Armond

[UPDATED for v2.5.x]

Hi Guys,

It's a few days I've released my first Android application (aCar) to Google Android Market under "Productivity" category (for FREE). aCar is an all-in-one handy application to effectively track the fuel mileage and costs, maintenance, business (and non-business) trips/mileages and general expenses of your vehicles.

Feature List:
* Tracking the fuel mileage, fillup costs, maintenance and general expenses of your vehicles
* Tracking the business trips/mileages you're going with your vehicles
* Multiple vehicles support
* Supporting several international units: MPG (US, Canada & Imperial), gal/100mi (US & Imperial), mi/L, km/gal (US & Imperial), L/100km, km/L
* Service reminders for vehicles (both time and mileage based); will be posted on your phone status bar. They are highly customizable for each vehicle separately
* Thorough statistics of your vehicles at a glance
* Powerful searching and filtering
* Graphical charts and reports: Fuel Efficiency, Fuel Price, Fuel Costs, Service Costs, General Expenses, Distance between FillUps, Price per Gallon/Liter, Gallons/Liters per FillUp and many more (Pro Feature!)
* Comparison charts for your vehicles (Pro Feature!)
* Full manual/automatic data and application settings backup/restore (Pro Feature!)
* Importing data from various sources: Auto 3in1 application (Windows), AutoMobile application (PalmOS/Windows/Android), Mileage application (Android), MPG application (PalmOS/iOS), Road Trip application (iOS), TealAuto application (PalmOS/WebOS), Vehicle Manager application (Windows), Fuelly.com website, FuelFrog.com website, SpritMonitor.de website and any plain Excel compatible CSV file (Pro Feature!)
* Exporting records to Excel compatible CSV format (Pro Feature!)
* Exporting statistics to Excel compatible CSV and browser viewable HTML formats (Pro Feature!)

The application contains a FAQ (accessible from the main screen) where you can find the frequently asked questions. This is a good place to start with if you are experiencing any problem, before contacting me!

I will appreciate if any of you download and give it a try and let me know what you think. Whether the overall user interface of the application is intuitive and good enough, or how you would like to see it improved. I need all your feedback, comments, complaints, mentioning of pros and cons, or whatever else you would like to share about this application, good or bad! All are welcome!

More information: ZoneWalker.com » aCar

And some inline screen shots:


Thank you,
Armond

Last edited by Armond; January 21st, 2011 at 02:41 PM.

SnoopDoggieDroid

Im a statistics type person and im always keeping track of my MPG because a dippage will always point to something else being problematic with your vehicle.

Looks to be a great app and i will definitely use it when i get my droid on tuesday!

Armond

Thanks a lot for your reply. Eagerly waiting for your comments and feedbacks...

Fadelight

Wow, this looks amazing. I'm going to download it within the next few minutes.

__________________
Blogging: Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.

btmac

Thanks for developing this app. I just downloaded it, entered info for one vehicle, and entered one service item (oil change). The app seems quite nice. Is it possible to export data, e.g. as a CSV file? Checked the user guide and did not see anything.

Armond

Thanks a lot for your interest, and glad you've liked it.

For the moment, aCar does not have any import/export feature. But it's in my todo list for the next major version. Moreover, I'm planning to make it possible to export the charts and reports in a common graphic format (JPEG or PNG), saving them to photo gallery or emailing them.

I have many features in my mind, but first I need to know I'm on the right track with the initial version I've published :-)

By the way, just in case you've missed the charts and reports, tilt your phone 90 degree counter clock wise (to go to landscape mode). aCar will sense the new situation and unveil a bunch of charts and reports to you :-) While watching the first chart, just swipe on screen by your finger to see the next ones...

Have Fun!

Armond

Doug

Great app!!! I was using Personal Vehicle Manager ($20) on Windows Mobile for 4 years, and when I switched to Android, I needed another app which tracked all vehicle expenses.

aCar is by far much superior!

Just sent a donation. Keep up the great work!

Armond

WOW! Thanks a lot for your donation :-) Really appreciated! I'm glad to see you've liked it and that it's comparable to a product which has been in use for 4 years.

