Manuals

Hawaii Snorkel Fish Functionality

The phone’s menu button provides various appropriate options at each screen level. These menu items are self explanatory for the most part. Explanations are provided if a menu option might not be intuitive.

Browse Families [Browse Families video 1:30 min]

You will see the list of Families and the number of members in each family. You can scroll up and down by dragging your finger on the screen. A single tap on any family will select the fish family and move you to a list of family members.

The list of fish appears with the thumbnail, common name, and Hawaiian name (if there is one, or a blank line if not). A precision touch on the ‘favorite’ star will toggle the fish’s favorite status. Again you can scroll up and down if they all don’t fit on the screen and tap a fish to select it and move to the “fish details” view.

On a fish details screen, tapping the picture once momentarily brings up the zoom controls and side arrow controls and then they disappear again. You can initiate zooming and previous/next actions when they are visible. The number next to the arrows indicates how many fish remain to view in the list in that direction. The double arrow means you are at the top or bottom of the list and moving that direction will move you circularly through the list (from the end of the list you go back to the beginning and visa versa).

In addition to the side arrow buttons, you can simply use your finger to rapidly “fling” through the photo to the next or previous fish info screen. BONUS: there are sometimes more than one photo of a fish, you need to scroll through photos to find them. (Hint-check out the seahorses and frogfish.)

A rapid double tap will zoom the photo centered on the point you tap. You can zoom in to about 1.5 times the photo’s intrinsic pixel density. You scroll around a zoomed photo by dragging it with your finger. Slow small flings of your finger on the photo will auto scroll slowly within the zoomed photo. You can scroll up at any time to see the textual information. (Pinch zooming will be coming for those of you with version 2.1 or later.) At this time, a long press does not do anything on this page.

When you tilt the phone to landscape, the photo will auto zoom (either larger or smaller) to fill the screen and you can still scroll up on the screen to see the text information and continue to zoom in and out with finger taps or the zoom buttons. Notice turning the phone back to portrait resizes the photo back to fit the screen automatically.

The Favorite check box allows you to mark a fish as a favorite. When checked, the starfish will be visible; otherwise it is ‘no’ sign (circle with a slash) over it.

One of the menu options is Fling Threshold. A fast fling in a photo moves you to the next photo; a slow fling pans a zoomed photo. Selecting the Fling Threshold menu option allows you to change the number pixels per second thus changing the cutoff between how fast and slow you need to move your finger.

Enjoy Favorites [Enjoy Favorites video 1 min]

Brings up the list of fish you have marked as favorite. Functionality is the same as described in browsing families. You can uncheck a fish as a favorite and it disappears from the list when you move on. Notice when you go to the Slide Show from the menu button in Favorites that you see only your favorite fish sliding by. This enables you to build a custom slide show of your favorite fish.

Search Fish [Search Fish video 1:18 min]

Hopefully everything you can think of is searchable. As you build your query, notice the number of fish fitting the criteria changes in the View Results button. If it gets to zero, pressing the button won’t do anything (you need to change your search criteria to get a value). The criteria list you are building will display at the top. When you are ready, press the View Results button and see your list of matching fish. Notice when you press the phone back button, it takes you back to searching and remembers what you have set. You can make modifications to your query or you can press the menu button and are able to reset the query.

Categories are Size, Shape, Colors, Markings, Position, Activity Level, Schooling, Range (endemic), Common Name, Hawaiian Name, Scientific Name, Fish Seen Status and Favorite Status. All these are radio button selections except Color which has three pull down boxes, and all the Name options which are text fields. As you type the text, you get all the possible names that match the characters entered thus far. You can select one or you can use the exact text you typed by hitting enter or done. Notice that the Hawaiian Name list will correctly display the names with the Hawaiian characters; you don’t need to type an `okina or macron. Also notice that if you select one of the names on the list to fill in the text box, the View Results might go to zero. This would be because you have other criteria set that don’t match with the named fish.

From the results list view, when you select the menu option to view Slide Show, you will see a slide show of only the fish in your results list. You can change the Slide Show options from the menu button when you are viewing the slide show.

