Fabien Röhlinger

AndroidPIT is the largest one of the largest Android German Sites. They have managed to gather a huge following of android fans through their detailed, informative app reviews and the latest android news, particularly relating to Germany and Europe – all in just a span of less than a year. Even though Android is a global movement, devices and services are not necessarily equal worldwide, much less available. New android devices that come out in the U.S. often make it across the big pond after the mainstream global hype, if they do at all. For example, the Motorola DROID (Android 2.0) Version with the FREE Google Maps Navigation feature is called the Motorola Milestone in Germany and comes with MOTONAV’s turn-by-turn navigation system, trial version only. Sites like AndroidPIT then become of central importance for the specific communities they serve by gathering and deciphering pertinent news and relaying it to their followers.

A familiar face for AndroidPIT is Fabien Röhlinger, who, at the time of writing, is taking a helicopter ride over the city of New York, HTC Style. I wish I could say that I am doing this interview sitting beside Fabien in the helicopter but that isn’t so. I met Fabien on Twitter (@AndroidPIT) and was impressed by the AndroidPIT.de site. The site looked professional, there was a lot of information on Android that ranged from App Reviews, Device specs, an active forum and an entertaining blog. I was also impressed by the German communities involvement in testing apps and sharing their reviews on the site. I knew that I wanted to get the inside scoop on AndroidPIT so I asked Fabien for an interview.

A funny thing happened before the interview. I actually met Fabien in Berlin at DroidCon 2009 (the first Android conference in Germany). He was sitting in the buffet area of a large conference space talking to someone. I was passing by his table with a plate of food and a man stood up and called out my name. It was Fabien. Such a warm, friendly and inviting personality. It’s no wonder AndroidPIT has such an active participation of people. It turned out that Fabien was doing a presentation that afternoon on Design and Usability. What a pleasure it was to see him in action. Not only is he engaging, but boy, does he really know his stuff!

The following are the interview questions I had posed to Fabien before I met him at DroidCon 2009. They are divided into two categories A. General background questions about Fabien and B: More AndroidPIT and Android focused questions.

A.

1. Do you have any pets?
No, but kids! That’s enough…

2. What are/is your favourite color(s) and why?
I love blue because it reminds me how beautiful the Earth looks like from far away…

3. What type of foods do you like?
I die for Sushi! Especially here in Berlin there are so many great Sushi places. My goal: to know all of them!

4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
A couple of years ago, I would have said New York. Now I am very happy to be here in Berlin. As I know a lot of places in the world, I know about all disadvantages and advantages about Germany. Germany is a great place to be, even if a lot of Germans would probably not agree. I think, that most of them do not know what they are talking about.

Berlin is a very open-minded city with a lot of different faces and loads of opportunities. Simply a great place to be!

5. If you were stranded on an Island what three (3) items would you want with you?
i.) A generator for electricity (which has to run with solar power)
ii.) My laptop
iii.) A device to get online

6. What type of music do you like dancing to?
It depends on what time of the party: in the beginning probably soul, funk, r’n'b and Hip Hop. Probably good House tracks, too. At the end: I don’t stop dancing anymore…

7. What type of music do you like coding to?
Actually, I am not the coder. I am more the marketing guy but I love to work listening to classical music, but only slow tracks.

8. What’s your favourite SciFi movie? (You like scifi right?)
Yes, of course!! I love Star Wars!!

B.

1. Congratulations on being the Largest one of the largest Android Sites in Germany. How do you feel about that?
I feel of course very proud about it. Especially, because a lot of our readers let us know how they like our work and efforts. Seeing this site grow is really a great thing!

2. Who are the people behind AndroidPIT.de? If you tell me but have to kill me after, we can always skip this question.
No worries, I will not kill you

AndroidPIT is Andreas Gauger, Achim Weiss, Sven Woltmann and myself. Andreas Gauger and Achim Weiss are the initial founders. They were executives at 1&1 for a long time. Sven and I run the day to day business. I’ve worked together with Sven for eleven years now. Sven manages the technical part and I take care of everything else. Sven and I have founded various companies. Andreas and Achim know us because we had sold a company to 1&1 a couple of years ago.

