Archive for the ‘Mobile Development’ Category

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Symbian OS is open and free now

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

This month the Symbian platform has become completely open and free. Lee Williams, CEO, says that this operating system is already a dominant one, but now mobile software development for Symbian gets all the advantages of work with open source projects, almost unlimited possibilities. Mr. Williams also stresses Symbian additional advantages comparing with Android OS. He explains that Android has not more than a third of open codes, and the rest of them are closed.

One more advantage of Symbian OS: programmers and other specialists working at platform development will regularly publish plans of the future upgrades according to Lee Williams’ words.

The initiative to open Symbian appeared in June of the year 2008, when Nokia announced its plans to buy the rest of the Symbian programming codes from other companies and place them under control of Symbian Foundation. Now there are more than 330 million of Symbian-phones in the world. They are produced be such companies as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Fujitsu and Sharp.

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Game developers want to use the Apple iPhone platform

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

The Game Developer Research Company conducted a new survey to find out which of the gaming platforms is the most popular among games developers. The results of this research showed a clear trend — “developers are migrating towards the Apple iPhone platform”

Authors of the published report also explained that Apple gadgets in its time significantly stimulated the market of mobile games. Before they were launched the mobile games market was amounted to 13% of the total entertainment market, now it has almost doubled to about 25%.

Why do companies develop mobile games for iPhone? Among the reasons that lead to migration towards this OS, experts named the popularity of Apple devices, their broad functional capabilities and sound pricing and marketing policies of App Store. As it was noted in the report, mobile software developers can lower prices for their programs to even ridiculous rates and yet at the same time earn good money. Besides, Apple has done everything to simplify the process of porting existing games to the iPhone OS.

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Google Nexus One: it includes Multi-Touch now!

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Hurray! The American version of Nexus One supports multitouch, notwithstanding the fact that it’s a patented Apple technology. Google representatives do not comment it.

Google Inc. released its first update pack for the Nexus One smartphone, which was shown to the general public just a month ago. Besides some fixes this fresh mobile software contained a very useful innovation – support of multitouch technology.

It means that now interface and screen-oriented capabilities of Googlephone do not yield to its main rival, Apple iPhone. So users of the first Google smartphone can test multitouch in action. It works in Google Maps Navigation, picture viewer, as well as in web browser.

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As can be seen, a mutual agreement between Apple and Google (so called “promise not to add multitouch support in Nexus One”) now is worth nothing. Search Corporation decided to change its word in the light of recent events.

Studying different modern devices from the main manufacturers, starting with Apple and Palm, and ending with HTC and Motorola, Google’s experts has realized that multi-touch support has become a standard, so many users are accustomed to this option. Undoubtedly it opens new possibilities for innovative mobile applications development, now they can create new software for Android taking into account this new potential.

So now we have a smartphone that based on Android 2.1, and we also can use a new way of control and navigation. By the way, the European version of Nexus One has this function by default. However, the sales in Europe start not earlier than in spring this year.

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Notable fact for mobile apps developers: LG believes in Android!

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

The South Korean LG Electronics Company has published its mobile strategy for the year 2010. It is going to sell more than ten million of cell phones and smartphones. Also LG plans to release about twenty new models of smartphones this year and more than a half of them will be running OS Google Android. The rest models will be based on Windows Mobile and different Linux versions.
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Meanwhile, LG will gradually reduce the number of mobile devices with Windows Mobile “on board”. It’s a notable fact for mobile application developers, because analytics couldn’t foresee such changes. Only in 2008 LG Electronics and Microsoft formed an alliance to join their efforts in mobile devices development. Even in 2009 an absolute majority of LG smartphones were developed on the Windows Mobile operating system, and LG Eve was the only phone on the Android platform. This year the situation has changed dramatically and it definitely will have action upon those companies who provide such services as mobile application development for Android and Windows Mobile.

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Choosing the best platform for mobile apps development

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Reviewing platforms for mobile apps development we cannot help but write some more descriptions. Let’s estimate such OSes as Symbian, Linux Mobile and Palm.

Symbian OS
Nokia is losing its forces, it was the best developer of mobile phones in the world a couple of years ago, but now it buckles under pressure of other leading companies. But is still has “margin of safety”. Moreover, Nokia popularizes Symbian, now this OS has open code (open source), and this fact will definitely have an influence on company’s further development.

