Chris Dadswell

Good day to you!

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog, but work/life has been pretty busy the last year and so I haven’t had much chance to post anything. That said, I have managed to develop a new release of BrowseCast. Better known as BrowseCast HD. This version has been re-written specifically for Android 4.x devices. So that’s Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean in user friendly terms.

Below I have put a little FAQ together for you to read.

So come on,  what’s changed ?

The main change is to the interface. Since ICS and now JB, Android has changed it’s inferface to a more defined look. And personally I really like the way it looks and feels. In turn developers can develop their applications to conform to this ‘look’. This is exactly what I have aimed to do here.

That said, I haven’t yet coded for tablet devices. This will come in a future release. I had worked on a Honeycomb* version of BrowseCast HD, but this version of Android was soon superceded and support seems to be quite patchy. Going forward I will reinstate the hardwork I put into the Honeycomb version (learning to develop fragments) and bring it into BrowseCast HD.

*Honeycomb was a hybrid tablet/phone OS for those interested.

Other than the main interface changes the application no longer requires Google Listen and can work with any podcatcher that supports the pcast: protocol, which most do.

The new version of Pocket Cast (my favourite podcatcher of all time) now supports this protocol in the latest version of the application. I urge you to splash out on this fantastically designed and developed application. It does everything you want from a podcatcher and more. Also, the developer has a great sense of humour and each release has some very amusing release notes! This app can only get better.

Go get it! <- Google Play link

Why a new version and not upgrade the current BrowseCast?

This was a big quandry and decision for me (not exactly life changing). In order to bring BrowseCast into the ICS/JB look and feel you need to add support for it into the application. I quickly realised that to support the new look for old and new devices would require a lot of extra coding which equals a lot more time to develop and release.

In order to get a release out I made the decision to develop BrowseCast HD for ICS/JB devices in the first instance and then, time permitting, make it backward compatible.

I fully understand that the majority of handsets are on Android 2.x and that is why I will leave the original BrowseCast on Google Play. This isn’t an ideal, but I am not a full time developer and this application is free and ad-free! What more do you want ?!

So what Podcatchers does it support?

As mentioned above, BrowseCast HD supports all podcatchers that use the pcast: protocol. I have tested a number of the major podcatchers and they all seem to work as expected.

Did I mention Pocket Casts?

I hope you enjoy this release, it took me over a long time period to develop and I learnt some interesting stuff along the way. As ever it is free to download and use. I hope you find it useful and it helps you to discover the wealth of BBC Podcasts that are available.

Until next time, be careful out there.