BeerAdvocate mobile beta: Testers Wanted

Blog Discussion in 'BeerAdvocate Talk' started by Todd, Mar 15, 2013.

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  1. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,254) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    Staff Super Mod Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    [​IMG]

    Finally. After years of waiting, asking and demanding an app, we'd like to invite you to help us test our first ever official BeerAdvocate (BA) web app.

    Note: Initially this was going to be solely a BA fest beta web app, but we've since opened it up. This is not a final product. This beta release is merely our first step in making your BA mobile experience an easier one. Desktop browsing of the web app isn't restricted, but eventually will be.

    To access on your mobile device:

    http://www.beeradvocate.com/m/

    ba-mobile-qrcode.png

    Current Beta Features
    • Conversations: read only Inbox (start, reply and leave to follow)
    • Forums: read only (posting to follow).
    • Search: live search beers and brewers.
    • Get basic info on beers.
    • Had: quickly rate a beer; 1-5.
    • Want: create beer wish list.
    • Got: track your beer stash.
    Update History
    http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beeradvocate-mobile-update-history.77116/

    Upcoming Features
    • Easy access to your Hads, Wants and Gots.
    • Ability to add a beer.
    • Write and edit full Reviews.
    • User stats.
    • User activity feeds.
    • Find and follow other BAs; make new friends.
    • Forum posting/replying/editing.
    • Tag the beer you're currently drinking.
    • Check into the place you're currently drinking at.
    • Event beer lists.
    • Upload pictures.
    • Twitter integration.
    • Beer Karma; achievements.
    … and much more.

    Thanks to Mike, our Senior Web Developer, for starting work on this and creating the API base that'll be used for our site redesign and much more.

    We'll do our best to address your questions. In the meantime, we look forward to your feedback and helping us build a better mobile experience.

    Cheers!

    (Note: This replaces our Kickstarter app project that was never launched. We've decided to do this on our own dime.)
     
    teyuders, KostyaK, ssam and 44 others like this.
  2. RblWthACoz

    RblWthACoz Initiate (0) Aug 19, 2006 Pennsylvania

    Great! I look forward to this making my access to BA easier. Can't wait to check it all out.
     
    hoplover82 and beatenbyjacks like this.
  3. AnotherImperial

    AnotherImperial Initiate (0) Oct 29, 2012 Arizona

    "Desktop browsing isn't restricted, but eventually will be."

    Can you please help the technologically challenged (me) and explain what that means? Sorry, I wish I was kidding...but I'm not.
     
  4. No1Smitty

    No1Smitty Initiate (0) Nov 7, 2011 California

    Sounds good. Still like the desktop version as well.
     
  5. AnotherImperial

    AnotherImperial Initiate (0) Oct 29, 2012 Arizona

    Ahhh - got it. Thanks!
     
  6. chefkevlar

    chefkevlar Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2010 South Carolina

    Playing around with it now. Love how when searching for a beer it autocompletes based on the most popular results. Drinking a Maharaja and by the time I typed 'Mah' it knew what I was looking for. Good so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what the finished product looks like.
     
  7. chefkevlar

    chefkevlar Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2010 South Carolina

    OK...now one thing that could be improved: when I hit the back button on my Android phone it takes me back to the previous website I visited instead of the last screen on the mobile site I visited.
     
  8. andrewinski1

    andrewinski1 Initiate (0) Apr 14, 2009 New Hampshire

    What will happen if I move the slider on a beer I've already reviewed (not merely had)?
     
  9. July2Nov

    July2Nov Initiate (0) Aug 27, 2006 Virginia

    This is a great start! Thanks all who contributed to this.
     
  10. HopsMatt

    HopsMatt Initiate (0) Dec 1, 2011 Kentucky

    I understand this is beta and a lot may change.

    Pros:
    - Autocomplete in search
    - Streamlined profiles

    Cons:
    - Having to hit the icon to do anything
    - No access to PMs

    just my .02
     
  11. dar482

    dar482 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,039) Mar 9, 2007 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I use your site so much on my phone, thank you!!!

