[APK] Bluetooth Launch v2.0.1 Beta (11/19/2010)

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Guardian_Bob

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
328
108
So this started in the Cognition thread, but I figure it probably is useful for other ROMs and people.

So are you like me? You've hooked up your bluetooth mic, and pressed the voice action button and your phone looks at you stupidly? Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way you could start Google Voice Actions or possibly Vlingo's Recognize and Execute?

Here's the thing, currently Google Voice Actions and Vlingo can't hear over the bluetooth mic. Still, this will launch the voice app, and allow you to speak through your phone's mic.

I've considered creating a version where you can select any app; however, unless there's some demand for a feature like that I don't want to go through that kind of pain and suffering.

Feedback is appreciated.

Oh and finally, this is a very early version, so you won't find it on the app market or such. If I have time, I'll polish it up, but for now, this is good enough to fix the issue for most people.

If you find this useful, please let me know. There's no reason to polish something no one needs/uses.

screenshot_27.jpg

1.5 Beta
So this is a little rough around the edges but it is functional. The first load will be slow, but application names are cached after that load. Still need to indicate what the user has selected in the past as well as sort the list.

screenshot_30.jpg

2.0 Beta
Fixed the rough edges, nice radio buttons in the list. Sorted alphabetically. Oh and TheYar suggested waking up the phone to run the action. Not only is it doing that, but it'll bypass the screen lock.

Now some are saying, but wait isn't that a bad thing? Well yes and no. First the screen lock comes back when the action is complete, or bluetooth launch closes. Second, bluetooth headsets must be paired first to get access, so a thief would have to know to grab your headset and phone to get into your phone. The risk is low but not 0, so in the next version, you'll have a way to turn that feature on or off.

screenshot_32.jpg

2.0.1 Beta
As TheYar pointed out, there's a bug where you may have to hit the bluetooth button twice. This is a bug in the underlying framework and there's nothing my app can do about that. That said, I added a vibrate on launch feature to this new version. No other changes were made.

Change Log:
11/19/10: 2.0.1 Beta Vibrate on launch
11/18/10: 2.0 Beta Choices shown, remembered in the list, sorted alphabetically (so learn your ABC's) and phone wake, lock screen disable.
11/17/10: 1.5 Beta Select any activity, better icon
11/12/10: 1.1.1 Updated some text, added icon
11/11/10: 1.1 Added Settings and Vlingo
11/10/10: 1.0 Initial Revision
 

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pkley

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2006
406
2
Sweet!

Unfortunately it doesn't do anything for me, running Cog 2.3.3. I've turned my headset on/off, BT on/off, no response to button.
Pressing "Confirm Selection" doesn't do anything either, should it?

Update - Rebooting makes it work, stupid me...THANKS!
 
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Guardian_Bob

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
328
108
Sweet!

Unfortunately it doesn't do anything for me, running Cog 2.3.3. I've turned my headset on/off, BT on/off, no response to button.
Pressing "Confirm Selection" doesn't do anything either, should it?

Update - Rebooting makes it work, stupid me...THANKS!

Confirm selection saves the settings. I should change the name, thanks.

It shouldn't require a reboot, but there may have been something subtle going on that a reboot fixed.
 

ggonzalez7777

Senior Member
Jul 28, 2010
79
1
I think it would be handy if there was some text to confirm that the settings were set.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
 

Guardian_Bob

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
328
108
Coming Soon

So I had some time to play with things over the weekend, I'll be releasing a new versions soon.

Features will include:
Selecting the activity you want to launch
Better icon (not washed out)
 

Guardian_Bob

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
328
108
Teaser

Got this working today, takes way too long to load right now, and only shows the names right now.
 

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kimocal

Senior Member
Jul 28, 2006
429
105
Pilot Hill, CA
Hooray. I am happy to report that I can now use my BlueAnt T1 to control the Google Voice Commands. Awesome! Even though it passes the audio to the phone my headset still thinks my phone does not support it. But it works well enough for now till I can get an updated firware on my T1 headset.

