[WP7] Sprout SMS

Dean_Mc

Also guys if you could take the time to write up a review on the market place, I would be delighted. There seems to be review enimia on the marketplace as a whole so If you could take 2 mins to do this you would be helping the overall standing of the apps there. Cheers

Dean_Mc

Aside from the button down the end that I need to remove. What do you think of the UI refresh?


New Compose by Dean McDonnell, on Flickr


The To: box is now editible. If you click the button you get contacts. If you click the box you get a blank edit box.

KoolKid

Is that your own mobile number your displaying?
Looks good.

Dean_Mc

Removed by author

KoolKid

I thought that .:D
However it is a live number. I would suggest editing the pic.

Dean_Mc

Oops, cant have that, Ive edited the source pic so it should be fine now. Cheers for pointing that out!

wheresmybeaver

Dean_Mc wrote: »

Aside from the button down the end that I need to remove. What do you think of the UI refresh?


New Compose by Dean McDonnell, on Flickr


The To: box is now editible. If you click the button you get contacts. If you click the box you get a blank edit box.

Looks good. Might there be another button besides the Contacts button for recently used contacts? Could be a little heart icon?

With regards the number of reviews on the Irish WP7 marketplace, there are very few reviews for any app and most seem to be from the same 2 or 3 people. Makes me wonder how many people are actually using WP7 in Ireland so far. Have the "hardcore" or techy group ignored it and are sticking with android instead? Have to say I've found WP7 a fantastic platform so far...

Dean_Mc

Yeah this has me wondering too. I wont get any anaylitics from MS until late next week . I'm really hoping this platform takes hold. I've kind of bet my career on .Net development. Ah early adoption eh! I am just hoping MS put the fire under this in the same way they did the 360.

Ok the app. Right my honest opinion. I don't like the button there. I have a weird thing about minimalism and it now looks too busy now. I'm going to take it out. I know I forsake an editable textbox but the new design doesn't sit right with me.

In terms of the favourites. There is no problem adding the button but there is a catch... The SDK doesn't allow me to view the names of contacts only the number / email addy. So I can add it but it will just show a list of numbers.


EDIT: maybe I need to stop working on this after a long days work.

Dean_Mc

So...

After a few UI iterations, some sleep and a beer I think I have come up with the concept design for sprout that will be available in the next release. Drum roll please...... (Please bear in mind the UI would be much sharper on the phone than this)


NuDesign by Dean McDonnell, on Flickr


What this adds is:

1: An editable textbox
2: Contact chooser in the correct possition
3: 3 Fav contacts (Will change to recent once the api allows it)
4: Theme consistancy.

Honest opinions are always welcome!

wheresmybeaver

Dean_Mc wrote: »

So...

After a few UI iterations, some sleep and a beer I think I have come up with the concept design for sprout that will be available in the next release. Drum roll please...... (Please bear in mind the UI would be much sharper on the phone than this)


NuDesign by Dean McDonnell, on Flickr


What this adds is:

1: An editable textbox
2: Contact chooser in the correct possition
3: 3 Fav contacts (Will change to recent once the api allows it)
4: Theme consistancy.

Honest opinions are always welcome!

Honesty: this is quite a departure from the Metro UI; the "bubble" boxes around the contact box and the message box are a big no-no from my point of view, as is the background with the blue gradient...

Essentially, the UI from the current Sprout release, with only the addition of the contacts box at the top and 3 or so configurable fav contacts underneath (no need for the number listing either I'd say) is just perfect!

And as a suggestion, something I've noticed from a couple of other apps that I thought was consistent with metro and visually pleasing was the idea of placing an in-app notification bar at the top of the screen, for example for displaying the status of sending a message in sprout. To see what I mean, try out the "Alien News" reddit app on the marketplace (free trial available). When you logon, you get the status ("logging in", "connected" etc) display in a solid bar along the top with white text (the bar being in the colour of the current theme accent). Seems like this approach might be appropriate for future versions of sprout since the white space under the message text box is going to be used for fav contacts?