    I would say though that the it lacks what I truly want. I use it on my phone when I'm at a beer store or bar to look up beers. What it should have it is:

    Clicking a brewery should allow you the option of seeing what is most reviewed and the rAvg on the same page. Currently, looking at a brewery's beers does neither.
    Also, the "Back" button should be on the left side, like how it would be on a computer or website on the phone.

    However, it does truly simplify things and looks pretty sleek, which is awesome.
     
    Mosmo, WilliamLee, phishbfm and 2 others like this.
  12. regularjohn

    regularjohn Initiate (0) Feb 7, 2013 New Jersey

    this is awesome, i cant recall how many times i would be at a store just gazing at a shelf and browsing this website from my phone out of pure curiosity (or ocd :confused:) .... for what i'm about to purchase
     
  13. smonice

    smonice Initiate (0) Aug 10, 2012 New Jersey

    Like others have said above, not sure I would call this a mobile app, more of a mobile website. Autosearch is nice and fast, the feature to jump to the brewery itself and see their other offerings is also nice.

    Def looking forward to everything linking together to be able to see my lists and others.

    Its a start!
     
    Haywire likes this.
  14. facundoCNB

    facundoCNB Initiate (0) Jan 3, 2012 New Jersey

    it's a sleek looking app, and i know it's still in development but the only thing i really want to see is the capability of writing full reviews for beers i'm having. this is the only reason i signed up for beeradvocate, so right now the app is pretty useless to me. not saying it doesn't look nice, but i'm not one to look up a beer before i buy it - if it looks good at the store or brewery, then i'm going to drink it.
     
    BeerKangaroo likes this.
  15. VipertheIV

    VipertheIV Initiate (0) Feb 12, 2007 Pennsylvania

    Click curled arrow in the upper right.
     
    RockAZ likes this.
  16. michaeljstraub

    michaeljstraub Initiate (0) Oct 6, 2012 Georgia

    Loving the quick access to wants, gots, and ratings. May start keeping an updated list now that I can do this easier on the phone.

    My two cents:
    The autofill is awesome since this site is a bit picky with search terms. Would it be possible to anchor your last brewery search position? Meaning, when I am on a list of beers and I go into a page to rate/whathaveyou and I head back, it takes me to the top of the page instead of the position I was last on.

    The slider is a great feature, can you disable the 'open in a new page' popup? Or is that a user error on my part?

    Final critique. Thoughts on 3 lines per beer ( wrapping the beer name) instead of 2? On the longer beer names I cannot see the whole name in portait view and I can't see the autofill in landscape.

    Keep up the awesome work. The mobile site is going to be badass
     
    stormy04311 likes this.
  17. booyahachieved3

    booyahachieved3 Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2012 Kansas

    Love the clean design; buttons could be a little larger but that's being picky
     
    MEW likes this.
  18. chefkevlar

    chefkevlar Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2010 South Carolina

    I saw that, but it's not intuitive to android users (or easy to reach on my phone one handed). Figured it was something worth mentioning.
     
  19. emannths

    emannths Initiate (0) Sep 21, 2007 Massachusetts

    Couple comments/suggestions:

    You guys should really call this a mobile site, not an app. If it runs in the phone's browser, it's not an app. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's just not accurate.

    How about including scores in the search results? It looks like there's space for a fourth line of text in the search results.

    I know all the photos of beers are different sizes, but how about centering them in a square in the search results? Also, there's a lot of whitespace between the photos and the text in the search results. I guess this is to accomodate the widest of all the photos, but it might be worth cropping/resizing those odd photos for the purposes of the mobile site.

    The back button needs to work.

    Use m.beeradvocate.com for the final version, or at least put a redirect there.

    The address bar on the iphone covers the top line of the site sometimes, requiring scrolling to access the back button.

    Missing from upcoming features (presumably an oversight): read reviews!
     
  20. emannths

    emannths Initiate (0) Sep 21, 2007 Massachusetts

    One more idea: if you're going to stick with buttons at the top, add a magnifying glass to access the search page, a quote bubble to access the forums, and pushpin for location-based stuff like places/check-ins, etc.
     
    brystmar and gpawned like this.
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