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Hiya! What we have here is a brand new MAL app for Android 2.2+. What makes us better? Well, we consider design an important aspect. It's our belief that if it doesn't make you want to gouge your eyes out, we're probably doing something right, and you're going to have a better time. So, rather than go on and on, we'll let the app speak for itself. :)
As of 1.3, everything you can do on MAL, including adding to your lists is now available. Don't think we're done though, now that all the core functionality is done we can add some awesome stuff! Look forward to it!
Like new features early? Can't wait between the usually long release cycles? Not to worry, the beta's got your back. We periodically release things as they're being developed in beta form. You can check it out at the link. Atarashii! Beta Version!
(currently beta version: 1.3.1)
old op
Hi all, I've crafted a new Android App for MAL available exclusively to Android 4.0+ devices, called DreadfulMAL. I know that will probably alienate a lot of you, and I'm sorry. But I also know that many devices are receiving Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) updates, so that situation might change in the future.
Basically, it appears as if riotopsys, who is an amazing guy and I've used his app for forever, has disappeared. With the ICS design guidelines released, and the Android platform finally looking sexy, I took it upon myself to write a new app to blend in with the new system. This is where the Android 4.0 requirement comes from, though I may backport to tablets on 3.0 Honeycomb if there is enough demand.
Now, I'm not the greatest developer. In fact, this is my very first app, so it's a learning experience for me. As such, I won't be open-sourcing my code as riotopsys did. The app is still free.
Right now the feature list is diminutive, it syncs with MAL, shows your lists (anime only at the moment, manga to come later), and allows you to "+1 Watched" an anime. A fairly self-descriptive feature. Push the button, and it'll up your watched count by +1. It'll even go beyond that though, it'll even update your watch status to "completed" after you push it for the final time for that series.
I still have plenty to do, not the least of which is rewriting how I'm caching data (it isn't pretty), but I'd love any kind of feedback from those in the community that can actually use the application.
Downloaded it to check it out and it looks promising. I'm using it on a tablet so I'm not sure if you've tested it at all one one. I can take screenshots of things if you. Here's my feedback.
- Personally I was hoping for a lighter interface, the dark colors seem more honeycomb styled than ice cream sandwich. The white/light blue/light grey color scheme of the stock ICS apps is a really elegant approach and that MAL logo you have situated in the top right corner is perfectly suited for a lighter color scheme.
- If possible in tablet view the top bar could be used more effectively. Once you implement manga listings, and just my opinion here, but possibly going with a sort of tabbed look (if possible) would make things easier to access. such as it is right now you have all the view options (watching, completed, dropped ect.) in a drop down list and then theres a large gap all the way to the menu button the top right corner. Maybe (if possible) when you implement manga list viewing, think about having the drop down toggle used to switch between Manga List and Anime List, and then have the sort categories listed vertically to the right of that. (like how you have the Set Last Watched and +1 watched on the series pages)
- One little graphical thing I noticed, and it could just be because I'm a tablet, is that when I look at the more information page for a series, the series image has a predefined height and width and it always looks smushed or stretched out.
Other than that (and the obvious further adding of more information and content which will come over time :P) It's fast and a solid looking app. I'll keep it installed and look forward to updates :D Good job on your first android app, any suggestion for someone with no programming knowledge who is interested in learning how to build apps? I've got the Android SDK, Java SDK and Eclipse installed and all set up.. just not sure where to begin learning :p
Hello there *-*!! I used it on my Galaxy Note 4.0.3 and it's working really good right now.
I haven't found any bugs so far. It adds to the list just as it's supposed to and it's really good. I was waiting for this *-*!!
Its smooth and fast. So keep up the good work!
Thanks for the criticism guys. Glad to hear it hasn't exploded after I made it public :D
Personally I'm partial to Holo Dark, but I'll gladly add a setting to use Light instead in the next release. And yes, the image is a fixed dimension, it looks great on a phone, but obviously not on a bigger screen. Tablet layouts are also on the to do list, need to get some core functionality done first though.
And Pawnty, the best advice I can give you is have a goal. Envision what you want to make, and you'll drive yourself from there. Once you're familiar with the java syntax, it's really a matter of just looking up how to do something to achieve the goal you set. Ergo, without a goal there's no drive to make anything. You learn by doing :D
A color scheme settings works well too :P I look forward to receiving updates :) Also happy to report any bugs I might find and general tablet testing if you don't have one to test on. Once you add the manga list portion to it I see myself using it a lot since i do all my manga reading on my tablet :D
I need to find a place to actually start the process of learning java. I do have an app in mind that I would like to make, it's just a matter of learning JAVA and figuring it out.
