For problems or feedback email: glambt@paradigmedia.com

This a functional beta version of the application for Androids. It has been run and tested on a Motorola Electrify M and a 7" mongrel tablet. It will be a work in progress for some time to come as the interface evolves into a more professional and functional presentation, bugs dusted with pesticide, and new features are added or expanded.

I would suggest browsing the documentation, then playing with it for a few cycles before using it on actual flights where battery timming is really important.

There are no known major bugs, although some interface functions need to be refined to be more "user friendly." Hopefully, beta test users with a fresh view will help with this. Otherwise, it hasn't crashed the test devices above, and has been useful to me for timing and keeping track of my Phantom flights for the past two months. My major concern is that it will confrom to different size displays. This is pain to program properly, and I have tested it with two different size devices and a simulator.

One major upgrade will be the addition of a Shapeways generated bracket to mount the Android device on the transmitter. Also, I think the time between the first and second alerts probably needs to be shortened to 1 minute instead of two, and the first alert is probably too mellow. For now, I either put the phone in my shirt pocket, or lay it down near where I am standing during the flight. I also rubber band the phone to the xmitter handle.

Future upgrades besides the bracket will be (at least) logging of GPS coordinates for each flight, and map display of the flight location together with other flight information. I also plan on integrating a pre-flight checklist with user definable items that the user can elect to use before each session. Down the road, if this ends up being sold in the playstore I would think that it should be adapted to provide for multiple flight logs for someone with more than one aircraft.

Functions are:

• Flight time tracked while in progress and recorded.
• Two levels of user defined timer alarms.
• User selectable presets for up to eight batteries and eight locations. Battery buttons also carry selectable presets for each battery's expected flight time.
• Battery and location presets, flight time, date and a comment field automatically saved to the flight log.
• Flight log can be reviewed and edited, including comments and to refine actual flight times.
• Flight log can be displayed with total flights, average time per flight, and total flight time.
• Flight log is comma delimited and can be exported to the SD card for further review and processing with spreadsheets, etc.

To install the app, go to this link with the browser in your phone or tablet. This is the first update, Version 1.01. See the change log at the bottom of the page: http://www.paradigmedia.com/flight_timer/Flight_Timer.apk

**Important: You will need to go into the settings and allow the installation of non-playstore applications. I have a custom icon for the app, but I'm having trouble getting it to upload with the standalone version - I'll fix that.

The display is self-explanatory. It will change to yellow at the first alarm, and red on the second alarm.

Start the timer with the "Start" button, or with one of the battery preset buttons. Location preset buttons, however, will not start the timer. Note: if you want to use the battery present functions (logging the battery name and setting the alarm time), you need to use one of the battery buttons to begin the flight. This probably needs to be less awkward.

Pressing the "Stop" button (when it appears) shows "Press Button Again" for three seconds. So, you have to press the button twice to actually stop the session. This is designed to avoid an accidental termination of the session timer.

There are two levels of alarms. The current alarm preset is shown in a small box in the upper left hand corner of the screen (alarm times can be changed in the "Edit" screen, or through the battery buttons). The first alarm is a chime that sound after the current alarm interval, and the time turns from white to yellow. One minute later the chime sounds again. One minute after that (two minutes after the first chime), the display turns red and a more urgent, louder alarm sounds.

Currently, as soon as the timer is stopped, a field appears to enter any information you want to include in the flight log. Note: All flights are logged, so you may want to play with the app for a bit and do some simulated flights, then erase the flight log when you want to start for real. Clearing the log is explained below.

Long press any of the Battery preset buttons to edit it. Long pressing a battery preset first brings up a dialog box to enter the name of the battery, followed by a field to enter the alarm time for that battery.

The "Edit" button goes to a screen that displays the last completed flight and allows you to fine tune the flight information. You can also reset the global alarm time and go to the flight log display.

This page contains editing functions and information about the last flight. You can edit the minutes and seconds and the comments field. Don't forget to press "Save" when you are done, or you will lose your changes.

The up and down arrows will navigate up and down through the flight log.

"Reset Alarm Time" allows you to change the global alarm set. The individual battery alarm presets are new, so I'm not sure if the persist as a global alarm or not! I'll have to check.

"Log Functions" takes you to the a display of the flight log where you can look at the total flights, total flight time,and average flight time per flight. Note: Here you can also reset the flight log (called "Library" right now), but be careful, since this will clear the log irretrievably.

Better to export the log to the SD card before you reset it. The log is saved, for right now, in a folder that is created in "storage>sdcard0>rctimer." I suspect this path may show up differently in various flavors of the Android OS. I'll be investigating this later, but, meanwhile, that's where it shows up in my Motorola. I use "Astro File Manager" as a file browser.

"Help" needs help. It is out of date!