Author Archives: Hussain Fakhruddin

InSlideOut App By Teknowledge

InSlideOut is one of the most detailed event-based app in the app portfolio of Teknowledge. Aaron Rosenzweig, who conceptualized the app, has got to be lauded for his vision – to help people across the world keep track of their favorite social events and sporting affairs, and attend them with ease. The iOS version of InSlide Out has been a huge hit (optimized for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch), and plans are already in place for the creation of an Android version of the app pretty soon.

The Spirit Of InSlideOut

“My team has created several event-based apps. However, it was a long-standing wish of mine to create an iPhone application that would double up as an event roster as well as a ticketing tool. This was the precise purpose behind InSlideOut.”

— Aaron Rosenzweig (Founder, Managing Partner, InSlideOut app)

Unlike many wannabe mobile concept developers, Aaron did not sit on the app idea for long. He looked up good iPhone app development companies online, came across our portal, and requested for a free app quote. Interestingly, this was one of the few cases where we could send along the app quote within a couple of hours. Aaron agreed to our terms and we were suitably impressed by his app idea (a ‘win-win situation’, so to speak) – and the project started from the following week.

“There are plenty of events happening every day. Getting hold of their itineraries and being able to decide which one to attend is not a particularly easy task. During my rather frequent foreign tours, I have found that out for myself. The prospect of an app that would do all the hard work and keep users up-to-date definitely excited me and the other developers at Teks. We were up for it.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

So, What Type Of Events Does InSlideOut Update Users About?

Aaron had visualized InSlideOut to be an app that enabled people to find out the details about practically every type of high-profile events – right from concerts and live performances, to sporting face-offs. The iOS app developers at our company worked accordingly, to ensure the availability of real-time event feeds to users. From family events to a wild dance festival at a pub, InSlideOut informs people about, well, everything.

“The one thing I positively hate is half-baked apps. I have never compromised with the idea behind any of my earlier applications, and InSlideOut was not going to be an exception. It was chalked out as a holistic event guide for users – and thankfully, the guys at Teks understood this, and were capable enough to customize the app accordingly.”

— Aaron Rosenzweig (Founder, Managing Partner, InSlideOut app)

An interesting aspect of this event-based iPhone app was its distinct focus on sporting events in particular. After a couple of brainstorming sessions with Aaron and his partner Henrik Olsson, it was finalized that the application would have the detailed itinerary for as many as 5 different sports (Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey and Soccer). People would be given the option to choose and follow as many teams as they wanted. Fan-following made easy!

“The sports-oriented feel of InSlideOut was the biggest reason why I downloaded it. I am a big fan of American football, and with this cool app, I haven’t missed a game of the Chicago Bears since last October. I could even toggle between college-level and pro-level matches. Two thumbs-up for InSlideOut!”

— Phillippe Jones (iPhone 6-user)

(downloaded InSlideOut on September 16, 2014)

Much More Than ‘Just Another Social-n-Sports events app’…

Developers at our mobile app company were keen to ensure that there was no ‘me-too’ feel about the InSlideOut application. When Aaron suggested the idea of having a screen via which people could follow the upcoming events of their favorite celebs – we were delighted. If anything, this featured turned out to be one of the USP’s of this iOS social app.

“I wanted InSlideOut to be more than an event-information generation app. While thinking how to makeInSlideOut different – it struck me…plenty of people wanted to know only about the events and performances of the celebs they love. It made sense to let them do that via InSlideOut.”

— Aaron Rosenzweig (Founder, Managing Partner, InSlideOut app)

A Smart Virtual Decision-Maker

“It’s a dilemma for many to pick and choose the events to attend – particularly if two or more good bands are scheduled to perform at the same time. One of the best things about InSlideOut is that it generates automatic suggestions about the event a person would enjoy more. In a nutshell, the app is a top events guide.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

We agreed with Aaron that there was no point in putting users through the hassles of registering and/or spend time setting up their profiles on InSlideOut. Instead, the app was given the built-in functionality of creating user profiles automatically – as soon as people logged on. Our mobile app developers made sure that the app could pull in and ‘learn’ from the information provided by users, and serve as an accurate, timely, reliable social calendar.

“For the app to be really helpful, it had to start providing event-based information and schedule details as soon as possible, after it had been downloaded. If we had put in an elaborate registration screen, InSlideOut might not have worked. Who wants to fill up forms on mobile devices anyway?”

— Aaron Rosenzweig (Founder, Managing Partner, InSlideOut app)

Purchasing Event Tickets Through InSlideOut

Unlike other apps in the same category, InSlideOut was neither visualized by Aaron, nor created by our app developers, as a database of only local events. The plan was to generate real-time event info from the city of individual users, as well as from other locations around the world. As per Aaron’s advice, a secure mobile ticketing gateway was included in the app (every listed event had a ‘Buy Ticket’ tab). This went a long way in removing uncertainties regarding whether a person would be able to attend an event.

“Only a socially active person would know the frustrations of having to stand in long queues for getting tickets to much-awaited events. Factors like distance and time-unavailability can also be major headaches. Me and Aaron wanted to make InSlideOut a reliable tool to purchase tickets from. People would no longer have to worry about ‘Sold Out’ boards at ticket counters!”

Henrik Olsson (Co-Founding Partner, InSlideOut app)

Value As A Social Networking App

Initial feedback from users confirmed what Aaron and his team had always wished for – the InSlideOut iOS application could serve as a multipurpose social networking tool too. On the pretext of attending events in other cities, users could meet up with new people and visit new destinations…with absolute ease. Attending hot-n-happening events and making new acquaintances at foreign locations – with features like these, the success of InSlideOut was not entirely unprecedented.

“Aaron came across as a person who really had a feel about what made mobile apps user-friendly. He floated the idea that, in addition to ticket-purchase options, InSlideOut should also give low-cost travel ideas to users. Creating groups and sharing event-related information within groups was a breeze as well.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

Initial log in screen of the app (later rejected)

This app development project was completed in three weeks and a bit. We were particularly careful about the UI and graphic features – since a dull-looking social events app was never going to work. Our in-house UI/UX designers made sure that the app had engaging display features, the in-app navigation was fast and smooth, and the events database was updated on a real-time basis. With InSlideOut, it was all about giving customized information and ticket-buying options to users.

“I had envisioned InSlideOut as an app that required minimal personal information from users, and provided the maximum amount of relevant information. Credit to Hussain and his team – they made the app just the way I wanted.”

— Aaron Rosenzweig (Founder, Managing Partner, InSlideOut app)

InSlideOut is available for free download at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inslideout/id889941951. It has already won over people who love to attend big events from across the globe. Aaron and his team definitely deserve all the accolades!

AppBoard Tuesday – Why Do So Many Mobile App Startups Flop?

Well, hello folks…and welcome to a brand new edition of AppBoard Tuesday (ABT) – the free weekly e-newsletter from Teknowledge. A few days back, while doing a bit of research, our team came across a very interesting stat – on average, nearly 3 out of 4 mobile app startups fail every year. A hint of nostalgia (back in the late 2000-s, we were also not much more than an ambitious startup) led us to deal with this topic in this edition of ABT. We will highlight a few things that new mobile app entrepreneurs should be wary of, to save their startup company from turning out to be duds:

