[APP][2.2+] Fresco (NASA Astronomy Picture Of the Day viewer)

CURRENT VERSION 1.5.2 RELEASED DECEMBER 7, 2014 - SEE BELOW FOR CHANGELOG AND DIRECT APK LINK

I would like to share with you guys an app I recently finished called Fresco. With Fresco you can view images posted on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website of NASA. Every image has an explanation written by a professional astronomer and every image ever posted on this website is available in this app (starting somewhere back in 1995) and the goal was to create a very polished, responsive, fast and easy to use interface while being very feature rich.

QR-Code
Use this QR-code to install the app!



Screenshots:


Features
* View over 5800 images with a new one being downloaded every day
* Mark images as favorites
* View a random image with one button click (I use it to find cool pictures and stories, you can cycle through all images or your favorites)
* View a grid with image archive (with ascending, descending and random sorting)
* Full Text Search for images (e.g. searching for 'apollo moon armstrong' will show all images containing those words, the index uses Porter Stemming Algorithm)
* Double click an image to view it full-size and you can zoom it
* Set image as wallpaper
* Automatically set wallpaper to today's image as soon as it's downloaded (my favorite)
* Share images (via all channels available on your device)

Why it was made
For a long time I was used to a similar app called NasaImages, but it disturbed me that it had a sluggish interface, showed wrong dates and was not able to correctly show 'special characters' like ë and ß. Also i would have liked to set the wallpaper automatically when a new image was downloaded. I addressed all these issues and tried to create a very fast, very polished, simple and yet feature-rich 'replacement' app which is developed using the latest design guidelines. Fresco is the result

The name?
There's an image of two astronauts reaching with their fingers to one another like Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel (the creation of Adam). I found that image very touching and decided to use it as icon of the app. Wall paintings like the creation of Adam are called frescoes, so that's how I came up with the name (well, actually my girlfriend came up with it, so I guess I should say thanks honey ).

Why this post?
First of all, every developer wants to share his creation because he/she wants to entertain or help others with a problem he/she has had. For me it's no different, I love this app and everyday I wake up I can't wait to check the new image posted and I want to share my excitement with you guys. Second, this is my first serious attempt to create an Android app and I am curious how people think I've done so far. The app is completely free of charge, although it is ad-supported. This is because the images are indexed on my own VPS and that has to be paid and I hope to do that with this app and my future apps

Who am I?
I am a reader of XDA for quite some years now. I did not post a lot and I'm not active in a lot of boards, mostly the Windows Mobile Phone (pre 7) ones and Android/SGS1 boards from two years ago until now. My name is Jori and I live in the Netherlands in a small town called Purmerend (close to Amsterdam). I am a software engineer for a company that creates CRM software and in my free time Iove to play handball, expand my coding skills and spend time with my family.

Closing words
I hope you like (the idea) of this app and hopefully you guys can give me some feedback At least let me thank you for reading.

Change log
1.5.2 (december 7, 2014)
- Changed retrieval url to be able to download images again
- Updated local database with pictures until december 7, 2014

1.5.1 (october 23, 2013)
- Fixed a bug in database initialization which could cause spontaneous re-initializations and crashes
- Added a pop-up icon in the action-bar for all devices (devices without HW buttons already had that icon)
- Changed sharing, so you can share the actual image in stead of a link to it
- Increased responsiveness of the app
- Removed the Image of the Day (NASA) archive, due to the change of the website of the NASA, this cannot be kept up-to-date.

1.5.0 (july 24, 2013)
- The notification will now correctly be removed when a new new wallpaper has been selected (e.g. when you select an alternative). After selecting the wallpaper, the selection dialog will also automatically be closed.
- Fixed a bug where a CPU of your phone could go up to 100% usage due to the NASA IOTD images not being available (anymore)
- Removed all NASA IOTD images, since NASA changed the method of exposing this data. This will be fixed in the next version (probably somewhere in August), for now only APOD images will be available.

- Decreased the amount of error reports being sent to only the unexpected ones
1.4.8 (jun 7, 2013)
- Decreased the amount of error reports being sent to only the unexpected ones
- Added the possibility to send anonymous user statistics (this is enabled by default and can be disabled in the preferences)

1.4.7 (jun 4, 2013)
- Improved the random crashes fix and don't let Fresco crash anymore when it occurs.
- Added a setting to send catched crash reports for better inspection of the root cause of the random crash bug (no sensitive/private data will be sent, you can disable this in the settings screen)

1.4.6 (may 30, 2013)
- Fixed an issue where downloading images after a reboot would only occur after you started the app at least once
- Improved the random crashes fix (on some devices the crashes still occur, hopefully everything is ok now)
- Improved the speed of downloading new entries

1.4.5 (may 4, 2013)
- Fixed a spontaneous crash that could occur sometimes (due to an out of memory error)

