[WP7] Sendu SMS

Dean_Mc

Hi All,

Some of you know me as the creator of Sprout SMS, a webtexting application that was powered by Cabbage webtexter. A couple of months into the project things went belly up over a copyright issue around the name. This issue took a lot of the wind out of my sales and I stopped developing for a while.

In the months that followed I got my first job as a .Net developer and my passion ignited again. One of the things I had promised was to make a better Sprout SMS for all the people using Windows Phone 7.

Today I am pleased to show you the first sneak peak at Sendu SMS, running on the Mango beta of WP7.

http://screencast.com/t/J2eEjZHHimz

In terms of where the project is:

It is about 50% done. It runs off cabbage and supports all the major networks because of this. It runs on Mango and is quite nippy. The slowdown in the emulator is because of my crappy pc.

Oh and one more thing.... It will be free

Enjoy.

Dean_Mc

Hmm, at least some like it, Wp7 thread seem to be saying don't bother... Anyhow got loads done tonight. It's almost feature complete. Does anyone have the mango beta and an unlocked device?

I'm gonna need some testers.

evolutionqy7

Would love to test but phones locked down will def test it once you submit it

Dean_Mc

No hassle, shouldn't be too long. I am pretty much just testing at this stage, I've had the backend done for a while so its all UI testing now

fbradyirl

Looks cool. Best of luck with it...

-Finbarr from Jelly SMS

Dean_Mc

Cheers!

I only have the weekends to do it but it is coming along quite nicely

Dean_Mc

Ok guys, I am looking for BETA testers.

I will be submitting the application for beta distribution later on tonight and should have a deep link in a few days to provide.

You do not need to be running mango but need to have at the very least nodo running. You handset does not need to be unlocked in any way for this beta.

The beta will take place for 5 days starting from the day I email you the link. I am looking for feedback on performance, layout an missing features.

More detailed instructions will be given once you sign up for the beta.

To apply please pm me your email address, preferably the one you use on the phone as you can install the app straight from the deeplink.

Dean_Mc

Ah ok,

YOU MUST PROVIDE YOUR WINDOWS LIVE ID ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR WINDOWS PHONE TO BE PART OF THE BETA, IF YOU DO NOT SUPPLY THIS ADDRESS YOU CANNOT BE VALIDATED AND THEREFORE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO APPLY.

I want to get beta 1 kicked off as quickly as possible whoever pms me by 10pm tonight is in after that you will have to wait until beta 2.

Dean_Mc

Thanks to everyone who signed up for the beta so far,

Beta 2 will be starting next Monday (Aug 1st) for those who have not signed up but are interested.

After that we should be ready for general launch.

RangeR

Just found this thread now. Is there an update? Use Cabbage on Android daily. Would like to try on WP7.

Dean_Mc

Hi,

Sorry I have been really busy at work and haven't had a chance to update. With Mango so close I am working through testing it solely for that. I think Mango is out next month, although they are accepting apps at the moment. I am hoping to get it out to the marketplace before the end of September which should coincide with Mango nicely.

Although I could have launched early this month it would mean keeping two codebases hanging around, there are also issues around updating your app to mango that block you from adding features to the pre mango app (even though mango isn't out yet.) which would have caused end user frustration.

All in all at the very latest it will hit phones in the last week in September, that is accounting for the rush that is going to happen in submissions once mango drops.

Dean_Mc

Did I hear somebody say Live Tile ??

Almost Ready Guys!

Dean_Mc

3 Days waiting, I'm hopping to hear back from Microsoft soon regarding Sendu's approval.

Dean_Mc

Ok,

I have just got word back from the testers, it seems that everyone and there mother are trying to release in anticipation for Mango, the back log is 7 working days so I reckon it is safe to call it two weeks before Sundu hits your phones.

I think you guys will be happy with it, I've added live tile support and other little niceties to make it easier to use.

Once the link populates I will post it here.

Just to make everyone aware. The app is mango only, but from what I understand Mango is pretty much on the way so even if you don't have a preview version you can get it shortly.

If anyone has an Dev Unlocked phone running mango, feel free to PM me and I will send you over the XAP to side load, rather than having to wait.

Dean_Mc

So I just got word that Sendu has been certified, from here it usually takes 24 hours to publish to the Marketplace.


Just a note, this app is Mango only. This decision was made because of some extra functionality present in the Mango SDK that is not available or broken in Nodo or previous. Given that Mango is out very shortly it made sense to target it straight away.

Once the app is on the Marketplace I will talk about some of the extra functionality I am working on.

Enjoy


PS: Deep Link for those who like to refresh
http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=66b20ff5-6749-43f7-92b8-9459d2ca4f6f

T-b0n3

Installed in. Thanks mate.

Dean_Mc

T-b0n3 wrote: »

Installed in. Thanks mate.

Sweet, Just noticed it's live, Let me know how you get on. Feedback appreciated.

T-b0n3

Dean_Mc wrote: »

Sweet, Just noticed it's live, Let me know how you get on. Feedback appreciated.

Will do mate.

neilksos

I've been using this app every day for the past few weeks. Dean was sound enough to send me over some beta versions that he had and I helped him to find some bugs. The app is great and right now is the best web texting app in the marketplace. He's adding UK support too for anyone who needs it.

He has also shared some of the future plans he has for the app and they're going to be great.

Dean_Mc

neilksos wrote: »

I've been using this app every day for the past few weeks. Dean was sound enough to send me over some beta versions that he had and I helped him to find some bugs. The app is great and right now is the best web texting app in the marketplace. He's adding UK support too for anyone who needs it.

He has also shared some of the future plans he has for the app and they're going to be great.

Cheers Neil,

Yeah Neil is my tester, so things like removing international flags from Irish Numbers (Which cabbage does not like) are improvements I would not have found myself.

Take no notice of his last comment, its not as if I am working on multiple accounts, saving messages and adding dropbox backup support... no not at all.....

DjFlin

Hey, loving Sendu. Especially the live tile info. Glad its out, for some reason i wasn't able to install the beta versions when you sent me them for testing. Keep up the good work.

Dean_Mc

DjFlin wrote: »

Hey, loving Sendu. Especially the live tile info. Glad its out, for some reason i wasn't able to install the beta versions when you sent me them for testing. Keep up the good work.

Your welcome! Yeah most couldn't 3 out of 15 actually so I just cancelled the BETA. I have a few more ideas and improvements I am working on so keep an eye on updates over the coming months.

Don't forget to take the time to rate the application as it stops it from getting lost at the end of the list

Diddy Kong

Installed and rated, thanks a million for the hard work. One suggestion from me would be a sent items folder if possible. Dont know how many other people would find this useful before you started to look at it.

Dean_Mc

Diddy Kong wrote: »

Installed and rated, thanks a million for the hard work. One suggestion from me would be a sent items folder if possible. Dont know how many other people would find this useful before you started to look at it.

Cheers for the feedback.

As for your request, its the number one thing I am asked for, I am currently working on it.

Dean_Mc

Seems Sam is having some server issues due to O2, this may affect Sendu also.

Diddy Kong

Another feature that I was thinking that might be useful is to allow usage of the groups in the people hub. So if I have a group for football or poker buddies I could send a text to this group via Sendu.

Dean_Mc

Diddy Kong wrote: »

Another feature that I was thinking that might be useful is to allow usage of the groups in the people hub. So if I have a group for football or poker buddies I could send a text to this group via Sendu.

It's on my list Unfortunately, since O2 have blocked cabbages server my time is now being taken up trying to write a library to handle this from within the application itself.. Which has put everything back my a large amount.