Do not let managerial responsibilities kill off your core skills – If you have decided to take the plunge in the mobile app business, chances are high that you are an expert developer yourself. Many new ‘bosses’ make the folly of committing all of their time for setting up their companies – leaving them with hardly any scope to do what they are actually good at (in this case, creating apps). Of course you need to be a leader of your team of developers – but addressing every employee grievance, conducting interviews, and related stuff are NOT YOUR PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY. Your company should not put your core expertise in the shade.
Make your products stand out, but not too much – One of the first things that you learn at your management course is that a ‘me-too’ product never works. The domain of mobile app development is not an exception to this rule of thumb. However, if you create a totally unique, never-seen-before sort of an application (and we have seen many such weird apps being released, and failing, every quarter!), failure won’t be far away. The idea should be providing excellent quality apps to clients that serve a precise, well-specified purpose – and are easy to operate too. Confuse your customers, and they will simply ignore your apps.
Avoid the pitfall called procrastination – What is the single biggest peril for any mobile app company? We feel that the answer is ‘stagnation’. Of course you need to research about the SDKs of the different mobile platforms, the APIs, animation tools and other technical stuff – but that should not delay the process of development from being set into motion. Your company should have a Minimum Viable Product (think of it like a very basic set of apps) at the stores as quickly as possible. There are new app companies that take 9-10 months to come up with their first set of applications – and not surprisingly, the latter do not find many takers.
Gather (and retain) a strong team of developers – Developers who are not particularly skilled and/or are still learning the nitty-gritty of programming would accept lower pay packages (an idea that most new app company bosses jump at). What is not taken into account is that, such developers also pull down the quality of the apps that are ultimately created. From the very outset, your focus should be on hiring people who are talented, have ample relevant experience, and are willing to learn. Do not stay in the thought bubble that app development (coding) and UI/UX designing can be done by the same person(s) – you need separate teams for separate, specialized tasks. If you are planning to get into cross-platform mobile development, form separate teams for Android and iPhone app development. In a nutshell, do not compromise on the quality of developers/designers in your company. Human asset matters most.
Don’t lose your sleep over that thing called ‘first-mover advantage’ – In the field of mobile technology, being the first-mover does not always work out. There have been many, many cases of gadgets that have been ground-breaking, but have not been well-received by targeted end-users (what about the recent Google Glass fiasco?). You need to be careful while making mobile apps too. Do not try creating apps for something which no one has ventured in till date. Instead, analyze how the first-mover’s products are reviewed, and then, try to improve on them. You will get a reference point to start off too.
If you exist, the world should know about you – Sadly, this is the issue that most new-fangled mobile app entrepreneurs gloss over (and consequently, their companies fail). Your technological and app development expertise might be of the highest order, but other people need to be made aware of that first. How do you do that? Simple enough…try to get into strategic partnerships with other tech firms (do not sell off your company though!), and target the World Wide Web to spread the word about your company (create a nicely optimized, informative website, have an active presence on popular social media channels, etc.). Request your initial customers/clients to give feedback about your services – which you will be able to show off on your website. Of all types of promotions, nothing has more long-run benefits than positive word-of-mouth publicity.
Sketch out a detailed business model first – A client gets in touch with you, an iPhone/Android app is created and delivered, and you collect the app development fees. Straightforward, right? Unfortunately, helming an actual mobile app company is far from being this easy. You need to lay down, and follow, a detailed, properly deliberated upon, business model from the very outset. Divide your operations in separate stages – right from providing online free app quotes and deciding the advance payments (do not go beyond 30% of the overall charges), to creating and sharing wireframes/mockups, mobile app testing procedures, and the submission at stores. The more systematic you are, the brighter are the chances of your company’s success.
Be a leader, not a boss – During an interview conducted just before the start of the Cricket World Cup 2015, Aussie Test captain Steven Smith said ‘managers are many, but leaders are few’. The same thing can be said about the owners of mobile app startups. Remember, your team of app developers and designers need you by their side, for guidance, direction and on-the-job training. Never be stand-offish, be easily approachable (of course, for project-related discussions), and offer incentives and perks to your best employees. Try being an inspirational leader who leads by example, and not a proverbial ‘Hari Sadu’!
Never be afraid to experiment – Every mobile app developer wants to transform ideas into apps – and if they are any good, they will always try to think up new, innovative ideas. Now, not all such ideas would work (and that’s only natural) – so it makes sense to carry out small-scale experiments with the more ‘unique’ ideas (read: create prototypes), test them, gather feedback, and then decide whether it would be worth it to allot resources for developing that app. The alternative to this is, of course, going with run-of-the-mill app ideas – but that is a sureshot recipe for disaster for startups.
Move with the times – The app development techniques and strategies (heck, even the apps themselves) should be in sync with the prevalent mobile technology at any time. For instance, after the release of WatchKit, every app company is chalking up plans to make apps for Apple Watch (generalizing a bit more, wearables are the new in-thing, and apps customized for them are likely to be in demand). At the time of iOS 8 and Android Lollipop and Swift programming language, if you stay stuck with elementary Java apps (we started with them, but that was 2006!) – why should any client avail your services?

For startups, money, time and resources (technical and manpower) are likely to be in limited supply. That, however, does not mean that you should be stingy about investing properly on your services. Half-baked, problematic apps (created as a result of your desperate attempts to cut costs) would invariably create a negative buzz about your company – and you will struggle to come out of that. Smart mobile app entrepreneurs always compare the investment figures with the lifetime return value for each project. If the situation so demands, you will have to spend – for making the future of your company secure.

Let’s round up this week’s ABT with wishing all the luck to budding mobile app developers and startup owners all over. Making your business work in this fiercely competitive domain is not the easiest challenge, but if you stick at it and are a smart decision-maker, you can definitely succeed.

AppBoard Tuesday will return next week, with yet another intriguing topic related to mobile applications. Till the next time, love thy apps!

Kids Tiles App By Teknowledge

In our nearly 9-year journey as a mobile app development company, we have noticed one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb: the distinct paucity of quality apps for kids. Most of the ones already present at the app stores do not have any educational value whatsoever, while the reading apps for kids are generally boring. Our award-winning Story Time For Kids application has done its bit to bridge this gap, and we were delighted when Ms. Maria Thyselius Bergstrom got in touch with us in mid-2014 to create another lovely children’s app. This one was named Kids Tiles.

Kids Tiles Project Comes To Teknowledge

Ms. Bergstrom had been toying with the idea of creating a good iPhone/iPad app for kids for fairly long. The only thing that was holding her back was not being able to find and hire a company that was into developing mobile applications in Sweden – which could handle her project. Thankfully, the portfolio and free app quote from Teknowledge impressed her, and work on Kids Tiles started soon enough.

“It wasn’t the easiest task to find a proper app development company, I can vouch for that! And I wasn’t prepared to tweak around my vision for Kids tiles in any way either. It was a nice stroke of luck that I chanced upon the Teknowledge website while casually browsing the web. These guys seemed competent…and their portfolio was great.”

Maria Thyselius Bergstrom (Concept Developer, Kids Tiles)

Determination To Make Kids Tiles A Winner

“Me and my team of mobile app developers were desperate to prove that the heady success of Story Time For Kids was not a fluke – and we were indeed masters at developing diverse varieties of kids’ apps. The project from Maria gave us the perfect opportunity to showcase that.”

Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

Initial draft design of the app (later rejected)

For someone with the concept of an app, the clarity of thinking of Ms. Bergstrom was the most striking. She provided us with a fairly detailed lowdown about what the main features of the app would be – thereby giving our iPhone app developers and UI/UX designers a solid reference point to start with. For starters, the app was to be made for the iOS (iPhone and iPad) platform only. Although not certain yet, we might create an Android version of Kids Tiles later on.

Overview Of The App

Several sessions of brainstorming (with quite a lot of caffeine being consumed!) were held at our office – to find out how we could make Kids Tiles one of the best mobile educational apps for kids. The inputs from Ms. Bergstrom helped a great deal as well.

“Doing the groundwork for any new app has always excited me. Even so, I have got to say – Kids Tiles was among the most interesting projects I had ever worked on. Every new feature, every additional screen color or design – everything was deliberated upon, and it was a full 10 days before the blueprint for the app was complete.”

Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

We created Kids Tiles in the form of an engaging mobile game for toddlers, with subtle educational lessons. Six different categories – numbers, gadgets, animals, body parts, colors and transport – were displayed on the app screen (with sub-categories). Whenever a child tapped on any of the categories and followed the next set of instructions that came up, the game would start and (s)he will become familiar with the category of things chosen.

“The last thing I wanted to make was just another run-of-the-mill mobile game. I have always maintained that fun and learning should go hand-in-hand in any good children’s app. Thankfully, Hussain and his team got the feel of my idea, and made Kids Tiles just the way I wanted it to be.”

Maria Thyselius Bergstrom (Concept Developer, Kids Tiles)

Customizing The Kids Tiles App

During our long haul as a custom app development agency, we were fully aware of one thing. If Kids Tiles did not manage to grab children’s attentions at the first go, it would be doomed for ‘failure’ – the one word that is alien to Teknowledge. Our mobile app developers set up child-friendly controls for this iOS app for kids, HD images and illustrations were used, and attractive color schemes/combinations were implemented. The gameplay (identifying the ‘right’ things within a specified period of time) had a nice, competitive streak about it. The sound effects could also be adjusted easily.