I haven't had much time to work on the app lately so there won't be an update for a bit, but thanks for the feedback and support. Fury, can you describe what you mean by "rewatching"? Not exactly sure what this is.
And to be more specific, I'm a web developer dipping my feet in actual programming. Web projects aside, this is my first real coding project. So nope, never coded in Java before. Teaching myself it :)
AnimaSA: If you view your list and click edit on a completed entry there is a box you can check off the label it as "rewatching" so you can keep track of your progress and marks it as having been watched twice so the statistics at the bottom of the page reflect it correctly.
Wow, I seriously had no idea that even existed. From what I can tell though, the MAL API has no way of accessing that though. So while I can support it, it would take quite a bit of custom parsing code on my own server. I'll throw it on the to-do list, even though it probably won't be done any time soon. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
More or less. This would be easy-peasy if it were web development. I'm getting the hang of it in Java though. Here a link to the docs, specifically the part that details the info returned when querying information on an anime. http://mal-api.com/docs/#type_anime
..and I'm going to sleep. But before I do that, here's a link to the Google+ page for DreadfulMAL. It's where I post about what's going at the moment. OFF TO SLEEP~
i just stumbled upon this in the app store and so far i like it, especially the ics theme. the only thing that confuses me is the ordering in the list, there doesn't really seem to be one, or its not really obvious to me. i hope new features comes soon
Read up on this app on the Play Store. I haven't actually loaded it, but it looks promising either way.
I'm gonna assume that this should run fine on DaGr8's Alpha 2 build running 4.0.3 for the Note.
But, I'm planning to switch to 1 of those other ICS ROM's sometime in the next week. Then I'm gonna give this app a shot once I reload my main apps.
GalaxyStreakEVO said: Read up on this app on the Play Store. I haven't actually loaded it, but it looks promising either way.
I'm gonna assume that this should run fine on DaGr8's Alpha 2 build running 4.0.3 for the Note.
But, I'm planning to switch to 1 of those other ICS ROM's sometime in the next week. Then I'm gonna give this app a shot once I reload my main apps.
CM9 if they have it available for you, much better than TW
on topic, app looks nice, seems like there is a bit of a delay moving screens or it may just be me. over all i like the look of it in my 2 min tour i took of it. i'll play with it for a few days and let you know if i find any issues and or wakelocks by it.
I just pushed a new version to Google Play which changes the theme from Holo Dark to Holo Light w/ Dark Action Bars. I know I said I'd make it configurable, and that's still coming, but for now just this small change makes the app look much more pretty. My apologies for the lack of updates, been very busy lately. Once the summer starts I'll have plenty of time to sit down and make an awesome app for you guys though.
nice, i'm glad you didn't abandon it. the only thing that still confuses me is the ordering of the list.
also, i think this is a bug where the app doesn't show the right number of episodes that i have watched, like cowboy bebop, i'm on 21, but the app displays 16 even after another sync.
this is one of several animes that does this while others are correct
Awesome! Hope you're able to sort out what you need, other than manga support I really have no suggestions for you. You are already steps ahead of other MAL apps.
Maybe Icon preview next to the anime/manga? but that is more for looks. Productivity wise i think you nailed it.
As much as I'd like to support 2.x devices, I'll have to shoot this one down. I'm using styles and design patterns, and even a few APIs there were introduced in 4.x, and back porting them would only lead to a mess that would go against what I'm trying to achieve here.
In better news, the Xperia Neo is actually receiving 4.0.4 starting today(!), so when you do receive it (its rolling out) I would love to hear your thoughts on the app. Thanks!
Huge update! Just going to c+p the new op for my own sake..
Hello! I've created a brand new MAL app for Androids running ICS or newer. The app is called "Atarashii!", which is Japanese for "New, Modern". The app was designed to take modern design into account, simplifying and beautifying the entire experience.
Features include syncing, updating watched and status and the best UI on the Play Store. In the works is manga support (priority), searching MAL from the app to add to your lists, and setting the score (very soon).
To say that the app is completely new is a bit of a lie though, I originally had a much older, far more basic version available on Google Play titled "DreadfulMAL". I've been toiling away to bring you guys this update, and I hope you love it as much as I do.
