Blurts Beta feedback

[MLH Software]

@ka3yan - threaded SMS is coming. Just another couple days to clean it up for a beta release.

And you will be able to have more the one SMS window open at a time for multiply chat sessions.

[ka3yan]

I have to say, I am super excited about the prospect of threaded messaging using Blurts. I'm not even kidding!!! The added value of this portion of the application is almost immeasurable in my view. Also having the ability to have multiple messaging windows open is really awesome!

On a note about the keyboard feature. I had a little problem using it for sending BBM messages. I know that maybe this isn't the intended feature, but it seems to be a key-mapping problem. I really need to spend some time testing each key, but I was typing and not paying attention to which key was causing it, but one of the keyboard keys was causing an 'Enter' command to execute. This was sending my message prematurely.

Anyhow, much thanks again Michael for all your efforts!

Brad

[MLH Software]

@vader7071 - I am also seeing the lag issue. One thing I noticed is that you can't click the links in the alert window if another Blurts window is open (i.e. SMS or Setup window). I will look into this more. The keyboard control still needs a lot of work. As you type on the keyboard the raw key codes are getting passed which works for the letters, but can cause issue with the other keys. I have define and add a conversion table to fix this.

@mmeltser - Instead of creating a new thread, I just renames this one. Once this beta is released. Then I will start a new thread for the next beta. (I see the cycle going on for awhile.) Good catch on the Contact company name. I missed adding the company field. I will fix this.

@kenguy - sent you the link, welcome to the beta

@dancadman - I have tried to find a way to save the outbound SMS messages on the phone, but so far have to found away. RIM doesn't allow 3rd party apps to interact with the SMS client. We can intercept the message and send our own message, but not interact with the SMS client app. (Same for BBM so far too.)

@ka3yan - Still working the Contact UI. It will change a lot soon.
- Adding SMS message threading and allow more then one window at a time.
- Also looking into adding "Alert history" so you can see the last X alerts on the PC.
- Looking into the lag issue
- I the SMS popup for when you are sending will go away with the new SMS UI
- The keyboard control still needs a lot of work. Depending on what key you press you could get weird results.

@stonerclan - I have thought about combining the keybaord feature and screenshot, but the screenshot is just to slow for this to work.


- It has also been reported that the screen capture feature is only capturing a part of the screen instead of the full screen. I have not been able to reproduce this issue, has anyone else seen it?

[vader7071]

I have not seen an issue with the screen capture. When I played with it, it worked fine for me.

[Bodero]

Tiny request:

Incoming emails show up with a ?? as a newline in the Blurts window. It'd be nice to just parse that out.

[Bodero]

Also another tidbit that I won't lose sleep over: it'd be nice if messages sent showed up in the SMS window on the Blackberry (Storm2 OS 5), but I understand that you may be limited by RIM in this regard.

[ka3yan]

Michael, this is interesting. I use a docked laptop at work. Last night I took it home to do work and of course it was undocked. So I ran Blurts and noticed that I wasn't getting ANY lag. NONE!

So I assumed it had something to do with being docked. BTW, I'm running a Dell D630, 4GB RAM, 512MB VRAM, WinXP Pro SP3. So even though Blurts does use a somewhat sizable amount of system resources in terms of processor use while it is opening and closing windows, etc. By sizable, I mean it was using up to 10% of my processor's capacity, but only around 60-65mb of RAM.

At any rate, when I plugged back into my dock this morning, NO LAG! When I hover over the popup window, I instantly get a red X over the X and I can click reply immediately without having the normal 2-3 second pause.

I can't explain why this has happened, but it has made my Blurts experience much more pleasant. I'm not sure how I could track down the cause for this change, but I'm not complaining.

[MLH Software]

@ka3yan - Someone else also emailed last night and said they where having a lot of lag and then emailed back 2 hours later and said it was gone. I also have seen the same thing on my machines. Not sure how to explain it yet. The app is .Net based and uses an embed IE window for the UI, I wonder if .Net or IE changed somehow to cause/resolve the lag?

[rcobourn]

Just wanted to join the party. I'm enjoying Blurts immensely. Looking forward to trying the beta, thanks for tweeting about it, I hadn't found my way to this forum yet. Keep up the good work. Going to get a license for my son's BB as an Xmas gift.

[ndn8]

Excellent app!! bought straight away after using the trial (although the trial didnt work right). I haven't ran into any errors yet, but I haven't also played much. I see some pretty simple feature suggestions.

I wrote a list at work, but can't think of them off hand. Here are the ones i remember.

Search contacts
auto ignore calls
Set phone profile
Send email

[evulhotdog]

Originally Posted by MLH Software

@ka3yan - Someone else also emailed last night and said they where having a lot of lag and then emailed back 2 hours later and said it was gone. I also have seen the same thing on my machines. Not sure how to explain it yet. The app is .Net based and uses an embed IE window for the UI, I wonder if .Net or IE changed somehow to cause/resolve the lag?

I like that your using .net and stuff, but embedding IE into an app is never a good idea. I believe it would be a lot smoother if it wasnt used.

[ndn8]

picture messages come up as an error

[MLH Software]

Blurts 1.0.1.5 is now on the beta page and ready for download.

Big changes to SMS in this release. SMS is now a true chat client with history. You can have more then one chat session going at a time. Also added support for sending messages larger the 160 characters. Blurts will split the text into multiple messages.

The contact window is now re-sizable, this should make it a little easier to use with large contact lists.

[ndn8]

loving the update.

So far on my first attempt at sending a 160+ msg it never sent, then the app errored on my phone and would not reopen. battery pull now ill see what happens.

now it is only sending 2 of 2 or part 4 of 4 etc.. im on storm 9530 verizon.

load msg says v 1.0.1.4

[MLH Software]

@ndn8 - does not sound like you have version 1.0.1.5 on both your phone and desktop. Need to make sure both apps are updated to the latest version, check in the about screen of each app.