Trapster app pulled after launch reveals problems 32
You may have noticed that the Trapster app is no longer available in the App Catalog. This is not a case of Palm exerting some sort of heavy hand in the approval/denial/removal of apps. As it would turn out, Trapster the company was not prepared and Trapster the app was not as ready as they thought. The following message greets visitors to Trapster’s webOS app page:
“Important announcement: The webOS app that was previously posted has some serious issues that did not show up until a large number of users tried to use the app simultaneously. We were forced to shut off the app. We have already fixed the problem, but some additional issues were uncovered in testing. We hope to have an update posted this week. We are very sorry about the trouble. Thank you for your patience.”
We’ll admit that webOS is a new world for many programmers, but for a company with as large a userbase as Trapster it is surprising that glaring issues were not uncovered during testing. For perspective, Trapster claims the #42 spot of all-time most downloaded iPhone apps and 1,810,712 users worldwide across six smartphone platforms (Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, J2ME, webOS, and Windows Mobile).
This is why we like to advocate large-scale beta testing. There are multiple venues for distributing a beta app for testing *cough* PreCentral Homebrew Gallery *cough* that the average Pre user won’t readily access. Those that do you can trust to have a higher degree of technical knowledge, not to mention patience with the understanding that what you’re testing is an unfinished product. Plus they’re your most dedicated future customers and the type of people that will voraciously promote your app to other users (assuming it’s any good). Beta testing is a risk, we’ll admit that, but the benefits of early exposure, promotion, and bug fixes cannot be underestimated.
32 Comments
I never looked at Trapster. Is/was it a free app? Or are they offering refunds, or what?
/Kevin
Free.
I take this to be a good thing. That means their software is overloading the servers. That means there are lots of customers.
Good for them. Glad they will have an update soon. Thats what is nice about coding in JS. The fixes can be done a lot faster than some other languages.
What does the app do?
Unfortunately, nothing. I loaded and attempted to use it last weekend. It's a mess. It's SUPPOSED to be a social network-driven database of speedtraps. This includes known traps, active police action, etc. Great idea in theory. The problems were many, and in the end, nothing was correct.
I deleted it. It's a space waster for now.
bj
actually, if people use it to report live speed traps (laser) and checkpoints then it's useful. There is a checkpoint regularly setup outside my house on a winding road. You won
't see the checkpoint till you arrive at it, and they will nab you for inspection stickers, and seatbelt violations.
People put in every turn around on the interstate, that makes it pointless, however, you voite on the legitimacy of the "police hide here" and that makes it a little more accurate. And you can also set it to only alert you of high confidence traps.
Also, (and while I don't see an issue with driving 80 on a limited access highway, I don't see a need for camera lights, because there is no excuse to run a red) the camera light should be pretty accurate.
Overall, the best use is for live speed traps, however, you can also download the traps into your GPS, which is what I did. This means it will work on rural roads without a cell connection. And since traffic is so low over these mountain backroads, just having an idea of the trap locations (high confidence ones only) I should avoid a BS ticket from some town rent-a-cop (yeah, a lot of small towns hire part time police who really go overboard with those tickets while they place cop). When I'm in urban areas, Trapster certainly should be able to keep me alerted via the Pre of real time laser traps with 2 million potential users on it.
It was free... for those of us that have downloaded trapster should we go ahead and delete the app? I know there was battery drain issues with it seeming to run after the app was closed.
Thanks for the info. I'll check it out when it gets back into the app catalog. I'm all about free. :)
/Kevin
@Mpre,
Trapster is an app that alerts all users of police speed traps in the area which you are in.
Would be interesting to see if Palm pulled out the old "App Kill Switch" and Trapster magically disappears from my phone...might be a good opportunity for them to beta test that shiz!
@ tayhimself...
when was trapster available? I don't have a pre yet unfortunately :( but i can't wait to get my hands on webOS... anywho why I ask.. maybe the company pulled the app due to "errors" so they can re-release as a paid app? hmmm
It's free on all the other devices they offer it for.
oh fair enough
sorry I didn't know that
made a bad assumption lol
@ Derek
Smooth.
I installed Trapster before it was pulled, and there are definitely glaring issues. Honestly, I have no idea how it ever worked in beta testing as it seems to be more of an issue with WiFi vs mobile network access. If I'm at home or in the office with wifi available, it would load the maps perfectly. However once I actually got out on the road, it failed to load the trap data, and only the initial map graphics would load. The moment I wandered out of the initial map area, I was driving in Google Maps grey-land. In addition to that, the radar feature never seems to update unless I go into the prefs and exit. I have to do this each time my heading changes.
That said, I'm very excited to see this app get re-released. I'm also looking forward to improved features that are found on the iPhone version of this app. This will make my near-monthly 6-hour drives to visit the in-laws a bit less of a concern.
I noticed that too. The maps and updating of the traps was slow as crap, even on a 5bar EVDO connection.
And when I went to enter live traps (saw two last weekend, fortunately, I knew of both of them), it basically took forever.
I wasn't driving so there was no issue with being distracted, I was just playing with the app, and thought, "man they need to update this a little to get it running smoothly"
Folks, the app has already been fixed and is awaiting approval. Yes, you should delete the old version as it will not work any more. The app will still be free.