I'm using Cognition.v2.2.Beta7.UCJI6 at the moment.
 

kimocal

Senior Member
Jul 28, 2006
429
105
Pilot Hill, CA
Updated to the new 1.5 BETA. I switched back to my Plantronics Voyager 855 until I can update the firmware on my T1. The beta works. Thanks again for releasing this.
 

TheYar

Senior Member
May 27, 2008
147
31
Wow this is great. I've been wanting to voice dial on my Captivate ever since I got it and this is the first time I've been able to do it.

I've noticed that often it doesn't respond until the second time I try to activate it. Maybe this is just a delay, not sure.

Any thoughts on how this could function when the screen is locked? Google voice actions are pretty powerful, so I doubt that full voice action functionality would be possible from a locked device. But maybe someone has some 2.2 source from another platform that includes how a call might be initiated over BT even when the screen is locked?

Thanks for this app. Loving it.
 

Guardian_Bob

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
328
108
Wow this is great. I've been wanting to voice dial on my Captivate ever since I got it and this is the first time I've been able to do it.

I've noticed that often it doesn't respond until the second time I try to activate it. Maybe this is just a delay, not sure.

It appears to be a bug in the handling of bluetooth with the system, I can reproduce it without my app. Basically it appears that the system isn't releasing the bluetooth handle in a reasonable way, as my headphones that do bluetooth to both an iPod and a phone at the same time won't start playing again. I wish I could fix this.

Any thoughts on how this could function when the screen is locked? Google voice actions are pretty powerful, so I doubt that full voice action functionality would be possible from a locked device. But maybe someone has some 2.2 source from another platform that includes how a call might be initiated over BT even when the screen is locked?

Thanks for this app. Loving it.

This is a good idea. Look for it in a few minutes.
 

TheYar

Senior Member
May 27, 2008
147
31
I just got done adding 1.5 to another DG ROM zip and decided to check here before flashing it. I'm am so psyched!!

Since you seem to be greased lightning on feedback and improvements, I'll throw another one out there - voice feedback into the headset speaker to let you know it is ready. I know that this functionality might better sit with the launched app (and sometimes does), but perhaps a configurable option to detect when the launched app has launched at least, and then react by saying "ready" or such in my ear. Then I'd care even less than I already do about the handle release problem with the bluetooth stack.

As for the lock screen bypass... yeah. I'm a security pro myself, but I agree that the risk there is low and acceptable, compared to the risk I face trying to security-unlock my screen while driving. Watch out though, people tend to freak out on this issue. The press went wild when the Droid opted for default Voice Action access through the lock screen, referring to it as a major security bug and design flaw. Of course, in that case it was accessible even without a headset, just a long-press of the search.

Let me know when this hits market and charge money for it, or at least offer a donation. Gladly pay. Considering this is the first time I've been able to accurately bluetooth dial since 6 years and three phones ago, you are officially a genius.
 

Guardian_Bob

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
328
108
I just got done adding 1.5 to another DG ROM zip and decided to check here before flashing it. I'm am so psyched!!

Since you seem to be greased lightning on feedback and improvements, I'll throw another one out there - voice feedback into the headset speaker to let you know it is ready. I know that this functionality might better sit with the launched app (and sometimes does), but perhaps a configurable option to detect when the launched app has launched at least, and then react by saying "ready" or such in my ear. Then I'd care even less than I already do about the handle release problem with the bluetooth stack.

Your previous comment came in at just the right time to add an extra piece to the development cycle. The feature was easy, so I got it in. That said, playing through the bluetooth device appears to be a hard thing, I'll see what I can do about this. The easier thing to do, which I'm going to put in place soon, is to simply vibrate the phone, so that'll be the first step.

