My Phonebot Plus app is now available on the Android Market/Google Play. Phonebot is an application that allows you to create applications directly from your phone. It includes features such as a script language and interpreter, visual screen layout, and database management. For Phonebot Plus, I've added some useful development tools in addition to what you get with standard Phonebot, along with more display formatting properties. New stuff:
Be forewarned: All of this wonder will cost you nearly One US Dollar. Gasp!
Check out the Developer's reference for full details on what you can create. The main Phonebot page also lists several of its competitors and semi-competitors that are out there. I also posted about it on Reddit and Hacker News.
I had this field cornered when I first started but it's gotten pretty active recently, with several full-fledged Java IDEs available now. The benefit that I think Phonebot offers is with its high-level script language, script generators, and visual layout editor. These are all features that eliminate typing and let you create applications quickly.
So at work I was talking about the Android apps that turn your phone into a web server. This could be used for impromptu scatternets at meetups or any rally where coordination is key. Control moves from the cloud to peer-to-peer.
I've tried two of the apps, and although I love the concept they are very limited. First, they only serve up file lists from a configurable root folder. This is nice for sharing pictures but not for much else. Second, and more limiting, they're only visible over WiFi. I haven't done enough remote access development on the Android, but I'd assume that socket connections (from locked phones) are blocked by the providers. However, this post from Think Android does just that. More research needed.
Thinking about phone servers while jogging on Sunday, I had the idea to create a DNS system for Android phones. After registering a unique name, you could give out a URL and publish whatever you want through a name server (e.g http://nameserver.net/my_id/index.html). A local service on the phone would act as a DDNS updater, pinging the name server whenever your IP changed. Thoughts then ran to web app development on the phone and I was back to Phonebot as the natural solution to developing shareable applications. Host a signup sheet or chatboard. Create a GPS map of group members. Write group games on-the-fly.
I just published an Android app that lets you develop applications from your phone. It's a simple IDE with a script language and interpreter, visual screen layout, database management, etc. It's a v1 that has had a beta tester of just me, so beware.
You can review the Developer's Reference for a quick idea of what's what. And it comes with some sample applications for basic examples of what can be achieved.
(The marketplace is refusing to update images and text right now. Apologies if the copy editing is wonky.)