Ok sorry for the editorial but I'm all about the metro theme!

Dean_Mc

Ok, I just wanted to let everyone know where I am on this project:

1: After speaking with the author of cabbage we have come to an agreement that allows me to use every network available for cabbage through sprout. This means that the next version will be delayed slightly but I think this vast improvement in functionality is worth an extra week or two of waiting.

2: Long texts will be available for all networks that support them from V2.0. I have come up with a solution to allow for different limits that gives the same amount of chars as the providers service would through their own site.

3: Only one account can be used at a time. I will be adding the ability to select multiple accounts but for now its a feature that no one has asked for and would take a lot of time to get right so its off the list for the mean time.

4: The editable contact box. This will not be a feature. After countless iterations and trying to get this right there is just way to have this feature without impacting the performance. To use an editable text box means I either have to assume you have entered the number in the correct format or check that you did. Both are not full proof as the server only reports that the message has send from the server. It does not tell sprout if you entered an incorrect number. Honestly judging by the scripts (cabbage) I have gone through I doubt the networks will ever implement such a feature to hook into. By making people select the contacts from their phone book the chances of these dud messages happening drops dramatically.

5: The UI. The new UI + some minor changes (Square Boxes) stays. Why have I moved from the metro themes. Currently themeing based on prefrences is a pain in the arse. In order for everything to be themed correctly I need to hold references to different colour themes and apply them on the fly. This is not true of all controls but this adds up and will cause performance hits down the road. I believe MS are looking at this issue down the road so it can be revisited.

6: All messages will now pass through a central server ran by cabbage. This is important. This is currently how other versions of cabbage work. It was not a decision I made lightly but the feature gains far out way the losses. The fact of the matter is your data could be harvested by sprout currently so I would be surprised if this really bothered anyone too much. The gains of course are all networks active from the next release, tiny data usage (1 or 2 kb) and the most important, out of app updates. This means if a provider changes their website it can be fixed without updating the app. This would cut a two week turnaround down to a day or less.

8: I wanted to talk a little more about the UI. Metro is not a theme is a style guide. While I am not a designer and have two left hands in this regard I do take style guides very seriously. I have also chatted to many WP7 designers regarding theming and here is what we came up with.

The idea of metro is to have consistency across applications. This does not mean that they are themed the same but that they follow the same guidelines as set out in the metro documents. I have been careful to follow these guidelines while at the same time inject a bit of personality into the application. I have no wish to have all the applications on my phone themed the same but I do appreciate them having personality while at the same time following the metro mantra.

9: wheresmybeaver suggested 3 most recent contacts which is a fantastic idea but as I have said it is not possible to show the name of these contacts. For the moment you will be able to select 3 favourites, I will be keeping a close eye on other projects to see if there is a way around this as I feel the 3 recent contacts would be a much better function than 3 favourites.

So I think I have covered everything. Feedback, as always, is much appreciated.

Dean_Mc

.... Oh and by the way,

I was kidding about the theme


V2 Dark by Dean McDonnell, on Flickr

It's now much more refined, How could I not do metro. Good laugh all the same

wheresmybeaver

Dean_Mc wrote: »

.... Oh and by the way,

I was kidding about the theme


V2 Dark by Dean McDonnell, on Flickr

It's now much more refined, How could I not do metro. Good laugh all the same

Chancer! Yeah that's how it should look!

Good news on the new developments, I didn't realise sprout was self contained in version 1. I was assuming it connected to cabbage servers somewhere. And you're correct, an update to the app everytime O2 change their website (which happens a LOT) would not work. Best to have that stuff processed in the cloud (which is where all the action happens these days.

And I think I mentioned previously, a heart icon for the favourite contacts list would probably be ideal? I've seen metro heart icons in other apps as far as I can recall.

