Over the Air/ Mobile development conference

Over the Air conference

I attended the Over the Air conference Friday 4th April, at Imperial College London.
The conference part lecture part seminars discussed current mobile development trends from leading mobile companies such as apple (iphone), Nokia, and Adobe, and google, just to name a few.

All details can be found on here:
www.overtheair.org and, here for some of the videos from the conference.

What did I learn there and was it relevant for my project?
Well, first, it was an opportunity for me to get a brief overview of current developing technology for the mobile platform.There are many and a lot of different technology to learn which I am not familiar with.
Of particular interest was a presentation by Brian Fling from flingmedia.com on developing web apps and native apps for the iPhone and mobile applications.

Developing myfitnessguru for the iphone and ipod touch is currently the best possible solution at this stage if I take into consideration all the limitation I am facing for this particular task. That means developing for a small audience, yes but developing to current web mobile standard which I believe are important for mobile web users. It also mean the best current mobile user experience on the market and as Fling mentioned during the conference, the iPhone “set the standards of what you can do in terms of Mobile web”.

Finally, some interesting resources:

http://mobilemonday.org.uk/ monthly event in London, dicussing current mobile trends.
http://mtld.mobi/ infos on .mobi websites.
http://mr.dev.mobi/to check if you .mobi website is working
http://www.w3.org/Mobile/ W3C on mobile web standards

Over the Air conference

I signed up to go to the Air conference. It is a free conference organized by imperial college London.

follow the link for more details of what it covers:
over the air conference

Review of the iphone SDK presentation (march 6th, 08)

Developping myfitnessguru for iphone.

On March 6, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone software roadmap, released the iPhone Software Development Kit, and introduced the iPhone Enterprise Beta Program.
Following are some notes from the presentation:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/iphoneroadmap/

Possiblity to launch app from the main screenof the iPhone
Location aware applications possible
Media jpg, png, tiff , pdf, video playback (H264 codec).
Core animation to build the animation used on the iphone

Iphone Software Dev. Kit comprise the following tools:

CocoaTouch, for the framework, allow:
-Single and multi touch events
-Controls
-Image Picker

Xcode = Dev environment
-Source editor
-Project management
-Debugger

Interface builder with library of controls is the tool to build the user interface/ currently not available yet, which is a serious brake if I go into building app for the iPhone.

Instrument = for optimisation
iPhone simulator to test the app.

Marketing concept:
Application store to deliver applications to the iphone user.

Developping for the iPhone

After a meeting with Ian Grant, who suggested me looking at developing for the iPhone, I went on to the apple website and found this very interesting presentation. Following is a sample of the most relevant information. The complete presentation is available on the youtube website at the following URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QvQ9uXOuDg

Part 4 , the most interesting for my project

For more information, check out the apple website:

I will post a review of the presentation later on.

Wellphone

Wellphone review

URL: Wellsphere.com

Date visited: 19/03/08

Target audience: Wellsphere website user, owning a sms enabled phone

Website goal: extend Wellsphere features for the phone via sms.
The service allows to get reminders, tips and notifications as well as sending info requests, log progress, and populate a note journal.
The service can be compared to a Facebook for mobile.

Technology used:
Sms service

Design:
Text based.
The website gives an overview of the services.
There is an interesting use of a graphics representing a phone outline to present the features in a simple way.

Navigation:
Can’t be tested, service only available in the USA.

User experience feedback:
Same as above

Interesting Features:
All the features are very interesting.

Comments:
I previously planned to integrate a log feature in the mobile version of myfitnessguru as well as getting sms tips and reminders of goals.
The way Wellmobile works doesn’t allow much control of the frequency of the content and a content on demand. It is a serious drawback as I believe it is important not to overwhelm the user with text sms landing at any time on your phone. People should be able to switch on and off the feature at certain times of the day.

Wellphone_review

Wellsphere recently launched their mobile service to support their website. I m posting video news from NBC channel about it.

If you looking to post your youtube video on your wordpress blog, follow the link for a tutorial.

Other reviews_1

OpenFitness
URL: http://www.openfitness.net

Date visited:12/12/07

Target audience: Professional athlete and amateurs looking for a serious tool to manage their workout and diet. The appliaction is advertised for bodybuilders, general fitness and weight loss program.

Comments:
This is a different concept from what has been reviewed so far, as Openfit is an application that runs on the desktop.
the features are interesting, although teh design doesn’t take advantage of current technology in terms of application for the desktop.

Features:
Create reusable weight-training routines
Manage fitness goals
Learn how to do various exercises with weight
Calculate bodyfat
Calculate theoretical 1 rep max
Sync OF with your pda
Progress report for the last 7 /30/90 days
Send a msg to someone
Help

Note: the application is available on the PDA device, and syncronize with the desktop.

