JMingle
- Version:
- Last Updated:
- Total Downloads:
- 1.0.2
- December 15, 2008
- 7,105
The trouble with applications of this ilk is threefold: * No-one uses them - they can never achieve critical mass. * They can't run in the background (at least on most phones). * They presumably use large amounts of battery life with that constant bluetooth scanning. So nice idea -- admittedly an obvious one -- but this will never work. No-one even uses Nokia's official version; I went around the tube with it on for a while but it never found anyone. If facebook could make something like this that runs in the background and uses no battery... then *maybe* people would use it but with current phone technology that is impossible.
It sounds like you didn't even use this app at all. Allow me to add my rebuttal: 1. "Critical mass" It's true. Few use the apps of this kind. Although, I did take this into account. JMingle does not require the phones it picks up on to actually be running another copy of JMingle. In this version, it merely remembers them so it can calculate the interval between the times in which you see that person. You will of course be in the vast minority using JMingle, but that doesn't quite matter as JMingle's universe is mostly confined to your device anyway. 2. Backgrounding This is implementation dependent, of course. I've had friends test JMingle to make sure it's fairly portable. The only phone I can confirm that does not let Java apps run in the background is the Motorola RAZR. However, the issue of backgrounding is unique to flip phones. It's up to your phone whether or not it closes the app. 3. Battery life I've had JMingle running for days at a time with no charge. JMingle allows you to specify an interval and scan at that interval. It cuts very little into your battery life. Using no battery is right out impossible. Your rating seems unfair since you seem to base your entire argument over "these kinds" of apps rather than JMingle itself.
