New Bitcoin client for Android, iPhone, and Blackberry

[TheMarketAnarchist]

Over the last few weeks, I've been working on developing clients for the Android, Blackberry, and iOS platforms and I'm happy to report that development is almost done. I'm currently negotiating a few final details with a related project and expect to release the client within a week or two.

AndroCoin is a complete Bitcoin wallet solution for Blackberry, Android, and iOS devices. It includes all of the features you'd expect from a mobile wallet including access to your Bitcoin balance, the ability to send and re receive payments, and the ability to generate new Bitcoin addresses as needed, right from your mobile.

The software will be open source and will be listed on GitHub once it is released. Release is expected within a week or two of this post.

[julz]

It includes all of the features you'd expect from a mobile wallet

Great!
I expect:

QR code scanner app launchable from within the wallet for sending coins
QR code display for receiving coins.
Both QR generator and scanner to be able to make proper use of this URI scheme: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/URI_Scheme
Built in configurable bitcoin address shortener e.g btc.to so I can easily read out an address to give someone by voice
Ability to label bitcoin addresses, and also to hide/archive them.
Notification of incoming payment even with zero confirmations.

Do I expect too much too soon?

[TheMarketAnarchist]

It includes all of the features you'd expect from a mobile wallet

Great!
I expect:

QR code scanner app launchable from within the wallet for sending coins
QR code display for receiving coins.
Both QR generator and scanner to be able to make proper use of this URI scheme: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/URI_Scheme
Built in configurable bitcoin address shortener e.g btc.to so I can easily read out an address to give someone by voice
Ability to label bitcoin addresses, and also to hide/archive them.
Notification of incoming payment even with zero confirmations.

Do I expect too much too soon?

Indeed you do, my friend. This will just be a basic Bitcoin client. BUT, I like the ideas you brought up so a QR code generator for receiving coins might be in the first version with a few other other of your requests in future ones.

[julz]

Indeed you do, my friend. This will just be a basic Bitcoin client. BUT, I like the ideas you brought up so a QR code generator for receiving coins might be in the first version with a few other other of your requests in future ones.

Yeah, many of those ideas were 'hopes' more than immediate expectations
It's excellent to see more developers getting into the mobile wallet space.

Near instant display of an incoming transaction without waiting for confirms is a must-have though. 
I won't even demo bitcoin to a friend without that, and if the QR part is too fiddly and there's also mucking about copy-pasting etc it's also something of a demo-wrecker.. at least for a non-geek audience.

[adamstgBit]

the code should be open-source

i can't trust my coins to a private project

[finway]

Watching this.

[teflone]

Watching!

Love it..

[TheMarketAnarchist]

Just an update:

Did a bit of looking around today and implementing the QR code idea isn't too tough. So that will definitely be part of the first version. Basically, when you open the program, you will see your current (last) Bitcoin address and a QR code representing that address. If you want, you can generate a new address quickly by clicking a button which will also generate a new QR code.

Thanks for the idea! Hadn't even really put much consideration into QR codes before it was brought up here.

[TheMarketAnarchist]

the code should be open-source

i can't trust my coins to a private project

Code will definitely be open source. Too sensitive of a program not to be.

[Koekiemonster]

Looking forward to the iOS version. Bitpak is too expensive and from what I've read it sucks.

What will your price be?

[Mike Hearn]

Can you characterize this client as full (like bitcoind), lightweight (like bitcoinj), super lightweight (like electrum/bitcoinspinner/bccapi) or just an interface to a remote wallet (mtgox live)?

[Rassah]

Please please please add a backup option that lets you back up your wallet/keys without needing to root your phone. That's the one feature that's missing on the other clients.

[TheMarketAnarchist]

Looking forward to the iOS version. Bitpak is too expensive and from what I've read it sucks.

What will your price be?

Haven't yet decided on the price but I'm going to make it as affordable as possible. Right now, I'm looking at between $0.99 and $1.99 USD. I've looked at Bitpak and it seems fairly decent. What are the complaints about it generally?

[TheMarketAnarchist]

Can you characterize this client as full (like bitcoind), lightweight (like bitcoinj), super lightweight (like electrum/bitcoinspinner/bccapi) or just an interface to a remote wallet (mtgox live)?

The first version will probably will most likely be an interface to a remote wallet. I'm planning on releasing a new version every six weeks with the second or third release implementing a full on-device wallet.

[gnar1ta$]

Bitpak is horrible, don't use it as a model. Dropbox is required, blockchain takes days to download, first transaction takes a day to see, only shows confirmed transactions, and no ability to export keys. On second thought, use Bitpak as a model - do everything completely opposite and you will have decent app.

[Bitcoin Oz]

Just got  anew Android so I can use it as a wifi hotspot. Im waiting for a good client to come out.

On that vein of thought it would be cool if I could have software on my android to charge people bitcoins for using the wifi. Then when I go to the city I can sit in a cafe and people can use the hotspot and pay for my coffee lol.

I would hope its tied into this project somehow http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/01/researchers-enable-mesh-wifi-networking-for-android-smartphones.ars  to incentivise the growth of the mesh network we desperately need.

[The LT]

Project died without seeing the light of day?

[keverw]

Sounds like a cool project. I would have to be open source, at least the iOS version. Apple bans Bitcoin clients from the App Store, so each person would have to use a developer account and sign their own version for their own use. Or you could put it in Cydia, but I don't prefer jail breaking myself.