I’ve just upgraded WordPress to its latest version, and can say without any doubts that its upgrade process is by far the best I’ve seen for any Web-based tools.
Why I think it’s great? Because you have to perform 2 mouse clicks and wait a couple of seconds, and you can continue working on your WordPress (upgraded) blog without any other hassles.
Looking at that made me think about the update process of mobile applications.
In many cases, applications are simply not aware of the availability of updated versions, and so users are supposed to manually check (e.g.: going on the publisher website) for updates. What does this mean? Simple: terrible User Experience (if even we can say that), and in most cases old (and possibly bugged) versions of your applications running everywhere.
For this reasons, developers started to implement their own “updates-availability-check” systems, letting their applications check for updates and prompt the user about the availability of those. Anyway, this approach has 2 important drawbacks:
- users must open the application in order to have it check for updates
- the very same logic (checking for updates, downloading and installing the updated application) is replicated in each application
Luckily enough, mobile platforms are fast moving toward an integrated approach, based on the concept that updates have to be pushed to the user. Examples of this are iPhone and Maemo, both notifying the user in case of available updates.
While this is currently the best approach from a UX point of view, the same makes me wonder if a better approach (maybe totally transparent to the user?) could ever be possible, considering all the technology and security concerns of such an approach when talking about mobile devices.
William 9:46 pm on April 24, 2012 Permalink
I have a suggestion for an app.
Sms + Call Counter which would allow people to monitor their usage more closely, with in-depth stats and settings to put in your contracted plan. Would be ideal to have an app where I could monitor my usage in this way, especially for those on contracts. Most currently are either widgets or not very feature full.
pit 10:08 pm on April 24, 2012 Permalink
Thank you for your suggestion William, It sounds like a really useful idea. I’ll check it out more in-depth and let you know if I manage to implement it!
Luca 10:52 am on April 25, 2012 Permalink
Complimenti Alessandro per le belle e utili applicazioni…soprattutto quelle sulla Costituzione Italiana, sul Codice Civile e sul Codice penale… Sarebbe bellissimo se potresti realizzare un’app anche sulla Sacra Bibbia (Antico Testamento e Nuovo Testamento) e la Preghiera sulla Liturgia delle ore della Chiesa proprio come le app sulla Costituzione… Spero proprio che presto la realizzerai, sarebbe molto molto utile… GRAZIE…
pit 1:29 pm on April 25, 2012 Permalink
Grazie per i complimenti e per i suggerimenti Luca! Le idee mi sembrano molto valide, spero di riuscire a realizzarle al più presto
Luca 10:19 am on April 26, 2012 Permalink
Grazie a te… Lo spero tanto… Le aspetto da molto ma non trovavo il modo di contattarti…
Non c’è ancora una versione della Bibbia sul Nokia Store in Italiano…ci sono in inglese e non Cattoliche… Mi piace tanto come hai realizzato le app sulla Costituzione e le altre… Quindi aspetterò con ansia queste due utilissime app… Grazie ancora…
Matt 8:18 pm on April 30, 2012 Permalink
Hi Alessandro, I use your GCal app on my Motorola i465 Clutch, and recently after checking for updates it states: “A new version (0.3.6) is available. Download it now?” then “Please visit http://www.jappit.com to update Gcal” but I only see 0.3.5 on this site. Could you please post a link? Thanks!
William 8:24 pm on July 18, 2012 Permalink
Any apps in prog Japp?
What’s your thought of designing an app which would send picture messages via the internet? Could possibly be a good app for purchases due to the nature of saving some call time balance in the long run. I know quite a few apps on the popular android os and Iphone’s os.
Would be nice to see Symbian on the up. Kudos for your hard work!
Michele 4:36 am on October 1, 2012 Permalink
Ciao. Volevo chiederti se aggiornerai l’app metropolitane, visto che a Napoli hanno aperto la nuova fermata di Toledo della linda 1
pit 7:05 am on October 1, 2012 Permalink
Ciao Michele,
grazie della segnalazione, provvederò ad aggiornarla quanto prima.