H Gupta Apps

What it does: Monitors Uber for cabavailability based on constraints set by you and notifies youwhenever a cab matching your constraints is available.How to use it:- Launch and wait for the app to determine your location and showyou the available Uber categories for that location.- Enter parameters suitable for your needs. These parametersinclude:* How much time you're willing to wait for a cab (anycategory).* Which cab categories you're interested in (select/deselect thecheck-boxes beside each category as applicable)* The maximum surge pricing you're willing to tolerate for eachcategory (modify the value in the text box to the right of eachcategory). Note that Uber surge pricing starts from 1.0 (normalprice, no surge) and goes up in increments of 0.1. If you leave thevalue for a selected category at its default of 1.0, it means thatyou're only interested in that category at normal price and nothingabove that. If, for example, you enter a value of 2.0 for acategory, it means that you're willing to pay up to double for thatcategory, but nothing above that.- Press the 'Check' button to instantly check if there are any cabscurrently available which fit the parameters you've set. Theinformation will be displayed in a text pane below thebutton.- Press the 'Poll' button to periodically monitor Uber for cabswhich fit your parameters and notify you as soon as a match isfound. The frequency of polling can be set in the text box besidethe button. Once the app enters polling mode, you can soft-exit it(by pressing the phone's Home button) and start using another app,or you can just leave the phone lying around close by and work onsomething else. Polling will continue in the background, and youwill be notified once a match is found. Polling stops when youclick 'Stop' or when you hard-exit the app using the phone's Backbutton.When is it useful: In high-demand/low-supply scenarios, the appsaves you the trouble of having to manually check the main Uber appevery minute or so to find out if a suitable cab is availablenearby. The app is not useful in high-supply scenarios; there it'shighly likely you can just open the main Uber app and get asuitable cab immediately.Why is it so plain/ugly:- Because it was put together over a few hours on a weekend.- Because I'm a server-side developer, not a UI/UX expert.- Because being a server-side developer, I believe in functionalityover form.Tips:- In polling mode, do not exit the app using the back button. Usethe home button if you need to switch apps. Using the back buttonwill cause polling to stop. Note for the technically competent: Iknow relying on Android to keep the app alive for a while once itis no longer in the foreground (after the Home button has beenpressed) is a terrible idea, and this should have been implementedusing a proper background Service, but I've taken the easy way outfor now. Hope your phone isn't that constrained for resources thatAndroid decides to kill the app the moment it's hidden.- The app notifies you using your default notification ringtone andby vibrating for 1 second. In polling mode, keep your volume up andyour phone nearby so that you actually get the notification.- The app only notifies you when a suitable cab is found, and doesnothing else on your behalf. Once you receive the notification, youmust quickly open the official Uber app and book the cab.- Location and network connectivity must be enabled for the app towork.- The app gives up if it cannot find your location within a fewseconds of launching. Just exit using the back button and tryagain.- The app assumes you aren't moving around too much and works withthe location it finds upon launch (unlike the main Uber app, whichconstantly monitors your location). If you need to update yourlocation, exit using the back button and launch again.