Earth Dog Apps
Providing Apps for Android
Earth Dog AppsProviding Apps for Android
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2010
CONTACT
Nanette Harter, Earth Dog Apps info@earthdogapps.com
Promotional review copies of app available to press.
Hawaii Snorkel Fish News Brief [Word document version]
Kahului, Hawai`i – Easily identify the fish you see while snorkeling or diving on Hawaii's beautiful coral reefs or just enjoy the gorgeous photos wherever you happen to be with the newly released Hawaii Snorkel Fish app for Android phones. Over two hundred gorgeous photographs and detailed descriptions of snorkel and common scuba depth coral reef fish found in the Hawaiian Islands are now available at your fingertips.
John P. Hoover, award winning author and marine life photographer, has contributed his expertise and photographs to produce this visually stunning application. Hoover is well known in Hawaii for his marine life resource books such as The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes and Hawaii’s Sea Creatures. “I hate to say it,” he says, “but Hawaii Snorkel Fish is better than a book. I love the way my photos look on the screen--so much brighter than on the printed page.”
“It is an amazing app that enables people to interactively search and identify the marine life they see snorkeling in Hawai`i,’” says Hoover. You can browse by family groups, mark your favorites, search fish by characteristics and/or names, view a slideshow with or without fish details, log details of your snorkel trips, and find guidebooks with even more info on Hawai`i reef fish as well as directions to top snorkeling sites.
Hawaii Snorkel Fish is available for a one time fee of $5.99. A free version of the app is available as Hawaii Snorkel Fish Lite. The apps are released by Earth Dog Apps, developers of Android applications. They can be contacted at info@earthdogapps.com. Further descriptions, screenshots and video demonstrations are available on the Earth Dog Apps website at www.earthdogapps.com.
Hawaii Snorkel Fish Feature Brief [Word document version]
Kahului, Hawai`i – When snorkeling or diving have you ever wondered about what you saw? Have you ever wondered 'What was that yellow fish with the blue stripes?' Now it’s easy to identify the fish you see with a new app for your Android phone. The newly released Hawaii Snorkel Fish app includes over two hundred gorgeous photographs and detailed descriptions of snorkel and common scuba depth coral reef fish found in the Hawaiian Islands.
John P. Hoover, award winning author and marine life photographer, has contributed his expertise and photographs to produce this visually stunning application. Hoover is well known in Hawai`i for his marine life resource books such as The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes and Hawaii’s Sea Creatures. Hoover’s books are on the shelves of all avid Hawaii snorkelers and divers. “Hawaii Snorkel Fish is an amazing app that enables people to interactively search and identify the marine life they see visiting Hawai`i’s beautiful coral reefs.” says Hoover. “I hate to say it,” he says “but Hawaii Snorkel Fish is better than a book. I love the way my photos look on the screen--so much brighter than on the printed page. And with airline weight limits what they are, who wants to lug a book along when everything you need can be right on your phone at a fraction of the cost of a book?”
Upon launching the app, you see six buttons poised over a moving ocean background with reef fish occasionally swimming by. From this main view, you can browse fish by family, view your favorites, search by characteristics and by names, view a slideshow with or without description details, log your snorkel or dive trips, and find guidebooks with even more info on Hawai`i reef fish and directions to top snorkeling sites.
“The fish and marine mammals organized in family groups make browsing very convenient, and the detailed descriptions are clear, concise and very informative” explains Kara Osada-D'Avella, KonaCPR Owner and Lead Scientist for Kona Reef Check. Just select any fish family and a list of all the members is displayed. Choosing a fish brings up a beautiful zoomable photograph of the fish along with detailed information including common name, Hawaiian name (if any), family name, favorites check box, and a brief description noting interesting facts about the fish such as what it eats, where it is likely to be found, whether it is unique to Hawaii, it's maximum size, and it's scientific name.
You can mark a fish as a favorite almost any time you see a picture of it in the app. The menu choices from each view allow you to navigate quickly to other views without needing to go back to the main screen. “I am impressed with the quality of the fish photographs and the functionality of the app.” says Dale Bonar, Maui Coastal Land Trust Executive Director. He continues, “My wife now wants a Droid so she too can have the app.”