3. When did AndroidPIT get started?
AndroidPIT started in January 2009. I’ve been working on AndroidPIT on a daily basis since May.

4. Who came up with the name and why?
Andreas Gauger had the idea for the name. It is a mixture between “pitstop” and “Android”. Kind of: “where you stop at, when you would like to know something about Android…”

5. I calculated (as of 26.10.2009) 1840 registered users on the AndroidPIT.de Community. Nice.
Do you know off hand what the percentage of ACTIVE users are?
Does AndroidPit.de send out periodic emails to their inactive users, reminding them to participate .. or?
Today, we have 2238 registered users on our website. We do not count active users yet. But our figures are growing. We have more and more unique visitors, hits, registered users and page impressions. Thus, I would say that a good percentage of all our users have to be active.

There count of 2238 registered users on AndroidPIT.de has steadily increased since the time of this interview.

6. Are their plans for AndroidPIT to be translated into different languages (like *ahem* *ahem* English) or are you only targeting the German Speaking Android Community?
No, there are no plans to translate it into other languages. There are thoughts to do it, though. But we do not know when and how! Before we can enter other markets, we have to be very strong on our home market. We are good here in Germany, but far from being perfect! The most important thing is still missing: the proof of our business model!!

7. I read somewhere that you like Macs and the iPhone but you believe that Android will be the mobile OS in the future.
I feel the exact same way as you do. I use to be what you would call a MacAddict (no iPhone though), but like you, I know that Android will be HUGE. Do you own a Mac product? Do you think this isn’t being TRUE to the Android Movement? I sometimes feel guilty. How do you feel?
Good question! Yes, I am totally Mac-addicted: I am working on an iMac right now. On the road, I have a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air. I even have an iPhone – besides the HTC Hero. But why not? Call it benchmarking: you can learn from the best to get stronger and better. I would strongly recommend to all Android developers to do the same. Take the iPhone and learn!! How should a great and successful app look like? How should I do the User Interface? How is the business model?

7. On the AndroidPIT.de site, it says that you guys test at least one app a day. Out of all the apps that you have personally tested, which app absolutely blew your mind? I mean, the app that you just could not stop playing with (I mean testing)? If there are more than one then go ahead and mention at least three (3).
I personally love “A World of Photos”! This is such a great app with a great and innovative idea behind it. There are a couple of great apps out there in the Android Market. But I miss the drive of some developers to get more and more professional. There are so many badly designed apps on the Market. I hope this will become better soon.

Besides “A World of Photos”, I would recommend Archipelago, Kumpa and Hyperspace. These are all games with a lot of fun!

7. If the Android OS is ever going to be THE mobile OS of the future what obstacles or challenges do see it needs to overcome in order to get there?
The biggest challenge is to get on a lot of devices. In my opinion, this is more or less resolved. Android will come on at least 40 handsets during 2010. As an obstacle, I would mention the poor quality of Android Market and the missing design standards for Android apps. Apps will be fueling the growth of new OSs. If there is not big variety of apps, there will be no success!
At the moment, Android developers are not successful enough. The Android market is kind of buggy, there are not enough paying methods. But I strongly believe that this will turn soon.

8. So many Android devices are coming out now, any plans on purchasing a new Android Gadget?
What new (available or rumored) Android phone would you want to find underneath your Christmas tree? and why?
I would like to have them all!! Why? Only then, I am able to get an overall picture and be able to compare.

9. Do you have any new plans for AndroidPIT.de for 2010? Again, if you tell me and but have to kill me after, we can always skip this question.
Yes, we have further plans. But it is to early to talk about them.

10. What is it that you love most about Android?
I think the beauty of Android is its openess. Developers are able to get their hands on the code and to understand it more deeply – this is what’s great about the Android platform.

11. What is it that I need to do, in order to get you to put a link to whatsupandroid.com on AndroidPIT.de? ;-D I make good brownies!
Haha, we should hook up on the phone to discuss that…

Fabien Röhlinger

Fabien Röhlinger

Fabien Röhlinger is currently in NYC on a 7 Day Tour with HTC Hero! Follow @AndroidPIT for daily recounts of the adventure. You can read about his Day 1 Adventure here.

