How to create an android promotion video of your app

If you want to market your android app you have to create a cool promotion video for your app. You can link this video in the play store entry. This way more users will be attracted to your app. Creating such a promotion video is quite easy. All you need to have is some time and a few tools I will introduce to you.
I am not a professional promotion video creator, but I have already created a few videos for my app. Here is a small promotion video for my app Battery Temperature Guard for android. And this is a video for the temperature widget of the same app.

Screencast your android app

The first step is to create some screencasts of your android app. This means you have to film what is happening on your screen. The best free tool to do this is SCR Screen Recorder Free. It is a great tool to simply create videos of your app. Check this article how to use SCR and gain root on your device. On the screenshot below you can see the SCR widget. By clicking the orange button, it will disappear and create a video of your screen.

The SCR widget is ready

Create your android promotion video

Now you have a bunch of videos you want to merge to a cool promotion video. I would recommend you to use the Microsoft Movie Maker. It is a simple tool to create/cut/annotate videos and images.
To use your screencast video inside the Movie Maker, you have to convert it using Free Video Converter. This tool is free. Add your video to the list and set the settings according to my screenshot below. Hit "convert" to convert the videos and wait a little bit.

Converting the screencast videos

Now start the Movie Maker and drop the converted video into the app. It will take some time for Movie Maker to read the video. Here you can see a screenshot of me creating a video on how to configure the widget textsize of my app battery temperature guard.

Loading the promotion video

You will notice, that the video is rotated and not as you want it to be. To change the rotation of the current selected video, tap on the small icon I have marked on this screenshot.

Fixing the rotated video is simple

Customize your promotion video

Now you can start to edit your video. Add some text annotations, cut the video, slow some parts down, add some music and many many more. When you are done, you can export the video. I prefer full hd quality :)

Exporting the Android Promotion Video

Upload your android promotion video to youtube and add some cool music

Cool music will make your video appear cooler. Inside youtube you can add free music to your video. Click through some songs to find something smooth for your promotion video.

After you uploaded and modified the video, you can add it to your blog like this:

All Videos for Battery Temperature Guard for Android

If you have problems with your android device getting too hot, checkout these videos for Battery Temperature Guard for android. The latest update version 2.6 features some new improvements in the with better structured preferences. You can also see some pictures of an exploded iphone battery :)

Using towelroot to get root on nexus 5

Towelroot is awesome, let me tell you why

I wanted to create a few videos for my latest Costa Rica Live Wallpaper App. To make a video of a running app you have two options:

• adb
• screencast app

You can use adb to create a video of your device. It will be limited to 3 minutes and you need to have your device connected to your computer.

$>adb.exe shell screenrecord --verbose /sdcard/video.mp4

Using an android screen capture app 

Another option is to use a tool like ScreenCast Video Recorder. The app is easy to use. But the free version is limited to 30 second videos.

scr is ready to take a
screen capture video

SCR Free is another android screencapture app. It is free and has no limitations. The only thing you need to be is root! The app is quite easy to use. After you opened it, you will see the small app with three buttons. You can drag this little app everywhere on your screen. To create a video tap the orange button.
To stop the recording, you need to turn of your screen and wait 2 seconds.

Getting root without reboot in less then a minte

Using towelroot, you can quickly get root for your device. No reboot needed. This is really awesome. You can download towelroot here. Install the .apk file and open it. You will see a screen like this:

towelroot is ready

Do this on your own risk!
To root your device, click on the button "make it rain". Wait a few seconds, and if you are lucky, you are root now:

towelroot is finished

Temperature Guard free available on amazon app store!

Android temperature warning 

Android temperature warning

I am happy to announce, that my app "Temperature Guard" is now available for free through the amazon app store. This app will run as a background service and will notify you if your device temperature is getting too high. Of course you can also customize the temperature when you want to get notified, as well as the notification sound etc.

You can also just use this app to monitor your androids device temperature during the day, so you can try to keep the temperature low and keep your battery healthy.

Using this app might even prevent your android battery from exploding. Warning! The previous link contains images not suitable to android lovers.

If you want to know more about this app and how to get it from googles play store, check out this article.

Download Temperature Guard free from amazon app store

To download this app for free from the amazon app store click on the amazon app store screenshot or click on this link to download it.

If you like this app I would appreciate if you rate it and recommend it to your friends. Please don't rate this app down if you encounter any problems, just contact me and I will do my best to fix bugs and make it compatible with your android device.

Temperature Guard on the amazon app store

Battery Temperature Guard Improved

Click here to get to the new Homepage for Battery Temperature Guard

Prevent your android from overheating

This app will help to prevent overheating of your android device. So if you have the problem, that your android device is getting too hot, use this app to notify you.


