Application Quality

What do usability, power management, and testing, and signing have in common? User experience! When the language to be used in an application is chosen with care, power usage is kept to a minimum, and when unexpected errors are filtered out of the application, users are more satisfied. All of this adds up to a positive user experience.

User experience emphasises the emotional aspects of interacting with a product, such as the product's desirability, usage flow, and impressiveness. The product that makes a positive emotional impact on users sets itself apart from its competition.

Forum Nokia provides guidance, information on best practices, and tools that enable efficient application development and optimised user experience. The topics discussed in detail here were specifically selected from among the numerous aspects of the development process. Studying and applying this information to your development work can give you the competitive edge you need to produce the next outstanding mobile application.

Quality – the recipe for success

Quality is automatically built into an application through a good development process. With a well-defined process, you are always on track.

A good development process ensures that the application meets all relevant requirements. Different phases, responsibilities, and deliverables are clearly defined, and the project stays within a set schedule and budget. From concept creation to product maintenance, everything works like a charm – just as planned.

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Usability and User Experience – the key difference

In a highly competitive market, a positive user experience is the key differentiator for successful products.

User-centric development allows the application concept to be verified and to include the right feature set. Usability work ensures consistent user interfaces and smooth user interaction with the product.

On top of this solid foundation, adding just the right amount of creative innovation – WOW – makes the product emotionally desirable and pleasing.

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Design - innovation and creativity

An application, product, or service can deliver a positive user experience only through its design.

User-centric research and development is implemented by streamlining the concepts in interaction design. Visual design communicates the interactions to the users in a functional and attractive manner. When creating high-quality applications, innovation and a creative approach are not only recommended but nearly compulsory in all phases of the design process.

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Power management – experiences that last longer

Advanced device possibilities, such as multimedia and location services, take their toll on battery capacity. Effective power management allows users to enjoy their experience longer.

Controlling the power consumption of individual applications serves the bigger picture. Respect the user's desire to use the device to its full potential. Power-efficient applications typically excel in overall performance because optimised code runs faster.

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Testing and signing – better safe than sorry

Having your customers discover the bugs and errors in the first commercial release of an application is both embarrassing and expensive. Make sure that testing is an integral part of your process – from early prototype testing to module and system testing – and involve real users and actual target devices.

Certification programs such as Symbian Signed and Java Verified ensure that your application meets industrywide standards and provide access to more advanced device capabilities.

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Porting – reaching every target market

Porting is the path to accessing the great variety of different mobile platforms. Good planning and efficient application architecture make porting more efficient and reduce the time to access new markets.

The S60 platform provides a good development environment by supporting native Symbian OS C++ and Java ME. Optimise your Java ME application to the Series 40 platform to reach a mass market of tens of millions of users.

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