Symbian_OS

Symbian UIQ
Symbian UIQ was developed by the UIQ Technology Company. UIQ (User Interface Quartz) is a software platform based on Symbian OS. In early 2009 UIQ Technology was liquidated, and this intellectual property was transferred to Symbian Foundation (non-profit organization). So mobile software developers don’t plan further improvements of UIQ (as an independent platform).

Linux Mobile
Programmers working for mobile development companies make facetious remarks that every self-respecting company making smartphones intends to make its own version of Linux based mobile OS. Some of them achieve success in it, others don’t. It’s almost impossible to enumerate all of them, here are only some examples: Access Linux Platform, LiMo, Moblin, MotoMagxj, Nokia Maemo, Openmoko, Openmokon, Palm webOS, Qt Extendedmn, Ubuntu Mobilem, etc. All these OSes have their own look-and-feels (many of them are incompatible), that is why it’s very difficult to develop mobile apps for such platforms, it’s just a non-value-added process.

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Palm OS
Once this OS occupied bulk of the market share. At the same time Microsoft decided to start the development of its own mobile OS Windows CE, because IT-giant was inspired by success of Palm OS. But now it is no longer relevant, Ed Colligan said that Palm will no longer produce products based on Palm OS, the company’s efforts will be focused on Palm webOS, but that’s another story.

Palm_OS

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Windows Mobile and iPhone OS: results of the year 2009

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Summing up results of the year 2009, it will be quite reasonable to choose the best operating system for successful mobile apps development. So, what operating systems did we have at the turn of the year? Of course, there were Windows Mobile, iPhone OS, Symbian OS, Symbian UIQ, Linux Mobile, Palm OS and BlackBerry OS. Let’s try to investigate which of them has all chances to be called the best one.

Windows Mobile

Ah, this “old woman” still holds the largest market share. It has relatively out-of-date interface, nevertheless Microsoft delays the release of Windows Mobile 7 with touch-screen interface (as they promise) and complete compatibility with older apps versions. Though this OS has undoubted plus (a large number of good and stable mobile applications with rich functionality that was accumulated over the years), it’s not a permanent advantage. It can be lost soon as new operating systems are constantly adding new applications, offering new features and up-to-date interface. In general, if the next version of Microsoft Windows Mobile does not have any pleasant surprises for its users, the company will lose its market share under pressure of other mobile operating systems.

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iPhone OS

Yes, it’s beautiful, yes, it’s quite functional and it has already accumulated a lot of good features and high-quality applications. Due to the fact that iPhone has taken a considerable market share its application are relatively cheap (it’s an important bonus for those who choose a platform for a mobile device). But it has the main drawback: only Apple can produce hardware and iPhone source code is closed for mobile development companies. Nevertheless it’s not an obstacle for numerous Apple fans, Mac + MacOS + iPod + iPhone can be considered as a modern religion, it’s a way of live, no doubt.

iPhone_OS

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Google can fight with Apple

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Two titans of high-tech world, Google and Apple, may come together to fight for competitive advantages. To be precise, this fight will take place on the US mobile phone market. Google plans to start sale of its first smartphone at the beginning of the year 2010 – that is a stumbling-block. It’s a real challenge that may lead to serious confrontation on one of the highest growth and most important segment of high-tech market.

google-and-appleA new Google phones with touch screen is based on Android OS. These gadgets have been already given to the company staff for testing. Google plans to use the popularity of its own brand and make direct retail sales via the Internet.

It’s a well known fact that Google management didn’t plan to enter the equipment market, in the previous years the company limited its activity to mobile software development (Android OS) and internet projects.

Google makes a serious bet on the mobile phone market and evaluates it as a promising direction for the future development. So, now the company does not intend to limit itself to Android software development and online services. apple vs google_2

But analysts are not sure that Google will be able to transfer the success of its previous activities to mobile phones production and sales. Much will depend on its pricing policy. Kathy Watson, a Google representative, declined to comment on the future plans. She referred to the recent publication in the official corporate blog, where we can read that a new device is just a “mobile laboratory” for testing of some new technologies.

However, some Google employees have agreed to provide more detailed information (anonymous statements). According to them, devices were made by the Taiwanese HTC company, and they are thinner and have a larger touch screen than Apple iPhone. Well, soon we will be able to verify this information, because Google phone sales can begin in January, 2010.

