Windows 8 has a lot of people excited, and that includes more than half the developers who participated in a recent online survey. VisionMobile collected data from more than 1,500 global mobile developers and found that 57% plan to develop for Windows Phone in the future. Though the platform in attractive, if things don’t get moving soon it all might end up being nothing but talk. From TechCrunch:

Windows phone, say the survey’s authors, “is indeed the new cool,” but “to turn the buzz into developer buy-in at the levels of iOS and Android, actual adoption must follow soon or fall flat.”

One area that’s especially attractive to developers, it seems, is the ease of coding and prototyping apps for Microsoft’s mobile platform, as well as the relatively low cost of development and low learning curve.

Read more…

Last week, we learned that anyone who currently runs the Windows Phone 7 OS will not be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 8. This includes everyone who bought the flashy new Nokia Lumia 900 phones over the last two months.

Anyway, this made me wonder, how many people always have the latest mobile operating system? To find out, I thought I would run an informal poll.

 Loading ...

Thoughts? Let us hear it in the comment section.

Sure, you probably spend most of your testing time with Android and iOS apps, but if Microsoft has its way that will be changing soon. A month from today Microsoft will be hosting a developer summit – just another way the company hopes to encourage mobile app developers to pick up the WP OS. Here’s some details from CNET:

Microsoft is serious about closing the gap separating its Windows Phone application Marketplace from Android’s Google Play and iPhone’s App Store. The San Francisco location couldn’t be a better spot to tap into Silicon Valley’s software-development mojo.

It isn’t that the Redmond giant hasn’t tended its app garden, which it had to restart from scratch after plowing under its previous Windows Mobile platform. In fact, Microsoft has been actively seeking top app shops and independent coders before ever announcing its first Windows phone.

The Windows Phone Marketplace has been seeing steady growth and some big milestones over the past few months. At last count it had 80,000 apps (compared to 30,000 a year ago). And according to CNET, this is likely just the tip of the iceberg.

Read more…

Zenprise, a mobile device management company, recently looked at devices connected to its cloud and put together a list of apps most commonly blacklisted or whitelisted on business phones. Angry Birds came out on top of the most banned apps. Surprisingly, Skype made an appearance on both lists. Here’s a few more apps that are commonly red or green lighted (from PCWorld):

Other mobile apps that companies blocked their employees from using at work include Facebook, Google Play, Dropbox, YouTube and Skype, Zenprise found. Interestingly, Zenprise also found that Skype was the most whitelisted app among its customers, thus making it the top app to appear on companies’ blacklists and whitelists.

And the trend of companies controlling which apps you can and cannot have on your work phone is growing.

Zenprise also notes that companies have gotten a lot busier when it comes to blacklisting apps, as the firm reports “seeing more than three times as many blacklisted apps in Q1 than in our last report” released earlier this year. Zenprise says that companies have been a lot more proactive in blocking apps that pose potential security threats over the past quarter, including Dropbox, Evernote and Cydia.

Read more…

Steve Wozniak – yes, that Steve Wozniak – went on the record recently about how much he enjoys the Windows Phone operating system, saying that, ‘”Every screen is much more beautiful than the same apps on Android and iPhone.” Yeah, we couldn’t believe it either.

Here’s more from the TheVerge.com:

He’s so impressed by it, in fact, that he defines the experience of using a Windows Phone as feeling like you’re “with a friend not a tool.” In his mind, navigating Android is a much more cumbersome experience, to the point where he sees “no contest” between that OS and Windows Phone — Microsoft’s software is much more to his liking. He even goes on to say that iOS is “more awkward” in its interactions than the Lumia phone he’s presently using, though his favorite smartphone still remains the iPhone. The deficit of third-party apps for WP is something he acknowledges as holding that platform back.

Read the rest >>>

When users talk, Facebook listens. Here’s a nice recap of the company’s plan to improve their mobile app for Windows Phone (via wired.com):

Facebook outlined Tuesday upcoming updates to version 2.5 of its Windows Phone app. The updated app will add a number of features, including the ability to tag friends and locations, delete posts and comments, tap on active links in a post, and ‘like’ comments — a very popular request. The app will also feature an updated photo comments and likes page, and include threaded messaging in the Windows Phone Metro style.

