QuasarMX, Qt, QML and the experiments
Some of you following my micro-blogging on Twitter might already know about it: In the last few months I have been busy developing a new application. What initially just started out as a re-write of the user interface of Quasar Media Player has turned into a completely new application called QuasarMX. It is based on the very core of Quasar Media Player but stripped of all the legacy and third-party code. The completely new UI is based on Qt Quick / QML, a new technology which simplicity and elegance I fell in love with over the past year. For me QuasarMX also marks the start of two experiments:
1. How many platforms and operating systems can I port my app to?
2. Is there any commercial viability at all in publishing the software to various app stores (Nokia Ovi store, Android Market etc.) ?
The first experiment is important to me. Now that Nokia put the Qt project into open governance, the Qt community has the unique opportunity to extend primary platform support to Android, iOS and possibly even Windows Phone 7, thus extending the possible market cap and audience for mobile apps based on Qt dramatically. This experiment is largely about experiencing first hand what changes are required to get my application running on these platforms and as a matter of fact what needs to be done in projects like Necessitas (Qt on Android) to make that goal happen.
As for the second experiment I am actually just interested in getting to know the mechanics of the various app stores. I am pretty confident that there is little to no money to be made from yet another music player app. Yet, it is still interesting to see what happens, what works and what not, especially in regards to future apps.
In July Nokia accepted my application and invited me into the Qt Ambassador program. As part of this program Nokia loaned a N950 developer device to me, which I extensively used to develop and test the Harmattan UI for QuasarMX. The new user interface is very much inspired by the simplicity of the MeeGo Harmattan Swipe UI.
As of yesterday the open Beta 1 of QuasarMX is available for the Nokia N9 and N950. Releases for other platforms will follow shortly.
December 30th, 2011 at 19:50
[...] katastrophos.net TAGS: application, Harmattan, Meego, MeeGo Harmattan, N9, N950, Nokia, Nokia N950, [...]
December 30th, 2011 at 20:08
Hi,
I checked QUASARmx out and I have to say: It is absolutely great! So much features, not only the best music-player on MeeGo, but also better than anyone on iOS or Symbian! This App is worth to spend 4.99€ or more, so go ahead an take it to the final release, I will be the first customer to buy it! Thanks for that great work, I love QuasarMX!
December 31st, 2011 at 10:42
Agree, it is better than any other music players on meego, ios and android.
Waiting for final release
January 3rd, 2012 at 13:55
Very promising, very usable already at this point.
Couple of questions
- what is the battery usage compared to the stock player? Does it use the same backend with HW acceleration (i.e., optimal hw usage)
- Is the equalizer goint to use the DSP or the main cpu?
January 3rd, 2012 at 22:10
Awesome!
Tried it out and I really like the UI.
Please join the official Maemo forum and get in touch with the community! :)
http://talk.maemo.org
January 6th, 2012 at 16:33
Great app!
But I hope this to be more improved with fix any bugs.
(ex. It read ID3v1 tag when a mp3 file has ID3v1 and ID3v2 at same time. So, I can’t read the tags because of the garbling when with multi-bytes code tags.)
Thanks!
January 7th, 2012 at 15:34
plz plz plz release it fast for n900(maemo) also….i and many maemo users are waiting for such awesome musicplayer since long time…plz
January 8th, 2012 at 15:57
@Nrde: Battery usage is on par with the default music player. Even with a connected bluetooth headset and AVRCP it plays for 10+ hours.
As for the equalizer: we are still working out how to best integrate it in QuasarMX. I am not satisfied with the equalizer filters that come with the N9 since all of them use the CPU, the device gets warm and the battery is drained pretty fast. So yes, we are experimenting with other options, possibly even DSP or a simplified equalizer (bass boost, treeble boost etc.) that is not as computational expensive as a full-fledged 10+ band equalizer. Luckily I have somebody specialized in this area helping me.
@htsign: I have a similar case where CJK tagged files are not correctly read, which is already fixed. It would be nice, if you could mail a test case file to quasarmx@katastrophos.net . Huge files are okay.
January 8th, 2012 at 15:59
@nisheet: The N900 port will follow, hopefully this month. I need to fix some UI issues first.
January 10th, 2012 at 10:14
@Andre Beckedorf,thanx for responce…we will be waiting….
January 12th, 2012 at 22:11
This is the best music player on meego hartmann. Respect!
February 16th, 2012 at 23:11
Great app!
February 18th, 2012 at 07:19
when the port for n900 will be released……..plzzzzzzzzzz make it we are waitinggg…………..