The Rules of Mobile App Design (Presentation Slides)
Last week I had the honor of presenting to the NJ Mobile Meetup group. NJ Mobile is a collection of about 300 mobile technology enthusiasts that I co-organize. While I’ve been one of the groups organizers for quite some time, this was the first time that I actually spoke at an event. Much to my delight the presentation, which was partially based on my blog post The Rules of Mobile App Design, was very well-received.
My goal was to record the presentation and slides and post a video, but I’ve been experiences some technical difficulties of the crashing variety whenever I try to record my screen and voice at the same time. So here are the slides, and I hope to add the full video presentation soon:
Rules_of_Mobile_App_Design (PDF)
Why You Shouldn’t Trade In Your Mobile Device
Mobile device retailers like Apple, Best Buy, Amazon & Verizon want you to recycle or trade-in your mobile devices. They even offer a good chunk of change to do so.
Bonus: Check out the terrible alien/ Michael Jackson-esque photoshopping of this woman! Good job Verizon.
It’s usually not a terrible deal, but there is one big reason why you should keep your retired mobile device:
Mobile devices break.
They are portable, small, handled often, and as a result are easy to drop.
The screens are prone to glitches and wear-out over the course of a year or two.
Replacement
When they die, you may have a warranty, and your retailer will get you a refurbished one, but it will take a few days to a few weeks.
During that time you will either have to pay for a loaner (which is usually a shitty Droid Eris or something equally crappy), or you can use your own old phone.
You will be much better off with your own phone, but you won’t have your old phone if you don’t keep it.
Know Your Digital Rights
Police are becoming digitally bold, and asking to search the phones of citizens during traffic stops. As with anything, it’s important to know your rights. The EFF put together a one page card detailing the rights of American citizens as they pertain to your digital devices.
EFF – Tips for Talking to the Police
OSX Lion – “Natural Scroll” is Anything but Natural
Dear Apple,
“Natural Scrolling?” That’s really what you’re calling this shit? Natural scrolling?
Natural scrolling is about as natural as a deep-fried twinkie on a styrofoam plate, and fuck you for even trying to spin this stupidity.
Natural scrolling should be called “inverted scrolling” on a laptop or desktop. Sure it may be natural on a touchscreen to pull content in the opposite direction, but in case you didn’t notice, none of the devices that run Lion have touchscreens (at the moment).
Defaulting such an obnoxious and useless feature really diminishes the magic of using my new MacBook Air. Sure it’s easy to turn off, but why bother hassling me with it at all.
Cordially,
David
PS – The new MacBook Air is quite nice.
Microsoft Views “Tablets as PCs” – Are They Right?
Microsoft’s Windows Phone President Andy Lees has declared, “We view a tablet as a PC” (electronista).
It took about 30 seconds for the Internet to start speculating about what this means for Windows 8. I can’t say I care much about Windows 8 predictions. We will see it when we see it.
More Marketing BS
What’s been driving me nuts is the abuse of the phrase “personal computer,” or PC.
As I demonstrated a few months back, iPads, iPhones, Macs, Androids, and Windows machines all fit the definition of a PC (Post-PC = Marketing BS)
Technically speaking, tablets absolutely are PCs.
Apple has spent years pummeling the “PC” as crap, then Steve Jobs declared it passe when he called the current tech world, “post-PC.”
Microsoft has a vested interest in breathing life back into the PC, because like it or not, they are stuck with the branding.
The bottom-line is that this is all marketing bullshit.
Will Microsoft treat tablets as tablets?
Microsoft figured out how to make a solid mobile phone operating system in WP7. It may not be catching on, but that doesn’t make it bad. They still named it Windows, and probably view it as an extension of the PC.
I’m inclined to believe that Microsoft will make Windows 8 a fairly interesting touch oriented operating system that gets some stuff right, and some stuff wrong.
We will see what happens when it comes out. In the meantime, I wish people would stop jumping at Apple & Microsoft’s marketing bullshit.
Verizon Ending Unlimited Data Plans (All you need to know)
Beginning July 7, 2011, Verizon is following AT&T into the murky waters of tiered data plans.
What does the new pricing model look like?
Basically you’re paying for usage. If you want to tether or hotspot, you must pay separately for the privilege (which doesn’t make sense because data is data regardless of the screen you’re using to view it).
I’m sure that if you go over your monthly data allotment, the fees will be huge, or they will bump you up into the next tier which will still be expensive.
(Image via Engadget)
How does this impact current Verizon customers?
Existing data plan customers may keep their unlimited data plans through an upgrade. If you have a dumb phone, this will not apply to you when you upgrade to a smart phone.
I have no idea what will happen two upgrades from now, or if you want to spin your current phone out of an existing family plan.
It seems to me that Verizon is trying to use tiered data to blackmail current customers into staying with Verizon. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if a year from now they apply tiered data to us current customers.
(Image via Droid Life)
You can exit your contract
On July 1st, the regulatory charge on your Verizon bill will increase from $0.13 to $0.16 per month. This three cent increase is enough for you to back out of your contract without paying an outrageous cancellation fee.
You will have 60 days to end your contract should you choose to.
(Via Droid Life)
Why’s tiered data bad?
Increased Cost for Consumers
These plans will inevitably cost consumers more money. Very few people will save as a result of tiered data, and many will break even.
Wrong Direction
Mobile users have been consuming more data, not less.
More of the economy is tied to the growth of mobile data usage than ever before, and tiered data could slow that growth.
Tiered data is a big step backwards, and this is the kind of thing that will become the norm if we choose to put up with it.
What will I do?
This is a tough decision. I’m morally opposed to tiered data, but financially Verizon tiered data doesn’t impact me yet.
Verizon 4G is the best available, but there aren’t any Verizon 4G phones worth buying. Verizon is also very consistent in my area, but Sprint seems pretty damn good too.
AT&T isn’t an option because they are already on tiered data, and so long as AT&T is trying to buy T-Mobile, I won’t switch to T-Mobile either.
If I abandon Verizon, I will switch to Sprint because they offer unlimited data, and have excellent Android phones.
BlackBerry Deserves Compensation for its Failure
RIM, the makes of BlackBerry are quickly approaching a financial free-fall.
They have been unable to adapt their products to properly compete with the Android and iPhone. Even the US Government is starting to adopt the iPhone (and the US Government is insanely slow to change).
As a result, BlackBerry is fast approaching the point of no return, if they haven’t already reached it. They are screwed.
Their business model was disrupted by two companies who previously represented no threat. They are losing money, and will continue to lose more in the future. As a consequence Apple and Google should be forced to pay RIM enough money annually to keep the company financially solvent.
If the news, record, movie and print industries are entitled to compensation for dying business models, RIM should be too.
