Database Users

PhatNotes Pro - Encryption Good?

Hi Guys, I've been using phatnotes pro 4.7.2 full version, for as long as I remember now even when they were called something else... anyways they have a protect note option, which adds a password to the notes you make.
How STRONG is this password protection? Does it even add encryption or it's just a simple password block and anyone can override and view the notes using a hex editor or text editor???? is it safe to leave a few credit card numbers in there?

Noone knows, the developer uses 'security by obscurity' by refusing to disclose the algorithm used.
The most secure algoritms used (AES Rjindaal, Twofish/Blowfish etc) have been subject to years of public scrutiny. It's the implementation not the algorithm itself that makes the security. There is no security threat form disclosing the algorithm.
I'd recommend staying away from this until the algorithm is disclosed if you want to encrypt your data.

bydandie said:
Noone knows, the developer uses 'security by obscurity' by refusing to disclose the algorithm used.
The most secure algoritms used (AES Rjindaal, Twofish/Blowfish etc) have been subject to years of public scrutiny. It's the implementation not the algorithm itself that makes the security. There is no security threat form disclosing the algorithm.
I'd recommend staying away from this until the algorithm is disclosed if you want to encrypt your data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So are you saying they DO using some form of encryption within their application when password protecting the notes or you don't know? I don't particularly care for what algorithm or encryption method they are using, my main concern is, are they even using encryption at all.
If my phone ever gets lost or stolen, most people who finds/steals it would just hard reset and wipe everything from the phone, so if there is even a slightest form of encryption, my data should be safe.

Depending on how often you use your 'secret' files. I have 1 particular note (in Notes) that I keep my personal stuff like passport number and others stuff that I may be using them, or not (very often, I don't). Hence I use the ccrryyppttoo (`crypto` with every letter doubled). I use this to encrypt that particular note. There is a certain advantages to it. (a) It still sync over outlook without 3rd party software plugin. (b) others still able to see the note, with non-sense short characters on it (eg, I have passport number a lot of other numbers there, which ended up only in 5 characters). There is also a desktop version available, if you wanted to have it tested (or incases where you have lost your phone and your file encrypted in your PC, you can use it to decrypt it).

hanmin said:
Depending on how often you use your 'secret' files. I have 1 particular note (in Notes) that I keep my personal stuff like passport number and others stuff that I may be using them, or not (very often, I don't). Hence I use the ccrryyppttoo (`crypto` with every letter doubled). I use this to encrypt that particular note. There is a certain advantages to it. (a) It still sync over outlook without 3rd party software plugin. (b) others still able to see the note, with non-sense short characters on it (eg, I have passport number a lot of other numbers there, which ended up only in 5 characters). There is also a desktop version available, if you wanted to have it tested (or incases where you have lost your phone and your file encrypted in your PC, you can use it to decrypt it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I think your link doesn't work.
2. Thanks for the suggestion! But that means adding another program to my long list of programs, I rather just use phatnotes if they are somewhat secure.
3. That still doesn't answer my original question =(
4. Can you send me the program for me to try? I use my 'secret' note file on my pc and phone so phatnotes keeps them both sync, very convinient.
5. THANKS AGAIN!

The link does works at my end. Here is it again.
http://www.hfrmobile.com/app_CCrryyppttoo_T1/index.htm
Oops, forgot your original question. You can test the encryption yourself. I didn't try out Phatnotes myself, but you can try to locate the file of which Phatnote stores your notes (either 1 file for all notes, or 1 file per note). Password protect this file, send it over to your PC, open it with your Notepad. If it doesn't show what each and every word that you've typed for that note, it is 'encrypted'. Most amateur people will just use this method to get your secret stuff I guess, unless they know there are information on banking details with £10,000 in it

Hmmm great suggestion!! I just did what you said and the unprotected notes are readable by notepad and the protected notes are just garbled text of mostly "?" and "G" letters. So I guess they do have some form of encryption for those notes then. So how good is the encryption on crypto?

