Posts Tagged ‘Android’

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Continuing on Resolution #4: Raising the Bar on Mobile UX Standards

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

MMM on the N8 - Share on OviA few articles ago, we went a bit on a extended talk about the All Books Bible Reader that I’m developing for personal use. After talking through the technical features and goals, we wrapped up with a statement talking about clarifying the goals and features for your mobile(-first) endeavors, and being mindful of the specific UX needs mobile presents:

Mobile-Friendly and Personalization As Core to User Experience
The takeaway from this project is that there have been several methods to engaging Bible/document reading, social/offline networking, funddraising, and other initiatives in mobile ministry. However, even if you nail the features, at some point in the maturing of that person using the service or the company offering it, doing something that fits the mobile context and that’s personalized will come forth. It might not be the aims of your projects initially, but do know that eventually, they all point to these goals needing to be met.

With that starting point, we want to highlight a bit more about Mobile (UX) Standards and in referencing that All Books Project, and some of the items to keep in mind whiile moving forward in your mobile initiatives this year and beyond.

Mobile UX Standards
It is assumed that the idea of what makes for a great mobile user experience is pretty easy – just grab yourself an Apple iPhone and use it for a week or two, then switch to another platform for the same amount of time and note how often you frown, toss the device, or find yourself limited in some fashion. And while we can agree that Apple’s iOS platform does make for some suitable claims towards what makes a good mobile experience (consistency, quality, variety of applications, etc.), its not the only mobile experience, nor does it answer every question anyone developing, selling, or using mobility will ask towards.

Over at UX Mag, an excellent article talking about mobile standards beyond the styleguides, frameworks, and guidelines that would usually reference as we develop apps makes an excellent point:

…Apple, Android, and Blackberry all do a great job of sharing standards with their developer communities. They share detailed guidelines on standard UI elements, the associated terminology, and their behaviors, and give usage examples for the UI. However, what they don’t do is string them all together into patterns.

  • What happens after you click this button?
  • How should these messages change in context of the task?
  • If you’re opening a document online, should it open in a new window or in the current window?
  • When and where do error messages appear in a form?
  • Is that different or the same in a wizard or series of forms?

These are the questions that designers and developers spend most of their time toiling over—the little things that pull UI elements together into a full interaction. And these are also the questions that the OS standards do not cover. This is a key gap in standards for designers and developers that can be filled by a new custom set of guidelines, which further save money and time in development efforts and add value to the existing, basic OS standards.

*List formattting added

Beyond simply saying “we want to go mobile” or “let’s use this or that to go mobile,” you really have to ask core questions about the interaction and steer adamantly towards those goals. What happens when you don’t steer specifically towards the goal, understanding these kinds of questions throughout, is that you end up with a glut of features, conflicting brand messages, dis-engaged users, and missed opportunities to deliever the depth of the Gospel that you/your group intends that application or service to portray.

Start With A Picture, Ask Until the Ink Dries
With the All Books Project, I started with an idea in my head (more efficient Bible reading on my personal mobile device that wasn’t limited to closed-licensed texts), and started scraping together what was needed and what wasn’t in order to make that happen. I boiled things down to two features: reading and searching. And then I took to one of my favorite apps on my iPad (Tactilis) to sketch some reasonable ideas towards how I would get there.

UX Flow for All Books Personal Bible Reader - Share on Ovi

This UX flow document is my gage of whether I’m meeting my goals. If I am, then the lines here continue to make sense. If not, then I go back to this document towards what I (originally or later modified) thought and ask whether my thinking should continue down the path I’m or, or get back on course to what was drawn.

One of the pieces of interaction that I’m aiming for with All Books is a sliding popup for when I click on those verses with footnotes. The feature is harder to implement than its drawn. But, because I’m clear towards what I want to do when the popup is envoked, how its interacted with, and how it is dismissed, I can keep my programming focused and timelines (generally) well kept.

A Good Mobile UX Is Also Your Feedback Loop’s Process
In designing an effective mobile user experience (UX), you also need to take into account the development/design of your support infrastructure. As we talked about once before when developing mobile web apps, you need to have in place the resources not just to build the app, but to support, maintain, and maybe even update it.

