Desk Clock Plus




Technical Support
Problems, questions or enhancement requests?  I can be contacted via:


Market Description
Desk Clock Plus is the full featured version of the stock Android clock program for your phone or tablet.  While keeping the original look and feel of the original Android stock version by displaying the battery level, current time, your local weather, Desk Clock Plus allows you to configure it for your needs whether that is a clock for your office or night stand.

Almost all aspects of the clock can be configured.  You can configure the background to rotate from images from a specific folder on your device, from albums from your Google Photo / Picasa account or from the featured images from Picasa.  You can also choose not to select a background and let your active wallpaper show though.  Desk Clock Plus will also allow you to download and select various themes or you can create your own theme.  You can also change the font colors, display a 12 or 24 hour clock or set the phone to silent when it’s docked.

Desk Clock Plus' screen saver settings will allow you to choose if and after how long before you launch into a night clock mode or in to a slide show screen saver of the images you choose.

Optionally, you can purchase an extension that will allow you to add additional buttons docks and choose your own applications to launch from Desk Clock Plus.  Swipe left and right on the dock or on the time and weather to re-arrange the layout.  You can also swipe the time and weather panels to reconfigure the clock's layout.


Background
I wrote Desk Clock Plus to over come some of the short falls of the stock Android clock program.  In my opinion, it's main use is when the phone is dropped into the Multimedia Dock.  For me, that's at my desk at work (hence the name).  Although, I have received a number of people emailing me for enhancements for using it as a night stand / alarm clock.  For me, the problems with the clock application that shipped on my Froyo based Droid 1 was the lack of configurable options.  It really only has two options:
  • Audio (Settings for the attached dock)
  • Dock insertion sound (Enable / Disable sound when dock state chagnes)
I wanted more control over how the application behaved than just these two features.  Additionally, the "screen saver" (black screen with green time that moves) would automatically start after 3 minutes.  For how I use the dock this did not work for me.

Desk Clock Plus' current list of features include:

  • Font Color
  • 12 / 24 hour clock
  • Silent mode when docked
  • Screen Saver timeout
  • Use the slide show for the screen saver
  • Temperature Units (C / F)
  • Weather refresh rate
  • Set a static location for the weather
  • Themes
    • Download 
    • Create your own
  • Choose your Background / Slide Show images
    • Local folder & sub folders
    • Picasa Featured Images
    • Selected Picasa Albums
  • Background change rate
  • Choice of background transitions
  • Music app selection*
Desk Clock Plus also has the following paid extension:

  • Scrolling Dock Extension 



I have two goals for Desk Clock Plus:

  1. Create a highly customized dock application while maintaining the original Android look and feel.
  2. Use this as a learning tool to gain a better insight on Android development.


Future Enhancements
To be Determined