Well, I did a trip to search for the answer for your question of "how good is the encryption on crypto", and it seems that the author is using his way of encrypting the file, which I say ought to be safe enough for everyday usage, but good enough for business/military usage, I guess.
Anyway, while I was looking for the 'answer', I bang my head into this
http://tombo.sourceforge.jp/En/
As this is using the standard 128 blowfish algorithm, which has been proven to be strong and fast. It has both desktop and ppc version, which are interchangable (eg. desktop can decrypt the ppc encrypted file). And, it is free!
I found this too, limited-freeware though. http://www.freewareppc.com/docs/visnotes.shtml
Hmm.. freeware file encryption (AES algorithm): http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/filebarricader2006mobile.shtml
[Update on Tombo]
I did a test drive on it. It is quite alright. It creates a txt file for each of the note you created and put them into structure folder that you made. There are option of making virtual folders as well. So, you can have your notes sync by syncing your My Documents folder, of which you set this Tombo to put all the notes. It encrypts files and have an added feature of scrambling the file name such that people are not able to guess what your file contents are.
However, there are two flaws that I've just found in a 1/2 hour testing
(a) its Unicode encoding is not working. Once you (really) close the application, it will give '?' for all the non-alpha-numeric characters. Weird consider the author is a Japanese.
(b) there isn't an option of wrapping texts without 'dissecting' them.

nombCrypt - beta

Hello Everyone,
I just got my 8525 in the mail yesterday and upgraded the boot loader, radio, and WM6. I had a little trouble but in the end, all that I can't get working right is the internet for Cingular. I really appreciate all the hard work everyone puts into this. Here is my thank you, this is my first app so go easy on me.
nomb
nombCrypt
nombCrypt is an encryption program I originally made for the desktop but then decide to port it over. It uses a password you provide and encrypts either a block of text or files using 256bit Rijndael (AES). This level of encryption was given the ok to encrypt Top Secret documents. It can of course decrypt as well. This is for Windows Mobile 6. Please enjoy and every developer of course likes to get back feedback.
Planned/Requested Improvements
Truecrypt like encrypted containers
Implement Encrypted Backups (P)
Get File Encrypt Status Bar Working (P/R) <-- I'm dreading writing the working class :'(
Use Device ID As Salt Option (P)
Randomize Salt More (P)
Add More Encryption Algorithms (P)
Change File Open Dialog To Open Less (R) completed - now initially looks for *.nen (nombCrypt Enc. Files)
Encryption Password Confirmation (R) completed
Clipboard Paste Button (R) completed
Clipboard Clear Button (R) completed
Take Off Start Menu Icon (R) completed
Change Icon (R) completed
Add Exit To The Menu (R) completed
Add Time Out Feature (R) completed - (see page two for details)
Integrate nombCrypt Into WM6 More (P)
I. Encrypt MS Certificate Store (R)
Other Fixes
Improved Text Encryption So The End TextBox Is Opened Less
Added file error checking to the file decryption process
Two screenshots and the cab file are attached.
I hope you guys enjoy...
nomb

Hey! I wanted to do the same thing too! Just that I use my own XOR method (One Time Pad-like) instead. Of all the thing, it works alright, except that I can't get it to do a Copy-Paste. (see here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=321014)
Also, from what it seems, I would presume that (since you uses AES), the end result would be in 'relatively' binary format (right?), which may not be very program friendly.
I was going to do about the same thing, except that I'll have my end result Base64 encoded, such that I can have them pasted to Notes and have it sycned to outlook. And I have my PC based software to do the job there (if required).
Previously, I used a software called Ccrryyppttoo, which did quite alright, but it seems that my PC is doing some coding, when synced, that makes it goes funny (i.e. cannot be decrypted anymore).
I'll PM you a demo of what I did (in Java web), of which I intended to do it in PPC

With Rijnael the resulting encrypted string/file gets encoded into base64 as well because if it didn't, all the characters wouldn't be represented. You can paste this into notes just fine.
Mine is programmed in c# so there is a clipboard function which works relatively well. If you'd like to help with this your more than welcome to. Or if you want to join your project with mine that would be cool too. I plan to support all major and a lot of minor encryption algorithms that I can find. Plus people were complaining about how the encrypted backup on the ppc should use the device id to encrypt instead of the randomly generated key so I plan to implement that as well.
I'm looking forward to seeing your demo.
nomb