“What is the point of making a mobile app for kids, if kids cannot use it on their own? This was a thought that considerably influenced the inclusion and arrangement of features in the Kids Tiles application. My developers were determined to make the app easily operable by children themselves. Self-dependence and all that for the little ones!”

Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

The initial round of feedback from parents and teachers worldwide confirmed that Kids Tiles had indeed found favor among kids – and it was helping the latter to learn up about animals, numbers, gadgets and such stuff quickly. We had managed to give shape to Ms. Bergstrom’s vision, and prove our professional expertise once again too!

Giving More Options To Children

“It was vital to not lose sight of the fun element that any app for kids must possess. I wanted to give as many gameplay options to kids as possible in Kids Tiles. I feel this has been one of the telling factors behind its success.”

Maria Thyselius Bergstrom (Concept Developer, Kids Tiles)

Once the types of educational benefits of the app were chalked out and the general visual features finalized, it was a whole lot of fun planning the activities on the app. In Kids Tiles, we included three different tile-movement options – ‘Rise’, ‘Sink’ and ‘Play & Rise.’ In essence, the app was all about letting children enjoy the fun of mobile gaming and learn up basic things – in whatever way they preferred.

“Me and Maria were both eager to enhance the reach of the Kids Tiles app as much as possible. In fact, that’s precisely why the app is available in seven different languages. Language-selection on Kids Tiles is simple enough.”

Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

And Then Came The Appreciations…

It did not take long for Kids Tiles to catch on with the young audience (much to the delight of Ms. Bergstrom and our in-house app developers). The introductory version debuted on iTunes on 15 August 2014, and positive reviews started coming in from the next day itself. In addition to uniformly positive user-feedback, Kids Tiles was praised at online mobile app review sites like thesmartphoneappreview.com. It has also been made available for free download at CNET (http://download.cnet.com/Kids-Tiles/3000-2102_4-76237612.html).

“When I conceptualized Kids Tiles, I was not at all concerned about the download figures or such metrics. All that I wanted was to make a fun learning app for kids. With the aid of Hussain and his team, Kids Tiles turned out to be a much bigger success story than…well…what I had originally envisaged.”

Maria Thyselius Bergstrom (Concept Developer, Kids Tiles)

Version 1.0.1 of Kids Tiles was released a couple of weeks after the app’s launch at iTunes, with small-time bug fix updates. The app is currently available for free download at https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/kids-tiles/id898758246.

After Story Time For Kids and Story Monster – Kids Tiles was yet another successful foray into the domain of mobile apps for kids by Teknowledge. We feel we did a good job (and Maria would probably agree) – even if we are saying so ourselves!

Is Spine The Best Tool For 2D Animations In Mobile Apps?

The popularity of Spine is increasing rapidly among professional animators and mobile game developers. In what follows, we have highlighted some of the key factors that make this 2D skeletal animation tool really user-friendly.

For creating high-end, realistic 2D animations for mobile games, sprite sheets are most commonly used by developers. Sprite sheets offer manifold advantages, but are far from being an absolutely problem-free tool. For starters, the memory requirement (texture memory) of sprites can be on the higher side – particularly when there are many images saved in a single .png (i.e., the elements of an animation stored in .png format). Content-scaling for retina screens can be tricky as well. Many mobile app developers feel that the general maintenance requirement of sprite sheets can be difficult too, and there is hardly any room for mistakes. In fact, these reasons have been instrumental for a large number of game developers moving over to the Spine 2D skeletal animation tool (by Esoteric Software). Here are some of the best features of Spine:

Extensive support for game toolkits – The excellent runtime support of Spine is certainly a high point of this tool. Mobile game development experts get out-of-the-box support, while working in the libgdx, cocos2d-iphone and cocos2d-x frameworks. Those who create apps and games with the Unity 2D toolkit or the XNA/Corona runtimes can get the full benefits of Spine as well. GameMaker, Actionscript 3 and Haxe are some of the external third-party runtime environments that are also compatible with Spine.
Less memory requirements – Spine does away with the hassles of having to create separate images for every frame of animation. Instead, an interpolation method is implemented – which makes the animation transitions smooth (as per the frame rates). Many iPhone app developers regularly create slo-mo animations with Spine as well. Since there are no bulky files involved, Spine scores over Sprite sheets in the memory usage aspect.
Compatibility with all popular programming languages – This feature has been specially lauded by the worldwide game development community. In addition to supporting nearly 20 runtimes, the Spine tool is compatible with as many as 7 different coding languages generally used by developers. C#, C++, Objective C or JavaScript – whatever might be the language you are coding in, you always have the option of using Spine. The question on every iOS developer’s mind at present is, whether Spine runtimes would support the Swift language as well.
Easy to maintain – It’s not that mobile game-makers can make mistakes galore on Spine and still hope for a brilliant animation – but the tool is definitely easier to learn, handle and maintain than traditional sprite sheets. Only the bone data of 2D animations (hence the name ‘skeletal animations’) are stored in the Spine tool. This, in turn, opens up the opportunity of including as many unique animations and slides in mobile games as required. Thanks to the small size of Spine files, maintenance is hardly a headache.
Dual modes of Spine – The learning curve of Spine is not at all steep – and the presence of dual modes is one of the reasons for that. When the tool is activated by mobile app developers, it is, by default, in the Setup Mode (as indicated in the upper corner on the left side of the editor screen). Images and animation bones are created and attached in this mode. Once that is done, users can toggle to the Animate Mode – where the actual animations and transitions are created, with the help of keyframe-setting and posing the skeletal images. The systematic way in which Spine works makes it ideal for relative newbies too.
Available for 3 OS and in 5 different versions – Yet another indication that Esoteric intends to expand the reach of the Spine animation tool as much as possible. It can be installed on Windows, Linux and Mac systems (at iPhone app companies, Mac systems are, of course, most commonly used). Depending on their requirements, users can also take their pick from five alternative versions of Spine. The Trial version is free, while Essential, Professional, Enterprise and Education versions are all competitively priced (the Enterprise version of Spine, with a base price of $2200, is the most expensive).
Wide range of customized features – The feature-rich nature of Spine has also found favor among game developers and app experts. The tool has a built-in Graph Editor as well as a Dopesheet. The latter comes in handy for adjusting the animation timings seamlessly. For physical integration and hit detection, the Bounding Boxes feature is a wonderful addition. Thanks to the presence of Skins, attachments for one character can be easily reused as well. Other noteworthy features of Spine include Texture Packer and Free Form Deformation.
Ideal for blended animations – Developers who have struggle to crossfade multiple animations with Spriter have, understandably, moved over to the Spine tool. The latter allows two or more animated movements (say, shooting and running) to be blended in simultaneously. Since the crossfading is very smooth, there is no risk of the character movements appearing to be jerky. Representatives from leading mobile app companies have confirmed that the animation mixing in Spine is indeed of good quality.
Built-in help for Gimp and Photoshop users – The Photoshop script of Spine helps UI/UX designers to take full advantage of the Adobe Generator tool. Since all the image files (.PNG) are kept in sync with the PSD file – further exporting of files is not required. The 2D skeletal animation tool comes with the latest Gimp script as well. JSON files are created after the export of the PNG images. All that the developers need to do next is import these JSON files.
Better pixel fill rates – Instead of conventional rectangles used for game animations, Spine makes use of polygons. This, in turn, ensures high fill rates – since drawing is not possible outside the polygon, and pixel-wastage is minimal. This is particularly important for animations in iPhone/iPad games. The polygons in the Spine interface are created with a feature called ‘Meshes’.
Option to add procedural animations – Creating mobile games and apps using Spine gives developers greater leeway to play around with their animations. Through procedural animation, a wide range of interesting effects can be added to the characters – right from glancing in specific direction, to running along slanted surfaces, and a whole lot more. Since very few art assets are required while working with Spine, the entire procedure gets speeded up.
Exporting files in any format – In addition to binary files and JSON files, Spine ensures that files saved in other formats (including media files) can be exported without any hassles. Videos can either be in QuickTime or AVI format, for being directly exportable. JPG, PNG and GIF pictures/image sequences are also exported by the Spine animation tool.
Installing X11 is easy for Mac users – In order to work properly on Mac computers, Spine requires the presence of X Quartz. Many new game developers have been confused by the Java Error that pops up, while trying to download Spine on their systems. In reality though, this is only a prompt to install X11. Users need to click on the ‘Continue’ button, and download X11 from http://xquartz.macosforge.org (look for it on the Apple support page). After this, installation of Spine will be hitch-free.
Useful shortcuts with Keyframes – The icon beside Rotate, Translate, and Scale tools in Spine has to be used to set keyframes (originally set to frame zero) and proceeding with the animations. There are a couple of cool keyboard shortcuts available here as well. If the ‘L’ button is pressed, all values of the active tool(s) will be automatically keyed. On the other hand, if you press ‘K’ – the edited values will have their keyframes set. Provided that you are proficient with using Spine, using these shortcuts can help you save quite a bit of time.

