# DBSTalk First Look: Android App



## Stuart Sweet

I just couldn't wait to show you this exclusive first look at the Android application for DIRECTV!

I know that this is not a full "First Look" document, but please enjoy this "first peek" at this new mobile app!

Thanks to all who participated in this first look.

Please note that FTC rules about online reviews may apply to this thread. Feel free to send me a message with any questions.


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## Smuuth

The latest mobile applications from DIRECTV will soon be available in their respective markets and available for download directly to your device. These applications will let you accomplish remote scheduling of all your DIRECTV DVRs at home or away as easy as making a call or browsing the web.

Similar to the earlier DIRECT mobile application for the iPhone, these appplications let you schedule recordings of single programs or entire series with just a few simple operations. You can connect via WiFi or 3G on Sprint or Verizon Wireless, depending on which device and network you are using.

Searching for a desired program to record can be done via the program name, or by browsing by channels or by date and time. When you find the program you want to record, you can select whether you want to record a single episode or the entire series and record it to any or all of your DVRs.


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## Smuuth

The first screen you will see when you start the application after downloading and installing to your device is the login screen shown here. As you see, if you already have created an online account at DIRECTV.COM, you can simply log in and begin setting up the application for your preferences. Setup is accomplished on the settings screen also shown here. If you have not yet created an online account, you can either create an online account by going to the link shown on the login page now or browse program listings as a guest. (Note: These screenshots were taken from the application for the Android, but the screens on the application for the Palm look very similar.)


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## mhayes70

*RECORDING SHOWS AND SERIES*

Recording a show or series is simple. After selecting the desired program
from your search or browse results, you will be brought to a screen
providing an episode description along with the option to record the
episode and/or series. Selecting a recording option will then display the
options available for the recording. You can select one or more available
DVR'S and THEN set the recording and deletion priorities. THE DVR FRIENDLY NAMES ARE SETUP ON YOUR DIRECTV ACCOUNT AT DIRECTV.COM. UPON COMPLETION You will receive a confirmation upon successful submission of your recording.


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## Smuuth

After you are logged in, the first screen you will come to is the Home screen shown here. As you can see, there are options to Search for Shows, Browse by Channel, or Browse by Date & Time.

Pressing the menu key will popup the options shown in the second screenshot. Home will let you return to this screen from any other screen in the application, Search will open the screen to let you Search for Shows, Browse will open a screen to let you choose between Browse by Channels or Browse by Date & Time, and Settings will take you to the Settings screen previously shown.


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## Smuuth

If you choose to Search for Shows, you will see the search screen where you can input the name of the show you are looking for. For example, if you search for "chopped", you might get something like the second screen below. All of those programs have the word "chopped" either in the title or in the description of the show. If you do not see the program you are looking for, you can use the back key to go back to the search screen and be more specific in your input. In this case, however, we were looking for the Food Network program "Chopped", which is shown so we select it. You will then see a screen with all the episodes of "Chopped" currently listed in the guide. You may note at the top of that screen you can sort that listing either by Date or by Channel.


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## Smuuth

If you choose to Browse by Channel, you will get a listing of channels as shown in the first two screenshots. Notice that you can choose a tab at the top to show them sorted either alphabetically or numerically. Clicking on the menu button in this screen gives an additional option to "Jump" in the menu as shown in the third screenshot. This is a feature unique to the Android application and allows you to jump to a specific range of channels, either alphabetically or numerically, depending on which listing you are on when you choose "Jump." An example of the "Jump" screen is shown in screenshot 4.


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## Smuuth

Browsing by Date & Time works very similar to Browsing by Channel. You will first see the screen to select the date you want. You can use the plus or minus keys to select or you can select the field itself and type the input directly. After the date is selected, you will get the next screen to select the time, which works the same way as the date selection. Once the time is input, you will see a channel selection screen. The time frame you selected in the previous screen is shown at the top. Notice the arrows which will let you move the time in half-hour increments. Pressing menu on this screen will also give you the "Jump" option previously discussed.