Doug, it will be great if you let me know the pros/cons of aCar from your point of view, as a user who has used a similar software professionally. All your suggestions and comments (even negatives) are welcome :-)

Cheers,

Last edited by Armond; November 8th, 2009 at 01:50 AM.

KoukiFC3S

Looks great! Will this always be free?

Armond

There is one important point for personal products/projects. If the product/project is taking a lot of time for the supporting person, then it needs to have revenue in anyhow to help him continue his efforts. Unless he's doing it just for his own entertainment and at his spare time.

Speaking explicitly about aCar, as long as the donations and ads-generated money can cover my costs plus bring me some decent revenue, I will keep it free. Otherwise I should go for other options to afford keeping the project alive.

After all, developers also need to make their life :-) I have spent 4-5 dedicated months working on aCar without earning even a cent. So obviously I will seek for new ways of monetization if the current applied ones do not work.

But whatever happens I won't forget my user base. I will find a way to keep them happy.

Regards,

Last edited by Armond; November 8th, 2009 at 09:38 AM.

DevinB

I just DL'ed it, I'll give it a whirl. So far it looks great.

DigitalRapture

I installed it but coincidently hit back and now I cannot get back to the initial setup screen to finish entering my vehicle information. I even tried reinstalling but the screen is somehow skipped. I imagine it would be in the documentation and is just my laziness.

answer: (from his user guide) http://www.zonewalker.com/acar/help

"After entering some more records and while you are on main screen, you may tilt your phone (turn it 90 degree counter clockwise) to go to landscape mode and to see some charts and reports. While you are viewing the first chart in landscape mode, just swipe on screen (like on iPhone to see more pages) to see the next charts/reports."

Last edited by DigitalRapture; November 8th, 2009 at 08:46 PM.

Armond

Hello, and thanks for trying aCar :-)

Maybe it's my fault and I should provide a better user guide. But anyways...
The Vehicle Bar at the bottom is a fully clickable section on main screen. If you see "All Vehicles" written there, you'll also see a very small "+" sign at the right of it. It means that tapping on the bar will lead you to "New Vehicle" screen. But if you're seeing your entered vehicle name on the Vehicle Bar, you'll also see a very small ">" sign at the right of it. It means that tapping on the bar will lead you to VIEW your entered vehicle information and perhaps to edit/update it there if you want.

Now explicitly speaking about your case, from your explanations I guess you've entered just ONE vehicle information and it's not quite complete yet. If you're seeing "All Vehicles" on the Vehicle Bar, just try to tap on the BIG LEFT/RIGHT ARROWS at the edges of the bar to navigate to your vehicle. When you saw your vehicle name written on the bar, just tap on it and you'll see you vehicle details. At the View Vehicle screen, you'll notice an EDIT icon (a big pencil) at the right edge of TOP BLUE BAR. Tap on it and you'll go to Edit Vehicle page to update and complete your vehicle information. After completing the information you want, just tap on SAVE icon again on right edge of TOP BAR and you'll have it stored :-)

Hope this helps... Please let me know if you still can't work suitable with aCar.

By the way, I've designed the initial setup screen in a way that it provides information about the things you've not done yet (like entering your vehicle info). As soon as you do it, it will go one step forward (like a wizard) and will show you further things you can do.

Best Regards,

Last edited by Armond; November 9th, 2009 at 01:02 AM.

Doug

I transferred all my fuel data for my vehicle from my Windows Mobile device to aCar.

For some reason, the full tank entries preceeding a partial fill-up entry have very high MPG numbers. I unchecked 'partial fill-up', the MPG reading drops but is still very high.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Armond

Thanks a lot for your issue report...

While I'm trying to reproduce your given scenario here to find the problem, it will be great if you can send me a block of your fill-up data (like 3-4 entries) which can reveal this problem, as well as the calculated MPGs and your expected values. I want to be able to test exactly with your numbers. If you don't feel suitable to post them here, you can email me directly (ZoneWalker.com » Contact).