Build, Get It Out There
After I was able to figure out my issue relating to displaying content within All Books, I needed to start using it. It didn’t matter that there was (noted) performance issues or the inability to see the footnotes as I’d like. Getting it into my normal use allows me to catch things that I’d not considered in my initial development and design, and then adjust on the fly without effecting other pieces of the project. For example, I realized that for all the work I did with makng this a spatially-orienting design, I still felt lost when navigating. The insertion of colored indicators on the section that I was within helped this considerably, and it was a few lines of code to add to do this (1 CSS class and 1 JS statement).

With that: do you have your mobile UX resolution refined now. Its the middle of January, don’t let too much longer go by.

 

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Splashtop Remote, Bible Library Servers, and Mobile Accessibility

Friday, January 20th, 2012


Last month, we had a post from LaRosa Johnson talking about his new Asus Transformer Android tablet computer and how he planned to use it work and Biblical studies. Of the latter, he was doing something pretty neat in that he would use the tablet to remotely log into his laptop to be able to use the desktop Bible software packages that he has there. We’ve found another example of this over at Biblical Studies and Technological Tools where instead of a tablet, we’ve got an Android smartphone, and the software being used is SplashTop Remote Desktop. Here’s a snippet of that experience:

In the past I have used Logmein for remote access to the various family computers I maintain. Even the basic free account lets me take over a computer and run programs on it. It works great and is secure. I will continue to use it for such maintenance tasks. Note that this can work the other way around, and what a program like this allows me to do is run programs that are on my home system from any other computer. As long as I have my home system on and Logmein enabled, I can remotely connect to my home system and use my installed programs like BibleWorks or Logos. I’ve also used it to grab files I’ve forgotten on my home computer when I’m at school. (I now use SugarSync to keep my systems all in sync via the cloud. It’s a wonderful thing.) It’s a little slow to use Logmein this way, but it works. What this also means is that I can use the web browser on my smartphone and see BibleWorks on my phone. I say “see,” because without the use of a mouse on my phone, I really can’t do too much. Logmein does have an Android app ($29), but I just don’t use it that much, especially on my phone, to buy it.

Read the rest of BibleWorks and Logos on Android (sort of…) at Biblical Studies and Technological Tools.

Now, this sounds like something that would be only useful in areas where wireless bandwidth is accessible and there’s some technological savy on the part of the person putting this together. But, I can’t help thinking that at some level, it would make a lot of sense to see something like Bibleworks, Logos, etc. offered in a “server package” where you purchase “seats” and those authenticate mobile devices are able to use it. This would be no different than what we see with CRM, task management, Intranet, and office productivity suites (Salesforce, Basecamp, SharePoint, and Google Apps to name a few).

A difference in the application here though would need to be that Bible software suites doing this would want to explore being usable in different streams. For example, something like having the BibleWorks install and UI sitting on a Seagate GoFlex Satellite, with anyone accessing that hard drive/access point being able to “see/read” BibleWorks on their device, but it is being served from that single point. There’d also be something like Logos’ Biblia that could be explored where a license for an organization could make available to authenticated seats some measure of the Logos library. Or, finally we could see the BibleWorks/Olive Tree/Logos/etc. move to a model of use where instead of purchasing and downloading a product, that people and organizations purchase access to a virtual desktop of sorts which would allow them (a) access to the library and (b) multiple devices which can access it per use account. Now that I’m thinking about it, it would be really neat if I could recreate the mobile web server and then host the bible project I’m working on from it… uhmmm

In whatever case, its pretty neat to see these kinds of access choices taken when it comes to Bible software. We shouldn’t limit mobile just to “what’s designed for the small screen” when its clearly possible for that small screen to access a bit more. What is worth being explored though is how we can better enable mobile to be a key to a content library, whether or not those with the devices have the financial means to access the content or not.

