Mobile Application Development
A mobile application is a computer program or a computer software application system that is designed to run on mobile devices such as phones, tablets and watches. These mobile applications have had rapid app development in the past few years due to high customer demands for various types of apps. Originally, mobile applications were made to increase productivity, but others came into the market due to customer demand. This includes GPS or Global Positioning System technology, order tracking apps and other location-based apps, mobile game apps, health and fitness apps, reservations or ticket booking apps.
Mobile Application Development:
It is the process of the development of applications programs and systems for mobile devices. Some programs like virtual assistants, enterprise digital assistant can be pre-installed on phones to provide an application like experience on phones. This can be done using client-side or server-side processing.
Application software developers have to consider a wide range of things like:
- Long-range of varying screen sizes.
- Different hardware specifications.
- Configurations due to intense competition in mobile application software.
- Changes in all device platforms.
There are a lot of various jobs generated by this growing demand for more apps, leading to more people working on them.
UI or User Interface:
User Interface is absolutely necessary for the development of a mobile app. A UI is composed of both hardware and software. The design is made usually done with the user as the focus of interactions with their device. For a good design, mobile user interfaces have to consider:
- Constraints: This aspect of UI mobile designs include accessibility for their functions. Like considering the screen sizes for the user’s hands to be able to access. So it includes limited attention and aspects of forms, such as the device’s screen size.
- Screen Output: This is the visual output of the app through the mobile device screen.
- Inputs: It refers to the ability to take in new information and instructions.
- Mobility: It is made to run on mobile devices that may or may not be of a specific platform.
- Contexts: These contexts signal cues for activities like locations and scheduling that takes place within the app. These cues come from the user, who is also shown the interactions from the mobile app.
Therefore, the mobile UIs are created to provide an understandable and good design to be user friendly.
To achieve this completely, a UI must be task-oriented, with a minimum set of functions. They should also consider a user’s limited attendance span. This is the type of functionality that is supported by IDES (Integrated Development Environments) or Mobile Enterprise Application Platform.
The mobile back end facilities support mobile front end facilities. This is so that mobile UIs have access to a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform. To do this, some things have to be facilitated, like authorization, authentication, data routing, security, proper mobile orchestration and working offline. Middleware components support this functionality, such as mobile app server, Mobile Backend As A Service or MBaaS, and Service-Oriented Architecture or SOA.
Mobile Application Testing:
Mobile apps are first tested, winning their development field with emulators. Then later, they are tested put in the field. Emulators are a cheap way to test apps on mobiles. These are some tools used to test apps over some of the most popular mobile operating systems:
- Official Android SDK Emulator: This is an emulator that mimics all hardware and software features of a portable mobile phone device, excluding calls.
- Google Android Emulator: It can run without having to download and install the entire complicated Android SDK. This Android emulator is capable of running on a Windows PC as an independent app. It can be installed and have Android-based apps run on it for testing.
- iPhoney: It is an app designed for running on safari to give a pixel-accurate web browsing environment. It is used to develop websites for iPhone. It is not an iPhone simulator but is used to develop websites that are to be used on iPhone.
- TestiPhone: This is a simulator used for testing iPhone web applications quickly. It is a browser-based simulator that has been tested and works on Firefox 2, Safari 3 and Internet Explorer 7.
- Windows UI Automation: It required Windows Automation API 3.0 to test applications that use Microsoft UI Automation Technology.
- Blackberry Simulator: There are several official blackberry simulators capable of testing Blackberry products, screens, device software, keyboards, and trackwheel.
MobiOne Developer: It is an IDE or Integrated Development Environment for windows. This mobile web IDE is designed to help developers work on mobile web applications for devices of platforms such as Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Palm Pre.