With the Spine runtime libraries, all animations can be loaded and rendered realtime by the game toolkit. Assembling characters is fairly simple too (game developers do make the mistake of adding different versions of the same label on the stage though). The Spine vs Sprite Sheets debate is, in essence, a comparison between skeletal animation and frame-based animation – and the former does offer a fair few additional advantages.

Have you worked with the Spine animation tool?

I Can Be Anything (Suite Of 12 Apps) by Teknowledge

“Don’t take so much of stress…it is affecting your health!”

How many times have we heard this from doctors? All of us are aware that remaining stress-free goes a long way in ensuring mental peace – but even so, our daily workplace tensions, family troubles, distractions, and other minor quabbles tend to bog us down. Wouldn’t it have been just great if there was a nice mobile app to get rid of such unwanted stresses? Well, Jacob Strachotta and his I Can Be Anything team thought so…and this application took practical shape.

“I have been studying human behavior for over 20 years now. If you asked me to identify the single largest cause for most mental disquiets, I would mention the daily stresses and past bad experiences. My app is all about bringing down the regular tension levels of users, by, well, as much as possible.”

— Jacob Strachotta (Co-founder, I Can Be Anything)

Collaboration Of Team I Can Be Anything and Teknowledge Software

Herein lies an interesting tale. Jacob and his partner Ditte wanted to make sure that the app was not just another ‘gimmicky mood-reliever’. They had years of in-depth insight into the inner psyche of human beings, and wanted to make the most of it – to create an app that would actually help people feel uplifted. They took out time to search the web for a suitable mobile app development company, and finally zeroed in on our company, Teknowledge.

“While working with Cimber/Sterling Airlines and Danish Government Administration (prior to to starting on ICBA in 2009), I had become more or less an expert on tackling various forms of HR issues. Jacob here is, of course, a globally lauded authority on human behavior and related stuff. Together, we were determined to make a stress-reliever app that actually worked. Teknowledge Software seemed proficient enough to create the application – and boy, were they interested to come on board!”

Ditte Strachotta (Co-founder, I Can Be Anything)

The Strachotta-s got in touch with our mobile app company in the third quarter of 2014, and we provided them with a detailed free app quote within 19 working hours. The project started after 4 more days.

Choice Of Mobile Platforms

The focus of Jacob and Ditte was to make their ground-breaking mood-elevation and relaxation app available to as many people as possible. That’s precisely why they opted for a cross-platform app development solution. The iOS and the Android platforms were, of course the first choices (they had briefly toyed with the idea of developing a Blackberry version as well, only to abandon it later).

“Both Jacob and Ditte were, initially, interested in making I Can Be Anything an iOS app only. Soon though, they took the smart decision of developing an Android version of their cool new app as well. I suppose it’s a good thing that my company had separate teams for Android and iPhone app development!”

Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

“We were extremely wary of companies that had the same group of developers working on multi-platform projects. The fact that Teknowledge had separate and well-experienced Android and iOS app developers indeed tilted the balance significantly in their favor.”

Ditte Strachotta (Co-founder, I Can Be Anything)

A non-competing agreement was also signed on behalf of Teks, before the work proceeded.

12 Apps In A Single App Suite

Although the theoretical concept of I Can Be Anything was remarkably sound, its implementation was not as easy as initially deemed by Jacob and Ditte. They realized soon enough that the app had to have multiple applications (let’s call them sub-apps) within it. Each app within the main application would be focused on tackling with one particular aspect of daily stresses. After several consultations with representatives from our app-making firm, it was decided that there would be a total of 12 apps inside I Can Be Anything.

“Me and my team had previously worked on apps with built-in internal software, but I Can Be Anything was different from them all. In it, there were 12 apps – each devoted to relieve a particular form of tension or pressure. Dumping all the solutions on a single interface would not have worked out well, and although making apps within an app was a challenge, it was fun working on it.”

Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

In its final form, I Can Be Anything has the following apps:

I Can Be Healthy.
I Can Be Free.
I Can Be Clean.
I Can Be A Sound Sleeper.
I Can Be Confident.
I Can Be Lucky In Love.
I Can Be In Control Of My Pregnancy.
I Can Be Great In Bed.
I Can Be A Happy Teenager.
I Can Be Motivated.
I Can Be A Model Student.
I Can Be Fearless.

“A lot of research went into our selection of the apps that would be present in the I Can Be Anything mobile project. There were some informed guesses and a fair amount of surveys done too – to zero in upon 12 most common uncertainties in the minds of people. Each of them had to be addressed separately.”

— Jacob Strachotta (Co-founder, I Can Be Anything)

How Does The App Work?

The I Can Be Anything catalog of apps was conceptualized by Jacob and Ditte, and created by us, as a voice-based application. Audio lessons and soothing, calming sounds were included in each of the apps – which had the effect of driving away negative thoughts from the human mind. Apart from the nice relaxation music, users can also listen to the lessons in a male voice, with complete silence in the background. In all, there are as many as 172 sessions in the learning catalog of I Can Be Anything.

“The thing that distressed me the most during my research was the sheer volume of people around the world so dependant on anti-depressant pills. Me, Ditte and the other members of the I Can Be Anything team decided to try out the effects of sound for the same purpose – but minus the adverse side-effects of strong medications. And that was where Magnus Bergentz came on board.”

Jacob Strachotta (Co-founder, I Can Be Anything)

Magnus was given the responsibility of recording the lesson narrations (done by Jacob himself), and modify the sounds appropriately. Being an audio engineer of rich experience and considerable reputation, Magnus finds this job fun, challenging, and in a way, very, very, fulfilling.

“When my team of app developers took up the project, I was mostly worried about one thing – the quality of the relaxation sounds that were to be included in the app. The sheer excellence of Magnus Bergentz amazed me. He made the actual task of creating this app that much easier – and once again underlined the importance of expert professionals behind any successful software.”

Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

In-App Purchases

At first, including in-app purchase options did not seem really necessary for the I Can Be Anything app project. However, general user feedback and specified requirements indicated that Jacob and Ditte’s application could become all the more effective with some custom sound files – available for purchase directly from the app. Accordingly, common stuff like ‘What People Are Thinking”, “Quit Smoking”, “Afraid Of Ghosts”, “Insomnia Cure” and a few more files were included as in-app purchase options. The prices were tagged at very competitive levels.

“After listening to the relaxation sounds to tackle any specific form of worrying, a person might wish to get more up, close and personal with that issue. Via in-app purchases, we have made this a possibility. There is a host of things that people can buy from the app, depending on their interests.”

— Jacob Strachotta (Co-founder, I Can Be Anything)

Adulations For I Can Be Anything

“At Teknowledge, we expect each of our apps to be successful. Even so, the extent of popularity that I Can Be Anything has managed to generate among users in the United States, Europe and Australia has been pleasantly surprising. Me and my developers are proud to be a part of the ICBF team.”

Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

Thanks to the personalized nature of the app, its intuitive designs and layouts, HQ sound effects, and other top-notch features – the I Can Be Anything catalog of apps has been a winner all the way. Its combined rating of 4.5 (out of 5) speaks volumes about how well it has been received by people all over.

