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0870 Beta

I’ve had a lot of emails over the last few months with feature requests for 0870 on Android - the main one being a confirmation dialog before the call goes though. Many users found that they just didn’t know if the app was working or not.

So, next week I’m going to distribute an new version of the app for beta testing. If you’d like to receive a copy, leave a comment here or drop me a message on Twitter.

For those of you that would like to wait for the app to be stable, and download it from the Android Market, here are some screenshots for you:

If an alternative number can be found, youll see this. Wherever possible, a company name will also be displayed.

If an alternative number can be found, you'll see this. Wherever possible, a company name will also be displayed.

If, for some reason, a new number cannot be found, youll be shown this before the call goes ahead. If you dont want to call from your mobile, simply press No

If, for some reason, a new number cannot be found, you'll be shown this before the call goes ahead. If you don't want to call from your mobile, simply press "No"

There will also be very noticeable speed increases, which should make using 0870 that little bit nicer :)

Posted in Android Apps, Development. Tagged with , , , .

By Simon Maddox
May 1, 2009

2 comments

0870 saves UK consumers £20,000+

I was looking at the usage stats for 0870 the other day (don’t worry, no identifiable data is passed to my server ), and it’s going VERY well.

Since it’s launch on the Android Market in January, it’s done 11,492 successful lookups (at the time of writing) for G1 users across the UK (so - it’s taken an 08* number, and turned it into an 01/02 number).

Depending on your tariff, T-Mobile either charges 30 or 40p per minute to call an 0870 number. Let’s average it out at 35p.

Let’s also assume that the average call lasts for exactly 5 minutes. This number has literally been pulled out of the air, and many calls will last a LOT longer than this.

So - 0.35 * 5 gives us the cost per call = £1.75. Multiply this by the number of lookups, 11,492, and you get £20,111.

So to date, 0870 has saved UK consumers £20,111 - not bad at all :)

Posted in Blog.

By Simon Maddox
March 20, 2009

2 comments

0870 on Android

I’ve left this a long time, but I recently released a version of my 0870 app for Android devices (so, the T-Mobile G1).

It works a lot nicer than the iPhone app, since Android gives you the ability to hook into the native applications already on the device.

Simple open the normal dialer, enter a number, hit call, and it’ll go off and get a new number if needed.

As far as I know, you can’t post links to the Android Market - so, it’s on there under “Tools”. Or just search for “0870”.

Posted in Android Apps, Blog, Development. Tagged with , , , .

By Simon Maddox
February 6, 2009

1 comment

Introducing: CodeIgniter-ShareCode

I’ve been working tonight on setting up a CodeIgniter installation that I can throw libraries, helpers and controllers at for sample purposes (for example, to show the Twitter library in action).

Not only do I want to be able to show the library being used, but I wanted to be able to show the exact code running on the server, with no work on my end.

To do this, I extended CodeIgniter’s Router library. The first thing it does is check for “.phps” anywhere in the url. If that’s found, it trys to figure out what you’d like to see the source of.

For example, if you go to:
http://www.simonmaddox.com/ci/welcome.phps

You’ll see the code for:
http://www.simonmaddox.com/ci/welcome

If the controller given is not valid, it’ll try and look for the file underneath your applications directory:
http://www.simonmaddox.com/ci/libraries/Twitter.phps

Code

You can find the code to do this here:
http://www.simonmaddox.com/ci/libraries/MY_Router.phps

It’s not at all elegant, but it works.

Regarding Passwords

You’ll obviously notice that this is very dangerous if you choose to include database (or other) passwords in your CodeIgniter installation.

I’ve decided to require_once() a file outside of my CI directory, which define()’s values such as DB_HOST, which I can then use in my config files.

Posted in Development. Tagged with .

By Simon Maddox
January 3, 2009

1 comment

Introducing: CodeIgniter-Twitter

After having a bit of a look online, I found that the only CodeIgniter library for Twitter works by looking at RSS feeds (http://www.haughin.com/code/twitter/).

So, CodeIgniter-Twitter was born. It’s a library which provides simple access to the Twitter API, allowing you to do things like:

  • Post a new tweet
  • Access/send direct messages
  • Follow new people
  • Update a user’s profile
  • Search Twitter
  • View trends

etc…

Usage is as follows:

$this->load->library('twitter');
$this->twitter->auth('someuser','somepass');
$this->twitter->update('My awesome tweet!');

As long as you call the auth() method before anything else in the class, everything should work fine.

You can download the library by visiting the project’s page on Github.

Also: This library isn’t CodeIgniter specific. It has been tested in Kohana and as a normal PHP class.

Posted in Development. Tagged with , , .

By Simon Maddox
January 2, 2009

2 comments

Introducing: CodeIgniter-WURFL

I wrote this just before Christmas, and figure it deserves a mention here.

CodeIgniter’s built-in User Agent checker is great. A single line of code will tell you (most of the time) if a user is on a mobile device.

But what if you want a bit more than that? Most mobile developers will have come across WURFL before, but for those that don’t know it - it’s a community driven database of almost all of the mobile phones out there. Now, there are a few missing, but it does the job.

CodeIgniter-WURFL is a wrapper for the new WURFL API which allows you to access detailed device information within your controller.

Installation instructions, a usage guide and downloads can be found over at the CodeIgniter-WURFL project page on GitHub.

Posted in Development. Tagged with , , , .

By Simon Maddox
January 2, 2009

1 comment

0870

A lot of companies use 0870, 0845 and 0800 numbers - usually as a way of making calls cheaper for people. Annoyingly, mobile networks charge extra for these calls - on O2 you’ll be paying an extra 20p per minute for an 0870 number.

Using 0870, you are able to convert these expensive numbers into numbers that will come straight out of your contract minutes (unless one cannot be found, then the cheapest will be used).

0870 is an iPhone-friendly frontend for SayNoTo0870.com

It has been submitted to the App Store, and has been rejected for attempting to “circumvent carrier features and policies“. If you’d like a copy, let me know.

For more screenshots, visit Flickr

Posted in iPhone Apps. Tagged with , , .

By Simon Maddox
November 12, 2008

6 comments