Finally, would love to hear feedback from anybody else on boards, this is a bit two-sided as it is! :rolleyes:

Best of luck with the work on the new updates.

Dean_Mc

Ha ha, It may turn out you are my only customer!

Yeah V1 was self contained. The idea was to build it in app and then develop the server but its such a waste of time to be reinventing the wheel. Besides I have other apps I would like to get to work on and my current pace would not allow that.

As for the favourates. They are coming but I need to be happy about where they are or what the app looks like. I know I sound egotistical about the layout but thats because I am. I am talking to another developer who says we may be able to get around using the recent contacts with names but no promises.

Anyway I still have lots to do, I will update when I have more, Cheers!

Dean_Mc

Where no 10 in the free social marketplace! I presume the figs are for Ireland only but delighted never the less. Working pretty hard to get V2 out although I've had some issues with my right wrist which have me away from heavy typing.

In terms of the update. To be honest it looks like after christmas. I have set aside a week in january to push out the update. Based on the state of my wrist and the fact that I have no days off until christmas day it's just not possible to get the app tested and out before then.

Dean_Mc

SproutSMS V2.0.0 Feature Set: http://bit.ly/hTBVvu

Release slated for 10/01/2011

Dean_Mc

For those who are following along, don't panic sprout v2.0 will be released very shortly only I need a bit extra time with some of the changes made, oh and by the way: http://sproutsms.codeplex.com/ see here for more info!

evolutionqy7

cool cant wait

evolutionqy7

so found the app just a few issues

not sure does it pick it up cause my HD7 is o2 branded or is it still limited to o2 but i cant change to meteor :S also if you press back it keeps throwing you back to settings screen rather than back to homescreen :S

Dean_Mc

Essentially the functionality is correct, it wont allow you to do anything without having settings entered. Having said that this is not the best way to handle this sort of thing and it will be fixed in version two.

Remember version one only does O2.

evolutionqy7

Ok thanks

Dean_Mc

Hi everyone, I justed want to let you all know, I haven't died or more importantly given up on Sprout SMS. I took a view weeks off to try other avenues with the project, I also did a lot of research on the metro theme and have been busy working on the new styling. The back end is done and it is now fully integrating cabbage.

I dont have a feature set yet but I wanted to give you a preview of the new UI direction. Anyway that is all for now, I will have more updates in the next week or two for ya!

Dean_Mc

sprout v2 second mock up by Dean McDonnell, on Flickr

evolutionqy7

Any chance you will implement a way to see your remaining mins and data also into the app ?

Dean_Mc

Into this app, no, it is specifically for sending text messaging. An app to show remaining operator mins / texts and data is something that I have been looking into but I have not had much success.

It may be something I look into in more details once sprout sms v2 launches.

evolutionqy7

Ok. Was just wondering since you could see remaining texts i though it would be handy seeing other info at the same time. Its a pain to go to meteor website to check whats left :S

Dean_Mc

Agreed, I am a firm belive that an account monitoring app is a great idea, they could even profit from it via adds but cest la vie.

The information I display is actually a function of Cabbage, it returns the data for remaining messages. However I would imagine sam would tow the same line as me in regards to adding more features that are not specific to text.

evolutionqy7

That sort of thing would work great with live tiles too. Could support a pic changing saying how much mins texts and data left

Dean_Mc

Indeed it would,

Honestly I think the only way of getting one of those apps off the ground is to have support from the network operators. Hell they wont even do it themselves. But you never know what could be around the corner

Anyway another screenie to whet the appetite:


Add Account Screen by Dean McDonnell, on Flickr

It is taking longer than I had hoped but I am getting there one screen at a time.

evolutionqy7

Hope there will be a way to add some quick links or fav contacts, recent contacts

One thing fustrating about the version now is having to browse though all the contacts to add one.

Well networks arent too bothered about this since theres no way they can make money out of sending free web texts