docs: Review six Android MPD clients

docs/clients/mpd.rst

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ mpc
 A command line client. Version 0.14 had some issues with Mopidy (see
 :issue:`5`), but 0.16 seems to work nicely.
 
+
 ncmpc
 -----
 
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ A console client. Uses the ``idle`` command heavily, which Mopidy doesn't
 support yet (see :issue:`32`). If you want a console client, use ncmpcpp
 instead.
 
+
 ncmpcpp
 -------
 
@@ -56,6 +58,7 @@ than with a normal MPD server, which has a local cache of meta data. Thus, GMPC
 may sometimes feel frozen, but usually you just need to give it a bit of slack
 before it will catch up.
 
+
 Sonata
 ------
 
@@ -71,6 +74,7 @@ bug`_ for details.
 
 .. _Sonata bug: http://developer.berlios.de/feature/?func=detailfeature&feature_id=5038&group_id=7323
 
+
 Theremin
 --------
 
@@ -81,31 +85,161 @@ It generally works well with Mopidy.
 Android clients
 ===============
 
+We've tested all six MPD clients we could find for Android with Mopidy 0.3 on a
+HTC Hero with Android 2.1, using the following test procedure:
+
+#. Connect to Mopidy
+#. Search for ``foo``, with search type "any" if it can be selected
+#. Add "The Pretender" from the search results to the current playlist
+#. Start playback
+#. Pause and resume playback
+#. Adjust volume
+#. Find a playlist and append it to the current playlist
+#. Skip to next track
+#. Skip to previous track
+#. Select the last track from the current playlist
+#. Turn on repeat mode
+#. Seek to 10 seconds or so before the end of the track
+#. Wait for the end of the track and confirm that playback continues at the
+   start of the playlist
+#. Turn off repeat mode
+#. Turn on random mode
+#. Skip to next track and confirm that it random mode works
+#. Turn off random mode
+#. Stop playback
+#. Check if the app got support for single mode and consume mode
+#. Kill Mopidy and confirm that the app handles it without crashing
+
+In summary:
+
+- BitMPC lacks finishing touches on its user interface but supports all
+  features tested.
+- Droid MPD Client works well, but got a couple of bugs one can live with and
+  does not expose stored playlist anywhere.
+- IcyBeats is not usable yet.
+- MPDroid is working well and looking good, but does not have search
+  functionality.
+- PMix is just a lesser MPDroid, so use MPDroid instead.
+- ThreeMPD is too buggy to even get connected to Mopidy.
+
+Our recommendation:
+
+- If you do not care about looks, use BitMPC.
+- If you do not care about stored playlists, use Droid MPD Client.
+- If you do not care about searching, use MPDroid.
+
+
 BitMPC
 ------
 
-Works well with Mopidy.
+We tested version 1.0.0, which at the time had 1k-5k downloads, <100 ratings,
+3.5 stars.
 
-Droid MPD
----------
+The user interface lacks some finishing touches. E.g. you can't enter a
+hostname for the server. Only IPv4 addresses are allowed.
+
+All features exercised in the test procedure works. BitMPC lacks support for
+single mode and consume mode. BitMPC crashes if Mopidy is killed or crash.
+
+
+Droid MPD Client
+----------------
+
+We tested version 0.4.0, which at the time had 5k-10k downloads, >200 ratings,
+4 stars.
+
+To find the search functionality, you have to select the menu, then "Playlist
+manager", then the search tab. I do not understand why search is hidden inside
+"Playlist manager".
+
+The user interface have some French remnants, like "Rechercher" in the search
+field.
+
+When selecting the artist tab, it issues the ``list Artist`` command and
+becomes stuck waiting for the results. Same thing happens for the album tab,
+which issues ``list Album``, and the folder tab, which issues ``lsinfo``.
+Mopidy returned zero hits immediately on all three commands. If Mopidy has
+loaded your stored playlists and returns more than zero hits on these commands,
+they artist and album tabs do not hang. The folder tab still freezes when
+``lsinfo`` returns a list of stored playlists, though zero files. Thus, we've
+discovered a couple of bugs in Droid MPD Client.
+
+The volume control is very slick, with a turn knob, just like on an amplifier.
+It lends itself to showing off to friends when combined with Mopidy's external
+amplifier mixers. Everybody loves turning a knob on a touch screen and see the
+physical knob on the amplifier turn as well ;-)
+
+Even though ``lsinfo`` returns the stored playlists for the folder tab, they
+are not displayed anywhere. Thus, we had to select an album in the album tab to
+complete the test procedure.
+
+At one point, I had problems turning off repeat mode. After I adjusted the
+volume and tried again, it worked.
+
+Droid MPD client does not support single mode or consume mode. It does not
+detect that the server is killed/crashed. You'll only notice it by no actions
+having any effect, e.g. you can't turn the volume knob any more.
+
+In conclusion, some bugs and caveats, but most of the test procedure was
+possible to perform.
+
+
+IcyBeats
+--------
+
+We tested version 0.2, which at the time had 50-100 downloads, no ratings.
+The app was still in beta when we tried it.
+
+IcyBeats successfully connected to Mopidy and I was able to adjust volume. When
+I was searching for some tracks, I could not figure out how to actually start
+the search, as there was no search button and pressing enter in the input field
+just added a new line. I was stuck. In other words, IcyBeats 0.2 is not usable
+with Mopidy.
+
+IcyBeats does have something going for it: IcyBeats uses IPv6 to connect to
+Mopidy. The future is just around the corner!
 
-Works well with Mopidy.
 
 MPDroid
 -------
 
-Works well with Mopidy, and is regularly used by Mopidy developers.
+We tested version 0.6.9, which at the time had 5k-10k downloads, <200 ratings,
+4.5 stars. MPDroid started out as a fork of PMix.
+
+First of all, MPDroid's user interface looks nice.
+
+I couldn't find any search functionality, so I added the initial track using
+another client. Other than the missing search functionality, everything in the
+test procedure worked out flawlessly. Like all other Android clients, MPDroid
+does not support single mode or consume mode. When Mopidy is killed, MPDroid
+handles it gracefully and asks if you want to try to reconnect.
+
+All in all, MPDroid is a good MPD client without search support.
+
 
 PMix
 ----
 
-Works well with Mopidy.
+We tested version 0.4.0, which at the time had 10k-50k downloads, >200 ratings,
+4 stars.
+
+Add MPDroid is a fork from PMix, it is no surprise that PMix does not support
+search either. In addition, I could not find stored playlists. Other than that,
+I was able to complete the test procedure. PMix crashed once during testing,
+but handled the killing of Mopidy just as nicely as MPDroid. It does not
+support single mode or consume mode.
+
+All in all, PMix works but can do less than MPDroid. Use MPDroid instead.
+
 
 ThreeMPD
 --------
 
-Does not work well with Mopidy, because we haven't implemented ``listallinfo``
-yet.
+We tested version 0.3.0, which at the time had 1k-5k downloads, <25 ratings,
+2.5 average. The developer request users to use MPDroid instead, due to limited
+time for maintenance. Does not support password authentication.
+
+ThreeMPD froze during startup, so we were not able to test it.
 
 
 iPhone/iPod Touch clients
@@ -119,6 +253,7 @@ There's an open source MPD client for iOS called `impdclient
 August 2008. So far, we've not heard of users trying it with Mopidy. Please
 notify us of your successes and/or problems if you do try it out.
 
+
 MPod
 ----