“I Can Be Free was selected by healthline.com as one of the best anxiety apps consecutively for 2013 and 2014. We knew that we were on to something good, but had we anticipated this phenomenal success? Not entirely, to be honest.”

— Ditte Strachotta (Co-founder, I Can Be Anything)

I Can Be Anything has also got the nod of the medical community, with the ‘I Can Be Fearless’ app having been recommended on HealthTap by doctors in the US. Online app review portals like Apppicker and Appcrawlr have given glowing feedback of this suite of mental stress-relieving apps too.

The I Can Be Anything catalog of apps by Human Progress is available for free download at https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/i-can-be-free-relax-remove/id327538172 (iPhone, iPad) and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.hypnosis.android&hl=en (Android). It is an interesting, and immensely liked, take on stress-alleviation in a soothing, healthy manner. The Teks team is more than happy to have been able to assist Jacob and Ditte in their vision to create a tension-free world of positive thoughts.

Stopover app by Teknowledge

What do you do if your flight is delayed for 14 hours and you are stuck at the airport? Watch the television, listen to the PA system, maybe grab some snacks, read a novel, right? Well, if Amber Blumanis, an up-and-coming entrepreneur from Australia, had done any of these to while away the time during a frustratingly long wait at a Vietnam airport – Stopover would not have seen the light of day. Thankfully, she didn’t…and travelers across the world got a mobile application that doubles up as an informative virtual travel assistant.

“Being a frequent traveller has its own share of troubles – unforeseen flight delays being a major one among them. I also realized that many, many other people regularly faced the type of problem that I was facing at the Vietnamese airport. That was the point when the idea of making a travelers’ app started taking root.”

— Amber Blumanis (Founder, Stopover app)

Finding The Right App Development Company

A Bachelor of Advertising and Marketing, Media and Communication, and Media and Cultural Studies (2009-2012), Amber had brief stints as an advertising and marketing professional at organizations like Let’s Launch and Labor Options. However, while conceptualizing the idea for the mobile travel assistant came easy to her, Amber was not a coder. Neither was she willing to learn coding…and then start making her app. Instead, she started searching for mobile app companies on the internet, and soon enough, we were in touch with her.

“I had no pretensions about knowing about programming techniques. All that I wanted is to make the best possible mobile app for travelers out there. A few hours of research, and I chanced upon the website of Teknowledge Software. I had a chat with Hussain, their CEO, and we took it from there.”

— Amber Blumanis (Founder, Stopover app)

We sent the online free quote for the Stopover app within 24 hours of her contacting our app company. The project itself took only six weeks to be completed.

“Being an avid traveler myself, I could instantly relate to the nature of problems that Amber was planning to solve through her app. Of course it was an interesting project, and I was confident that my iPhone app developers had the necessary acumen to handle it competently. However, the mutual like for traveling served as a personal motivation.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

What Is The Stopover App All About?

“Instead of yawning repeatedly and casting glances at the watch time after time, people waiting at any airport should be able to use the time to better use. I had conceptualized Stopover as a mobile tool for people whose airport waiting times coincide, and they could meet up.”

— Amber Blumanis (Founder, Stopover app)

Making new acquaintances and spending time with them between flights is the main thing Stopover helps users with. The airport meetings, business-oriented or just fun, drives away the boredom of being in the midst of a (theoretically!) endless wait. That’s the biggest ‘tick’ in favor of the app.

How Does Stopover Connect People?

“When we were at the early stages of this app development project, I asked Amber how she was planning to connect people via the app. Her inputs were amazingly simple and effective – make people meet on the basis of their mutual interests. It’s this simplicity that has made Stopover such a raging success at present.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

With the help of Amber’s inputs, and after several rounds of brainstorming, we decided to let travelers connect with each other on the basis of a wide range of things that they might mutually adore – from the same brand of coffee or soda, to love for the same travel destinations. Amber is perpetually eager to learn new languages (she holds a Certificate A in French) – and this trait is also reflected in Stopover, which allows users to meet up with the locals at any place and learn the language of that place. For business travelers, the app comes across as handy to meet peers from other countries and expand their networks.

Stopover was initially created for the iOS platform only (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch). Buoyed by its success (more on that later), an Android version of this mobile travelers’ app was developed and released in October 2014. It has also been very well-received.

For The Romantically Inclined Too…

“Only one thing can be more exciting than a blind date – an airport blind date! On a whim, I had mentioned that Airport Dating should be one of the features of my app. Never did I realize that it would, in fact, turn out to be probably the biggest USP of Stopover!”

— Amber Blumanis (Founder, Stopover app)

The one thing that Amber did worry a bit about was the security factor. After all, meeting strangers at an unknown location can turn out to be dangerous. We made sure that all appointments set up via the Stopover application were held at the airport itself. What’s more, only registered, verified users of the app could connect with other people in the airport at the same time.

“My team of developers gave the feel of a safe social networking environment to Amber’s unique mobile travel app. People could use it to have a gala time…even go on a quick little date, instead of getting painfully bored at the airport. And they could do all this without ever compromising their personal security.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

Stopover let our mobile app developers experiment a lot.

A rejected screen of Stopover.

The Challenge Ahead

Glowing reviews and awards aside, Stopover is still on a growth curve. To become as successful as Amber had envisioned it to be, the user-base of the app has to increase steadily. Only when there is a significantly large worldwide ‘Stopover community’, can it of real help to travelers.

“I cannot overstate my happiness at the positive reviews pouring in for Stopover. However, Hussain and I are both fully aware that it still has a long way to go – before becoming a truly popular airport app. For the moment, it’s all about spreading the word about it…and I guess the launch of the Android version would also enhance the app’s reach.”

— Amber Blumanis (Founder, Stopover app)

Stopover: Amber’s One-Way Ticket To Becoming A Globally Acknowledged Mobile Entrepreneur

“During the development and testing phases for Stopover, I had a hunch that this might turn out to be one of the biggest entries in my company’s portfolio. Amber’s innovative way of thinking, the novelty and simplicity of the concept, the intuitive UI and designs we made – everything blended so well…it was like parts of a puzzle fitting together with a ‘click’.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Software)

Stopover won big at Talent Unleashed 2014

Another trial screen of Stopover (later rejected)

The Stopover application bagged the prestigious ‘Rising Star’ award at Talent Unleashed 2014, fending off competition from more than 600 other entries. At the event, Blumanis’ app received rave reviews from leading international entrepreneurs. It was just reward for the young Aussie’s vision, and her determination to pull it through.

“I am no techie…but the adulations from software experts, including stalwarts like Mr. Branson and Mr. Wozniak, really made me happy. As the winner in the ‘Rising Star’ category, I was invited for week-long workshops at the Branson Center of Entrepreneurship, South Africa. For someone as much in love with traveling as myself, this was simply the icing on the cake!”

— Amber Blumanis (Founder, Stopover app)

“I could actually use this app, and I love the drive that motivated this app.”

— Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder), at the Talent Unleashed event.

Now, compliments do not come much bigger than that!

Stopover is available for free download at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stopover/id874807308 (iOS version) and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stopover (Android version). For those who love to travel and hate airport delays, this app is an absolute delight.

Timesnaps app by Teknowledge

Life is all about fleeting moments, right? Time is never at a standstill, and the person/thing/tour we love the most grows and changes in a blur and a whiz – somehow heightening a sense of loss in our hearts. These were precisely the thoughts of Luke Holden, as he started toying with the concept of an iPhone application that could actually track the passage of time. And what else to do this better, than via photos?

The Search For A Developer Company

Timesnaps (the name was Luke’s brainchild) was going to be the very first mobile app that Luke had ever created. Instead of trying to dabble in coding methods that were alien to him, he decided to hire a professional mobile app company for the purpose.

“I guess I could have tried to make the app myself, or simply got in touch with a freelance developer. However, I did not want to compromise with any aspect of the vision I had for Timesnaps. Hence began my search for an app company.”

— Luke Holden (Project Owner, Timesnaps)

While browsing through the profiles of app development firms online, Luke came across the website of Teknowledge Mobile Studio. He requested for a free app quote, and was pleasantly surprised by the fact that this company indeed responded within 16 hours (that’s one ‘yay!’ for us!). The specified terms were to his liking, and work on the project started the following week.