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## Smuuth

Of course, the final step (and the real fun of this application) is to be able to record the program you just saw advertised or a program you remembered you wanted to see when you are not at home to set the DVR. Once you have found the program from the previous steps and selected it, you can select record the series or record the single episode as shown in the first screen. You will then see the screen to select your Receiver, set the recording priority, and select the keep options you want for the recording. When you click on the Receiver selection, you will see a drop-down for your own receivers where you can select any or all of your receivers to record. For Priority, you can select Record if Possible or Definitely Record, and you have the option to set Keep Until Disk Is Full or Until You Delete. Once you have set the options you want and clicked on the green record button, you will see the screen telling you your recording has been scheduled successfully.


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## MIAMI1683

Nice work here guys. Excellent like always.


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## jasonki32

Great work!


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## JimMariner

Excellent Work DBS !!! Can't wait to start putting it to use. !!!


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## Mark L

Just downloaded the app and tried twice to record a show and got the following message:

*"DIRECTV Application encountered Technical Difficulty. Please Try again...."*

Ughh I was excited when I saw this on Twitter too


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## Grydlok

So will this work on 1.5,1.6,2.0, or 2.1?


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## crendall

Works great on my Motorola Droid!


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## joshjr

crendall said:


> Works great on my Motorola Droid!


Only worked on my Droid with the 2nd tab. The first tab would not work no matter what show I set to record.


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## iotp

How about BLACKBERRY ?? Geez man.


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## packfan909

Works on my HTC Hero running 1.5.


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## CJTE

That looks super duper!



iotp said:


> How about BLACKBERRY ?? Geez man.


Where is that, anyway...!? My curve is getting bummed out.


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## Jish

Mark L said:


> Just downloaded the app and tried twice to record a show and got the following message:
> 
> *"DIRECTV Application encountered Technical Difficulty. Please Try again...."*


Ditto on my Droid


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## Skooz

Ok. This is cool.


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## shmengie

+1 on my mytouch3g le. still, once the kinks are worked out...


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## tsduke

iotp said:


> How about BLACKBERRY ?? Geez man.


No kidding. The Droid just comes out and it already has a Directv app. This isn't a good sign for us Blackberry folk.


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## ctaranto

iotp said:


> How about BLACKBERRY ?? Geez man.


Agreed. The most used smartphone out there isn't getting the app? Quite disappointing.

-Craig


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## johnp37

Will this work on my LG env Touch?


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## Greg Alsobrook

johnp37 said:


> Will this work on my LG env Touch?


No. I don't believe that phone runs Android as an OS.


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## Greg Alsobrook

Anyone that is having any issues, please post them in the Issues Thread.


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## jonbbrad

works great on my moto droid... sweet!!!!


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## Frostbyte

Great work! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!


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## Dave DFW

Nice job as always. Even though the app says it is optimized for android 1.6, it is working well with 1.5 on my Sprint Hero. App is sized nicely for the screen and faster response than using the browser from my experience so far.

It would be nice to see the other normal recording options available (first run or both etc) in a future release.


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## PhilS

Works with HTC Hero, although I get the misleading message "Due to connectivity issues, you cannot login. Please try again later" - if I use an incorrect email address. It should say "Wrong account name or password."


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## hbkbiggestfan

How about we get this app on the Palm Pre. I could certainly put it to use. We got the SuperFan app so why have we yet to see this on the Pre?


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## Stuart Sweet

Patience...


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## hdtvfan0001

Stuart Sweet said:


> Patience...


Very, very nice report - and super application...

<he said while tapping his foot and praying for something like this for his Blackberry Curve>


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## durl

hbkbiggestfan said:


> How about we get this app on the Palm Pre. I could certainly put it to use. We got the SuperFan app so why have we yet to see this on the Pre?


Yep...still waiting for the webOS version.

Hopefully, with the Pre now available on Verizon, more emphasis will be placed on such apps.


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## jmcguire56

DIRECTV Application encountered Technical Difficulty. Please Try again....

Motorola Droid


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## Hoosier205

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Very, very nice report - and super application...
> 
> <he said while tapping his foot and praying for something like this for his Blackberry Curve>


I hear ya. The most widely used device seems to be getting lost in the shuffle.


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## johnp37

I wish I had known about this sooner then I would have gotten a Android based phone. I was eligible for my new every two at VZW on 1/4 and got the LG env Touch. Bummer.