 

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Two Looks at the Context/Term ‘Advanced Mobile’

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Bubble_Chart_Top10_LargestTAMs, FlurryInitially, this post mentioned just the research and rankings by Tomi Ahonen; a later publication granted similar context with similar and different conclusions which combined with Ahonen’s insights grants considerable understanding towards current and future contexts of mobile on country levels. Therefore both of these are presented in a single post for relevance and compaative analysis.

Tomi Ahonen’s Ranking of Most Advanced Mobile Markets (by Country)
Tomi Ahonen (by virtue of his consultancy) tends to have all kinds of information which offer some measure of contextual relevance towards understanding mobile perspectices and trends. One of those that tends to cause all kinds of neat conversation has to do with his ranking of countries towards how advanced they are. He’s done this tanking for a few years (within his publications) and now offers this ranking again. Its not the most perfect (see the methodology quoted after the numbers, but should offer clear enough reasoning why approaching mobile from a “let’s evangelize the whole world at once approach” isn’t the best strategy.

Here’s his ranking (reformatted in a cleaner table layout):

Rank (2010) Country Index (%)
1 (1) Japan 91
2 (2) South Korea 89
3 (6T) Singapore 84
4 (3) Italy 83
5 (6T) Finland 82
6T (9) Sweden 81
6T (4T) Taiwan 81
8 (4T) Austria 80
9 (14) Hong Kong 79
10 (10T) Australia 78
11 (8) Israel 77
12 (10T) UK 76
13T (16T) Denmark 75
13T (15) Norway 75
13T (12) Spain 75
16 (22) UAE 73
17 (19) USA 72
18 (13) Ireland 71
19 (18) Netherlands 70
20 (16T) Germany 69

…This index is as far as I know, the only international comparative table that uses all the major metrics for the industry as inputs – ie I use the mobile phone penetration rate per capita, the migration rate to 3G networks, the adoption ie usage of mobile data (which typically is the adoption rate of SMS text messaging in most markets) and the measure of how advanced the handsets are in that country (which in most cases is the adoption rate of smartphones)…

*Emphasis ours

Read the rest of Tomi’s 2011 Mobile Phone Index Ranking posting.

Flurry’s Analysis of the Installed Base of Users for iOS and Android Devices
One of the most popular (and heard) metrics for ascertaining the relevance of mobile is to take a look at sales and activations numbers. And certainly these do have some redeeming value when looking at the “right now” action that is happening with mobile. However, concentrating on sales and activations misses the most signifiant statistic – how many devices are being used right now? And if there is only a percentage of those total sales or activations being used, what others kinds of information does this installed base give us that might better allow us to see the actual use of mobile, and the opportunities which might lie for mobile/mobile ministry endeavors?

The largest take on installed base research that I’ve seen to date seems to be this work compiled and recently published by Flurry.

Flurry validates their research by using several data points, most of which are available publically, and then cross-linking that against their metrics gained from the 140,000 applications which utilize their analytics software/services. Here’s a snippet of their report:

…Because this chart measures future potential, TAMs are much larger relative to active user bases.  The result, visually, is a lot more “light blue.”  Many of the world’s largest countries have largely un-penetrated markets, primarily due to standards of living (emerging markets) or increased competition for consumers’ disposable income (developed markets).  In either case, the TAM is there, but the adoption hasn’t yet occurred.  So, many of these markets are future bets with the time of maturity somewhat variable and unknown.  In this chart, the U.S. has both the largest current installed base and market upside.  Again, this is because of its unique, well-penetrated and large, affluent population.  Next China, given its very large population (1.3 billion), along with a growing middle class who has already begun adopting smart devices, has the world’s second largest market potential.  In comparison, even though India has the world’s second largest population (1.2 billion), its TAM is much smaller than China’s because of India’s very low standard of living.  The result is that, even though its total population is not far behind China’s, its total addressable market is.  Further, the adoption of smartphones and tablets among its TAM has been small.  Finally, Japan, the world’s fourth largest market, has a lot of upside given light penetration of iOS and Anroid devices against its large, addressable market..