As a side note, whenever you enter a new fillup record, I calculate the MPG for its previous record because it's the previous fillup gas which has been used in your vehicle so far (till right before the current fillup)! But in MPG calculation formula, I'm using the CURRENT fillup gas volume. Why? Because current fillup volume is the only way I can find how much gas has been used since previous fillup (and from previous fillup gas).
Just thought this may enlighten the behind the scene calculation rules, and help you in your double checkings.

Thanks a million for helping me to pin point the problem.

Last edited by Armond; November 9th, 2009 at 08:07 AM.

Armond

Doing further tests last night I could catch a bug in unit conversion process. If you've changed the Fuel Efficiency unit from the application Settings (which has resulted into Fuel Efficiency conversion), you've had a great chance to hit this bug and to get unusually big numbers!

As well, for partial records, I was intentionally skipping the Fuel Efficiency calculation. But now I'm thinking that it will be good to calculate an average efficiency from the full-tank entry proceeding partial entries and all of those immediate previous partial entries and apply the result for all. Example:

# -- Odometer (mi) ---- Gas Volume (gal) ----- Partial? ----- MPG
==================================================
1. ------- 1000 --------------- 11 -------------- No ------- 36.1
2. ------- 1350 --------------- 9.7 ------------- No ------- 30.5 *
3. ------- 1500 --------------- 5.4 ------------- Yes ------- 30.5 *
4. ------- 1830 --------------- 10.3 ------------ No ------- 33.0
5. ------- 2250 --------------- 12.7 ------------ No ------- 26.9
6. ------- 2540 --------------- 10.8 ------------ No -------

Do these numbers seem correct to you?

Good news is that the bug has been already fixed, and partial records fuel efficiency calculation is under development right now and both will be included in the next release.

Doug, if you've had all full-tank entries and have not done any unit conversion, I couldn't find any other case that might have caused such a problem for you :-( Hope you have the time to help me on this!

And others who have used aCar and have had such MPG calculation problems, please let me know...

Thank you,

Last edited by Armond; November 10th, 2009 at 04:29 AM.

Doug

Snippets of my fuel entries and the reported MPG:

# -- Odometer (mi) ---- Gas Volume (gal) ----- Partial? ----- MPG
==================================================
1. ------- 46,613 ------------- 18.39 ------------No ------- 14.87
2. ------- 46,945 --------------22.32 ----------- No ------- 76.83
3. ------- 47,260 --------------4.10 ------------ Yes -------2.18
4. ------- 47,313 --------------24.29 ------------ No ------- 11.05
5. ------- 47,562 --------------22.54 ------------ No ------- 12.85
6. ------- 47,856 --------------22.88 ------------ No ------- 66.31
7. ------- 48,163 --------------4.63 ------------ Yes ------- 18.12

Thanks for your help!

If you need any other information, let me know.

freddyb

I'm going to download this and give it a whirl. Thanks.

Armond

Okay! I confirm the bug. I've corrected the calculations, but still it needs further testing :-) Here I paste the new calculated MPGs... According to my on-paper calculations, they seem to be correct. Please let me know if you confirm them:

# -- Odometer (mi) ---- Gas Volume (gal) ----- Partial? ----- MPG
==================================================
1. ------- 46,613 ------------- 18.39 ------------No ------- 14.87
2. ------- 46,945 --------------22.32 ----------- No ------- 12.96*
3. ------- 47,260 --------------4.10 ------------ Yes -------12.96*
4. ------- 47,313 --------------24.29 ----------- No ------- 11.05
5. ------- 47,562 --------------22.54 ----------- No ------- 12.85
6. ------- 47,856 --------------22.88 ----------- No ------- 14.78*
7. ------- 48,163 --------------4.63 ------------ Yes ------ 14.78*
8. ------- 48,220 --------------20.00 ----------- Yes ------

(*) Again I stress on the new way I'm calculating the MPG for partial records. It's an average of the both partial and non-partial record after that, and the calculated number is used for both of them!

Armond

Thanks a lot :-) Looking for your feedbacks...

Armond

Guys,

I've just published a new maintenance release (v1.0.2) for aCar. It fixes the MPG calculation problem for partial fill-ups, plus it contains some minor UI improvements especially for new users (guides them better on main screen to have a smoother start).