Wellsphere_review

Wellsphere reviews

URL: wellsphere.com

Date visited: 01/03/08

Target audience: Adults, with no restriction in age. People who have time and willing to act on improving their health and interested in connecting with likeminded people.

Website goal:
Wellsphere is a community website where people can get advice, find resources on health, diet, nutrition, fitness, current activities and interact with other Wellsphere members.

Technology used:
HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Design:
Pale blue and bright orange.
The design is clean with sections highlighted with orange.

Navigation:
Login to access all features, non-members only access limited info.

Main nav:
Main | Profile | communities | goals | friends | Videos

User experience feedback:
Require sign up. Allows to join groups based on activities, interests or goals.

Interesting Features:
Goal section where you can set a goal in a variety of subject including quitting smoking for example. Community features, with events and groups that you can advertise and find out about via searches. Pro section where you can contact professionals in nutrition or sport training for example.
Reminder via sms to your mobile
Wellpoints rewarding your health and fitness habits.

Comments:
The website is constructed as a toolset and resources to achieve a healthier lifestyle. The website is successful in helping to implement better habits in people’s mind and as a marketplace for sharing interests in healthier living.
The use of Videos is prominent on the website but they appear as advertisements . This shows a very limited use of such feature.
The use of Wellpoint and sms reminder are both very interesting concepts I am eager to reproduce in a similar form.

FHM Review

URL: www.hfmens.com

Date visited: 15/03/08

Target audience: male audience, Facebook users and regular gym users, sports fanatics, occasional reader of Health and Fitness magazines who may be looking for a portable version of the magazine contents. Need to have mobile phone, iPod, iPhone or iPod touch to view the contents.

Website goal:
Offering workout examples and the possibility to log fitness progress to Facebook account.

Technology used:
Facebook social platform. Mobile website: m.hfm2go.com
Itune sync feature for sync exercise movie clips.

Design:
Facebook’s custom design

Navigation:
Home:
-Tips,
Workouts:
-Record a Workout
-My Workouts
-Workout directory
Mobile
No review possible as the service isn’t available in the UK.

User experience feedback:
Facebook features of the website allows you to :
-Record workouts
-Access a workout library
-Track and compare progress with other HFM Facebook members
-Receive sms messages.

Interesting Features:
The variety of platforms to display the content, particularly the ipod as it is widely used and to a lesser extend the iPhone, makes it very interesting.

Comments:
The Facebook social platform represents a powerful advertising network for the HFM app.
HFM ‘s contents for iPod are on paid subscription only, which is restrictive and only the ipod touch allows connection to the Facebook account.
The mobile website requires a phone with data connectivity.

Polar_fitness review

URL: polarpersonaltrainer.com Date visited: 02/01/08

Target audience:
Internet users, Athletes and motivated regular users familiar with training techniques or interested in advancing their training. People owning a polar watch for added support,
Covers overall fitness, weight loss management, or competition training

Website goal:
To give people a diary to manage their fitness, allowing them to create a polar fitness program, manage a calendar to record workout and progress, library of exercises and articles to consult, advertise training programs.

Technology used:
Flex, Flash, HTML, CSS, Animated 3D clips

Design:
Minimalist, a few colours. Back and red logo, then yellow, red, blue, used on a grey and white background. Calendar is main visual content area.

Navigation:
Top nav: Help | Logout | settings
Main nav as tab bar with: My Diary | My Progress | Fitness toolkit

*My diary : options of weekly | monthly view of the calendar and nav through months/weeks.
*My Progress : option of graph | list view
1 ,3, 6, 12 months view
graph of progress by adding work-out sessions
list of work-out sessions.

*Fitness Toolkit: sub_menu with links:
-holistic fitness training (advert)
-Tests and calculators
-Polar Article Library
-Body Workout Guide
-Downloads (for polar devices users)
-News And Updates

Sub_nav links : – event reminder : add an event reminder
- polar training program : build a program

(Printable pages)
User experience feedback:
Requires login and registration to access the features, free to use all the features.

Interesting Features:
Workout library with animated clips, draggable work-outs in the diary.
Event reminder, options of viewing per months/weeks.
Test and calculators and library of articles.

Comments:
The site features are very interesting but navigation remain complex and not attractive to the non-athlete/non professional. It should be simplified. registration takes time as well as getting familiar with the features and different tools. Too much data to analyse for my target audience.
The form of advertisment in Holistic fitness trainer concept is interesting and could be reproduced. The test and calculator is a good concept, could reproduce a form of Calorie Calculator, Daily Calorie needs, body mass index and waist to hip Ratio, and making them visible on main page to monitor progress.