Improved performance and less battery usage!
The latest release of Battery Temperature Guard free and pro now features a new backend which is more stable and uses less battery then ever before!

Dont worry this app is alsoavailable in english!

Bad Reviews on the play store

The first release of this app had a few nasty bugs and I got a lot of bad reviews. I tested the newest version of the app with AppThwack and the app now runs smooth on almost all devices. If you still have problems, please contact me before you rate this app bad. Thanks!

Improved Battery Usage

Check out these Screenshots from my Nexus 4. They show the power usage of all my apps. Battery Temperature Guard is not even visible!

Battery Temperature Guard does
not drain your battery!

 As a deeper analysis I run WakeLockGuard for more then 13 hours. Basically this apps monitors how often an app wakes up your phone and drains your battery. Battery Temperature Guard does not have any effect on my battery usage. Cool!

Battery Temperature Guard only uses 4 sec in a 13 hour time period

If you don't have any Temperature Guard installed on your android device, download it now from the play store for free. In a few days this app will also be available von amazon app store.

Android Battery Temperature too high

Hey guys.

I am currently working on an update for my android app "Battery Temperature Guard". If your android device will get too hot, it will notify you, so you can take action and bring it to a place to cool down.

The newest update features an tablet optimized version of the app and of course a few bug fixes. On some old android devices, the app keeps crashing and crashing, but now this shouldn't be a problem anymore :)

Additionally you can increase the healthiness of your battery using this app. To check out why and how, read this article.
Here is a screenshot of the current development version. The update will be published through google play in the next hours.

Monitor android device temperature

Best android apps for android developers

Hellow fellow android developers.

Today I am going to share a few free apps, every android developer should at least have checked out. These apps are especially for android developers and not just "normal" android users.

Device Frame Generator

The first one is one of my favorite apps I mentioned in another blog posting. It's called Device Frame Generator.
After you created a screenshot of your awesome app, just pop up the app, choose a device and add your screenshot. BAM!
You got a really nice and crisp screenshot inside your device.

Don't like this app? Just head over to the device art generator where you can do the same on the web.

Andlytics

Andlytics collects statistics from the Google Play Developer Console. It lets you track active installs, total installs, ratings, and comments for all your Android apps that are published on Google Play.

Andlytics is an awesome app for every android developer, who has put some apps to the play store. It will show you detailed statistics about our apps, ratings, downloads etc.
After your first install, dont be to disappointed cause it will not show statistics.
It needs to collect them for you and will do this on a regular base (configurable). So after a few days you can enjoy these statistics.

This app also notifies you about new ratings, comments etc, so you don't need to check the play store anymore ;)

Get it here!

Bitbeaker/Bitbucket

Bitbucket offers free private git repositories. Their app bitbeaker is currently a very basic git repository tool. But it's a cool app to keep track of your repository and issues.

Give it a try!

DevAppsDirect

A rather new and small app. It aims to list cool android libraries, extensions, widgets etc. Most of the libs should not be new to you, but I like the idea of the app and if the developer keeps it updated I think it will be a cool source to find new useful libraries. Play Store Link

Holo Timer for Android

Looking for an android Timer app in Holo style?
Check out this clean app.
Holo Timer is a very lightweight timer app for android. It's size is less then one megabyte and it won't drain your battery.

Well and the best part is...it's free!

So head over to the play store and get this cool fully customizable timer app.

Howto disable Simpsons Tapped Out Notifications

Simpsons Tapped Out is a really cool app I enjoy a lot. The only thing that bothers me is the notifications. If cannot be disabled.

To deactivate the Tapped Out Notifications you need at least android 4.1. You can disable a notification by doing a long click on the notification and select "App info".

Scroll down for an android app, which you can use to manually "replace" the disturbing "Springfield Tapped Out" notifications with more decent ones.

You can also disable the Notifications by grabbing the Tapped Out Icon and drop it on "App Info" right next to "Uninstall".

Below you can see the workflow how to disable the notifications.

Drag the icon to your "desktop"

Drop the icon on "App Info"

Disable Notification

Use "Tapped Out Tools" for Android to manually set Notifications.

Crisp Timer app

I created another small app, called the Simple Timer :)
There are a lot of timer apps on the play store, but this one offers a crisp design and a cool wheel for input :)

So if you are looking for a new TImer app, check it out Android Timer app.

Chefville Android App

Welcome Chefville Fans!

I created a small and simple but yet powerful Chefville android app for android!
The App is called Chefville Tools and can be downloaded from the play store for free!