1.4.4 (may 3, 2013)
- Fixed random crashes in alarm manager (app keeps crashing on certain devices)
- Widgets were still not clickable sometimes, tried to fix that (again)

1.4.3 (apr 5, 2013)
- Added option in the settings dialog to move the internal db Fresco uses to the sd (to save up internal storage space)
- Fixed an issue where on some devices Fresco could crash all the time. Please do a clear all data if you encountered this issue after you update to this version.
- Thoroughly went through all crash reports and tried to fix all of them (including random crashes)
- Fixed a whole lot more strange characters in Dutch translations

1.4.2 (mar 10, 2013)
- Added a .nomedia file to each folder Fresco uses to save cached images (so Fresco's images will not show up in your gallery app(s) anymore), you can disable this switch in the settings screen.
- Fixed strange characters in Dutch translations (like é )
- [3.0+] Fixed issue with the picture frame widget showing a faint line on the bottom
- [3.0+] Probably fixed an issue clicking the widget (over time) would not work anymore

1.4.1 (mar 5, 2013)
- [3.0+] Fixed issue with the picture frame widget not fully resizing on high resolution devices

1.4.0 (mar 3, 2013)
- Rewrote background worker mechanism, this should fix all 'freeze' situations and make Fresco a lot more responsive (like it should)
- [3.0+] Added (scrollable) home screen widgets for today's image (Picture frame, just text or both)
- Fresco now chooses an appropriate location for cached images and this location is now editable in settings
- Notifications of new wallpapers didn't work until the app was started at least once
- In the select wallpaper dialog you can now open Fresco (to read the text of the image)
- Removed unused space on imageview (sometimes the text was even not visible without scrolling while half of the screen was black)
- [3.0+]Widgets are now clickable
- Automatically setting an IOTD image as wallpaper could fail
1.3.1 and 1.3.2 (jan 28, 2013)
- Tried to fix an OutOfMemory issue

1.3.0 (jan 27, 2013)
- Added a complete archive of the Nasa image of the day (iotd) images (found on www.nasa.gov), over 2300!
- Added the latest iotd to the wallpaper selection screen
- Clarified the tabs on the wallpaper selection screen by making the page indicator lines thicker and moving them to the top
- Improved image resizing of smaller images (they will now stretch)
- Improved memory utilization when opening large images

1.2.1 (jan 21, 2013)
- Some devices still had problems with stretching wallpapers, fixed that now!

1.2.0 (jan 20, 2013)
- Setting a wallpaper will stretch to full screen now! (thanks for reporting this one)
- Auto set wallpaper has now a new option in which you can if and how you want to be notified if a new wallpaper is available (see screenshot)
- Images are initially rendered larger now so it looks more epic and when double clicking it'll open the full-screen view and zoom in automatically
- When you select a random image, you can now scroll back and forth through the selected images
- Retrieval of latest entries was slow when initializing the database for the first time
- Fixed Android 2.2 compatibility issues (crashes)
- Fixed a whole bunch of crashes: restoring Fresco after a long period, setting a video as wallpaper (disabled now), when initializing the Fresco database (sometimes the dialog was already dismissed)

1.1.1 (jan 10, 2013)
- Added a Dutch translation for images where available (starting from january 1st, 2005). Fresco will automatically select a language for you, but it can be changed in the settings screen.
- Every image has a unique id now (a code)
- At the image archive you can now select an image not only by date, but also by code
- You can now import (or merge) and export favorites
- You can open the source webpage of an image
- Added information about the source of the images in the settings dialog

1.0.1 (jan 3, 2013)
- Initial public version

Feedback / problems
You can use Twitter to report problems or send some feedback: toverbalApps

Link
Play store: Fresco (not available anymore because of suspension of developer account, see here)

APK
Direct link to APK (1.5.2): https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_5_2.apk


Older versions
1.5.0 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_5_1.apk
1.5.0 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_5_0.apk
1.4.9 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_9.apk
1.4.8 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_8.apk
1.4.7 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_7.apk
1.4.6 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_6.apk
1.4.5 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_5.apk
1.4.4 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_4.apk
1.4.3 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_3.apk
1.4.2 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_2.apk
1.4.1 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_1.apk
1.4.0 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_4_0.apk
1.3.2 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_3_2.apk
1.3.1 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_3_1.apk
1.3.0 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_3_0.apk
1.2.1 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_2_1.apk
1.2.0 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11837707/fresco/apks/Fresco_1_2_0.apk

taomorpheus said:

Good luck with that!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks, I hope people will like it

wibber1981 said:

I regularly change my wallpaper using this app. Nicely done!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Hey thanks!

