Applying Himself

The #1 son has been writing apps for Android phones. Whatever Android phones are. I am not telephonically literate. I asked if the first one he wrote was for a Google phone, and he said, "Duh. A Google phone IS an Android phone." He's 15 now, and phones are his life. His first app was a firewall to control which apps can use your phone internet. Or something like that. That first app was called DroidWall. #1 got a free Android phone out of it. A Droid to be exact. Not too shabby. He had over 7000 downloads of his app, and Google gave a bunch of developers who had enough downloads the free phones. I kept telling him there was a catch, but he said no. He was right. Free phone. No catch. He's approaching 15,700 downloads right now.

His next app was a dealy-bobber that lets you use the search button on your Android phone to control music, as in PLAY/PAUSE. He has a free version and a donate version. As you can imagine, the free version is winning. Right now, there is no difference in the two versions. It's been out about a month, and already has 860 downloads. The donate version has about 3 or 4. Go figure. People obviously like to get something for nothing. The only drawback is that you have to know how root your phone. Whatever that means. I am sure it is something that I don't know how to do.

The most recent addition to the #1 son's apps is a game for $.99. It has been out since Friday night at 9:30, and has sold 4 downloads. Truth in blogging requires me to admit that I was one of the purchasers, and gave him a glowing review, because I just got an Android phone on Monday, and The Pony likes to play this game. He was a tester during development. I gave #1 the idea, because he needed something simple that he thought people would pay to play. All you do is start the game, get a GO signal, and tap the screen. Then it tells you how many milliseconds it took, and gives a list of the top five scores on your phone. It is called Reflex-A-Tron. I had the idea, because when we use stopwatches in my class, the guys all make a game of who can start and stop it the fastest. And I could imagine kids playing this in class on their phones without me noticing, as long as they turn off the sound.

I don't think the boy is going to get rich on these apps, but one thing leads to another, and he could come up with something grand. There are links to his apps on the sidebar, but you have to click them from an Android phone to make them work.

I don't know where he gets his techie smarts, but it sure isn't from me or Stone Age H.

Scan this with your Android phone to see the app in the Market:

Reflex-A-Tron - $.99: