PPGoPlaces

PPGoPlaces, a lifestyle application, that contains number of simple utility programs that target holiday traveller. This application is part of my Android development learning journey. It was original created as my first project with my wife and me as the target users in mind.

We are happy users of the application, mainly because I can continue to customize and tweak the application to my liking over the course of using it, and it has gone through number of changes and upgrades over the last few years. The interface and user experience are very different now then the first release, and app now only support Ice Cream Sandwich and above in exchange for latest environment features and shinning user interface.

There are mainly 5 programs/utilities:
1. Holiday Checklist / Packing List – A two parts program, can be customized or changed base on the user needs:

Checklist - is a to-do list for holiday preparation and is organized into “Pre-holiday”, “At The Last Minute”, “While On Holiday” and finally “Post Holiday. My wife uses lot of the “Pre-holiday” as she did most of the travel arrangement and I had a good list of “At The Last Minute” checks around the house before we depart for our holiday.

Packing List – User will get a choice for “His” or “Hers” packing list when first startup the app. The default provides the most common holiday packing list, again you need to make customization base on your travelling habit, e.g. I always pack a very cool portable travel humidifier I purchased from Japan for places that air can be very dry.

2. Location List – The little app allows user to add(capture) places that he/she has visited, it will detect his/her current location co-ordinates, latitude and longitude, and upon returning to home or hotel where data or wifi is available, the user can then edit the location for the app to resolve the address of the location from the co-ordinates saved. Do note for remote places, it may take a little longer for the GPS to get a lock.

3. Holiday List – A simple app that allows user to create a holiday details. User can then tag/group locations to a holiday which allows user to view the location list by holiday. The app can also display a Google Map view with markers of all the locations visited during the holiday.

4. Shopping List – A simple app to keep tag of shopping list, the items also be tagged to a holiday and a filtered shopping list can then be pulled while on holiday instead of the entire shopping list.

5. Trip Calculator – A simple calculator and does not do any fanciful or serious scientific or complex financial calculation but only simple calculation. I customized it with convenient 3 Keys that make life lot easier while on holiday:

FX button – foreign exchange computation, one that base on the rate from the money changer where I purchased the foreign currency and not one pulled from the bank, i.e. you need to set it up for each trip before use.

TIP button – a quick tip computation which will help to round up to a sub total.

DSC button – discount button is a helpful function for getting the final price of sale item especially sign that say “Less 35%, take another 20% off”. It is just too difficult dealing with fraction and decimal point while you are having a holiday.

Long click on the calculator screen will bring up a popup window that give the longer view showing the hidden computation that scrolled off the screen.

A coin icon in the main menu and shopping menu provides a quick computation for Fx and tip (main menu only).

The application has been tested on Samsung Galaxy S2 (KitKat), Galaxy Note 2 (Jelly Bean) and Xiao Mi RedMi 2 (Jelly Bean) which is also my main development device used.

The fun begins when you pack for your next holiday

I enjoy creating and using this app, and hope you find it fun and useful too. Have Fun and a good holiday !!!