Fairly certain there is, though as I own a grand total of zero iDevices I can't really speak. This is a thread about an Android app though, you should check Android out hint hint wink wink.
I can't get it on my crap android. any suggestions on how to fix it? frankly i mostly just use it for calls and texting and only have a few apps - perhaps there is something i need to do before i can get it?
You say "crap Android", I'm going to go ahead and assume you have an old phone. Unfortunately, there isn't anything that can be done. Atarashii! was designed for and can only be run on relatively modern devices, specifically devices with Android version 4.0 (ICS) or greater. I can recommend MAL for Android on the Play Store for you though, as it should be compatible with your phone.
Interface is absolutely wonderful. As I only read manga on my Android device, I have no need of the anime feature, so once manga support is implemented, I'll certainly be using this app over the others. Great stuff.
Edit: Forgot to mention the three-digit error that had been reported earlier! I've watched 286 episodes of DBZ, not 28 :P
SANstormSep 1, 2012 7:56 PM
"In both love and octopus-hunting, you have to take the initiative!" - Gintoki Sakata
Yep, three digit issue is already fixed in my internal build. I would've caught it earlier, but I haven't watched anything with 100+ episodes so I had no idea :P
On another note, I pushed a hot fix last night to fix a potential crash when scrolling through abnormally long lists (I think anyways, it was reported, but my list isn't nearly long enough to reproduce the crash)
Also, probably a stupid issue, but the app FCs when trying to sync without an internet connection.I realize that sounds utterly retarded, but sometimes my internet goes and still seems like it's working (college internet). I don't know if it's an easy fix, but the other apps, mainly the Baka team one, merely do nothing when my internet shits the bed, which is ideal. Just throwing that out there; manga support is still way more important, obviously.
"In both love and octopus-hunting, you have to take the initiative!" - Gintoki Sakata
Right. Definitely fixable, and easily done too. As it is, the app straight up tries to use the internet, without checking if it's available. It's a crash I've never run into since I always have internet, but definitely one worth fixing.
Bugfix will definitely be in the 1.1 release, along with manga support (it's being worked on right now). Thanks for the report!
And as always, let me just self-plug a little here, check out Atarashii!'s Google+ page, where I post updates on development status, teasers and other random anime related stuff. Linkifications!
I have a new android, but low end with so little support, no ICS roms... I want this app... But there is not one for 2.3.5 gingerbread... Well If I have time I might try modifying yours and make it for older versions of android, if that's ok with you...
AnimaSA said: Sure! Go ahead and fork it from here. If you can make it run, feel free to open a pull request and we can merge it back into the main app.
Thank you, I am really busy right now, but I might do something, or I might ask one of many people I know that work with this. Once again thank you.
The headline feature is, of course, manga support, but there's plenty more to this update than that. For those that have been with us since pre rewrite, you may remember "+1 Watched", well that's also back and better than ever now as Cover Actions! In addition to that, we have another cover action "Mark Completed" and more to come as we think of them or you suggest them.
Something else I know some will like is an option to use the more traditional list style instead of the coverflow-esque grid we default too, well that's also here!
And, in addition to all of this, we've cleaned up many things and fixed many bugs, including the three digit issue and any and all scrolling lag. The app should feel butter smooth and ultra responsive now.
Ok that's enough self plugging, check it out and let us know what you think.
Jeez, been a while since I've been to this thread. The app has really come a long way since the DreadfulMAL days and I think the name change was a good decision :P Been using it constantly and greatly look forward to when you get it to a point that you can actually search the MAL database and add new anime and manga to our lists :D
downloaded this this morning, i am kinda mad at myself for just now finding out about it, but i really love the UI with the Holo colors and cover flow..only thing that is really missing for me is a search function so i can find and add new content to my list..other than that i really love this thing.
I'm happy to announce that Atarashii! has been successfully backported all the way back to Android 2.2! This means that now everyone can enjoy the modern design, speed and simplicity that your new phone toting brethren have been enjoying.
Keep an eye on the Play Store tonight, the beta will be going out first to make sure no crazy crashes crept in during the porting process, and then the official app will receive the update after a few days.
On new features, also keep an eye on the beta, Search + Add should be coming soon. Enjoy :)
Ok, so, Search might be a bit delayed because I'm terrible at merging a whole ton of conflicts. So, in it's stead I started working on the new detail view UI I've been meaning to do.