Read the entire iOS/Android Installed Base report from Flurry

Takeaways/Conclusions
We titled this post Two Looks at the Context/Term ‘Advanced Mobile’ because the phrase finds itself often within conversations about mobile/mobile ministry. Being advanced is indeed one part functionality (Ahonen) and another part current/analyized use (Flurry). Aiming devices, services, and experiences to a mobile goal means that you have to keep in mind not just the trends (Ahonen) but also what’s happening that’s addressable. Aiming for smartphone users in the US makes sense because of the shape and prospects of the market. Using the same approach in Angola might not be a good bet. The context of what’s advanced mobility there or elsewhere has to seen in light of what’s actually happening.

Given the information above, shaping your mobile strategy for 2012 and beyond should be a good bit clearer.

 

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Being Acquainted with the Challenges of Mobile as Ministry

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Screenshot of PocketBible from ChurchMagIt probably doesn’t need to be stated because its often felt. But, I do think that in the race to use this technology for casues that forward faith, we sometimes lose sight of the fact that there are very few specalisists, fewer folks implementing, and even fewer folks that can communicate their story as they walk through this. In fact, its a common refrain in many calls/meetings about mobile ministry that you just won’t find best practices and case studies. There just aren’t enough people doing it that are able to compose best practices and cases studies. And that’s a shame. The current state of affairs invalidates the approach of mobile in ministry (or mobile as a ministry tool) in the minds of some because of the lack of this information; even though context dictates a different perspective should be adopted until those experiences and materials are grounded.

Having said such, when you are able to hear the successes and challenges present, its best to hightlight them. As community of technologists and believers see these stories, then we can start talking about solutions and making things more eficient for all. For example, in this snippet, we hear very clearly the challenges presented to one of the veterans in this space, Craig Raridian of Laridian Bible Software:

…Mobile software development is a challenge for small shops like ours. There are no good solutions. Consider the fact that when we started Laridian there were two dominant platforms: Windows CE and Palm OS. Both were programmed using the C++ programming language that we already knew from our prior experience programming for Windows PCs. Today the two dominant platforms are iPhone and Android. iPhone uses Objective-C and supports non-user-interface objects created in C++. Its operating system is based on the familiar Mac OS X. Android uses the Java programming language and has a proprietary operating system that is still evolving. And if we throw Windows Phone into the mix, it uses C# as its programming language. The result is that we can’t be like diplomats who have to learn the language of their host country, but rather we have to be like a representative to the United Nations whose headset is broken so he has to understand every language being spoken by all the other delegates…

Read the rest of this article (which talks about the progress of Android development of PocketBible).

These challenges aren’t unfamiliar, nor isolated. In the history of craft and creative fields. Having a capacity across several simlar or disparate fields is normal. It is very common for people engaged within these fields to be going at it alone, or in resource constrained fields. I’ve certainly felt this in full since branching out to do MMM full-time. There’s essentially this challenge of not just producing what you are gifted to do, but making sure that you can relate that creation/creative event to the social, financial, and spiritual needs that are also present.

This is one of the reasons why in our recommendations for building a mobile website or application, we specifically state that there should be a small team of people dedicated to prayer (and emotional/mental) support for the effort. You just can’t take on an effort that has technological and spiritual components and expect it to go on passion alone (speaking from experience here, have been totally burnt out from doing MMM, often).

You have that resources challenge. Are there enough people, finances, skills, or even just materials, around you to create/sustain what you are working towards? Many times, you might start with sufficient resources, but unforeseen circumstances push those reserves to an empty point. That’s a tough place to be – especially when you’ve not made a shipping product yet. I won’t even go into the resource challenges when you are marketing/selling skills and experience. So let’s be a bit more realistic, and discerning of the pressures we are putting on technologists and ministers when ascribing our energies and attention towards this very new field called mobile ministry. There are challenges that just can’t be swept away, or waited for others to do. The folks out here doing this are cutting the ground. Their challenges are as real as the opportunities.