Hmm.. so it is b64 encoded.. niicceee. Hmmm. . I should try out C# soon.
Anyway, there is a suggestion, I'm not sure if you have the library for it. After my symmetric cipher program, I'm in thinking about a asymmetric-public-private key cipher, which people can exchange short messages in secret (e.g. via email, IM, SMS) without the need to exchange the key/password. It is relatively done now, I'll show you the web base version once it is done. It runs on the Java security class, which I'm not sure if C# has those library or not.
The idea is, Alice go to my page, generate a pair of keys. Alice then send Bob her pub key. Bob use pub key, go to my page, encrypt the message. Send it to Alice. Alice decrypt message at my page. No software to install, no secret key exchanged.

Yup c# has the ability to do that built into its cryptography namespace.
That is a cool idea, but instead of having Alice send the key to him. You should just make a db to keep track of the keys and then have him answer a question about Alice or something like that to use the pub key. that way thats even one less step they have to worry about. Or have Alice put in his email address and have your site auto email him the pub key. That would be good too.
But sweet idea, maybe I'll make my program talk to your site.
Have you tried mine yet?
nomb

I dont like the "answer a question" method, as in that case, you might as well use the answer as the password?
Anyway, the emailing the pub key is an idea
I'm not in my own PC yet, can't send it to my phone from this PC. Will try it out later tonight.

hanmin said:
I dont like the "answer a question" method, as in that case, you might as well use the answer as the password?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya I'm at work and was hungry so I wasn't thinking strait. I don't like that idea either. ^^
I think my next step in mine is to build the background worker class to update the progress bar when you encrypt/decrypt a file.
If you just point your phone to the cab above it will install it for you. You don't need a comp unless u don't have a dataplan.
nomb

I dont have data in my plan.. although O2 gives me 1MB+ a month free.. I'm not using it.
Anyway, I've tested your software, a few comments.
Slightly major problems:
[1] It is not wise to do a 'All folders' and 'All Files' upon browsing (for file to be de/encrypt). People (e.g. me) has gazillion files around and it may take ages to load the list.
[2] You may want to pop up a Window, asking the user to confirm his/her password upon encryption (one of the thing I intended to add on mine )
[3] I'm not able to paste any data onto the 'start text' area. E.g., I have encrypted my stuff, saved it into Notes. Later, I wanted to get it back, I copy the encrypted code from my Notes, and no way of pasting it into the 'Start text'
[4] You already knew this, but, good to have some kind of progress bar to indicate the progress
[5] Hmmm.. on the browsing, there doesn't seems to have a way to find files on my Storage Card's root directory
[6] For security reason, probably it is good for you to add a 'Clear Clipboard' button?
Minor:
[1] I find it annoying that once I had the software installed, it is on my Start menu
[2] You could use a better icon, I just see a black square on my not so bright screen. I can help you on this.
[3] Add an "Exit" on the menus below?
Other possible suggestions:
[1] Have a time out on your software, such that, e.g. if there is no activity on software after a certain amount of time, it will do one/some/all of these (a) close itself (b) clear the password, input, output (c) clear the clipboard

Good suggestions, I'll have those done by tomorrow. I can't play with the storage card aspect yet because I don't have one. :'( Soon though I'm hoping to get a 4gb. And ya, i can't make icons worth any.
Oh, to past it back I always did ctrl+v from the keyboard. But I'll throw a button up there to do that. And I'll make sure to take it off of the start menu.
1 good comment would have been nice. Altho criticism is good.
nomb

Haha.. sorry for the lack of good comments, I was trying to think of something to suggest. But come to think of it my post on top are good comments (e.g. niiiiccceee Base 64 encoded), and the fact that it has the simple string->string encryption.
I did googling a bit, and found these
http://www.entity.cc/ICONS/security-icons.php
http://www.hscripts.com/freeimages/icons/computer/lock-icon.php
http://icons.qarchive.org/
which you may want to use as your icons?

