aCar - Track your vehicles

[Armond]

[UPDATED for v2.5.x]

Hi Guys,

It's a few days I've released my first Android application (aCar) to Google Android Market under "Productivity" category (for FREE). aCar is an all-in-one handy application to effectively track the fuel mileage and costs, maintenance, business (and non-business) trips/mileages and general expenses of your vehicles.

Feature List:
* Tracking the fuel mileage, fillup costs, maintenance and general expenses of your vehicles
* Tracking the business trips/mileages you're going with your vehicles
* Multiple vehicles support
* Supporting several international units: MPG (US, Canada & Imperial), gal/100mi (US & Imperial), mi/L, km/gal (US & Imperial), L/100km, km/L
* Service reminders for vehicles (both time and mileage based); will be posted on your phone status bar. They are highly customizable for each vehicle separately
* Thorough statistics of your vehicles at a glance
* Powerful searching and filtering
* Graphical charts and reports: Fuel Efficiency, Fuel Price, Fuel Costs, Service Costs, General Expenses, Distance between FillUps, Price per Gallon/Liter, Gallons/Liters per FillUp and many more (Pro Feature!)
* Comparison charts for your vehicles (Pro Feature!)
* Full manual/automatic data and application settings backup/restore (Pro Feature!)
* Importing data from various sources: Auto 3in1 application (Windows), AutoMobile application (PalmOS/Windows/Android), Mileage application (Android), MPG application (PalmOS/iOS), Road Trip application (iOS), TealAuto application (PalmOS/WebOS), Vehicle Manager application (Windows), Fuelly.com website, FuelFrog.com website, SpritMonitor.de website and any plain Excel compatible CSV file (Pro Feature!)
* Exporting records to Excel compatible CSV format (Pro Feature!)
* Exporting statistics to Excel compatible CSV and browser viewable HTML formats (Pro Feature!)

The application contains a FAQ (accessible from the main screen) where you can find the frequently asked questions. This is a good place to start with if you are experiencing any problem, before contacting me!

I will appreciate if any of you download and give it a try and let me know what you think. Whether the overall user interface of the application is intuitive and good enough, or how you would like to see it improved. I need all your feedback, comments, complaints, mentioning of pros and cons, or whatever else you would like to share about this application, good or bad! All are welcome!

More information: http://www.zonewalker.com/acar

And some inline screen shots:

http://www.zonewalker.com/images/screenshots/screenshot-02.png http://www.zonewalker.com/images/screenshots/screenshot-06.png http://www.zonewalker.com/images/screenshots/screenshot-08.png http://www.zonewalker.com/images/screenshots/screenshot-29.png http://www.zonewalker.com/images/screenshots/screenshot-47.png

Thank you,
Armond

[xravexboix]

Looks good. I'll download it today and provide some feedback in a few weeks.

[Armond]

Thanks a lot! Eagerly waiting for your feedbacks...

Armond

[Chedderknight]

awesome, downloading

[Dixie]

Hi Armond! Welcome to AC! I am so glad you posted this... I downloaded your app a few days ago, and have gotten a look at it, but have not had time to fill everything in that I wanted to yet.... it looks like a great app, I'm glad to see you here, getting interest up!

[Armond]

Dixie, Thanks a lot for your welcome post.

And guys, thanks for giving aCar a try :-) Looking for your feedbacks and comments even if they are negative ones!

[scotm33]

Hey Armond! Great work, I really like the app. I've been using one called Mileage that does the same thing (but has fewer service reminders than yours), but I really like the look of acar. The only thing I'd ask for right now would be a way to export/import all your data. I know I tend to flash my phone a lot and need to reinstall everything occasionally. So, for me, I'd need some way to back everything up.

Love it so far though!

[Armond]

Hey Armond! Great work, I really like the app. I've been using one called Mileage that does the same thing (but has fewer service reminders than yours), but I really like the look of acar. The only thing I'd ask for right now would be a way to export/import all your data. I know I tend to flash my phone a lot and need to reinstall everything occasionally. So, for me, I'd need some way to back everything up.

Love it so far though!

Thanks a lot for downloading/trying aCar and glad to see you've liked it :-)

As more and more people are requesting for import/export feature, it's getting higher and higher priority in my todo list. I'm indeed planning this for the next major version which will not be far.

Right for the very moment, I'm mostly busy with small bug-fixes, improvements and so. I want to make sure the basic features I've introduced in initial version are mostly working flawlessly, and everybody is happy with current features. Technically speaking, I need to get stable on the data model and the database schema behind aCar, before introducing it. After all, I quite understand your concerns (I myself do flash my phone once in a while) and doing my best to bring it on as soon as I can.

Best Regards,

[thecaptive]

I have just switched from Blackberry to Droid and the major consideration for doing that was finding you app. I have used different app like this and I find your to be way more complete than the others. The only thing I think would put it over the top is a way to manage mileage for tax purposes. The other ones have the option to track your mileage, I didn't realize yours didn't until I downloaded it. If this is something that could be integrated at a later date great.

I also agree with the backing up of info.

[Armond]

I have just switched from Blackberry to Droid and the major consideration for doing that was finding you app. I have used different app like this and I find your to be way more complete than the others. The only thing I think would put it over the top is a way to manage mileage for tax purposes. The other ones have the option to track your mileage, I didn't realize yours didn't until I downloaded it. If this is something that could be integrated at a later date great.

