PrediSat

PrediSat is an Android app that grabs Iridium flare and satellite pass data from Heavens-Above.com and formats it for the small screen of the phone. It also includes a few features to make satellite watching easier, such as alerts, countdowns, and night mode.

Links

PrediSat in Android Market (Android-only link)
PrediSat on AppBrain
Heavens-Above (the source of satellite data for PrediSat)

Pro version

The Pro version (to be released) adds some advanced features on top of what is available in the free version. It may also include early features that will later be added to the free version. Development and release will occur after all major issues are eliminated from the free version.
Price will be $1.
Some features currently planned for first release:

• Ads disabled by default, can be toggled.
  
• Sightings log.
  
• Adjust backlight brightness for night mode by numeric value, useful since different phones have a different minimum brightness.
  
• Set multiple alert times (comma separated).
  
• Automatic creation of alerts according to a set magnitude.

Changelog

^ = Based on error report from a Froyo user
Dates are based on GMT.

v1.0.5 [in development]

• Improved: Alert lists are sorted by time.
  
• Added: Description on Timezone preference clarifying that it is the standard GMT offset.
  
• Added: Menu option on main screen to toggle night mode.
  
• Added: Menu options in Alerts view to clear either list.
  
• Improved: Detect incompatible alerts at launch and delete along with cache, preventing crash after version upgrade.
  
• Fixed: Detection of existing alerts created in different list instances.
  
• Added: Alerts can be removed through event lists.
  
• Improved: Events can be added to alerts even if alerts are currently disabled.
  
• ^Improved: If invalid GPS coordinates received, show error instead of crashing.
  
• Added: Toast notification at alert trigger.
  
• Improved: Notification timer is much more efficient, using a native method instead of a very bloated and often buggy countdown.
  
• Added: Try setting timezone automatically at launch if not set.
  
• Fixed: Error when parser encounters trimmed/optimized HTML. (Thanks to SkepticBarista!)
  
• Fixed: Expired alerts being triggered on service modification/start if alert time is set to 0.
  

v1.0.4 [2010-09-02]

• Fixed: Event timer timezone not being calculated properly for timezones different from phone.
  
• Improved: Significantly reduced possibility of alerts being skipped because of lag.
  
• Improved: If parser runs into problem, show error and try loading cache instead of crashing.
  

v1.0.3 [2010-08-31]

• Added: Save coordinates when opening preferences.
  
• Fixed: Alert time not applying to existing alerts when changed.
  
• ^Fixed: Crash when both pass periods are selected and one of them returns no passes.
  
• ^Fixed: Crash when alert is triggered and ringtone was not configured.
  
• Fixed: DST sometimes being 'forgotten' while running in background as service.
  

v1.0.1 and v1.0.2 [2010-08-28]

• Fixed: Two crash bugs in the web browser.
  

v1.0.0 [2010-08-28]

• Initial release to the Android Market!
  

Started development on 2010-06-29

Known issues

• Clock is often off by more than a few seconds even when synchronized with carrier. Planned solution: Use an NTP server.
  
• DST used is same as phone, so time is inaccurate if configured for a timezone currently using a different DST offset.
  
• Timezone detection is extremely limited due to inconsistency between definitions in Java and Heavens-Above.
  
• Repeatedly closing when launched. (reported by Spencer via Market comment) - Unable to fix without stacktrace or reproducible steps.