The Early Stages

Luke constantly emphasized that Timesnaps was not going to be like any other already existing app in iTunes. He shared a basic wireframe with the iOS developers at Teknowledge, which served as a preliminary reference point. During this early phase of the Timesnaps project, there were regular interactions to understand the exact proposed nature of the app.

“I have been in the app development business for close to 9 years, and even so, I was amazed by Luke’s vision for Timesnaps. He wanted the app to track changes in virtually everything – right from the growth of a baby or a plant, to moments during a honeymoon tour or even the sky and the clouds. It was different from anything I had ever worked on before…and of course it was a challenge, but me and my team decided to take it on.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Mobile Studio)

The Challenge

Our team agreed with Luke that making this iOS app was not going to be a difficult task per se (the project was completed in five weeks flat). The biggest challenge, in fact, was regarding something else. Till date, smartphone-users were familiar with image-capturing apps and social networking apps. Capturing the passage of time through a mobile application was an entirely new concept. We had to ensure that people actually liked Timesnaps.

“I knew that I had a winning app-idea, and was quietly confident that the guys from Teks would do a good job with it. But was I sure from the very outset that Timesnaps would emerge such a big hit? Frankly, no…there was a lot of nervousness.”

— Luke Holden (Project Owner, Timesnaps)

Creating Stories From Snaps

This was, in essence, the key function of the Timesnaps application. After a lot of deliberation among our mobile app developers and idea-sharing with Luke, arranging pictures in slideshows was identified as the main functionality of the app. The flow of the app was customized in such a way that users could start creating slideshows immediately after taking photos and accepting them.

“I have always been a fan of photo-sharing apps, and had downloaded Timesnaps just out of curiosity. The new functions of the app – particularly the slideshare creation and sharing feature – are absolute delights. This is an iPhone photo app done just right!”

— R. V. Mitchell, iPhone 6-user.

(downloaded Timesnaps on Jan 6, 2015)

How Does Timesnaps Work?

To make sure that people did not get confused by the workflow of Timesnaps, the UI of the app was made as user-friendly as possible. A user could go on a snapping spree after the tapping the ‘New Timestamp’ button (located at the center of the screen). A provision for setting alarms was also included, to remind users to take photos of the person/thing whose progress over time was being tracked.

“I had personally requested Hussain to let his best developers handle my project. I am happy to say that he readily obliged. I found those in charge of making Timesnaps to be proficient both coding as well as non-technical matters.”

— Luke Holden (Project Owner, Timesnaps)

Slideshows could be created with the snapped photos (there is a ‘Ghost Button’ to add further customization and stability). The slideshows can also be shared directly on Facebook and/or uploaded on Facebook.

“Social media integration is a key feature in nearly all of our iOS app projects. After discussions with Luke, it was decided that Timesnaps won’t be an exception.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Mobile Studio)

In-app Purchases

Initially, Luke was not planning to put any limits to the number of projects/slideshows that could be created with the free version of Timesnaps. It was during the final stages of development, that an in-app purchase option was included in this innovative imaging app. The basic version of Timesnaps can store a maximum of 3 projects. Further projects can be unlocked by purchasing the ‘Go Pro’ option (Price: $2.99).

“Initially, there was a bit of a confusion regarding the camera photostamp visible at the corner of the photos. This is a default feature in the standard version of Timesnaps, and can be removed by opting for the ‘Go Pro’ option.”

— Luke Holden(Project Owner, Timesnaps)

Other Advantages Of The ‘Go Pro’ Feature

“I asked myself whether the possibility of creating and storing more photo projects was enough to justify the presence of the ‘Go Pro’ option. The gut feeling was ‘no’ – and there had to be something more on offer for the users spending their money for the in-app purchase.”

— Hussain Fakhruddin (CEO, Teknowledge Mobile Studio)

Luke sat with the app developers and graphic designers at Teknowledge, to chalk out the additional features that would be given to the pro-users. In addition to giving them access to an unlimited number of projects, the ‘Go Pro’ option offers:

Removal of the ‘Rate Us’ popup (visible in Standard version).
Option to create any number of high-definition, interruption-free slideshows.

All pictures taken with Timesnaps are saved inside the app itself, and are not exported to iPhone albums. This, in turn, completely removes the risk of losing any photo.

“Two things about Teknowledge really built my belief that they would make my app a winner. First was, of course, their sincerity and sheer knowledge about iPhone app development. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly for me, they had separate teams for coding, testing and app designing. The project was always systematic, always streamlined.”

— Luke Holden(Project Owner, Timesnaps)

We made it a point to include Luke in the actual development phase. Feedback and suggestions were sought from him from time to time, after sharing mockups and prototypes of the app with him. The focus was on making the app just as he wanted.

Since its release, Timesnaps has notched up well over 3.9 K downloads from the iTunes store already. In addition, it has earned favorable reviews online, from portals like Appszoom, xyo.net and Appcrawlr. Luke had a vision of making an app that could follow the passage of time itself – and we managed to make Timesnaps a lovely tool for just that!

Timesnaps is available for free download at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timesnaps/id843757664. It features high on the list of our 650-odd apps that we are very, very proud of.

14 Likely Features In The Android Lollipop 5.1 Update

The adoption rate of Android Lollipop, after more than two months of its release, has remained shockingly low. A major update – Android 5.1 Lollipop – is scheduled to be launched in the end of February. We have highlighted some likely improvements in the new update, in what follows.

The latest round in the tussle between Apple iOS and Google Android has been a fascinating one. The latest mobile platforms from either (iOS 8 and Android 5.0 Lollipop) have not been perfect – but while the adoption rate of iOS 8 has soared, that of Lollipop 5.0 has remained below 0.1%. In fact, official Google stats revealed earlier this month highlighted Kitkat as the most popular version of the Android platform (with a shade less than 40% device share), while the figure for Lollipop were too low to be even displayed. After a couple of minor bug-fix updates (5.0.1 and 5.0.2), Google is all set to roll out a full-blown Android 5.1 Lollipop update from the second half of February 2015. Here are the major changes expected in the new update:

Lower consumption of network resources – Early adopters of Android 5.0 Lollipop had confirmed that the platform caused their handsets to hog too much of data resources, particularly when connected to wireless networks. According to Android app developers, this tended to affect the speeds of the installed mobile applications. In the new update, the network usage levels would be lowered, so that the devices can work at high speeds.
Arrival of the Silent Mode – In a bewildering move (or was it an oversight?), Google developers removed ‘Silent Mode’ from the Lollipop interface. This led to large volumes of user-complaints. As per reports from AndroidPit, the ‘Silent Mode’ option is all set to make a return on the Lollipop 5.1 version. People who like to keep their phones silent will heave a sigh of relief!
Better battery performance – Well, as long as you are not expecting something ground-breaking – the battery performance of Lollipop 5.1 is likely to be significantly better than that of the initial version of Android L. The notoriously low battery life has been one of the key causes of users staying away from going for the update – and improvements in this regard would certainly be welcome news. Updated handsets should provide at least 2-3 hours of additional battery juice.
Removal of ‘Ok Google’ problems – Voice-interactions with handsets running on Android 5.0 Lollipop has not been a uniformly smooth experience for many users worldwide. There have been issues with understanding voice commands, while reports have also come in regarding erratic task executions. In the new update, mobile app development experts as well as general users expect Google Now – the mobile digital assistant for Android – to become way smarter. The ‘Ok Google’ command might just become more useful.
Lesser probability of connection drops – A major early problem with the Android Lollipop platform has been the unreliability of wi-fi connectivity. The frequent connection outages and drops have even caused several users to downgrade their devices from Lollipop to Android KitKat. This has not escaped the attention of the experts at Google, and the 5.1 update has been customized to provide fast and interruption-free wi-fi web browsing experience. With the percentage of mobile browsing in total internet usage going up every quarter, this could hardly have been overlooked.
Alterations in the color palette of the Material Design interface – There had been a lot of hype over the all-new ‘Material Design’ of the Lollipop platform. It has not wowed everyone, however – and in particular, the default color palette has been generally deemed as unsatisfactory. As predicted by Android app developers and software analysts, the color pallette of Material Design is set for an overhaul in the Android 5.1 Lollipop upgrade. It would be interesting to see exactly what changes are actually made in the pallette.
Fix of issues related to sudden app crashes – Although presence of bugs can also cause applications to crash/freeze, the new platform from Google Android has been responsible for the generally poor performance of apps installed on updated devices. As per early test reports, the frequency of crashes and sudden closures of Android apps on the Lollipop 5.1 platform is considerably lower than that on its predecessor. Downloading and using verified apps from the Google Play Store is likely to become much more hassle-free.
Removal of notifications-related problems – Google promised better management of notifications on Android Lollipop. What final users received is a platform where the entire notifications system was confusing and problematic to handle. The feedback of users has been given due consideration by Google, to create the much more customized alerts and notifications system on the 5.1 version update. Checking new notifications will be a quicker and more seamless task on it.
Greater stability – Not everyone who has moved to the Lollipop has experienced this, but reports of devices becoming slower, less responsive and lagging after the update have not been uncommon either. In order to keep up with the quality standards set by iOS (notwithstanding its own troublesome new version), Android 5.1 would come with greater stability and performance assurance. This, coupled with the revamped RAM features and superior battery life, is expected to bolster the user adoption figures of Android Lollipop.
Improvement in audio features – A relatively minor complaint regarding the troublesome new Android mobile platform has been its under-par sound features. There have been cases of sudden volume fluctuations, while on certain devices, the audio has perpetually remained on the lower side. High-definition, crystal-clear audio features are sure to be a major highlight of the 5.1 update. People will no longer have problems with conversing on their phones and/or accessing the sound features of their favorite Android applications.
A better, quicker rollout – This is, of course, not a problem with the platform itself – but the rollout strategy Google adopted for Android 5.0 Lollipop. Till this day, there are scores of Moto E and Sony phone-owners wondering when Lollipop would finally arrive on their handsets. Many devices have also got the Android 5.0.2 update directly, bypassing the 5.0.1 version. Android 5.1 Lollipop will be rolled out in a much more systematic manner – with the Nexus phones (understandably), getting it first, followed by the latest flagships of other vendors.
Smarter multi-tasking options – Lollipop brought multitasking to Android devices in a big way, and if the buzz in leading online Android app development forums are anything to go by – this feature will get a further lift in the eagerly anticipated new update. The card-styled display of ‘recent apps’ might be tweaked around just a bit, while every tab would have its own card visible to the user. The lockscreen of updated handsets would be more secure too.
More user-friendly controls and features – Two months of monitoring user-reactions to Android Lollipop’s features (the source code was made available in early-November) has given Google ample time to list out scopes of improvements in the platform. Although not yet revealed in detail, app developers and reviewers are expecting a fairly large number of new features in Lollipop 5.1, focused on enhancing the user-friendliness of the platform. Too many of new features might end up confusing people though.
Better mobile web browsing via Google Chrome – Given the early promise that Android Lollipop had come with, the spectacular failure of the Chrome browser on the platform has been remarkable. Users have frequently lost pages stored in the incognito mode, tabs have closed/reopened on their own – and instances of browser crashes (unexpected shutdowns) have also been rather frequent. Chrome on Lollipop 5.1 is expected to be much more stable and reliable.

Rather worryingly for professionals who create video-based Android apps, there are no fixes for the video playback bug in the changelog listed for Android 5.1 Lollipop. Problems with the flashlight are, however, likely to be resolved. Android fans had fun pointing out the early bugs and issues with iOS 8 – but the shoe has been firmly on the other foot since the launch of Android Lollipop. Let’s wait and watch how good (or otherwise) the 5.1 update turns out to be.

AppBoard Tuesday – What Should A Good Mobile Business App Be All About?

The hiatus is over, folks! AppBoard Tuesday (ABT), the free weekly newsletter that gives you all the latest from the world of mobile app development and other related tech domains, is back…and we are not planning to take another break anytime soon. From now on, it’s going to be one interesting topic under the scanner after another, week after week.

During our Friday brainstorming and research session last week, we came across a fascinating survey result. According to a Gartner study, by the end of 2017, 1 out of every 4 businesses will have its very own enterprise app store. The interest of business houses of all scales – right from established ones to ambitious startups – in using mobile applications to bolster brand visibility and sales leads is already significant enough. And that, dear readers, got us thinking about what features should a ‘good’ enterprise app be all about in 2015. After a solid weekend’s research, we zeroed in on the following predictions:

Popularity of native apps would soar – If the trends visible from the latter half of last year are anything to go by, corporate houses would no longer be content with a mobile version of their websites (for promotions, information-sharing, etc.). Instead of relying upon desktop solutions, there will be a sharp spurt in the demand for native applications related to business. As a direct result, app companies are also likely to concentrate more on creating this type of custom apps. The Apple-IBM collaboration has already shown the way for seamless integration of mobile-desktop technology, and this trend would gain momentum this year.
Wearables will still not be the prime interest of developers – Yes, Apple Watch is the most awaited gadget release in the first half of 2015. Even so, the flop show of other smartwatches as well as the doomed Google Glass has shown that wearable technology is yet to take solid roots in the worldwide markets. During this year, most businesses would keep their focus on making apps from tablets and smartphones – in particular, the latter (since tablet sales are, in effect, going nowhere). If Watch turns out to be a runaway success, entrepreneurs and marketers might just sit up and take notice.
Reliance on hybrid cloud storage would increase – New business apps are likely to offer easy cloud storage options for targeted users. For several months now, the manifold advantages of data management on hybrid cloud – from lesser costs to better, quicker accessibility – have been evident, and these factors would drive on the demand for using hybrid cloud as a reliable storage medium. What’s more, in-house cloud storage resources would be complemented by the services of third-party cloud service providers.
Need for better security and employee-level accessibility – The push towards adoption of the initially hotly-debated ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) strategy would increase in 2015. That, in turn, would make it vital for mobile app developers to incorporate high-end security and accessibility features in business apps. The focus is likely to be on making mobile data (stored in the apps) available to every employee, who require the same. Breaches in mobile app data security protocols would (hopefully) become rarer.
Free apps for business would rule the roost – This one is probably the easiest prediction to make. Free iPhone apps and Android apps have a much larger target audience than paid applications – and enterprise apps are not going to be an exception. Every company would want its app(s) to be downloaded by as many people as possible, and it would only make sense if free apps (with ads and/or other built-in app monetization feature) are opted for, to start things off. Of course, these apps might have in-app purchase options (for, say, gift vouchers and coupons).
Implementation/monitoring of app analytics would be increasingly sought after – Who would be hiring mobile app development companies to create business apps? That’s right – hard-boiled businessmen, and they would be more than eager to find out whether their apps are being worth the investment. Understandably, they would require in-app analytics functionality, to monitor user-behavior. In general, it would all be about providing top-class user-experience – so that these apps can effectively serve as tools to expand a company’s clientele.
Business software development would become more in-house – And that would, of course, include creation of enterprise applications. While iOS/Android app developers would still receive their fair share of business app development projects, more and more companies would start creating these apps with their in-house development team. For startups in particular, in-house app development would present lucrative opportunities to cut down on nearly all aspects of infrastructure – right from creation and deployment, to networking, storage and maintenance. Many companies will start recruiting software experts for in-house development of customized business apps.
Mobile Commerce is likely to gain in importance – Google Wallet has been in the picture for several years now – but it is the relatively recent arrival (and acceptance) of Apple Pay that forms the basis of this prediction. With secure, touch-free payment gateways (mobile POS), new-age business apps would enable people to make transactions via their phones/tablets. In 2015, digital currency would be the primary mode of transaction between corporate houses and their clients, and m-commerce apps would enjoy high demand levels.
Enterprise apps would serve ERP and CRM needs – As already highlighted before, mobile apps for business would increasingly focus on better user-experience. Active monitoring of user analytics would also enable entrepreneurs to get real-time feedback from customers, and alter their product/pricing strategies accordingly. This will automatically ensure smooth and information-inducing customer relationship management (CRM). In addition, in-memory computing solutions have the potential to rise in a big way for enterprise resource planning (ERP) for businesses. Companies with weak ERP branding and/or no in-house enterprise app would find the going tough.
Apps would need to have offline functionality – Unlike the present scenario, the demand for business apps that work fine in an offline environment will receive a boost. Although more and more companies would move over to wi-fi internet connectivity in their office premises in 2015, employees would love to have apps that do not lose their functionality when not connected to the web. While working offline, business apps should not compromise on the speed factor either.
Most enterprise apps would come with subscription options – According to leading business entrepreneurs as well as app development experts, enterprise apps in 2015 would be available with subscription pricing (either annual or per-user subscriptions). Preloading of bulky proprietary hardware and paying large amounts to acquire app licenses will not be opted for by most firms. Opting for subscription pricing models for mobile applications would offer a definite competitive advantage to users.
Both iOS and Android would be equally important platforms for businesses – iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are big hits, and Android is not going to go away anywhere in spite of the lackluster performance of the recent Samsung flagships (thanks to the presence of so many vendor companies). As such, cross-platform mobile app development would be necessary while making enterprise applications. Neglecting any one platform would effectively mean wilfully curtailing the size of potential client-base.