Thanks a lot for your feedbacks, and for your complements :-) I'm glad to see that it has come handy to you.

As for tracking the mileage for tax purposes, I just put it in my todo list to be sure not to forget it. But first I need to know the right way to do it. Would you please name a few of those applications already have this? Either on iPhone/iPodTouch platform or on Android if there are any, and I will take a look.
Or if you have any direct suggestion on this please let me know.


I also agree with the backing up of info.

Okay! One more vote for data import/export :-)

Best Regards,

[Dixie]

(Sorry to interrupt the flow of input and answers here, but I just wanted to thank you Armond for the continued exchange of communication here... just another reason why I adore both Android and this forum so much - Thank you!!!)

[ArXane]

Is there a way to backup the data? Or export to the SD Card? Id hate to put all this info in and loose it on a crash.

[Armond]

Is there a way to backup the data? Or export to the SD Card? Id hate to put all this info in and loose it on a crash.

I can understand your concern. Currently there is no such feature. But the good news is that it's already in my todo list. Data backup/restore is the first most requested feature from users, and has a high priority for me.

The reason why I have not gone for it so far is that I needed to get stable on the feature set I'd already planned and released. I needed to be sure that there are no calculation errors, user entered data corruption (due to a bug or so) and basically the application is just working flawlessly although it may not include many other advanced features. That's why you see I've released 3 point releases which have contained mostly bug-fixes and small improvements.

To make the long story short, I guess I will start to implement data backup/restore feature in a week or so IF (there is a big IF) I do not get into any serious bugs (which automatically get higher priority). Just be sure that it's in my roadmap and you'll see it soon! :-)

Thank you.

[PhilD41]

I will add my name to this list. My Hero just crapped out on a firmware update and I have to do a hard reset. Went to back up my data and realized acar has no way to do this. HUGE bummer as I track both our cars in this app. The lack of a back up feature really is a non-starter for me. Hopefully it will be realized soon as the app itself is second to none for this application!

[Armond]

I will add my name to this list. My Hero just crapped out on a firmware update and I have to do a hard reset. Went to back up my data and realized acar has no way to do this. HUGE bummer as I track both our cars in this app. The lack of a back up feature really is a non-starter for me. Hopefully it will be realized soon as the app itself is second to none for this application!

I can understand your concern. And so sorry for the lacking feature. I know how frustrating it could be to reentering your data.
It's my number one concern as well. During the last couple of days I've been busy catching and fixing the last bugs I had in my list. Now I'm done with them and I will release another version today or tomorrow at the max. After that I will start working on backup/restore feature. But no strict promise for the release date because it will need extensive testing for not to mess up the users' data! I will do my best to release it as soon as I can... Please stay tuned!

[Armond]

I've just released a new version (1.0.4) and it's available for download on Android Market. The major feature added in this version is Missed FillUps support. Plus some bug fixes including Edit Vehicle & Edit Service Reminders crash :-) Feel free to give it a try!

I guess now it's the time to focus on backup/restore and import/export features...

[Armond]

For those who can not find aCar on Google Android Market, I've uploaded this application to two alternative Markets today. You can download their client (something like Google Market application) and install it on your phone. Then use that client application to browse their Market and download aCar.

1. http://www.andappstore.com (listed under "Productivity::Other" category)
Direct link to aCar page/profile: http://andappstore.com/AndroidApplications/apps/aCar

2. http://www.slideme.org (listed under "Productivity" category)
Direct link to aCar page/profile: http://slideme.org/application/acar

I guess one of them allows direct APK download from its website. And the registration for both Markets is free if you need to do so!

Enjoy!

[Armond]

Just in case anyone is interested, the recent versions include manual and fully automatic backup/restore and data import from various sources plus several minor enhancements and bug fixes.

And in the just-released version 1.3.0 I've included data export to Excel compatible CSV format. Now you can view your data on your PC!

Enjoy!

[rhino]

Just in case anyone is interested, the recent versions include manual and fully automatic backup/restore and data import from various sources plus several minor enhancements and bug fixes.

And in the just-released version 1.3.0 I've included data export to Excel compatible CSV format. Now you can view your data on your PC!

Enjoy!
Awesome, I was waiting for a backup feature. Going to reinstall this tomorrow. Thanks!

[nitro]

So I just joined the forums to say thanks for this app - it's really awesome.

[ggrant3876]

So I just joined the forums to say thanks for this app - it's really awesome.
Welcome to the A/C nitro, we think this is the best android forum and hope you do too.

[Armond]

It's a few days I've released version 2.0.x which is complete redesign of the entire user interface and a major update along with many enhancements and new features.

Complete Release Notes:
http://zonewalker.com/acar/release-notes

# See the [UPDATED] screen shots in the first post of this thread

I'm eagerly waiting for your feedback on this release...

[ayk07]

love the app, great job

[eljefe91]

Armond I just spent several hours inputting my service history for one of my cars. The single biggest frustration that's preventing me from going pro is the sequential input limitation. It's a huge problem if I discover a receipt that I happened to miss. I had to spend a great deal of time getting all of my records in chronological order. It would have been easier if I could have just inputted them in any order as long as I had the correct mileage and date. I read your rationale on the mileage but a simple warning flag would be better than preventing me from entering the data. I really like the application otherwise and I think it will be a huge help in extending the life of my already old vehicles. Thanks!