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Unread 26-12-2012, 20:28   #1
Mark Gleeson
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Default Irish Rail iPhone & Android apps available

Irish Rail saying nothing but as of today the Irish Rail iPhone and Android apps are available

Rail Users Ireland members were involved in testing if the apps and contributed numerous suggestions and identified several problems
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Unread 27-12-2012, 00:24   #2
ThomasJ
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When exiting, Why would Irish rail tell people to go to the website for realtime information when its available on the app? Strange!

I'll post my thoughts later but as an android user of next train Ireland app it would be a step back for me as that app is cleaner/simpler/more features ill post some screenshots later.
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Unread 27-12-2012, 09:15   #3
Mark Gleeson
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There are some issues remaining

The app does however work and delivers the correct timetable and real-time information something the other apps have had serious problems with in the past
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Unread 27-12-2012, 15:25   #4
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dont get me wrong its not a bad add, its actually quiet good.

A few comments about it:

- The journey planner is good, but its a pity the customizable search for trains between times like the website is not there. If you are looking up evening trains in the morning it could be a long list and a couple of clicks on the later button. good though to see a show map option on it,

- The live trains search is not bad but i not overall keen on the whole +minutes business where a train is late. id rather see the ETA. Also a slight minor thing but the colours in some cases (ie yellow) clash a bit with the background, and unless you look up close you might miss this. Also its a pity that it doesnt show the platforms for all trains at connolly will serve but i presume its the same on the website and just a consistency issue. I like that you have an option to create a shortcut for that station on your phones homepage.

- I like the favourites and the history tab to use previous searches. nice!

- i like the "nearby station facility" but it might be an enhancement idea to add local services such as buses and taxis and maybe provide a link to all stations with a search option.

Overall its a good app to start with. Useful, no doubt but theres a few enhancements that would be nice.

Just to give an example, on the next train ireland (one of the widest used 3rd party irish rail apps in android) app i use. there are 2 versions that are available, free and paid.

There are 3 sections, Timetables, realtime and news

in the timetable section you put in the stations from and to and the date and click search and it brings back the results. There is a time customizable option but you need to have the paid app to use that. In the paid app, there is also an option to save the customizable timetable offline for future use.

in the realtime section it has the option of 6 options, all stations, favourites, DART, intercity, Commuter Dublin or Commuter Regional. when you select a station it gives you the option of northbound or southbound. when you select that option it lists services showing the countdown time and ETA. When you click on a service it will bring up the service details such as origin destination scheduled time, ETA and type of service. There is an information icon that will bring up the live itinery of that service and the scheduled time/actual times of all the stations it calls at. One advantage the irish rail app has over it is you can save the station as favourite on your phone. for this app you need the paid version to do that!

There is also a map that shows you the nearest stations to where you are just like the irish rail app which i like.

lastly there is a news section and what this shows is all the tweets sent from both irish rail and rail users ireland. there is also a setting to notify you when there are new tweets. I think the irish rail app could do with a news items section on the app showing maybe links to the tweets/news items. i doubt they would show RUI tweets though!

I like the irish rail dont get me wrong but i think its got competition in android circles from the next train ireland type of apps.
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Unread 27-12-2012, 17:36   #5
Jamie2k9
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The app gets the job done but the + minute to a service needs to be replaced by an ETA. The realtime dosn't pick up the arrival/deparutre of stations en route when a service is delayed it just remains the normal time.

One major fault with the Next Train Ireland app is the realtime is live itinery as its never correct (Heuston service anyway). Today I was on the 14.50 and Irish Rail website showed arrived Kilkenny at 15.29.00 and departed 15.36.12 where as the Next train Ireland app showed arrived Kilkenny at 15.36.36 and departed at 15.36.00. The realtime app needs to have the live website times and not the scheduled times of 15.28 and dep 15.35 even though it was running late. The realtime on the app includes all services as on the website in the mornings a number of departures from Heuston are no listed because there is so many arrivals. Otherwise the app is great.
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Unread 27-12-2012, 21:54   #6
Kilocharlie
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Curious thing about Nearest station facility.

In my house, nearest station gave me the correct answer.

I boarded a train and it gave me Kilkenny as the nearest station even though I was near Newbridge. The map display showed me in Waterford! The train came from Waterford.

Google Maps showed the correct location using non-GPS location but the Irish Rail app must have used the on board WiFi for location even though the phone was on 3G. (I disabled Irishrail WiFi on my phone).

Galaxy S3 and Android App.
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Unread 28-12-2012, 22:27   #7
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Curious as to why the app wants access to my contacts.
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Unread 29-12-2012, 10:55   #8
Mark Gleeson
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That has already been filed as a bug with Irish Rail

It does need access to your calendar though as it can add an itinerary as a calendar entry
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