TELERIK HELPS IMPROVE LIVES WITH APPS

Windows Phone Controls speed development of enlightening mobile apps 

Highly-responsive, graphically-appealing applications for mobile devices can bring in big profits. But the first company in Poland to create solutions for the Windows Phone 7 Series was looking for an even greater return. Jojo Mobile strives to create applications that offer users extraordinary benefits in multiple aspects of life, including entertainment, work, and education.

Established in 2010, Jojo Mobile specializes in innovative applications for mobile devices. Its employees are skilled mobile Metro user interface (UI) designers who know how to use the full potential of the Metro style and the Windows Phone 7 platform. The company offers its user interface creation and visualization services to businesses and developers that wish to create graphical applications that win the hearts and minds of users.

Even with the skills that Jojo Mobile developers offer, success is an ongoing challenge because the competition in the mobile application market is extensive. The apps must provide the quality and innovation that makes them stand out among the thousands of others available in the Windows Phone Marketplace. At the same time, applications must be developed as quickly as possible to provide a fast return on investment.  

Gauging Noise Pollution

The average person may have no clear understanding of acceptable noise levels, but there is no doubt that excessive noise can reduce productivity and impair health. Jojo Mobile believes that a great way to avoid harmful noise is to understand the sound levels in the ambient environment, and that understanding begins with measurements. To create a stand-out mobile application for measuring sound, the application had to combine functionality with attractive and easy-to-read graphic displays.

“We had to transform the value of the noise level in a way that was fun, intuitive and understandable to the user,” said Hanna Zaborska, Marketing Specialist for Jojo Mobile.

With that goal, the idea for Decibel Meter was born. Decibel Meter is a smartphone application that measures sound levels and displays the results using a graphical interface. Users can view the average value, the index values, and an audiophiles band. Decibel Meter users range from young people curious about sound levels to professionals who work in loud settings such as construction and are concerned about the safety aspects of a loud environment.  

To develop the application quickly and provide the outstanding graphic interface needed to attract customers, Jojo Mobile turned to Telerik RadControls for Windows Phone. The Telerik Windows Phone suite provides a unique array of controls and capabilities that speed Windows Phone application development.

Jojo Mobile used the Windows Phone Chart control to show a real-time sound level chart and to show the level of the average spectrum of noise with an arrow. Jojo Mobile also used Windows Phone Gauge, modified to match the color appearance of the Decibel Meter application. The Windows Phone Gauge supplemented the graphical depiction of noise levels with numerical information to give users an added-value display.  

Jojo Mobile selected Telerik controls to save the time of coding the display that the designers visualized. Developers estimated that using the Telerik controls reduced programming time from 20 days to 4 hours.

The development strategy clearly paid off. Decibel Meter is an extremely popular application that has been downloaded more than 60,000 times. “From the time the application was released for the Metro interface in 2011, it has stayed within the top ten applications in many countries,” said Zaborska. “That’s the sign of success!”

Ordering Wine and Knowledge

Ordering a great wine for tomorrow night’s dinner party is now easier than ever, thanks to a new application developed by Jojo Mobile. The Winezja.pl application for Windows Phone can help you not only select, order, and receive your wine shipment within 24 hours, but regale your guests with a history of its origin and information about its essence. You’ll not only be the king of your castle, but the sommelier as well.

Customers can search the extensive Winezja database by categories such as color, taste, and region, and select wines ranging from a few Euro to several thousand Euro. After placing an order, the customer receives a newsletter via e-mail that describes interesting aspects of the wine.

Because part of the charm of the site is making exclusive product information and knowledge available to all, Jojo Mobile knew that the user interface had to be simple, intuitive, and fun. To quickly create the quality of user interface that they needed, Jojo Mobile looked to Telerik Controls for Windows Phone.

 “The most important aspect of the development was the speed of the Telerik controls. Standard controls provided by Microsoft have been slower, which negatively affected the user experience,” said Zaborska.

Using Telerik Controls, Jojo Mobile was able to graphically present a wide range of wines along with accurate descriptions that supported a quick buying decision—all in a high-performance mobile application. Jojo Mobile used several Telerik controls in the Winezja development process: 

·         Calendar: The Calendar control provides a graphical display that helps track shipping status. Custom coding let Jojo Mobile select the colors of the days on which delivery could be implemented. An icon shows the date of order and the date of delivery.

·         DatePicker and TimePicker: Jojo Mobile used these controls to allow the user to select the delivery date and time.

·         Transition Control: This control transitions between the different parties using the application.

·         MessageBox: Helps generating information from the app to the users.

Winezja.pl currently has 20 users testing the business processes. Rollout of the application is planned for the first quarter of 2012.

Coloring by Phone 

Children commonly ask to play with their parent’s mobile phones, so it makes sense to provide applications that are fun, educational, and age-appropriate.

Coloring Book from Jojo Mobile is a coloring application for Windows Phone, available at http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/apps/af300004-3640-e011-854c-00237de2db9e. It offers a simple interface that allows users to create artwork that can be saved or shared through Facebook. A wide selection of images to color are divided into categories for easy access. Users can also attach music to each picture to increase the fun.

The entire application was designed with children’s needs in mind. “We wanted to create an intuitive interface that was very easy for children to use. We knew that children’s creations are very important to them, so we wanted to provide options for saving and sharing their work,” said Zaborska.

The mobile, electronic coloring application offers many advantages. It eliminates the need to carry crayons and paper, messy hands, and the potential for decorating walls or other inappropriate canvases while on the go. Best of all, it’s completely portable and always available, whether a parent is grocery shopping or waiting for a doctor’s appointment.

Jojo Mobile created Coloring Book using the Telerik Transition Control and Wrap Panel controls for Windows Phone. The Transition Control is used to move between screens, while the Wrap Panel helped embed thumbnails of all the images that users can color.

Since Coloring Book was introduced in 2010, it has been downloaded more than 4500 times and is one of the top coloring book choices in the US in the Games/Family category of the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Speeding Toward Success

The diverse inhabitants of the Windows Phone user community share a common desire for fast, responsive applications and innovative graphical interfaces that are both aesthetic and functional. By taking advantage of Telerik Controls, Jojo Mobile has found a way to tap into the global desires of Windows Phone users.

“Telerik controls are the only products that allow us to satisfy user expectations in this area,” said Zaborska. “The controls are very fast and very easy to use. And most important, they are easy to adapt to our specific requirements. You can see that they are created by professionals who understand the needs of developers.”

With hundreds of new applications introduced on the Windows Phone Marketplace every day, Telerik Controls give Jojo Mobile the strong competitive advantage it needs for long-term success. “The extensive functionality of Telerik Controls combined with the work of our designers has given us amazing results,” said Zaborska. “It creates a synergy that makes our applications stand out among thousands of others on the Marketplace. In our business, popularity is critical to profitability. Telerik Controls help us achieve both.”