Ya I was just teasing you. The icon I have now I got off of your last link at somepoint I just don't remember when. But I think I will probably use one of the others. But ya, I'll work on those fixes and then attach the updated program. Then once I get those fixes done, I'll work on adding the differnt encryption algorithms and the encrypted backups.
nomb

Did you wrote any backup software before for the PPC? I'm not really sure, but it seems that backup-ing can have a lot of issues. You have the "Copy everything" backup, the PIM only backup, etc. Some backups are ROM-flashing/upgrading friendly, some are not. You can have a backup software all standalone by itself. I would recommend you to have the backup software seperated and have encryption onto it as a plugin. Take a look at PIM-backup, it is very popular here.

Hi,
This is a very interesting thread. Thanks for your efforts so far (is there a donation link anywhere?)
A basic question...I understood that to carry out really secure encryption it would be necessary to write a filter driver that worked within the core ROM Image. Is this not the case?
Can I encrypt the MS certificate store too? The crypto protection on this store could be beefed up...
Once again I am very pleased that this thread has appeared and will be testing your software with interest,
Well done for your work so far,
Sam.

Hey there PianoSam,
First I just want to make it clear I'm not doing this to make money. If anyone donates I want it to be because they like the software. I am at work so PayPal is blocked but I'll put my donation link on the front page later today.
Also, I am going to try and incorporate the encryption as much as possible. If that is a feature you'd like, then after I get all of the previously requested changes done, I'll start on that for you.
And thank you for your kind words.
nomb
***EDITED***
Sorry I didn't answer you question at first.
Question: A basic question...I understood that to carry out really secure encryption it would be necessary to write a filter driver that worked within the core ROM Image. Is this not the case?
Answer: I pondered over this for a little while and I can't think of a reason this would be necessary. However, I've only had my phone for two days. Can you find where you saw that so I can read it as well and maybe gather a little bit on information so I can do some research on the topic? If thats what needs to be done then thats what I'll do but I can't see why. Let me know!

Added another cab with all the fixes I've completed.
nombCrypt-beta.cab <-- On the front page.

I added the donate link.

I added the timeout feature and thought I would make a comment on it.
It is a two minute timeout. Whenever you fucos on a textbox the timer is stopped and when the textbox looses focus, the timer is on. The downside to this is if you were in the middle of typing and set your device down, it wont timeout. I could make it so when you start typing into the textbox it restarts the two minutes and you have two minutes to complete your message but I didn't know if that was a good idea or not.
Also, when you copy, and go to another program to paste it in, you have two minutes before the clipboard is cleared and the program shutdown.
When the encryption program is encrypting something, the timeout is not running. It starts afterwards.
I can tweak this as much as you guys would like, just let me know.
nomb

I've tested your Beta.. niiiiiccceeeeee.. it is gooood. Almost prefect. Few things (OH NO! )
- The "Clear" button doesn't seems to be working. It is suppose to clear the clipboard only? Should you clear off everything as well?
Other requests/suggestion
<rant>
- I'm not sure why I thought I need it.. but it would be good to have a copy function for the "End Text" as well. I thought I may need it one day. Not sure why. It ought to make the screen a bit crowded, I thought.
Anyway, slightly related to the suggestion above, I've just revisited the design I made on my copy-paste-failed PPC attempt, I have this idea which I thought you might want to use it. For my design, I do not have "Start Text" and "End Text", I only have ONE TextField "Message" (and another for the password). The user enter the encrypted/plain text on this "Message". Click on the button "Encrypt" or "Decrypt", the result will then overwrite whatever that is in "Message" TextField.
Example:
(1) "Message"=<plain text>. User key in password, click "Encrypt", "Message"=<encrypted text>.
(2) "Message"=<encrypted text>. User key in password, click "Dencrypt", "Message"=<plain text>.
In such cases, you only need a pair of copy-paste to perform copy-paste on both (in a way) encrypted and plain text.
</rant>
As for the time out issue, I thought the typing-sensitive time out would be a better choice. The moment that you are worried about your data being seen is when you are away from your phone. You can have focus on your TextField but you can be million miles away from your phone. But, you ought to be around to be typing stuff, right?
BTW, I'm also wondering on the working of this time out feature. I thought there ought to be a 'clock' running and when time's up, it will clear the stuff needed to be cleared, right? So, if I were to forget to switch off the application, the timer will not be another running software that drain my battery, right?
Good work.

