Friday, February 5, 2016

Upcoming UI update of PlankTone Music Player

After launching PlankTone, we have been carefully listening to users' feedback and figured out what caused their inconveniences. So now we are preparing the UI update! Before releasing this update, we decided to show some new interfaces. If you give us feedback it will be a great help to us. :)


1. Main Player

There are some minor changes on the main player page. The "Create Track Sound" button became simpler. It turns to the "Track Sound" icon after applying sound settings to the songs.



2. Sound Setting

We added a quick list of equalizer preset in the updated version. If you long click one of quick presets, you can select another or make your custom preset, and put it on the list instead of current one. This new feature helps you apply the preset you want to the song more easily.

 



3. Now Playing and Library

This time, we largely focused on improving the structure of the now playing list and the library. You don't need to add the songs to play the songs after this update. If you go to the library by tapping the "Library" button and select the song you want, it will be directly played and the now playing list will be automatically changed.



How do you think about this new UI? Have any opinion or suggestion?
Feel free to give us feedback!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

[Webcomic] Daily Startup with PlankTone: 2. What part are you in charge of?

We only introduce our main task! As members of the startup, we take charge of several parts. If you are in a startup business, you also know well. :) Now let us know your part.


If you like this webcomic, share it with your friend!
And if you're interested in PlankTone Music Player, download from here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chapter3.planktone

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

[Webcomic] Daily Startup with PlankTone: 1. The reality of a small startup

We've started to draw comic strips about the real life of a small startup team.
Sometimes we will share some information and sometimes just show our ordinary days.
Join in with our experiences! :)




Did you enjoy our first story? The next one will be coming up soon!
You can also read this webcomic on Tapastic.

If you want to try our app, visit here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chapter3.planktone

Sunday, January 10, 2016

[Review] Android Music Players - 1. General Comparison

I used many Android music players as a music lover and tested them as a member of the team that made a music player app. So I decided to write detailed reviews about pros and cons of some music players in a serial form for one who is looking for a great app. This is the first part for introduction and I will handle the sound review in the next one. I tried to be as objective as I can, but a review is a subjective one after all and my thought could not be same with your opinion. 


Poweramp

Poweramp is the most popular music player app. I bought it because it's highly recommended online. It provides lots of useful features and skins. You can hear the characteristic sound based on rich bass and use the sound effects like 10 band equalizer, tone, and limit. Reverb effect was also added in the recently released alpha version of Poweramp v3. I prefer its new UI of to the previous one.  Although it doesn't leave nothing to be desired in the sound quality but is still a nice player for common music listeners.


2. Neutron


Neutron

Neutron is an audiophiles' favorite among the Android music players. It supports most audio formats and offers a huge number of sound features. It allows users to adjust the sound in great detail but it's too complicated to use though its UI is much better that in the past. If you refer others' settings on the internet and adjust well you can enjoy good sound but it's so tough for me to make Neutron my main player. Anyway, it's ideal for one who need various sound options and 32, 64 audio processing.

JetAudio

I often used its PC version so I also tried JetAudio app with anticipation. It provides a free basic version without a time limit while Poweramp and Neutron only provide time-limited trial versions. If you buy its pro version you can use 20 band equalizer instead 10 band and unlock the sound effects like AM3D and Bongiovi via in-app purchases. I heard its sound effects would enhance the sound quality and I bought the pro version and in-app products, but sadly, the result didn't satisfy me. I think its sound is worse than other players in this writing.


Rocket Player

Rocket Player is another popular Android music player and provides a free version without a time limit like JetAudio. Paid version provides preamp, 10 band equalizer, replay gain, and etc. Its volume level is quite loud and sound is decent. But it has less extremely low frequency and too much mid. Another issue is that use of 5 band equalizer causes lower volume and worse sound quality. I'm not sure whether 10 band in paid version has the same problem or not because I hesitated to buy it. If you use paid app, please let me know how it is. Rocket Player is a good choice for one who wants a free and decent player yet.

PlankTone Music Player

PlankTone Music Player is a newborn app made by our team. It's not as famous as other players but I think it's worth trying, especially in the sound quality. It provides a trial version and in-app purchase is needed after a trial period. You can hear the high-quality and balanced sound without complicated settings. It also let you individually customize sound effects for each song. But it is at an early stage so it does not have features like tag editing or downloading album art and doesn’t support themes and skins, and doesn’t offer various widgets now.



It’s a general review of music players and I will write a more detailed sound review next time. I will handle the sound characteristic, sound effects setting, test result with DAC, etc.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

[Special Price Event - End] PlankTone Developer's Mistake.

0. PlankTone Music Player?


Before getting to the point, we introduce PlankTone first. It's a new concept of Android music player app that is ideal for music addicts and sound fanatics. PlankTone bring a Hi-Fi sound for mobile and allows you to customize sounds to fit the song you love. It must be an enjoyable and refreshing experience for you to listen to music via PlankTone!

1. What happened?


It started from the developer's fatal mistake...


He has published PlankTone Music Player at $0.99 instead of $7.99 by mistake! Are you surprised? Us too! Actually, we planned to offer a $2 discount for a holiday event… But he made a typing mistake and uploaded to Google Play Store without notice! He fell into despair after he realized what happened.

This guy made it...
Yes, we all were panicked at first. But we know that it's not entirely his fault. The blame is his overwork! He is working night and day to deal with the user's requests, and it has led to this situation. Well, everybody makes mistakes anyway.

A developer's ordinary day
It already came to this, so we decided to push ahead! Crise presents opportunity! This is how the small sale event became to the big one. Let's say to our developer, "Thanks for your mistake!"


2. How to join the event


  • Download PlankTone on Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chapter3.planktone&hl=en
  • Tap the menu button on the main player page of the app and go to the store.
  • Tap the share button on the Special Price Event item and share this event on social media.
  • Buy the discount package of PlankTone Music Player at $0.99!
  • Enjoy your listening with high-quality sound of PlankTone.
  *note for existing users: If you can't see the event item, please update PlankTone with the latest version(1.11 or higher)!





This event ended!