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Behold! New Google Android 2.0 ‘Eclair’ SDK

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Google has released the new SDK version (package for mobile application development) – Android 2.0 (Eclair).

Android 2.0 is the major platform for Android gadgets. Producers plan to put phones based on this OS on sale in November. Release includes new features for Android developers and users. For developers the platform is available as a downloadable component for Android SDK. SDK includes fully compatible Android libraries and image system, and also a set of skins for an emulator. The platform requires no third-party libraries.



Changes in the SDK:
Bluetooth — turn on / off, connection to a remote device using RFCOMM.
Account Manager — Centralized Account Manager allows secure storage and access to tokens and passwords.
Others — new theme systems and wallpaper manager.

List of changes in Android 2.0:
Accounts — several user accounts can be added to synchronize contacts.
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Mail — Exchange support
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Bluetooth — bluetooth 2.1, new BT profiles — OPP, PBAP (Object Push Profile and Phone Book Access Profile).
Media — upgraded graphics architecture improves performance and ensures hardware acceleration.
Calendar — endless scrolling in an agenda mode, statuses for each guest invited for user events.
Browser — updated user interface, bookmarks with web-pages thumbnails, double tap zoom, HTML5 support, client databases using SQL, tags in full screen mode, Geolocation API information showing device location.
Camera — flash bulb, digital zoom, white balance control, macro mode, color effects.
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Virtual Keyboard — an improved layout increases typing speed and reduce errors. Multi-touch support allows you to be sure that nothing will be missed while typing with two hands.

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The year 2010 will be the year of Android

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Not so long ago smartphones and communicators were niche products that simple users didn’t even pay attention to. But the operating systems has been developing and at present such phones offer a wide range of options for business–users as well as for usual users who prefer exchange SMS or visit social networks.

According to the research company In-Stat, the competition in the OS market is shifting from software basic capabilities to functionality and ‘user’s experience’ which the phone can provide.  Smartphones and communicators will develop not only at the programming level but also at the hardware level – sensor screens with high resolution, high-quality cameras, communication tools.

In-Stat supposes that the next year will pass under the Android sign. According to the research statistics, in 2014 more than 400 mln smartphones will be sold in the world and more than 300 mln of them will have a built-in MACEK accelerometer. Today about 52% of the device production costs go to a touch screen, a processor, software, license fees and communication modules (2G, 3G).

The present leader in the market of smartphone platforms Symbian will lose its position taking the pressure from the side of Maemoplatforms, Android apps, BlackBerry application developmetn and iPhone mobile development.

Professionals from EleganceIT have more than ten years of experience in the sphere of Android, BlackBerry and iPhone software development. If you want your project to be done in due time, within the agreed budget and of high quality, you have to trust it to EleganceIT mobile application programming company.

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Mobile apps with the maximum of functionality – new approach to mobile software development

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Modern interfaces designed for mobile phones lacks integrity. Specialists form the EleganceIT company decided to reconsider existing approach to mobile soft development and invented some new features. They just took a sheet of paper and drew a table, including all the most popular mobile functions in horizontal and vertical lines, one by one. So cell at their intersections showed the possible way of integration:

1. Calendar + Phonebook = birthday reminder

2. Photo + Phonebook = to mark in the photo your friends from phonebook

3. Calendar + Photos = sort photos according to dates and events from your calendar

4. Photo + GPS = locate photos, taken by phone user

5. GPS + Phonebook = to mark addresses (home, work, etc.) assigned to people from your phonebook

6. SMS + Phonebook = to show SMS messages as a chat with particular contact (as it was done in Gmail)

7. GPS + Call log = to show where the call took a place (It is doubtful, but it may be helpful for those who need an alibi :) )

8. Notes + Phonebook = mobile CRM, to leave any notes about people from your phonebook (their wishes, debt, etc.)

9. Contact + Alarms = call reminder, appointment reminder, etc.

10. Alarms + GPS = to call back to particular person when the phone is at an appointed place

11. Internet + Phonebook = friendfeeds, rss from their web pages

12. Internet + Music = something like last.fm

13. Bluetooth + Phonebook = associate contact and bluetooth address, keep a transmissions history (or even better keep one chat with sms, call logs, rss, etc.)

14. SMS + GPS = send SMS on arrival an appointed place (Mom: Son, send me sms on arrival – it will be so easy then :) )

EleganceIT believe that users definitely appreciate such features, so mobile development companies should work in this direction.

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