On a sidenote: I noticed there's a Dutch site (apod.nl) that contains translations of the accompanying texts.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I checked it out and it indeed contains all all dutch translations going back to somewhere in december 2004. I will check out if I can index them too, shouldn't be too much of a problem and when done, the app can be completely in ducth too, which should be nice Thanks for spotting man!

silverfaller said:

nice app. thanks

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

x-fanity said:

Awesome app for switching my wallpaper daily. The quality of the pictures are great and the app runs very smooth.:good:

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks, it's nice to read such posts

Dark Reality said:

I'm only mildly interested in NASA's photos, but your app looks nice. Sad that you're the only reviewer on Google Play.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks, there are some Dutch reviews too, but you won't see them unless you select 'Dutch' in the play store But I had actually thought the interest would be somewhat higher, doesn't matter though, even if no one will use it, it has been a great learning experience

Dark Reality said:

I'll throw it a review after playing with it for a bit. Thanks for sharing. Nice OP, too, very well written and formatted. Wish they were all like that.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thank you and thanks for the compliment. I tried to imagine how I would like to see the post if I were someone else, guess that helped

I have got some feedback from some people and I started working on improvements. Those are now available in the play store (see OP for link).

The following things were addressed:
- Added a Dutch translation for images where available (starting from january 1st, 2005). Fresco will automatically select a language for you, but it can be changed in the settings screen.
- Every image has a unique id now (a code)
- At the image archive you can now select an image not only by date, but also by code
- You can now import (or merge) and export favorites
- You can open the source webpage of an image
- Added information about the source of the images in the settings dialog


And some images to indicate the changes

JohnnyEpic said:

Fan of NASA. Fan of wallpapers. Now a fan of the OP. Nice work.
Suggestion, Post this app to the Nasaspaceflight.com (forums). I'd ask a moderator where to post an they are a bit harsh on rules at times.
Thank you for your contribution. Clean work.
Sent from the Mars Rover.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks for the nice words, really appreciate them! I checked out the website you mentioned, but it seems they would only post it as advertisements (and although it's pretty cheap, starting $50/month), I don't have that kind of funds (at least not yet). So I think I have to at least postpone that

0903thijs said:

Beautiful nifty little app and enjoying the translation option to Dutch. Just bought the in-app ad-removal! Keep up the good work!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks Thijs, your help is really appreciated and I will do everything in my power to keep the app as cool as it is and keep it updated! ...although I found a bug today, but that'll be addressed

gersto said:

Nice been hoping for a new app, the last few stopped working some time ago. Good job!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thank you and you're welcome!

Ok, so I typed a complete answer in like 20 minutes and previewed it to check it for errors and guess what? Windows 8 decided to reboot because it installed even more bugs on my computer, ...sigh... Have to retype it again, hold on, will take some time, since I have to go to work now first

Dark Reality said:

$50 a month is not a fair rate for which to share a free app with space enthusiasts. I would just post it, and if they delete it, accept it and move on. If they delete the post, they're probably not as interested in space as they claim to be.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Good point, I'll try to check it out later today again. I'll post the results when I have done that .

Dark Reality said:

Also, I think an option to request setting wallpaper would be appropriate. The other day, it automatically set a pretty lame picture as wallpaper. On its own it wasn't lame at all, it was comparing planets' size (or mass). On its own it's a good picture, but it's a graph, and not really a good choice for a wallpaper. They also regularly post stereoscopic (i.e. 3D) images that would make poor wallpaper choices.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

0903thijs said:

I second your thoughts on the automatic wallpaper selection (had the exact same experience with the graph wallpaper).

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

During the development of the app this has crossed my mind several times, but I could not come up with a good solution. Now the app is live, I too think not all images are suitable wallpapers, especially the ones you mentioned. However, I still like the "unattendedness" of automatically setting the wallpaper, so I have given it some more thought and I think I have come up with a (partial) solution for this "issue".

1. When a new image is available, it will be automatically set as wallpaper
2. A notification will be created with two buttons (revert to previous and randomly select from favorites)
3. Clicking on one of the buttons will directly result in a new wallpaper being set (thus without any more interaction)
4. Clicking on the notification (outside of the buttons), opens a screen with e.g. 10 randomly selected images which you can then set as wallpaper with one click (with or without the possibility to crop).

This is open for discussion for me though, but I think it would be quite cool as I described

0903thijs said:

Also, today I tried the app on a nexus 7 running android 4.2.1 and it just crashed on launch (I sent the crash report to Google hoping that it will eventually reach you). So I was wondering whether you could add support for nexus 7 devices.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Ouch! That should certainly not happen. I did try it on the emulator with the same specs and that worked (except for the layout, but that will be addressed). I also tried it in an electronics store where I live (lol) and that worked too. I have seen some crash reports, so I will be addressing them, my question for now is: did you experience this issue after it was correctly started once, or doesn't it start at all? I will try to reproduce it again in the emulator. I am aware of an issue that sometimes occurs after you re-focus the app after a long time of inactivity, that issue has been solved, I'm not sure if your issue is related to that.

On a sidenote I have been working on indexing the NASA image of the day images too. I will add those in Fresco too, but the only question is: when you have the auto wallpaper feature enabled, which one will be selected?