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## jfosut

Wow.. Just saw this and grabbed the app on my Motorola Droid. Works great! I never used the web-based mobile scheduler because it just didn't work well enough for my needs. I can see myself using this app a good bit though.

Thanks for the early look and the heads up!


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## rlgesch

+1



durl said:


> Yep...still waiting for the webOS version.
> 
> Hopefully, with the Pre now available on Verizon, more emphasis will be placed on such apps.


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## uscboy

Also disappointed it's not out for the Blackberry - what's up with that? Would look good on my Storm.

This is an excellent write up for the Droid though, very well done!


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## Mark L

I noticed there was already an update for the DirecTV app, I had a notice on my Moto Droid, I downloaded the update, we'll see how it goes


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## jmcguire56

Mark L said:


> I noticed there was already an update for the DirecTV app, I had a notice on my Moto Droid, I downloaded the update, we'll see how it goes


The update fixed the problem on my Droid.


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## HerntDawg

Moto Droid, it works sweet


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## upgrade lately?

Works great on my Moto Droid. A little slow, but very functional.


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## Grydlok

tsduke said:


> No kidding. The Droid just comes out and it already has a Directv app. This isn't a good sign for us Blackberry folk.


what does an android app have to do with the droid phone?


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## Grydlok

Not bad looking on the Cliq wouldn't mind seeing a BB version


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## love that tv

durl said:


> Yep...still waiting for the webOS version.
> 
> Hopefully, with the Pre now available on Verizon, more emphasis will be placed on such apps.


i hope so!!!!


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## jabrwocky7

Working great on Moto Droid!


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## delete2end

hbkbiggestfan said:


> How about we get this app on the Palm Pre. I could certainly put it to use. We got the SuperFan app so why have we yet to see this on the Pre?


I agree.... Palm Pre!


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## dub2501

Works great on Sprint HTC Hero, rooted with Fresh 1.1 

Only difference noticed between this and the ipod is the fact that you can't select the channel number on the right side of the screen, so have to scroll all the way the channel names or numbers to get where you want, doesn't seem possible to jump to a specific number, i.e - 500.

NICE JOB DirecTV - been hoping this would be added to the market for a while now and great to finally use it successfully!!


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## jimmerz

johnp37 said:


> I wish I had known about this sooner then I would have gotten a Android based phone. I was eligible for my new every two at VZW on 1/4 and got the LG env Touch. Bummer.


Dont you have 30 days to return it?


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## AlexH

Nice app. Works well on my Moto Droid. One thing I would add to it is an ability to tack on a recording extension (especially for sporting events) like the DVR prompts you to do.


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## NVTanner

Just got it on my Moto Droid and it works great! Thanks to Directv and the droid developers for such a usefull tool.


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## smoelheim

Add me to the list of disappointed blackberry owners. Not surprised that we got lost behind the Iphone because the cool kids always get the new toys first... but to get buried behind the droid... very unfortunate.


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## jaybertx

For those wondering about the Palm Pre, the DirecTV app is in the Palm Beta catalog... it's not available to us mere mortals but if you have PreWare installed you can see that it's on its way.


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## jimmerz

Previously stated I was having connectivity issues...

All working fine. I actually needed to be installed and operational I guess. Very nice app. HTC Droid.


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## David MacLeod

anyway to get "Hide SD Duplicates" added to this?


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## delete2end

ok... it should be here soon for the Palm Pre.... look at the release date. sometime palm app store apps appear early but cant be downloaded for a day or two.... its been two days...

http://www.houseofpalm.com/palm.application.com-directv-dvrscheduler-pnA.aspx


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## delete2end

iotp said:


> How about BLACKBERRY ?? Geez man.


http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/directv/mobile_apps

its coming.... it might be next week as there are links already going out for palm pre but the app store wont let you download it...


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## HDTVFreak07

I want that APP on my WM6.1!!!! (at&t tilt)


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## bemenaker

Nice app guys!! The mobile web solution sucked horribly this is great. Only thing I'd add is to filter out SD channels or when you have HD and it's on channels I get in the guide. Minor thing. Great app, now scheduling my DVR from my phone is easy. WOOHOO


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