Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Paper Round: Version History

Version 2.5:
For Android 4.0 and above:
  • Custom feeds: Users can add their own feeds to Paper Round. Share an RSS feed link from the browser or add manually via the menu 
  • Improved storage and caching mechanism: Will result in faster loading times and much more efficient use of run-time memory 
  • Added Five new news sources to the collection (Metro, Wired, Salon, Reuters and New York Times) 
  • Option to just sync main sections 
  • Minor bug fixes: Notably reduced memory footprint, faster processing of data and increased responsiveness 
  • Minor User Interface changes 
  • Offline Reading: Synchronize news sources for later reading or for times without network connection. 
  • Scheduling Options: Wide range of scheduling options for syncing. Ability to restrict it to just Wi-Fi 
  • Improved background processing 
  • Caching mechanism: Paper Round caches a visited page for even faster loading and reduced data usage. 
Two new permissions needed:
  1. System Tools(Prevent phone from sleeping): This is to help with syncing. Android conserves power by putting the phone into a low powered state during idle time. This will lead to components of the phone(processor, network or wi-fi radios etc.,) working in much lesser capacities. Having this permission enables an app to request normal usage of system so it can finish its tasks. Once tasks are completed, apps signal they are done and the system resumes low powered state. 
  2. System Tools(Run at startup) : Apps that depend on scheduled operations(in case of Paper Round, syncing at specific/specified times) register their schedules with Android which in turn sends an alert to the app at the specific time. This means the app doesn't need to run all the time and can be started only for the specified time window. But the list of registrations gets reset during a reboot. Having this permission will let Paper Round know that the phone has rebooted and Paper Round can reschedule syncing. 
Version 2.0:
For Android 4.0 and above:
  • Complete rewrite of the app to use native 4.0+ features: faster, more efficient, better presentation and smoother animations 
  • Added settings option to customise the list of newspapers 
  • Various minor bug fixes. 
Gingerbread users: Backporting of new features is in progress, you won't miss out for long :-)

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