As for the lock screen bypass... yeah. I'm a security pro myself, but I agree that the risk there is low and acceptable, compared to the risk I face trying to security-unlock my screen while driving. Watch out though, people tend to freak out on this issue. The press went wild when the Droid opted for default Voice Action access through the lock screen, referring to it as a major security bug and design flaw. Of course, in that case it was accessible even without a headset, just a long-press of the search.

This is why I want the user to explicitly configure if they want this behavior. I'll look at adding a menu with settings. I want to get that done before I add in playing though the headset.

Let me know when this hits market and charge money for it, or at least offer a donation. Gladly pay. Considering this is the first time I've been able to accurately bluetooth dial since 6 years and three phones ago, you are officially a genius.

Actually, this is my first app, so I haven't paid the fee for developers to the app store. This is relatively simple, but I may put in a paypal link for development supplies. You know the standard: sex, drugs (beer), rock and roll.

I don't want to tip my hand for the other ideas I'm going to work on, but once this is mostly complete, I'm going to start on my next couple of apps, which I'm affectionately calling "Ring Rules" and "When I Get Home" right now. Those will likely have free and paid versions in the app store. (Assuming I get enough time to write them.)
 
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TheYar

Senior Member
May 27, 2008
147
31
Word, vibrate on launch. Dug. My handset is usually in a cradle or empty seat or sliding around the floorboard somewhere, so I might not get to use it much. But definitely a worthy X.X.1 enhancement. Looking forward to the other two apps you tease there; if my guesses are correct then they would both be of value to me.

On the lock-screen bypass: definitely, making it configurable would be preferable and snazzy. But on the old Windows Mobile Voice Command, this was configurable and disabled by default and it still got a good bit of bad feedback as a security bug. My 2 cents would be to make the setting work like the USB debugging setting in a stock ROM. Enabling it requires you to acknowledge a pop-up that warns and explains the risk. This might limit the number of armchair professional comments you get in the Market that are all caps and scream about how your app has security bugs and allows people to hack androids and steal all the datums and megahurtz off of them.
 

tazman171

Senior Member
May 23, 2010
1,306
270
Spokane Valley
home.comcast.net
Hey thanks for this app, used voice dialing and commands all of the time on my Tilt with WinMo 6.0, only real downside of Android is not implementing this feature in an easy to use format IMO. I'm still figuring out vlingo but I can finally use my BlueAnt ST3 the way I used to, or almost anyway. Thanks again. :cool:
 

ewingr

Senior Member
Dec 1, 2007
2,965
205
I started with yur earlier version that did Google Voice only, then the one that you could choose between GV and Vlingo.

Just installed latest version, and getting FCs.

I don't know if it is because I am selecting wrong COM item under (I've tried several under Vlingo, and get double vibrate, then FC each time) the app, or this application itself. But bringing up a long list of all the different components of various programs makes it immensely more difficult to get an operational program.

Going back to earlier version for now.

[EDIT]
I was able to get it to work with Google Voice, but never did with Vlingo.

I now realize that 3 vibes is normal. I'd prefer an option to turn that off.
 
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  • 1
    Thanks for all the feedback, I haven't forgotten about this app, I've been sharpening my android skills so I can finish this up and have it look good.

    Yay!

    Just please do me a favor, and don't ever remove the un-lock & screen on feature... Cuz thats the most important feature i need... cuz if my phone does not auto un-lock & turn the screen on when i press the button, then Vlingo InCar doesn't work right...

    I know there was debate earlier on the security of this, but this is a MUST HAVE for me, so please do not remove it... at minimum, make it an option or something...
    1
    Is there any alternative for this app?

    Coz I would like to launch any activity without bluetooth launch black background, some overlay to be possible.

    I think there should be someone working on it if the logic is known :)

    Remain hopeful.

    Actually that's done for a couple of good reasons. The first is device support. This app works on Froyo and beyond. I don't know that I can use an overlay and support older devices.

    Second is battery/performance. This app doesn't register as a service. It uses 0 CPU when it is not active, unlike most apps. The trade off is a slightly slower start and a black screen. A good compromise given the alternative.