ maybe it’s me but as an engineer, I double check everything, at least twice 😁

[Barry-350851]

The app is available, just not for Android. Hornby and their retailers can at least generate a bit pf cash flow and get get feedback from the early adopters. This should feed into the Android version when it is finally released.

The only alternative would have been to have left the decoders sat on the shelves for yet another few weeks.

 

 

They say never ascribe to malice that which can be can explained by incompetence. So I'd hope that Hornby's lack of info on the website to say that the Android app would be significantly behind the Apple one was incompetence rather than malice of hoping that people would still buy HM7000 decoders when they couldn't use them for several weeks.

[Daedalus]

[dBerriff]

The iOS APIs are rooted in Objective-C, while Google chose Java for Android development. More recently Apple has developed Swift as a more productive programming language while JetBrains and Google have developed Kotlin for Android (and iOS). Even with a common code base in, for example, Kotlin, there is still a lot more to it than that as the UI and graphics libraries will be different. The screen resolutions and aspect ratios will need looking at. The app store distribution and security requirements will need to be complied with - thank the hackers and scammers for the stringent requirements here. Then test, test and test again as the Hornby haters are waiting to pounce.

After the basic app is working you then need to check that the Accessibility settings do not blow the interface apart. The exact requirements might be different for Android - I don’t know.

Not quite so simples as you might think? But worth it in the end.

[fishpond]

Possibly towards the end of April.

[Barry-350851]

Hornby and their retailers can at least generate a bit pf cash flow

The only alternative would have been to have left the decoders sat on the shelves for yet another few weeks.

The iOS APIs are rooted in Objective-C, while Google chose Java for Android development. More recently Apple has developed Swift as a more productive programming language while JetBrains and Google have developed Kotlin for Android (and iOS)... Then test, test and test again as the Hornby haters are waiting to pounce.

After the basic app is working you then need to check that the Accessibility settings do not blow the interface apart. The exact requirements might be different for Android - I don’t know.

Not quite so simples as you might think?

 

 

Between your two posts, you are saying it was inevitable the Android app would be much later. Hornby couldn't have NOT known this?

Ordinary customers can't be expected to know the intricacies of app development.

So if your first post saying that they did that to generate cash flow is true, that is just a terrible abuse of their customers.

[dBerriff]

1. I did not say that at all. I have no inside information. It has become evident during the discussion on here that the Android development will take a bit longer. That is a development choice. They could have prioritised Android.
2. No, but this post was aimed at one particular forum member who keeps telling us how easy it is. Look at the post before mine.
3. I do not agree. Any business needs to generate income. I am sure Hornby would have preferred releasing for both platforms at the same time but the development team can only do what it has the resources to do. And before anyone says it, increasing the team size does not always help.

 

[ColinB]

I agree any business needs to generate income but there are ways of doing it. Hornby have released this with a great fanfare then a lot of users have found it doesn't work for them. Now I am sure I am not the only one but is really annoyed me. Ok I have a decoder that some day will work on Bluetooth but at the moment I could have bought any old TTS decoder at £30 less and got the same result. You are right the average user is not interested in the software development process, just if it works. Trouble is on this site many people throw away their normal consumer hat because it is Hornby, and they prey on that.

[ColinB]

As to dBerriff you are right, I think because they were part of the development team, there can be nothing wrong. Currently there seems to be an awful lot wrong, I dread to think what will happen when the multiple Android users start to access it. As they used to say on "Who wants to be a Millionaire", "the questions are only easy if you know the answer".

[dBerriff]

I am not defending but just trying to work out what has happened. As this is the Hornby forum I try to steer a neutral line. I agree entirely with your implication that there are better ways of doing it. It’s a bit late now.

[Barry-350851]

I agree any business needs to generate income but there are ways of doing it. Hornby have released this with a great fanfare then a lot of users have found it doesn't work for them. Now I am sure I am not the only one but is really annoyed me. Ok I have a decoder that some day will work on Bluetooth but at the moment I could have bought any old TTS decoder at £30 less and got the same result. You are right the average user is not interested in the software development process, just if it works. Trouble is on this site many people throw away their normal consumer hat because it is Hornby, and they prey on that.

 

 

There are definitely people who would have delayed their purchase had they been given the information, if people feel misled then that is a bad show by Hornby.

I don't know which it was but it has to be one; if it was incompetence then Hornby should apologise, if it was intentional to gain sales sooner then that would be simply disgusting. People will make their own minds up.

[Moccasin]

Whenever I have seen the HM7000 app mentioned since launch, Hornby have been quite clear that the Android app is expected in 4 weeks/coming soon. I’m not sure how that can be misleading - the information has always been there. On that basis, it’s neither incompetence nor intended to gain sales by nefarious means. It’s just a delay in the release of the Android app by a few weeks.

If people are so upset by the delay of a month or so, they can always return their decoder in the meantime.

[ColinB]

Actually Moccasin you are wrong, I received my decoder and none of the Apps worked not even the Apple one. It was so bad that the QR Code pointed me to a YouTube video by Sam explaining how to use it ( I was surprised after all the grief he gives Hornby ) and then the totally wrong App. After about a day Hornby after some communication from 96RAFremoved the link to the wrong App, it shouldn't have been there anyway. After a couple of days the Apple App worked, then we got the official response from Hornby that the Apple App worked but the Android App was still being appraised by Google. So Hornby were not up front about the situation they only started doing things once they realised the decoders arrived too early. I know I can return the decoder that is not the point, there is the cost and the pain of actually sending it back. My point is it shouldn't happen and I don't think I am alone. I doubt they intended doing it but they did. I should thank your lucky stars that Google is not German, we wouldn't see the App for another 6 months. Done it, been there.

[Fishmanoz]

Moccasin, while I believe Colin has mis-remembered some of the detail, at least the detail he reported at the time, his fundamental proposition is correct.

Hornby anticipated the iOS app being available imminently as they had submitted it to Apple and started delivering decoders. Their anticipated 2 days turned out to be more like 3 weeks.

When the decoders arrived, they included a QR code supposedly taking you to the HM | DCC app but it wasn’t available and erroneously took you to the HM | DC app, and then the fun started.

I believe it was only at this point that Hornby advised that the iOS app was still imminent but the Android would be longer. In fact, not even the test team had seen the Android at that point, not sure they’ve even seen it now, possibly very recently?

And all of this fails to answer the OP’s question which will not have an answer until Hornby give a date.

[Moccasin]

Apologies from me then. I guess I was late to the party so was not fully aware of previous stuff, just what I’d seen.

[Fishmanoz]

It’s all irrelevant now but that QR code business certainly didn’t help. I had a decoder delivered in Oz by then but never scanned the code, just regularly did an App Store search until it turned up the day before the Hornby did their formal release.