We are very sorry about this. We will look into the suggested beta program for future releases.
Pete
Founder/CEO, Trapster.com
Thanks for the update Pete. I appreciate you guys actually pulling the app and trying to make it right as quickly as possible. That show's dedication to the platform and that is something we Pre owners need to see.
I'm sure this was considered, but for those of us that are the curious types- why didn't you Beta it in our Homebrew Apps? Many of us have been here from the start and I think a number of developers have found value in the feeback from the forum members.
bj
It probably wasn't considered, actually. Trapster came into WebOS via the wider mobile development world, not from the WebOS community. They already had a successful app on the market, and likely they received several requests for a "Pre version". They probably went to developer.palm.com, downloaded the sdk, read a few docs/forum posts there (or maybe the o'reilley book), and then got to work on a port.
It's very possible they didn't even know about the homebrew release scene, because while Palm doesn't hinder it, they don't exactly talk it up in their official documents, either.
I got a chance to use the app once before it was pulled. Looks like a great addition to the app catalog and thanks for working on it and fixing the issues.
Hi Pete, thanks for posting here. I downloaded Trapster last weekend while on a trip and was excited to try it out on the way home. Unfortunately, I found out what others have been reporting and you already know about it's performance. Despite the slow updates, I did notice a high degree of accuracy in actual trap and camera placement when in places I knew well. I'm really looking forward to the update you say is coming soon.
One of things I was wondering about is whether this app can be used with the Sprint Navigation app simultaneously? I was not sure if the GPS chip can be used by both at the same time?
I was wondering the same thing. I meant to try loading Google Maps and Sprint Nav at the same time to see if they both were able to track my location. I'm stuck in my office where I can't really get GPS but I'll give it a try soon.
My other concern is how the Pre would perform with both apps running. I'd love to be able to run both while on a long drive!
I can't wait for the new version to be available!
not a big deal. I appreciate the honesty and work ethic more than anything. Will give app a try again for those reasons.good business.
I got it when it first came out - a quick glance showed that it identified some traps nearby me, but I wasnt in my car when I got it, so I never used it.
The other day when I tried it, it just wasnt working - I figured it just must have been my phone going slow or something...But I guess I have my answer now! :)
One thing I did notice about the app though was that there were a lot of style issues that go against the Palm "developer guidelines". For example, in the preferences scene, there is a "done" button. Now I know that seems intuitive, but Palm just wants us Pre users to have to enter settings and then use a simple "back" gesture to exit, with the preferences already having been saved. I know that's not a big deal, but you would think that for an app to make it into the App Catalog, it would follow the guidelines.
The "known" speed traps appeared just fine and were helpful. However, the Palm Pre would have to actually function as a GPS for the rest of the app to work. I tried to get my Sprint Nav to work in Seattle and just got "weak GPS signal" alerts. I tried in Tacoma and got the same thing. I tried in Portland and got it to locate me but the maps wouldn't move with me because suddenly it thought I was five miles away then for the next ten miles it just bounced my location up and down the freeway. GPS worked fine a month or so ago. Could this be an issue with 1.2.1? Anyone else having this problem? Is GPS just out on the satellites to all Sprint phones?
Ive used Trapster on the Blackberry and its a decent program.. Whatever problems they had on the Pre are not indicative of how it normally is (obviously or it wouldnt have been pulled)
When I first installed mine, it was problematic. I restarted my phone and it worked fine, not a bad app, really looking forward to using it. Suddenly it would just load the map, and that's it, that is when the pulled support for it (would not connect to their servers)not a wifi issue. The other thing I noticed is that it was a memory hog, seemed to still run in the background, and stopped other apps from running. Can't wait for the update.
Some the reviews said it worked fine but none of it worked for me. Maybe this build was built on an earlier webos??
RE: The GPS and multiple GPS apps.
I'm pretty sure it can, as I have had GoTO open while using sprint nav and both worked fine.
All the GPS does is send data one way, so I assume it will work.
Whether or not it runs smoothly is another issue, but since I downloaded the patch to allow me to open more cards, my pre has been very snappy. I have had about 10-12 cards open to test it, and all are system hogs, basically, I'm impressed.
BTW, the Pre uses the same processor as the new android phones coming out 6 months later. I think our processor is plenty powerful, any lags are OS related and should improve over time as it's updated. That is good news.
The one time I played with Trapster, I got the complaint that I had too many cards open (I had maybe one other card open). Seemed to basically work, albeit very slowly, but maybe there was a memory leak.
I'm all for people getting tickets when they are knowingly violating the law or when they are creating a genuine safety risk. However, there's a level at which many speed traps and red light cameras are a kind of "entrapment." I got a right-on-red ticket from a camera in Chicago. $100. (A normal speeding ticket in Illinois is $75.) The right on red I made would have been 100% legal, except there was a very small sign, difficult to see, that said between certain hours right on red was illegal at that intersection. I didn't see the sign.
Knowing where the red light cameras are will help me actually obey the law, because I know these are likely to be the intersections that 1) have more accidents and are more dangerous, or 2) have a non-obvious sign saying right on red is illegal or sometimes illegal.