Buddy Beacon 2.0 Updated, Now GPS based.
Posted by Greg Kumparak on March 7th, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Within a week of Buddy Beacon 2.0’s launch back in the middle of February, Helio came to the community to get some feedback on the application. What did people like? What could be done better?
One hundred and three responses later, one issue was popping up in nearly all of the feedback: Buddy Beacon 2.0 wasn’t doing too well at figuring out where you were. In its first release, it estimated your position off of the location of the nearest cell towers. This detection method was notably quicker to load than satellite based GPS, but this speed came at the expense of accuracy. Sometimes it was dead on; other times it placed you three cities over.
With today’s Buddy Beacon update (2.0.5) , we’re stoked to say that Helio’s request for feedback wasn’t just for show.
Changes in Version 2.0.5:
- Now uses GPS rather than cell tower positioning. This requires a short startup screen at application launch, but improves accuracy by leaps and bounds.
- No more “You might be somewhere in this general location” red circle. Your location is now marked by a specific pinpoint.
It’s awesome to see improvements to an application come directly from user feedback. Big ol’ thumbs up to Helio for that! Hopefully it becomes a trend - no one knows how to make a product better than it’s end users
Update: We forgot to mention - the Buddy Beacon team let us know that they’re hoping to roll out the next update in about 3 weeks. We’ll keep you updated as we find out what this update might bring.
March 8th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Hahah love the picture!!!
And sweet finally.
March 9th, 2008 at 6:22 am
I’ll tell you another thing that keeps arising from the end users: CS and device problems!
Too bad they were not request THAT feedback!
March 9th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
i just got it now…way better than before
March 10th, 2008 at 4:56 am
I guess I could wait another few weeks for latest upgrade before upgrading.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Wow, that’s great news! Now, if they would only release a firmware upgrade for my Ocean, I’d be ecstatic!
March 12th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Now they just need the ability to add beacon buddies through contacts….also, I sent 2 invites to Heat users and they were never received. Is buddy beacon the same on the Heat as it is on the Ocean?
March 16th, 2008 at 10:17 am
That is great to read! I missed this news update before, but congratulations to Helio for updating Buddy Beacon according to user feedback. I second having firmwares easily upgradeable by the end users and a list of changes made. How about a feedback thread for the bugs mentioned in the new v2.164? The thread, “L.A helions can get software updates” will help information on the bugs encountered.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
It’s nice to see a company do this. It gives me hope for them.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:04 am
Changes in Version 2.0.5:
Now uses GPS rather than cell tower positioning. This requires a short startup screen at application launch, but improves accuracy by leaps and bounds.
No more “You might be somewhere in this general location” red circle. Your location is now marked by a specific pinpoint.
It’s awesome to see improvements to an application come directly from user feedback. Big ol’ thumbs up to Helio for that! Hopefully it becomes a trend - no one knows how to make a product better than it’s end users
Update: We forgot to mention - the Buddy Beacon team let us know that they’re hoping to roll out the next update in about 3 weeks. We’ll keep you updated as we find out what this update might bring.
UPDATE - Im calling BULLSHIT on that one. The above was posted March 7th - its now MAY 20th and 3 weeks went by, and another 3 weeks went by and another 3 weeks went by and now soon ANOTHER 3 weeks is going by ….now on almost 12 weeks - we have FAILED to see ANY MORE UPDATES to Buddy Beacon - only YouTube has been updated.
Im gonna have to say that Helio and WHERE have been sticking their fingers up their asses, with this idea, and have NO intent to update Buddy Beacon any further.