AndroidPIT is going places and riding in style!

You can also follow Fabien on his personal Twitter account @phoby or read more about him on his blog.

André Rabold

One more day to go until the release of the updated, fun, tilt-n-twist-that-android-phone-baby Puzzle Blox. André Rabold, daddy developer of Puzzle Blox must be excited. You can find the previous version on the Android Market but if you wait for just one more day, you’ll be able to download the NEW version PLUS a FREE and COMPLETE full version of the game.

I met André Rabold on Twitter. I was following my Android stream and came across @AndroidJunky, (André’s) Twitter name. I thought, “COOL”! I saw from André’s profile that he lived in Germany and immediately asked him if he was going to DroidCon in Berlin, November 4. Unfortunately, André has a few projects he had to complete so itll be next year

I wanted to interview André right before the release of Puzzle Blox’s new version. I’m so lucky (again) that he was able to give me some of this time.

Here is the interview in two parts: general questions and tech related questions.

General Questions:

1. What is your zodiac sign? Aquarius? Leo?

Leo How did you guess this?

Heh heh heh heh … I’m magic.

2. What are your favourite colours and why? (if more than 3 .. just limit it to 3)

Green. Have you ever been to Middle or South America? Or the Amazon Jungle? Wow, that’s an impressive green!

The Amazon Jungle? No, but I watch National Geographic.

3. What is your favourite food?

Kassler mit grünen Bohnen und Kartoffelbrei. Now translate this into English!

Smoked Pork with Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes! Yummy!
(Thanks Google Translate)

4. What music do you like to CODE too?

I’m not a real music enthusiast and mainly stick to what my radio plays off the current charts. No music while coding though.

Okay. I respect that.

5. What’s the first beverage you reach for when you need a *kick*

Beer I’m a German boy so what answer did you expect?

RedBull?

6. You like (snow)boarding… what board do you have? What kind of bindings? boots? You’re a “carver” aren’t you ;-D

I’m just a bloody beginner so I don’t own a board (yet). I used to do skiing in the past though. You know, it’s not so important to be good boarder but to look good even if you crash

Yup! Exactly!

7. If you could choose a place anywhere in the world to live in, where would that be?

Costa Rica or Guatemala working in my own beach bar… Seriously

8. If you were stranded in an island what three (3) things would you want to have with you?

My own beach bar?! And of course my wife and my cat!

9. Do you have any pets? If yes, what are they?

Just a few weeks ago, we got a young cat named Ashly. I really love cats because they are real individuals with their own personality.

10. What is your favourite movie of all time? and why?

That really depends upon my current mood. I love the 80′s/90′s action movies with Bruce Willis or Arnie for example but also thrillers like Seven, etc. But since I got married, the range of movies … ehm… I have to like … has a bit shifted

Lol …

11. Boxers or Briefs (you don’t have to answer this .. it’s just a girl thing to ask a guy … )

LOL, boxer shorts. Not really the most erotic ones, sorry

Here are the Tech Related Questions:

1. Nero. Wow. How long have you been working for Nero? What do you like more about working at Nero?

I started to work for Nero during my studies back in 2001. It’s a great company and I have seen so many changes in the past. When I started there we have been around 30 people and have grown up to more than 400 now. It’s still one of the most interesting jobs I could imagine in this business: Doing software for the end user. Stuff which is used and liked by people you actually know.

I can see how this adds value for developers. Getting to interact with the end user for which they develop the software for. I’m sure feedback is so important here. You are so lucky. Not many software developers get this opportunity.

My work on Puzzle Blox and other Android projects like WiFi Buddy is no way related to my job at Nero though. That’s a pure private hobby of me

2. Can you describe in your own words, Nero’s corporate culture?

As I already said it’s great to do software for the end user, for your friends and family. I think that describes best the actual working climate at Nero.

