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User Rating3.31/5GPS with a brain! Have you ever lost your car in the parking lot? How about getting lost in the woods, on campus, or even on the lake? a2b provides an intuitive solution for navigating from point A to point B. GPS with a directional arrow, picture, notes, and voice recordings to get you back to where you need to be!
Price: $2.99
Our biggest gripe with this app is the functionality, ease of use and usefulness doesn’t justify the $3 cost. Here’s why:
In many of our attempts in evaluating a2b Android App failed practical use cases. In most common cases; it’s best to use a2b at big box stores, supermarkets or shopping mall parking lots to help remember where you parked your car. More commonly, if you’ve forgotten where you parked your car, then it’s more likely you forgot to whip out your G1 or Android powered phone to store your starting location in a2b beforehand. In reverse, when you conscienciously remember to launch a2b and store your start location, you’re more likely to remember it, without the need of the app.
In one field case scenario the app went from bad to worse. I visited the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago and parked in a complex parking garage. Great opportunity to test a2b Android App, right…
After remembering to launch the app, I was greeted with a message to turn on GPS. a2b Android App doesn’t automatically Enable/Disable GPS (such as other GPS-enabled Android apps), which is inconvenient and bad for an already taxed battery life for the T-Mobile G1. Now that the GPS was manually enabled, instead of automatically recording my starting location when tapping “Store Location” button, you’re sent to the “Location” tab showing the map, where you must tapp the “SAVE MY a2b LOCATION” button (which lags in saving).
I wanted to take a picture of the surrounding location under “Take Photo” tab. The camera feature lags and takes 3-7 seconds to load. This feature unjustly inherits the slow load, slow shutter, painfully blurry pictures as the regular Camera app. Most mobile users are impatient and assume the feature doesn’t work.
After sitting in the hospital for a few hours it was time to take the post-surgery patient I came to see home. So I went to get the car while discharge paperwork was being filled out. Great opportunity to test a2b Android App, right… WRONG!
I was unaware the GPS was still on in setting my starting location with a2b, thus killed the battery on my G1 because the app does not automatically disable the GPS when the app is not in use. I didn’t find this out until I reached the parking garage and whipped the phone out. Not only was it dead but I actually couldn’t find my car even though I remembered the level it was on. I literally spent 10 minutes searching the whole level finding it the old fashion way (you know… key remote in hand pressing buttons hoping to hear some horns beep).
Where a2b could offer worth is in outdoor settings such as camping/hiking; provided you remembered to store your starting point location and you have enough battery juice when trying to find your ending location.
(2.3 out of 5)
Should you Download a2b? Our opinion… a2b needs more work to justify the ease of use, usefulness and functionality to cost ratio.
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Posted 
I have to disagree with your rating of this app. I’ve used this app before and found that it was very easy to use. I’ve also found it useful and have used it everywhere from the mall parking lot to the airport parking garage. Just because I make a point of remembering where I parked my car doesn’t mean I always remember where it is
I thought it was $3 well spent.
Also, I don’t think this app review was really about the app so much as it was about the limited features of the phone. I mean, the camera being slow? The battery draining? I think those will be non-issues when new and better android capable phones are on the market. I don’t think this review really gives the kind of feedback about the app that it should. Its a very useful app, and it needs to be reviewed for its functionality, not the limited functionality of the phone.
@Britt
Your rebutal is much anticipated, and I’m glad it works for you and well spent. We understand there are limitations with the G1 phone regarding battery life and slow camera load/shutter, in which this app utilizes. There is a really good article written by Ron DuPlain of Espresso Mind called “13 Personal Proverbs for Good Android App Design“, which could be used as a great consideration with Android mobile app developers.
Basically, a2b can be improved by factoring in device limitations while balancing user expectations. For example, (Proverb #4 & 11) adding a “Loading” graphic while the Camera loads versus what initially seems to be a black unresponsive screen helps. (Proverb #8) Any Android app using the GPS should have a rule of thumb to Enable/Disable its use as needed. It’s irresponsible of the developers to rely on users to to this, many apps already do this such as TeleNav GPS Navigator or Mileage Ledger. (Proverb #13) Maybe costs could have been offset with ads as an alternative pricing model.
How did you feel it compared with Park Mark?
Cheers,
Alan.
Just some thoughts in regard to Park Mark; I’ve only tried it a couple times, but it did not allow you to take a picture, record a voice note, or type free text notes. I also noticed that the radar wasn’t as accurate as the navigation arrow is with a2b.
Respectfully, Froogloid disagrees with this review. I’m not sure which version of a2b you reviewed but my guess is that it was a pre-production version. I would strongly encourage you to review the version 1.1.0 currently available in the android marketplace. Each of the “short-comings” you’ve mentioned are either inaccurate or are no fault of the thin client (i.e. a2b), but rather the android OS.
+ a2b DOES automatically turn GPS on and off
+ Regarding your camera complaint, a2b relies on the internal camera API. If there is a delay, this is no fault of the application
+ Loading graphics ARE provided between screen transitions and when saving data
+ Price to value comments ~ a2b allows you to take pictures, record audio notes, take free text notes, turn by turn directions, manually save location, store unlimited locations, provides a compass, navigation arrow, and you can share your saved location by emailing a google maps link along with a picture and free text note. $2.99 seems like rather good deal for this many features!
+ Screenshots ~ http://picasaweb.google.com/Chris.Fagan1/A2bScreenshots?feat=directlink
At the end of the day, our customer’s opinions are what matter. Here’s what they’ve said about a2b http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.froogloid.android.gspot
Chris Fagan
Froogloid, LLC
Co-Founder
How do i get the program – my demo leads me to NOT THE FULL VERSION the bar code dont lead me thereeitherand i cant find the demo or the full version on the ANDROID MARKET? Version Needed: Droid Version