The importance of business apps having systematically created app content would become vital like never before. Mobile searchability is yet another factor that developers are focusing on in 2015. App developers would get the chance to offer optimized ‘Platform-as-a-Service’ (PaaS) packages. The responsibility of specialized graphic designers in lending business apps an engaging appearance and layout will also be paramount. Companies that do not include dynamic mobile strategies in 2015 will start to lag behind their competitors.

That roughly sums up our predictions and hunches regarding the direction in which enterprise app development and usage would move in 2015. If you feel that there are any other significant trends, do write in. Have a contrary argument? If yes, share what you have to say – and we will definitely analyse if you are correct.

Before saying ‘adios’ for the week, a bit about our new apps. By last week, we had four new iPhone apps in their final stages of development and testing – One Brands (mobile shopping app), Sting (photo-editing app), Rapport Card (mobile relationship monitor) and Freebird (app for sharing creative works). You can check them out on our Behance profile.

AppBoard Tuesday (ABT) will be back next week with another interesting topic related to mobile applications. Till then, love thy apps!

Eclipse vs NetBeans – Which Is The Better IDE For Android App Development?

Eclipse is the go-to Java IDE for most coders working on Android applications. However, there are two other perfectly good alternatives to Eclipse available as well – NetBeans and Intellij Idea. We have here done a comparison study between Eclipse and NetBeans.

Most comparative analyses regarding the integrated development environments (IDEs) for Android developers revolve around Eclipse and Intellij. With 48% and close to 34% adoption rates respectively, these two are indeed the most popular IDEs for coding in the Java framework. However, NetBeans – yet another IDE – has its own set of fans, and in terms of popularity, it comes in at a respectable third (a shade over 10% adoption rate). Let us here do an Eclipse vs NetBeans comparison, and find out whether the former is indeed well and truly better than the latter:

Downloading and installation – The NetBeans tool is available for free download from netbeans.org, and it has to be separately installed. The installation wizard is fairly simple though. On the other hand, Android app developers do not need to follow an installation procedure for Eclipse (also free) at all. After downloading it, the files can be directly copied and run.
Swing vs SWT – NetBeans allows coders to work with its standard UI toolkit, named Swing. The toolkit facilitates seamless integration of Android applications developed with this IDE. Swing is also supported by tools like Jemmy, as well as a wide range of third-party code libraries. On the other hand, the Eclipse environment requires programming with the SWT toolkit. The number of external libraries supporting SWT is a lot lesser, and it does not offer similar customization options either. This round would go to NetBeans!
Number of available plugins – While creating an Android app with Eclipse SDK, developers can access well over 2 million plugins. This is, arguably, the biggest reason, behind the overwhelming popularity that this Java IDE enjoys. On NetBeans, the total number of plugins available is around a measly 650 – which hampers its user-friendliness.
The speed factor – Professional software and mobile app development experts love IDEs that allow high coding speeds – and Eclipse aces in this regard. The latest version of the IDE, Eclipse Luna, has significantly faster windowing, compilation and general coding speeds than NetBeans 8.0. Later this year, Eclipse Mars would be released – and it is expected to be even faster. However, this speed advantage of Eclipse can disappear if add-ons like PMD Plugins are installed.
Database Support features – Both Eclipse and NetBeans are compatible with any database that comes with a built-in JDBC driver. However, Eclipse does not support Postgre SQL, something that NetBeans does. Also, as most Android app developers confirm, creation and modification of tables are simpler on the Database Explorer of Netbeans than it is with Eclipse. Many Java developers are big fans of the Maven build and deployment tool of Netbeans tool too.
The learning curve – At a professional level, Eclipse is significantly easier to work with than NetBeans. That’s precisely the reason why almost all mobile app companies encourage their developers start working with Eclipse. In order to program in the NetBeans environment (with NBAndroid), in-depth knowledge of the Java coding language is required. For beginners, Eclipse is definitely the preferred option.
Language and version control support – Yet another set of features where NetBeans manages to ‘eclipse’ the Eclipse IDE. While the latter supports only the default Java programming language, NetBeans provides full support to PHP, C and C++ too. In terms of version control support too, NetBeans wins hands down. It supports Git, Mercurial, Subversion and CVS, while Eclipse’s version control support is limited to Git only (for the others, more plugins have to be installed).
Code formatting for PHP development – Any professional PHP developer would agree that the built-in code formatting features in Eclipse are, at best, just about okay. There are options for setting the indentation size and the tab policy under PHP → Code Style → Formatter. On Netbeans, however, there are multiple personalized options for direct code formatting – right from using braces and alignments, to swapping, making tabs and indents. There is even an option for blank lines.
Block Commenting vs Line Commenting – There is nothing much to choose from between the nearly equally efficient source editors of NetBeans and Eclipse. The latter has the block comments option, while Netbeans comes with line commenting feature – both of which find favor among Android developers worldwide. The additional presence of Macros in Netbeans does give this IDE just a little edge though.
Support for native app testing – Native testing out-of-the-box is easier while coding with the NetBeans IDE. Thanks to the presence of TestNG and jUnit, doing test runs and checking templates can be done quickly and without any hassles. Eclipse also offers native testing support – but for that, Android app developers need to download external plugins, like MoreUnit.
IDE Configuration – Eclipse really excels when it comes to configuring and personalizing the IDE. There is an option for ‘preferences search’, and even at the project level, developers can override previous settings and features. NetBeans also has smooth navigation features, but does not even come close to Eclipse in terms of IDE configuration. The main reason for that? NetBeans does not have as many options as Eclipse to configure!
Memory requirements – Another minor ‘yay’ in favor of Eclipse would be its lower RAM space requirement. Java/Android developers only need to have a minimum of 183 MB memory space, to download and start working with this IDE. To download and install NetBeans, at least 512 MB of free RAM space is necessary. For coders facing memory-management issues, Eclipse is, understandably, the chosen option.
Real time app code testing – This is a very important feature for any professional mobile app maker. NetBeans and Eclipse both deliver on this count – albeit by different methods. While coding with the Netbeans IDE, developers can take advantage of Bugzilla, FindBugs and JIRA – all of which are directly integrated. Eclipse offers Kepler for code testing, and it can be used with FindBugs by downloading a plugin. The automated testing procedure is a touch simpler in NetBeans.
Track record of previous versions – A lot of the superior popularity of Eclipse over NetBeans can be attributed to the sustained excellence of its features and the smart, systematic way in which it was rolled out to early adopters by IBM. Although NetBeans had the backing of Sun Microsystems, its early versions floundered – even as Eclipse Foundation released, and its user-acceptance levels got a big boost. At present, there are many Eclipse users who had tried out, and been disappointed by, the performance of previous Netbeans versions. Many of the early complaints of Netbeans have been already resolved, but most Eclipse-fans do not feel that there is any reason to switch.

There used to be a time when Eclipse was a way better Java IDE than Netbeans (anyone who has worked with Eclipse Galileo AND the Netbeans version at that time would vouch for that). However, the present version of Netbeans is more than a worthy rival IDE for Eclipse. It’s the greater familiarity factor that is likely to maintain Eclipse’s position as the best IDE for Android app and software development in future.