They were trying to run it cracked through an alternative launcher.

In your opinion, what is the most substantial change/addition slated for the megarelease?

Indeed, but everything you need is there. And I’ll throw one in for free and it is awesome to get started: http://websdr.org/

I almost hate to recommend it, but r/rtlsdr is the place to go.

RTL-SDR is basically a way of using a digital device as a broadband radio. That is an oversimplification, but that is the idea. There are cheap USB devices out there that will turn a PC into a ham radio receiver (among a really wide range of other bands like weather satellites). I have no idea how they are doing it with Android, however. Maybe using the phone’s antenna.