Edit Log Book [View Log Book video 2:47 min]

When you first open the log book, the list will be empty waiting for you to add your first entry. This screen will then show a list view of all your log entries by date with the time clock, your location, buddies, notes, and your rating. Press the menu button to select add entry the first time. Later, you can click on one of the entries to open it for viewing or editing and any time you can press menu to add a new entry. A long press over an entry in the list view will give you the option of deleting it, rating it, or adding a new entry. The log book is integrated with Google's Maps enabling you to map your Hawai`i excursion locations and view a map displaying all the locations.

Your log entry starts out unrated represented by a sand island with a palm tree and red arrow. You click on the island icon to rate it. You can add a single palm tree to your island with a poor rating and up to four palm trees for Da Best! The button displaying the current date and time can be selected to change the information to the time of your snorkel or dive excursion. Next, you can type in the name of the excursion location. The text box will display the list of your previous locations (if any) so you can easily select one without typing it all out. The location box is tied in with Google's Geocode engine and allows you to search for your location. The search engine is a little quirky so you might have to type out the full name including Beach or Bay. If a match is found, it presents a box for you to confirm and then briefly displays the coordinates. If no match is found, you can continue typing or leave the location name as is and continue your logging.

The Map button next to the Location box lets you flag your snorkel or dive spot on the map. Click the button after you have entered your location name and a map will open with a centered red flag leaning left. If coordinates were found, it will center the map there. If you have GPS enabled, the map will be centered at your current location or else it will center in the middle of the Hawaiian Islands. You can pan and zoom the map until you have centered your excursion spot just where you want it under the end of the flag--like a push pin. When you are happy with the spot, just click on the flag itself and it will flip to the right indicating it is set and records the GPS coordinates. You can press the menu button at any time to move the flag later or place it back to center if you have moved around in the map after setting it. You can turn on the satellite data to view the topography on the map and you can also view all the flags you have set at one time. You might not see any other flags initially because the map perspective doesn't change but you see them when you zoom out. When you click on a set flag (leaning right), you well see an info box of the information you have entered and the GPS coordinates.

The buddies text box allows you to record your friends who were along with you on your excursion. This box is linked to your phone's Contacts list so again, you don't have to type the name all the way out if your buddy or buddies are contacts. The commas are automatically added for you if more than one buddy. The notes text box is for you to record anything you want to remember about your excursion.

The buttons at the top of the screen will allow you to cycle through and view your other log entries or start a new one. Your edits are automatically confirmed in your log entry when you move to another entry with the buttons, if you start creating a new entry, or move back to the list view. You can undo the edits to empty the fields and start over while you are creating a new entry or only undo the most recent changes if you are editing an existing log entry.

You are able to record the fish you saw on your excursion. To do this, select the menu button and select one of three options for adding fish: by family, by favorites or by searching. You select the fish from any list by clicking on the log book icon to remove the blue no sign over it. You may add as many fish as you want to the list at one time. When you return back to your log entry, the fish will display in the list at the bottom. A click on any fish will display the details. A long press will give you additional options.

You can view all the fish you have logged as seen during all your excursions as a slide show by selecting that option from the menu while in Slide Show view. In addition, Search has a category Fish Seen Status enabling you to view a list all the fish you've logged as seen. You can select just this criteria to see the full list or use it in association with your other criteria settings.

View Slide Show [View Slide Show video 54 sec]

Slide show starts out with the directions displayed. Tapping the screen will start the show of all fish in the app displaying in random order. Tapping any time will pause the show. Fling sideways moves to previous/next photo. Fling up or down displays the name details; fling vertically again to remove them. Long tap will display the detail notes and press long again to remove. Double tap on a fish to add or remove it from your favorite list. Forget all this? Press the menu button to get the tips displayed again.

Other menu options include the duration of how long each photo is displayed. The default is 3 seconds. Selecting more on the menu will give you the additional choices of changing the slide show to show only your favorites or show only the fish you have indicated as seen in your log book entries. You can also turn on and off randomness.

See Guide Books [See Guide Book video 36 sec]

Displays and describes Hawai`i fish books by John Hoover and Judy & Mel Malinowski. Links to the Amazon purchase page, Google search page, and the author’s pages.