hanmin said:
- The "Clear" button doesn't seems to be working. It is suppose to clear the clipboard only? Should you clear off everything as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "clear" button is in the clipboard row, i think i tagged it on the left, and only clears the clipboard. If you go to menu->reset it will clear everything like your looking for.
hanmin said:
- I'm not sure why I thought I need it.. but it would be good to have a copy function for the "End Text" as well. I thought I may need it one day. Not sure why. It ought to make the screen a bit crowded, I thought.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "Copy" button copies the end text to the clipboard. Not the start text.
hanmin said:
Anyway, slightly related to the suggestion above, I've just revisited the design I made on my copy-paste-failed PPC attempt, I have this idea which I thought you might want to use it. For my design, I do not have "Start Text" and "End Text", I only have ONE TextField "Message" (and another for the password). The user enter the encrypted/plain text on this "Message". Click on the button "Encrypt" or "Decrypt", the result will then overwrite whatever that is in "Message" TextField.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I originally had it setup this way, however there was a time when I had wrote a huge paragraph in it and encrypted it, and then found out I had forgot a line. I switched it so this wont happen.
hanmin said:
As for the time out issue, I thought the typing-sensitive time out would be a better choice. The moment that you are worried about your data being seen is when you are away from your phone. You can have focus on your TextField but you can be million miles away from your phone. But, you ought to be around to be typing stuff, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The timeout I have running in it now, (new version that isn't up yet), is completely off of the user's actions. Whenever you do anything in the program the timer resets. Except for encrypting/decrypting. The timer is off for those functions incase you encrypt a file that takes longer.
hanmin said:
BTW, I'm also wondering on the working of this time out feature. I thought there ought to be a 'clock' running and when time's up, it will clear the stuff needed to be cleared, right? So, if I were to forget to switch off the application, the timer will not be another running software that drain my battery, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The timeout feature does not clear everything in the program. I have it so it actually completely closes the program. So if you forget to close it and walk away, the program will end so it doesn't drain your battery.
hanmin said:
Good work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, wait till you see the next version...
nomb

I got the progressbar working for encryption, now for decryption.

Android Privacy

Hi all, I have a major concern about privacy and all the 3rd party data collectors...
A lot of apps are uploading user info and stats to companies like Flurry, pinch media etc.
I'm about to make the move from iphone OS to android, and i'm looking for a opt out to keep my privacy intact.
Saurik creaded PrivaCy for the jailbreak community that enabled on\off toggles for the 4 major companies.
My issue on iphone was that Pinch Media alone gathered the following information without my knowledge :
* iPhone’s unique ID (imei)
* iPhone model
* OS version
* Application version (in this case, camera zoom 1.x)
* If the application is cracked/pirated
* If the iPhone is jailbroken
* Time & date I start the application
* Time & date I close the application
* My current latitude & longitude
* My gender (if Facebook enabled)
* My birth month (if Facebook enabled)
* My birth year (if Facebook enabled)
I want the option to chose weither or not this kind of info gets collected and distributed.
I've looked into this issue on the android platform, and it seems like there's no option other than not to install the app.
Take for instance Locale. To my knowledge it uploads my imei nr (+lot of other info) to Flurry, whilst i do see the developers need to gather info, and I do not see why my imei number should be uploaded at all.
When I get my android phone I can only chose NOT to install locale, but I just want to prevent it from uploading such info..
Can anybody create a toggle, preferably one that doesn't aquire root, or some guide as to hosts file editing, or a firewall app that will give me this control over my device?
regards
-e

just add a line in hosts file like the following for each website you want to block:
127.0.0.1 some.company.com

Fantastic, thanks mate.
Unfortunately I will have to have root permissions to edit the hosts file.
(it might take time before the htc desire gets root)
(edit: unless theres another way to get write permissions for that file..?)
If I do mess with the hosts file I'd be keen on adding a fair few entries to block ads too..
Since the hosts file gets loaded in ram at bootup, will there be any noticably difference in speed due to the size increase?
regards
-e

could you please post the host-file or the addresses/ip's of the companies your gonna block?
they should be of interest for everybody here

1. You will need root access.
2. The change shouldn't impact the performance in the least. Any local host lookup is always faster than DNS lookup. Meaning that it should increase performance in cases where it finds the match in hosts file, although I doubt if you will notice it.
3. I wouldn't worry about RAM. The host file, even if you add a hundred entries, given that each line consumes 100 bytes, should still be under 10kb.