 

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Upgrading Devices, Upgrading Life

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Asus Eee Pad Transformer product shotI’m a gadget guy. I’ve loved electronics from a young age, whether it be a computer or the latest video game system. In recent years, that love of electronics has grown to include mobile & handheld devices. The challenge, though, has been to weigh my lust for gadgetry with their practical implications for my life; which, is a part of what we try to preach here at Mobile Ministry Magazine. If the device doesn’t fill a real need, do you really need the device? That’s been my personal challenge.

My first taste with handheld devices came with the $99 Palm Z22 back in 2005. It filled a very specific need: 1) having a device to keep track of my life, and 2) keeping a Bible in my pocket. The need quickly came to stop carrying three devices (feature phone, Palm, Zune) and to knock it down to two. So, in 2007 I upgraded to my first smartphone (T-Mobile Dash, a Windows Mobile device), which allowed me to carry just a phone & my Zune. My needs hadn’t changed, other than wanting to carry fewer devices; since, I intentionally did not have a data plan very long after buying the phone. In 2009, I upgraded to the Android G1. Again, needs hadn’t changed all that much, although I wanted to take advantage of the Google ecosystem that I had already made myself a part of with Google Apps. Last Thanksgiving (2010), I had the opportunity to upgrade to the Android G2, as my wife wanted a better smartphone (after having inherited my Dash) & we were able to take advantage of a buy 1 get 1 free deal. A subsequent upgrade to a 32GB microSD card allowed me to ditch my Zune altogether & get down to a single device, which is where I’ve been for the past year.

As you can probably see, part of my upgrades typically come when there’s a need to fill, and I sometimes get the opportunity to alleviate some gadget envy in the process. Recently, I’ve wanted to take a part of the whole tablet craze. I held off for a long while, not being able to fully justify the price or function for my needs. I wanted a tablet so much so that I bought an iPad 2 earlier this year, but returned it after I couldn’t live with the amount I had spent on it. So, when the opportunity presented itself last week for me to purchase a tablet on the cheap, I jumped on the opportunity (and the Lord aligned the circumstances for me to happen to have the funds available). What did I get? I ended up with an Asus Eee Pad Transformer (a Honeycomb Android tablet), along with its keyboard dock accessory.

What finally convinced me to purchase a tablet? Well, simply put: it filled a need. As a student of the Bible and someone who just likes to read in general, I have amassed quite the digital library of theological resources. Many of these resources are great for study, but others are great for just sitting down and reading from cover to cover. Well, when you have a 17″ notebook computer, sitting with it on your lap or at a desk isn’t always the best way to read an electronic resource. Mobile apps have allowed me to read on my phone, but that screen real estate is just too small for extended reading. So, a tablet that can run those same apps fit that niche quite nicely. Also throw in the desire for wanting to be more mobile while staying connected and you can see where a tablet comes in handy. While it’s only a Wi-Fi only device, that doesn’t concern me because my G2 has 4G connectivity & it doesn’t cost me extra (with T-Mobile) to turn my phone into a hotspot.

It’s nice having a device that fits my needs, and with both my phone & tablet being Android, it makes life easy because there was no need to buy new apps, except those that were tablet specific. I was actually quite surprised to find that as soon as I logged in & hit the Wi-Fi that the Android Market was smart enough to automatically download all the same apps that I had put on my phone. While it’s primarily a reading device, I’m also excited about the opportunity to try pushing the envelope of mobile. This weekend I’m taking a business trip to Austin, TX and I’ll be leaving my laptop at home; I’ll only be taking my tablet with me (and phone, obviously). But wait, I’m supposed to be giving a demo of some desktop software. Doesn’t matter, I’m still leaving my computer at home. Why? Because I can simply VNC into my machine from my tablet, and with a mini HDMI port & VGA connector, I can connect to a projector & give the demo from the tablet. How cool is that?!

As I strive to be more mobile in the coming days & weeks, I’m interested in seeing where my phone & tablet take me. I’m looking forward to the conversations that it sparks, both in the office and in public when I’m using my device for reading, drawing, taking notes in church, and more. It’s nice when upgrading a device can also upgrade your life.