Doug, please download this update and edit each one of your fill-up records and save them without any special change (for the sake of speed, you can Long PRESS on each record at main screen to get a context menu which contains "Edit FillUp Record" option. In that way you can directly edit the records). This will force the MPG to be recalculated with the new formula! You should get the numbers I'd pasted in my previous post, which are correct according to my calculations. Please let me know otherwise... I'm so sorry to put you in trouble. I wish I could provide you a better way without having to go to each record and edit/save it!
Thanks a lot for helping me to resolve this issue.

Best Regards,

Last edited by Armond; November 11th, 2009 at 03:03 PM.

Doug

Perfect! All calculations are correct.

Thanks for fixing the bug!

Armond

Great! And by the way, you can enter your donation reference ID (the same as your PayPal transaction ID) in "Donate" screen of aCar to get the option to remove the Ad Bar from the application :-) It's just a small "thank you" to all who have donated!

Cheers,

prerunnerseth

I would pay for this if it synced with Fuelly! Fuelly | Share and Compare Your MPG

Armond

Good idea! But unfortunately I couldn't find any open API for their website so that thirdparty websites/applications can integrate with them.

hilmyh

I was just searching for an app like this and stumbled into this app. Looks to be exactly what I'm looking for. But I don't see it in my Market . Not enabled for Asia? I'm residing in Malaysia.

Please, please, give us some love.

Armond

Thanks a lot for your interest in aCar. Well, I've not set any restriction on target location. But I filter the devices with small screens (QVGA resolutions) because aCar is still not ready for that size. Perhaps I have to redesign some of the screens to fit on such small screens, but not anytime in very near future.

Would you please let me know your exact Android device name you're using to access the Market? I will gladly fix it if I've accidentally blocked a normal (HVGA) or large (WVGA or FWVGA) screen Android device.

Thanks a lot!

Last edited by Armond; November 13th, 2009 at 10:28 AM.

hilmyh

Thanks for the quick reply.

I have the HTC Magic / Sapphire.
It's designated for Singapore. Build number: 3.03.707.5 CL#75968 release-keys.

Don't know why but we don't get to download some apps here (Malaysia) even though they're free.

Regards

Armond

I forgot to mention in my previous reply that I've set the minimum version of Android for aCar to "1.5". It means that if you're running "1.1" or a lower version on your device, you won't see aCar. Initial HTC Magic had Android v1.1 installed, but I'm not sure about the one they've launched in Singapore. (You can know about your Android version on "Settings > About").

Other that these two points, you should see aCar on the Market. You have a normal screen device which is the primary supported screen for my application and I don't see any other reason behind your problem. Unless Google itself has done something here!

I will try to further investigate this issue, and will post here as soon as I get into any result.

Regards,

hilmyh

My Magic is running 1.5 with the new HTC Sense UI.

Armond

Is this what you've got originally, or you've jailbroken/rooted it ? AFAIK, the Magic comes with standard Android UI.

hilmyh

I had standard Magic with Google apps installed. I haven't rooted it. I just updated the rom to the HTC Sense UI. I'm not sure if that is the problem, but even before, with the standard Android interface, some apps are not available to us. I thought this was a regional issue.

Armond

Then maybe Google has applied those limitations. As I mentioned earlier, I've opened the applications to all regions with no exception.

Again thanks a lot for your interest in aCar, and hope you can have access to it soon!

lemodular

Have you ever thought about integrating aCar with Google Map? Maybe to track and plan for trips with fill-up points along a route. Possibly usefull for someone on long or multi legged trips. Maybe even geo-tag the gas station. There are also apps that will report gas prices a some stations based on zip codes. I am not a developer so I don't even know how or it anything I mentioned can be done (in a single app).

Thank you for the great app.

Armond

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions... Thinking about how aCar can be extended is very very exciting for me!

I was thinking to use geo-tagging to automatically guess the gas status or repair center name the user has previously entered. Or maybe the location names could be automatically looked up on the net (using the current longitude and latitude) and be displayed there as soon as the user starts to to enter a new fillup/service record.