3. What made you decide to start up Liquid Media?

The Liquid Media blog doesn’t contain much original content actually, but mainly refers to other web sites, news portals and blogs. Harald, a good colleague of mine, and I started this blog because we had the feeling that so many things are happening in this business and we simply don’t want to miss anything. We’re just collecting interesting postings all over the web, related to the topics we’re interested in. So this blog is more of a personal use actually.

4. What do you like most about the Android OS?

Its’ openness. Not in regards to open source but that it’s not limited to a single device like the Apple iPhone. You can freely choose the phone models you are going to buy. I still like the HTC G1 but hey, maybe I’m going to test the new Motorola Droid once it’s released.

. November 6 is the date!

5. Are you or were you a hard-core gamer? If yes, what games (s) are your favourite?

Not anymore actually. I just don’t have the time to do so much gaming though. I even own an Xbox 360. But I really liked to play EVE Online, a quite popular science fiction MMORPG. Maybe I’ll get back to it some day later.

6. Do you have an android phone? If Yes, what? Is there an Android phone (available or rumored) that you just HAVE to have?

I own the G1 since about half a year and I really like the slider keyboard. The newer ones haven’t impressed me too much yet though. The new Motorola Droid seems to be a** kicking.

7. Have you ever owned a Mac Product? If yes, what? Of no, why not?

Nope. Does being a Microsoft evangelist makes my a bad guy?

Ummmm ………..
………………….
….. no.

8. A New version of Puzzle Blox is coming out on Oct. 31. Let’s talk about Puzzle Blox.

a. How long did it take you to develop the game?
The first prototype was ready after a few weekends of work back in February already. But my wife needed to test dozens of versions to find out what works and what doesn’t. I have tried various things until the game play had been finished.

b. How did you come up with the name?
It was chosen quite randomly. First code name as g-Blocks (“g” for gravity – quite dumb, I know), then gBlox and a little bit later it turned into Puzzle Blox.

c. How often do you play it?
I’m just trying out new levels and testing the overall game play logic. Honestly I haven’t spent more than a single hour of extensive play yet

d. Does your wife play Puzzle Blox?
Oh yes, she has to Seriously, she’s one of the reasons I continued working on this game as she simply loves playing it. For example, after work or in front of the TV. The best motivation is somebody who likes what you’re doing.

Hmmm, maybe I should interview your wife too!

e. What made you decide to re-new Puzzle Blox?
At some point in time you will have to decide whether to continue adding feature by feature or finally releasing the product. When I have released the original version back in June I still had so many ideas in mind that I simply needed to do this update.

Oh, I’m glad you are releasing it with all the new amazing features. I know fans of Puzzle Blox just can’t wait.

f. What was the most challenging thing as a developer have you encountered when developing Puzzle Blox?
Most hobby developers like me have never worked on a mobile platform before. There are a couple of typical issues you will have to deal with like performance, memory consumption, etc. But the most challenging thing is not getting your stuff coded but to keep yourself motivated enough over time. There will be a lot of different problems during the development of a game or any other application. You have to keep pushing yourself over and over again.

g. Is there anything else you want to say about Puzzle Blox?
Don’t give it to any of your friends or you will have a hard time getting back your mobile

LMAO! Seriously, that’s good advice!

9. Will you be coming out with another Android Game? If you tell me but have to kill me after, then we can always skip this question
I have a few ideas in mind but nothing in the pipe yet. For now I will focus on the next major release of WiFi Buddy with a bunch of new features in it. I hope to release a few early screen shots and a feature list a few weeks after the Puzzle Blox release at the weekend.

Oh great. I hope I can take a peek at those screen shots.

10. What do you think of What’s up, android?
Hey, I like your style It’s different from the typical “boring” tech websites and the daily cartoons are quite refreshing.

YAY!!!!!

Well there you have it folks. An impromtu interview with Puzzle Blox‘s daddy developer, André Rabold. The new version of Puzzle Blox will be available for download at the Android Market tomorrow, October 31st. I’ll be sending out reminders and perhaps do a cartoon as well.

I hope you enjoyed reading this interview. You can always follow André on his twitter account at @AndroidJunky and don’t forget to visit his site for updated information on new game releases.