Great to hear. Thanks for the replies.
@fabsn: I'll post my hosts file as soon as I get this working.. (gimme a few weeks to get my phone, move to android and root
Although: I'd be keen on using the adblock app in androidstore (the one that modifies the hosts file), but my manual changes will break every time I update the app.
I'll try to get hold of the dev to se if he/she might add these info collectors (like Flurry) in another version so that people can get "the best of both worlds"
By the way: I wish all devs that utilizes info collection in their apps could just provide users with an opt out, then my problem would be solved...
-e

http://textbin.com/x6430
Here is a complete "phone home" list for the iPhone. A lot of this will directly apply to android as well, so perhaps a nice soul here at the forum could compile the most useful adresses for me (I'm writing on my phone and it's a b**** to do this on)
the list is taken from: i-phone-home.blogspot(dot)com/
so credit goes to that community.
I really want to combine this with the hosts file that jamesisbored/droid has for adblock..
I will test this once desire hits my mailbox and someone finds root.
-e

This sounds like a great idea. Once a comprehensive list is compiled it should be passed on to "bigtincan". I know myself and a lot of other people use their "ad free" app to block ads using the same method mentioned by Ady above. Although they may be blocking them already and I don't know. I've never looked closely at the host file.
http://bigtincan.com/downloads/android.html

Any progress made on this end?

ady said:
1. You will need root access.
2. The change shouldn't impact the performance in the least. Any local host lookup is always faster than DNS lookup. Meaning that it should increase performance in cases where it finds the match in hosts file, although I doubt if you will notice it.
3. I wouldn't worry about RAM. The host file, even if you add a hundred entries, given that each line consumes 100 bytes, should still be under 10kb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am new to modding my phone, would you be so kind as to go into more detail how to do this. Specifically, what is this "Hosts file" you speak of? I do have root access and searched my entire phone for a file like that with no joy.
Also, the links provided to possible host data do not work, can somebody update that?
Thanks!!!:laugh:

You may be interested in the MOAB (mother of all adblockers) thread here on xda. Best ad blocker out there, imo, if you haven't already. Sorry, I can't link it now.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Q] Making a new app - need some advice!

So, here is the situation:
I'm a Magic: the Gathering player and I love to design cards for fun. There is a bit of software called Magic Set Edtior that lets you make and store collections of custom made cards on the PC. My goal is to make a similar program for android. However, I'm relatively unfamiliar with how android apps are developed, and I have one major problem starting out:
Basically, the program needs to be able to open, create, edit, and save sets of cards that each have a few features. How do I store data for these sets? How would I accomplish that sort of file system? Should I just have the app create a internal database for each set the user makes? Are there limits to how many databases can be created by a single app? I'm probably not being as clear as I could be, and I realize that this project is probably (far) beyond my abilities - but I'd appreciate any help and would be happy to clarify anything that doesn't make sense. I'll post progress once I get this off the ground!

Check out the notepad demo at developer.android.com, it should be a good starting point for what you are trying to do

Sweet! I'll take a look. Thanks for your help ^_^
One more thing about databases, then: If the app has an internal database and I release an update for the app that modifies fields in the database, does the information get wiped? (for example, say that the tables in the db have three fields: name, cost, rules, and i issue an update that adds a "stats" field. Would that clear out the current cards in the database?)
Basically, I just want to be sure that using databases to store the sets of cards is the best, most efficient way to do this (So I won't end up having to re-code that entire bit of app).