I will quickly explain the current main features to you!

The automatic Newsreader

The Chefville Newsreader will notify you about all Chefville News published on the Chefville Facebook Page. 

With this cool feature you will never miss any Chefville news anymore! 

If you click on a Newsitem, it will open a Window with more information and a direct link.

The Chefville Timer 

It is very comon that you repeating task wich you are going to to use daily. 

If you want to be a more efficient chef, you can define your own timers and start them as you start the task inside the Chefville game.

The app will notify you, when the task is finished, even if the app is closed or your device is restarted.

But don't worry, this won't drain your battery!

Upcoming Features

I am currently developing more features for Chefville Tools. Like sharing your recipes or finding friends. If you have some coole ideas, let me know!

Get your copy of Chefville Tools now for free!

Using an old android device as a super cool online webcam

Hey guys.

I recently bought a new Nexus 4 and didn't really know what to do with my old Android phone. It's an  Samsung Galaxy S1. Although it doesn't get any more updates from Samsung its a quite cool device.

After flashing a new Cyanogenmod and running the latest Android 4.1 I had no real use for this device.

I found a real cool (and free) Android app called MobileWebCam. You can get it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dngames.mobilewebcam

The interface is not perfect, but after playing a little bit around, I quickly found out how I can use this app as a webcam which drops the images right into my dropbox folder! There are a few more options, you can also use it as an offline cam which stores the images on your sdcard.

Check out this video:

Here are some of my thoughts I wanted you to share.
- Configure the app to run as a background service, cause if it always shows the camera picture, the device will get quite hot. My device was around 50 degrees ;)
- Make sure to go to developer settings and check "keep active", so the display won't shut down.

I am currently using this cool app to monitor the growth of my chili plants ;) Here is a small animation of just a few hours:

Android gif-based live wallpaper & daydream app

Check out this new cool android app! Giftastic!

The first free android app to use any gif file as a live wallpaper or even daydream service!

Fixing gif files for old android devices lower then android 3.2

Using a gif file as a live wallpaper is a great feature introduced to android since version 2.1.

The Problem with some gif animations and android < 3.2

You can easily use an app like gif-tastic to use any available gif animation as a gif live wallpaper.

But old android devices lower then 3.2 have some problems displaying some gif animations.
Most gif files are kind of optimized and we have to unoptimize them. But don't worry, the animation will run at the same speed, you won't even notice a difference.

Let us use this gif animation:

If you try to use this animation as a life wallpaper, you will get some very strange results and it will probably look like this:

Displaying an optimized gif file on an old android device

How to fix these gif files using gimp.

Gimp is a great and free image manipulation software. You can download it for free at.
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ If you are using Windows, get the free windows installer here:
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/.

1. Open the broken gif animation and choose "Filters", "Animation", "Unoptimize". Gimp will now quickly unoptimize the gif file and open it in a new window.

fixing a gif file for android live wallpapers

2. Thats it :) Just save the new gif animation. Be sure to check "save as animation" as in the screenshot.

be sure to check "save as animation"

You can also adjust the animation speed if you like. Although gif-tastic (TODO: link) has the option to adjust the animation speed. If you don't know what thats about, just click save.

just click save if you don't know what to do :)

Now you can copy the new created gif file to you smartphone and use gif tastic to display it as a live wallpaper. Enjoy!

The fixed gif animation in an android emulator  with 2.1

I also created a video to show you how to do this. It was quite late, so the video is not really good :)

Creating a device frame image from a nexus 4 screenshot

Its a little sad, that device frame generator does not support nexus 4 screenshots yet.
If you are lucky and have a nexus 4 device, but want to create nice device frame images, check out this  webpage where you can use your nexus 4 screenshots:

http://developer.android.com/distribute/promote/device-art.html

Its now called "device art generator" :)

Android Bandwidth Icon App

Hey guys :)

I just wanted to introduce you to a really cool app. There are several bandwidth monitor apps out there, but not app which shows the actual bandwidth usage while using another app!
Here comes Net Speed Icon.
It continuously runs in the background and notifies you via an notification about your current download rate and current upload rate.

And the best thing is, the app is for free. So get to the play store and download this cool android bandwidth monitor app.

Need some screenshots with a nice smartphone frame?

Try Device Frame Generator at the Google Play Store for free. Its a little buggy, but produces nice pictures.

If I want to add a screenshot to a device frame, I always have to try it 2-3 times. The first times it just says "dimension do not match...", but after a few tries with the same image it works :)

This is an integrated screenshot of my app Net Speed Icon inside the new nexus phone.