 

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Working by Mobile in Angola by Unwired View

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

android device with Movicel SIMThere’s some sense of disbelief across mobilists, developers, theologists, and just about anyone else when I describe to them how I live/work solely from mobile devices (seriously, I only need a conventional PC when doing a SharePoint virtual training class). Its normal for me to live like this. To hear those who ddeal and work with mobile not work/live like this does tend to get to me a bit. Nevertheless, there are moments when others get a chance to poke at life via mobile that’s different than their normal contexts.

Such was the case at Unwired View. In a recent article, there was such an exploration of mobile and life brought about because of work/productivity needs. Here’s a snippet:

All together I can say that all the (mobile) technology made the trip to Angola very easy for me and my family. It helped me to get my work done there, it entertained me in the evening and it kept me connected to my local colleagues, my friends and my family. Don’t know how generations before us did the same without these little helpers but I don’t want to miss this kind of mobile technology in my life anymore.

Read the rest of Unwired Thought’s Back from Angola – Back on Duty.

Notable to that article, and personal experience, being productivty with such an arrangement means dealing with certain compromises and advantages. You have to know not just your device, but the advantages and limitations of all potential viewing windows for whatever it is that you are producing. For example, living such a way has meant for the complete removal of MS Office from my computing devices. Documents that won’t be seen by others sit in Evernote or are self-generated HTML documents; collaborative documents migrate to Google Docs or task/project management solutions (SharePoint, Basecamp, etc.).

Another note from that piece, do you see how he had to adapt his personal mobile tech to the contexts of the culture. Needing a torch, FM radio, and using a device that iis easy to be repaired were common to where he was. The Internet was so new, and expensive, that outside of a company-supplied SIM it wasn’t going to happen as often unless through a Wi-Fi hotspot or cafe. Knowing mobile means that you have to understand these aspects of your environment before you get there, while being open and versatile enough to change when teh situations warrant.

Many of you might have stories of such challenges and opportunities. You should be open about those items, and help others online and around you prepare adequately for such variances in technical environments.

 

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Mobile App Holiday Giveaway: 1000 Church Apps from ROAR

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

ROAR App's Holiday Giveaway of 1000 Church appsWe are partnering with ROAR to let you know about an awesome opportunity to getting a mobile application built for your church/ministry. Here are the details as posted by ROAR CEO Matt McKee:

From November 29th – December 31, 2011, we are completely waiving the $750 per app setup fee for the first 1,000 churches, ministries, or 501c3 non-profits to sign up. You will still need to pay the monthly hosting fee, but we’ve even reduced that for this limited-time offer! You can choose either option: iPhone and iPad only or iPhone, iPad, and Android. You get a better value if you choose all three platforms, and for this limited time, we’ve also slashed the price if you go ahead and pay for a full year of hosting up front! Seriously, if your church is considering an app, you will not find a better deal than this.

Pricing is as follows:

  • iPhone/iPad app: $30/month or $300/year
  • Android app: $30/month or $300/year
  • iPhone/iPad AND Android apps: $50/month or $500/year
  • And NO setup cost.

So, if you’ve already gotten your ducks in a row concerning what it is that you want from a mobile application (see the recommended reading links below), you just need to step up towards ROAR’s invitation and get that applicaation built.

If you haven’t gotten your mobile app plans moving forward, and development was the sticky point, definitley take advantage of this offering and finish 2011/begin 2012 on a capable mobile foot.

Sign up now before the 1000 slots are taken up.

NOTE: You do need to pay for the 1st month’s hosting fees for the application in order to get the church/ministry application built for free. You can also choose to pay for the entire year, and the free application offer also applies.

About ROAR

Learn more about ROAR’s mobile app development, CMS solutions, their pricing models, and their FAQs at their website.

Recommended Readings
Do make sure to have these articles in your reading list as they will come in handy as you work with ROAR or any other mobile application developers/service providers. The better prepared that you are, they more effective your mobile solution will be.

Take advantage of this partnership between ROAR and MMM while this offer lasts.

 

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