Alarm Clock Xtreme started out with a feature that’d dismiss alarms based on how fast you were moving, whether walking, running, cycling, or driving.  Wouldn’t it be great if the alarm would stop if you placed the phone in a car dock? But first off, what is a car dock?

A car dock attached to the window with a USB cable. Perfect for hands-free navigation while driving!

This car dock uses a suction cup to stick on your window.

A car dock is a docking station specially designed for use a car, usually with a suction cup and ports for charging/audio out.  A couple of phone manufacturers make car docks, including Motorola.  The dock makes it easy to access the navigation apps on your phone, making it look like one of those standalone GPS units sold by Garmin or Tomtom.

Will Alarm Clock Xtreme work without a car dock?  If you do not own a car dock, we recommend choosing another dismiss method for your alarms in Alarm Clock Xtreme.

If you unintentionally set an alarm with “place in car dock”, you can dismiss the alarm by going to Settings > Utilities > Clear alarms.

To enable the car dock dismiss method in the first place, open an alarm and select “Dismiss method”.  A screen will show up where you can select “Place in car dock”.

Once you’ve selected the car dock method, back at the alarm screen you’ll receive a confirmation that your dismiss method will be to place the phone in your car dock.

I usually leave my car dock in the car, so in order to turn off the alarm I’d have to walk outside, unlock my car, and physically place the phone in the car dock.  Setting an alarm with the car dock dismiss method was a great way to make sure I’d be out the door by the time it came to dismiss it.  Small chance I’d go back to sleep, or return to the house, after going to all that effort to tell Alarm Clock Xtreme that I was out the door!

Do you place your phone in the car dock to quiet the alarm?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

The post Feature Friday: What’s a car dock? appeared first on Angle Labs.

The Android developer resources emphasize creating multiple xml layouts for different screen sizes, but in most cases, there is a better way to optimize the layouts. Check out the presentation below to learn more.

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The list view style on Motorola Android 2.3.x devices looks something like this:

There is a big grey space underneath items in a list. This can look okay for apps with a light background, but with a dark background, it’s not so attractive.

Each manufacturer of Android devices can make changes to Android and alter the styles and themes before releasing their devices. This results in an inconsistent experience between the numerous Android devices, or “fragmentation” as it’s called in development circles. Manufacturers try to customize Android in order to set their devices apart from the rest. While some people are fans of the HTC skin, for example, I feel that Motorola’s MotoBlur skin got it very wrong with their list view style. As a developer, you have to jump through hoops to make your apps look the way you want across different devices, and as a user, you have to use apps where the developers don’t care to jump through those hoops.  This can create unpleasant experiences for users!

After purchasing a Droid 4 I was determined to override Motorola’s list view style. I tried changing background colors, cache color hints, wrapping of the layout, and many other tricks—nothing seemed to work to remove the grey block. Finally, I found this post from Motorola’s developer blog on how to use styles and themes to override their custom list views in Android 2.3 and remain compatible with older versions of Android.

After applying the correct styles and themes, the list view style in your app on Motorola Android 2.3.x devices is back to normal:

We hope you enjoy the updated list views in our latest version of Alarm Clock Xtreme! Let us know how it looks on your phone or device, whether it’s from Motorola or another manufacturer.

The post Motorola List Views on Android 2.3.x appeared first on Angle Labs.

One of my favorite features on Alarm Clock Xtreme is the ability to launch apps with the alarm.  Personally, I like launching Pandora, but you can also launch weather apps or your todo list or… really any app on the market Google Play or the Amazon App Store.

To set a specific app to launch, set an alarm, and select “Sound type” from the alarm settings:

Select “Launch application” at the bottom of the list.

You’ll get a warning screen, reminding you that this is a beta feature, but let’s press “OK” and continue on.  Most apps require an Internet connection, so make sure 3G, 4G, or a wireless connection is available so that your app can work properly!

Scroll down to the app you want to launch; in this case, I’ll select Pandora.  My “Set alarm” screen will now confirm that I’m launching an app and starting Pandora for my alarm.

Select the “Save” button at the bottom of the screen and you’re set!  If you’re a Pandora user, we have some tips on launching this app in our support forums.

Maybe you’d want to launch your calendar for the day, a punch card app for keeping tabs on how many hours you worked, or the messaging app so you can text to a friend at a certain time.  The possibilities here are endless!

What apps do you launch from Alarm Clock Xtreme when your alarm sounds?  Sound off in the comments!

The post Feature Friday: Have your alarm launch an app appeared first on Angle Labs.

1. The 2×2 analog clock widget is available again—huzzah!
2. Fixed list view style on Motorola 2.3+ devices.
3. “About” page updated. You can now tap on Help and then Forums to get answers to frequently asked questions, view known issues, submit feature requests, and more.
4. Other bug fixes and minor changes (view our complete changelog since v3.0 here)

Take the latest version for a spin, and let us know how we’re doing!  Feel free to leave a comment here, or drop us a note.

The post Version 3.3.1 of Alarm Clock Xtreme released appeared first on Angle Labs.

In the world of a startup, half a year can be like an eternity. It’s been over half a year since our last blog post and we’ve been busy, so we’d like to give you an update on some of what we’ve been doing and some of what we’re planning for the future.

Alarm Clock Xtreme for Android remains our flagship product. We have worked hard to make the app as reliable and customizable as possible, in addition to improving the look and feel as well as the ease of use. In November, Alarm Clock Xtreme was featured on Lifehacker as the #1 alarm clock app for Android. In January, the app was featured as a staff pick in the Android Market, and more recently, the NY Times mentioned Alarm Clock Xtreme as one of the best alarm clock apps for Android. The app has now been downloaded over 6 million times and has nearly 3 million active installs. The app remains the highest rated and most downloaded alarm clock app for Android, all thanks to you, our users.

