General report on Beta(s):
Versions used during the trip: 2.99933, 2.99934, 2.99935
Hw used: Oukitel rugged phone WP23 (performed SURPRISINGLY well indeed, if not perfectly, for the 130eur hw!!!)
For the first time, I trusted DMD2 enough and used it as the main GPX map tool on 10day offroad trip over Balkans (Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania). General impression – it performed well, if not very well overall. Does its job!
Combination with GPS LOGGER app (for gpx track logging) worked perfectly, to the point that I do not even miss gpx recording from the production version. Yes, Beta is unstable from time to time (various crashes), but not to the point that it really bothered me. Nor resulted in any kind of real problem, other than annoyance. This was very rough trip, with full day riding, all day. Sun (35C), dust, rough terrain, sweat (and tears :))) – you are not very gentle with your tools it those occasions. Combination of Oukitel rugged phone and DMD2 impressed me. That’s it for me, proof of concept successful, after many years Orux goes to the backup gpx tool 🙂 .
DMD2 Bugs observed:
1. Most annoying: I use dark theme (in order to preserve battery), so from time to time app is switching back to the default light theme. After loading tracks, zooming out etc. It is not frequent, but it happened more than once (let’s say, about 5-10x in 10 days). Maybe, some kind of option(s) reset to default(s) bug?
2. On some tracks (for instance: Montenegro TET from TET app) from time to time touching points on the track does not result in bringing up the “Point position distances” window. After deleting the track and loading it again, it works as it should.
3. In the “Point position distances” window, after clicking on “Track details” and than clicking on “Back” you are redirected to GPX dialogue, not back to Position distances (so, Back button should be context sensitive, not a “hard” link 🙂
Features that can be better:
1. Using routing icons on the route (for turns indications) directly on the map is counterproductive. It clogs up the map view to the point that it is almost unusable (6.7″ screen, it is maybe better on 8″+ tablets). Maybe to consider dropping turn icons altogether on the route as an option? Turn directions in route progress box is quite enough (at least in my opinion). Or, maybe showing only next 3 turns on the route (or something like that)? Showing every turn, including previous ones clogs map in urban scenarios very fast.
2. Dropping hospital symbols from the map will also be an improvement. I understand why they are there, but in my opinion it is also counterproductive, since it clogs map view in urban locations.
3. Saving waypoints on the track is massively needed 🙂
4. Routing between two selected points (instead only from current location and one selected point) also!
5. Saving Routes as GPX to local storage is needed for offline alternatives planning. Would be helpful.
6. Is it possible to avoid Google Files as file manager? I think not for third parties app (Android feature), but in case you know some workaround, it would be perfect! Google Files has MANY problems, some of them VERY annoying (reset is needed)
Conclusion: all listed above are small problems, really. DMD2 is already VERY good tool. And by good, I mean that dmd2 threatens to become the best tool in android ecosystem for enduro rider out there. With small improvements it can become good tool for enduro trip planning in offline and terrain conditions, which is huge for many of us!
Keep up the good work and we’ll keep up to promote and support!