So, databases are confusing... At least, how android works with them sure as hell is @[email protected]
So, what ive got now is that I need to make a database to store the individual card data... however, I also need to store general information about the set as well. So, do I make one new writeable database per set created, or is there a way to just use one database, and one table per set? (though I dont think you can store general info about a table that applies to each row, can you?)

Or apply for appinventor from googlelabs. Its fast and easy, should suite your purpose. Also has ability to communicate via web.
goodluck

I did apply. I'm hoping they get it too me soon.

Roid1 said:
Or apply for appinventor from googlelabs. Its fast and easy, should suite your purpose. Also has ability to communicate via web.
goodluck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got accepted like a week ago. Sad part is. You can't upload apps made to the market
sent from my pimp hero running Froyo CM6 and the XDA app

Developer with a Marketing question!

I'm a programmer; I don't do Sales, I don't do Marketing LOL
I'm working on an app that has my partner and I debating on pretty much a daily basis. I'll try to explain best as possible without too much detail.
The app takes a pre-loaded database (a "template") from assets folder and loads into the app. Works fine. Thing is, there will be more templates, probably up to 20 for which we want to charge (we're talking small amounts here).
So, here is the debate we're having:
1. Create 20 apps with each having the one template. Easy as hell for me but goes against my programming standards as to why have 20 apps when ONE does the work? NOTE: Does not need any permissions
2. Create one app, ask user for template on startup, download from cloud. A little tougher, but not much. Problem here is that what if they want 2 templates? Or 5? We want to charge for each template. I could do "AppName +2" or "AppName +5"
versions and charge accordingly. NOTE: Max templates a user would have is probably 5.
3. In-app purchasing...I've read about this. Not so easy. You either hide content (and over bloat your app or code a mechanism that allows Joe to have in-app purchase app, but not Julie). Google makes clear note of this in their docs. NOTE: my bloat would be about a 7,000 row database on user's phone.
So, just looking for some other opinions...all comments welcome!
TIA,
Roots

From what I can understand, I think # 1 is the most tried and true method, as most launchers with themes work this way. The upside for you as far as making money is concerned is that there are people who want all their options, whether or not they will ever use them... I have been guilty of it myself with lp+ themes. I've paid for ones I'll never use, because it's there and most apps tend to be in the "impulse buy" price range.

I agree, #1 is your best option, it may require a lot more work as far as deploying goes, but it is the most reliable method.

Interesting! Thank you for your replies.
A little more information...the templates (e.g. database) will probably never change from initial download, so that update is a moot point.
One thing I didn't think about is creating and SAVING 20 keys!!! Yikes. I've lost those before...very bad situation when that happens. Not to mention 20 distinct package names.

One thing I didn't think about is creating and SAVING 20 keys!!! Yikes. I've lost those before...very bad situation when that happens. Not to mention 20 distinct package names.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can sign all packages with the same key.
As of package names, all you need is to change the application package not the code packages. The ADT has a tool for renaming application packages.
1. Create 20 apps with each having the one template. Easy as hell for me but goes against my programming standards as to why have 20 apps when ONE does the work? NOTE: Does not need any permissions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is my suggestion, although I never tried it:
Create 20 apps for templates with no logic at all.
For each one of these apps:
(1) Put a single template file in the res/raw folder
(2) Create an Activity that doesn't do anything at all (call finish on onCreate).
(3) Set intent-filter for your null activity with android.intent.action.MAIN and your own custom category.
Create 1 main application with all application logic and code but with no templates at all (or just one default template).
(1) Search for installed templates using PackageManager.queryIntentActivities with an Intent that match Intent.ACTION_MAIN and your custom category.
(2) Read templates using Context.createPackageContext, getResources of the created context, getIdentifier to find the id of the template file and openRawResource to actually open it as an InputStream.
There are other methods to share resources, take look at android:sharedUserId.

Interesting concept, but if I read it right, I sill need 20 "dummy" apps to go with the main "driver".
I've got some time to mess with this because I have to implement drag and drop on some ListViews. I might just end-up coding the in-app purchase stuff.
EDIT: LOL, I can't wait till I can afford an iPad and port all my stuff to iOS