I will keep your other suggestions on my list. First I need to know the average users will like them, and these new features won't make the whole aCar experience any harder or more complex. I need to think more about them and do more brainstorming, or perhaps to mix some of these suggestions to make a single new but useful feature.

Thanks for downloading and trying aCar :-)

brandini

Hey Armond! It's Brandon from the recent Gmail conversation! Love the progress!

I can't wait until I can import from my fuelly.com account!

__________________
I'm on a Droid, man. It's going fast, and- I've got a nautical themed pashmina afghan.

Armond

Hi Brandon! Nice to see you here...

Frankly before getting user feedbacks, I didn't know that so many people are using Fuelly.com. Now I've heard users' voice. I'm planning to do what they've requested and I'm very excited about these features :-)

Armond

I've just released a new version (1.0.4) and it's available for download on Android Market. The major feature added in this version is Missed FillUps support. Plus some bug fixes including Edit Vehicle & Edit Service Reminders crash :-) Feel free to give it a try!

I guess now it's the time to focus on backup/restore and import/export features...

lemodular

Hi Armon,
Your new release fixed the forced closes I was getting when I select the "service reminders" in the edit menu. It was the only problem I had with the app. Thanks for the update.

BTW, is there a way to backup one's data, preferably to the sd card?

Armond

Glad to see it's working :-) Thanks for letting me know about this.

As I've already stated in my previous post, the backup/restore feature is the immediate next item in my todo list. You'll have this in next major version.

Cheers,

mirager

I'm really interested in this app, just can't find the danm thing anywhere...
Using sapphire (myhero 2.0.4), on the market from denmark... build 1.5
Tried market enabler to fake 5 or 6 different providers, no luck.
Any ideas?

Armond

I'm so sorry for the problem you have there.

The only limitation I've set on aCar is that it can not be seen or downloaded from small screen devices. But Sapphire is a normal screen device that should see aCar on Market (specially that aCar is free and should be seen on any Market). There might be a problem with your custom firmware or Google blocking custom firmware accesses. A few other guys have also complained about this. But unfortunately I can not do anything about it.

As a reference for what screen sizes there are for Android devices and which ones are considered small screen:
Supporting Multiple Screens | Android Developers

lemodular

As you have guessed by now, I can't read.

kokiangel

I just got my Droid last week so am learning all the ins and outs of android and loading apps to make it work for me. (I had a palm treo which I actually liked) One of the apps that I have been missing is an MPG app. This is so perfect but I don't see where it can be synced to my desktop for backup. Is that possible?

Armond

aCar does not have any backup/restore mechanism at the moment (v1.0.5), but you'll get it soon in the next major version! Many have already requested this and it can not be ignored ;-)

brandini

I'd pay a dollar for that!

kokiangel

Ok, no learning curve at all to this app. So sweet. I was using an app called pocket money before that had a side app called MPG that was very similar. Not nearly as nice as this though with the graphs but the imput method was about the same. Very well thought out. I would have paid for this app! Thanks!

Armond

Guys! Thanks a lot for your compliments...

Of course donations are always very welcome and appreciated if you find aCar useful and handy for your needs. And if you like to help the efforts behind this application to continue bringing more and more to you!

Last edited by Armond; November 22nd, 2009 at 12:46 PM.

toefer

Stupid question...

What difference does ticking the partial fill-up box make?

Armond

For those who can not find aCar on Google Android Market, I've uploaded this application to two alternative Markets today. You can download their client (something like Google Market application) and install it on your phone. Then use that client application to browse their Market and download aCar.

1. AndAppStore : New Releases (listed under "Productivity::Other" category)
Direct link to aCar page/profile: http://andappstore.com/AndroidApplications/apps/aCar

2. SlideME | Android Community and Application Marketplace (listed under "Productivity" category)
Direct link to aCar page/profile: http://slideme.org/application/acar

I guess one of them allows direct APK download from its website. And the registration for both Markets is free if you need to do so!

Enjoy!

Last edited by Armond; November 22nd, 2009 at 04:20 PM.