“The powerful search capability of the app makes it simple for me to quickly show my customers and students a photograph of the fish they are describing – and it’s right on my phone,” says Teri Leonard, Maui Dreams Dive Company Manager and PADI Course Director. You can search on any combination of size, shape, color, markings, position in the water column, schooling behavior, endemism (uniqueness to Hawai`i), favorite status, common name, scientific name and Hawaiian name.
The log book enables you to record your snorkel or dive particulars plus write notes about your excursions. You can even include a list of the all fish you saw on your trip. A search option allows you to view all the fish you have seen on your combined excursions. The app is integrated with Google Maps allowing you to record the GPS coordinates of your snorkel sites and bring up a map of the location anytime.
Hawaii Snorkel Fish is available for download on Android phones from Google Marketplace for a one time fee of $5.99. A free version of the app is available as Hawaii Snorkel Fish Lite. This version of the app provides the same functionality of Hawaii Snorkel Fish with a few limitations. You can give the app a try and then upgrade to the paid version for the complete experience.
Hawaii Snorkel Fish and Hawaii Snorkel Fish Lite are released by Earth Dog Apps, developers of Android applications. They can be contacted at info@earthdogapps.com. Further descriptions, screenshots and video demonstrations are available on the Earth Dog Apps website at www.earthdogapps.com.
Hawaii Snorkel Fish Review Brief [Word document version]
Kahului, Hawai`i – There’s a smartphone app for just about everything these days, with one glaring omission – identifying those incredible fish you see while snorkeling in Hawaii. Some fish are drop-dead gorgeous, others unbelievably weird, but without toting a heavy book around how can you find out what they are? How can you show your friends what you saw? How can you even remember what you saw? The whole thing can get so frustrating that you’re tempted to pack your bags and fly home early.
But wait! Once again, your Android phone can save the day. Now over 200 common, interesting, weird, and just plain drop-dead gorgeous tropical reef fish are available at your fingertips with Hawaii Snorkel Fish, a brand new app by Earth Dog Apps. Emphasis is on the fish seen by snorkelers in shallow water, but scuba divers can use the app too. Each species has a fullscreen color underwater photo, and sometimes more than one, with a brief detailed description that includes everything you need to know: the common name, the Hawaiian name, the scientific name, environmental notes, max size, and even food preferences. If males and females look different, the app shows a separate picture of each. If a juvenile fish looks different than the adult it is pictured separately as well. The photos are professional quality and zoomable when you need to zero in on a detail.
There are many ways to use the app. You can browse for fish via thumbnail photos, sort of like flipping through the pages of a book but much faster, or you can do something no book can do: search for fish interactively, using their colors, shapes, and markings. You say you saw a yellow disc-shaped fish with blue stripes? No problem, tap Yellow, Blue, and Stripes and the app zooms right in on the Bluestripe Butterflyfish. Do you want to see just the red fish and no others? The app can do that too, with an ingenious twist: it generates a list of thumbnails with the reddest fish at the top and the least red fish at the bottom. Once you find your fish you can log it. (Detail freaks can even GPS tag where and when they saw it.) Users who want to skip the intellectual stuff and just enjoy the pictures can set the app on random slideshow mode, with ID turned off.
John Hoover, award winning author and marine life photographer, has contributed his expertise and photographs to produce this visually stunning and scientifically accurate application. Hoover is well known in Hawaii for his best-selling marine life resource books such as The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes and Hawaii’s Sea Creatures. “I hate to say it,” he says “but Hawaii Snorkel Fish is better than a book. I love the way my photos look on the screen--so much brighter than on the printed page. And with airline weight limits what they are, who wants to lug a book along when everything you need can be right on your phone at a fraction of the cost of a book?”
Hawaii Snorkel Fish is available for download from Google Marketplace on Android phones in addition to other Android app download websites for a one time fee of $5.99. A free version of the app is available as Hawaii Snorkel Fish Lite. This version of the app provides the same functionality of Hawaii Snorkel Fish with a few limitations. You can give the app a try and then upgrade to the paid version for the complete experience.
Hawaii Snorkel Fish and Hawaii Snorkel Fish Lite are released by Earth Dog Apps, developers of Android applications. They can be contacted at info@earthdogapps.com. Further descriptions, screenshots and video demonstrations are available on the Earth Dog Apps website at www.earthdogapps.com.