But we are not done yet! We are fine tuning the features in Alarm Clock Xtreme based on your suggestions, and we’ve started work on iPhone version of the app. Additionally we’re working on a suite of other apps for Android we hope you’ll enjoy. Volume Manager Free and Pro are already in the market for Android. These apps give users access to each of Android’s volume streams individually, and allow you to silence your phone for a meeting without having to remember to turn the volume back up afterward. The Pro version of the app also allows you to set a schedule to have your volume profiles applied automatically at the set times, making your smartphone even smarter.

It’s been a while since our last update for Alarm Clock Xtreme, but we have been hard at work ensuring that we continue to provide a quality alarm clock experience. We are currently finishing our new automated test suite, allowing us to run automated tests on ten Android devices at once. We will have an update for Alarm Clock Xtreme soon, and keep an eye out for a video of our automated test suite in action as well.

Our commitment to providing the best apps possible does not stop with our apps, however. Over the past two months, we have streamlined our customer support using Zendesk, allowing us to provide better and more efficient support for our apps. We have also set up and published forums through Zendesk in order to give us an additional avenue of getting feedback and providing a way for users to help each other.

Check out our apps, and let us know how we’re doing. We really appreciate your feedback and suggestions! Alarm Clock Xtreme, and Angle Labs, wouldn’t be here without you!  Once we reach 1000 likes on our Facebook page and 1000 followers on Twitter, we will randomly choose one of our followers from each to receive a free Angle Labs t-shirt. If this happens before March 31, we’ll also send two extra people an Angle Labs sticker!  We hope you continue to enjoy the most Xtreme apps for Android!

The post Past, present, and future appeared first on Angle Labs.

Irene

Waking Up:
I created a playlist that contains most of my upbeat music and use the random song by playlist sound option to wake up. I can hear it when it’s still pretty quiet, so I use 50% as the max volume and set it to a 15 min volume crescendo. I use the shake to snooze option and have the shake duration increase after each snooze. I start with a 15 minute snooze and have it decrease by 3 minutes after each snooze. I set the max number of snoozes to 3. The 4th time the alarm goes off, I try to shake to snooze, but the music just keeps playing. Eventually I realize I have no snoozes left and I solve an easy math problem to shut off my alarm and get on with my day.

Break Timer:
Sometimes I want to take a short break from work to stretch. I’ll set a timer for somewhere between 5 to 15 minutes so that my short break doesn’t turn into something much longer than intended. I disable the snooze and use a button to dismiss. I’ll set the music to random by artist and I change the artist depending on my mood and whether I want something quiet or loud.

Reminder Alarm:
Street cleaning happens once a week on most of the streets where I live, and I don’t want to forget to move my car. I set the alarm for an hour before I have to it next and use a label to remind me about the street cleaning. I give myself 3 ten minute snoozes, and I use the ringing alarm sound that comes with the phone so that when it goes off I know it’s something I really need to pay attention to. This alarm makes sure I don’t get any street cleaning tickets.

Alex

Wake Up:
I like to wake up each day to one of my favorite San Francisco bands The Downer Party with the random by artist sound type. A 60 second volume crescendo is enough to wake up without scaring me out of bed. For anyone who needs to be sure they are up in the morning I recommend a dismiss method of 10 seconds of phone shaking. After 10 seconds of shaking a phone you are almost assuredly awake.

Power Nap Timer:
My perfect nap timer launches Pandora with the Wanda Jackson station. Vibrate on and no volume crescendo help get right back to work after my power nap. A dismiss method of solving two easy math problems prime me for any work that needs to be done after my well deserved power nap.

Reminder alarm:
I like to use the silent alarm to remind me of repeating daily activities I set aside for personal growth. I can use it like a check list with Alarm Clock Xtreme’s labels. Never again will I miss my 20 minutes of daily meditation because I am to busy to remember.

What are your favorite settings? Do you have the perfect alarm? We would love hear from you. Leave a comment.

The post Alarm Clock Xtreme in Our Daily Lives appeared first on Angle Labs.

The app was much simpler initially. It allowed users to shake their phone to snooze, and travel at a minimum speed to dismiss, ensuring that they had left the house. Slowly, I began adding more features and building my ideal alarm clock. My goal became to discourage excessive snoozing and help myself and others wake up on time. As the application grew in users, I started receiving emails from people telling me how much the app has helped them get out of bed in the mornings. The app turned into a hobby and a passion. I spent a lot of my free time after work and on the weekends adding new features, responding to emails, and reading the latest news about Android.

Alarm Clock Xtreme has now been in the Android Market for over a year, and has succeeded well beyond my initial expectations. The app is packed with features and has reached over a million downloads. I formed Angle Labs earlier this year and am now turning my hobby into a full-time job. My close friend, Alex Guerra, will be helping to ensure the quality of all products as the business grows. In addition to building out the feature set for Alarm Clock Xtreme (based on your suggestions), we’ll be working on some new ideas and expanding Angle Labs’ portfolio of apps. You can also expect some more blog posts along the way, so stay tuned for more from Angle Labs.

We don’t have a timeline for new features and apps, but we are excited about what the future has in store. If you like what you see and want to support us in this endeavor, please help spread the word about Angle Labs and Alarm Clock Xtreme. Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and keep an eye out for updates!

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