“We read every comment you submit on Facebook, through email, and through the Marketplace, we use them to plan features for releases and we really appreciate all the work you put into feeding back. We’re listening :-),” stated an official Facebook update (in somewhat fractured English). And listening might be the best plan for Facebook.

Nick Bilton of the New York Times recently wrote a story about how both Facebook and Google are struggling in the mobile space. His thesis is that employees are essentially coddled into staying on campus, and therefore rarely need to use their mobile devices like the rest of us “unfortunates” who have to actually step out into “the real world” to find coffee, food and sunsets.

While not everyone finds this argument convincing, there’s no question that Facebook’s mobile apps need attention. In order to compete in the mobile marketplace and stay relevant, Facebook will need to improve its on-the-go experience.

Read the entire article >>>

The debate about the benefits and challenges of custom UIs isn’t a new or revolutionary topic. On the plus side, they let users have more personalized control over what their phone looks like. On the down side, different UIs make it difficult for developers to anticipate how an app will function for any given user. There have been steps taken – like making a certain set of keys or icons mandatory on all UIs – to make things a little more uniform, but the larger question remains. Are custom skins worth the trouble they cause? As testers, I want to know what you think about this issue. I’m also curious about issues you’ve encountered while testing with a customized device. Any good stories to share with us in the comments?

To get your mind going, here’s Bonnie Cha of CNet with her two cents and a look at how a few different operating systems handle the issue:

It’s an issue that comes up most often with Android because of all the custom skins. Unless they’re offering a pure Google experience device, manufacturers like Samsung, LG, Motorola, and HTC are free to skin their smartphones and tablets with their personalized versions of Android. On the one hand, there’s value in the openness of Android, as it gives companies the opportunity to innovate and hopefully make the OS better.

I also understand why manufacturers do it. With limitations on what you can do with hardware design and specs, tweaking the software is an easy way to differentiate oneself from the competition.

Read more…

For the second year in a row, uTest will be making an appearance at SXSW, the world-famous music/film/interactive conference in Austin, Texas. Unlike last year – where we spent most of our time eating, drinking and schmoozing with storm troopers – we have some new, big plans in store.

The obvious difference is that we’ll be cruising around Austin in the RVIP Lounge, hitting up hotspots, giving rides, singing karaoke (poorly) and playing host to SXSW attendees throughout the week. More to come on that, but you can follow @InTheWildTest for deets on our adventures, and real-time locations if you’re at SXSW..

The other difference is that, instead of just talking about the merits of in-the-wild testing, we decided to show a real-world demonstration. So, over the last 36 hours, we assembled a select group of US-based testers to put the official SXSW mobile apps through their paces. In-the-wild testing means live testers, real devices, imperfect connectivity… basically, true real-world conditions. So we went to work testing SXSW’s official apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry. For iOS and Android, we also included tablet testing, to bring the comparison total to six.

Below are some top-level results (note that each category ranged from 1-5):

********

% of Total Bugs	17.7%	18.3%	18%	6.6%	23%	16.4%
Overall Score	4.1	4.0	4.6	4.7	3.8	4.2
Usability & Design	4.2	4.1	4.6	4.8	4.1	4.2
Features & Functionality	4.1	4.1	4.7	4.7	3.2	3.9
Application & Performance	3.3	3.2	3.9	4.0	3.5	3.7

********

Of course, these figures only tell part of the story. As the apps were tested in terms of functionality, performance, design, connectivity and other factors, several issues popped up on more than one occasion. Here were a few areas where some notable bugs were uncovered:

• Incorrect time displays
• Sync issues with registration and deleted items
• Crashes on various tablet OS versions
• Issues with installation
• Social media integration
• Issues with rating and uploading photos

It should be noted that despite these issues, the overall reaction from our community was positive for each of these applications. In fact, the overall ratings you see above are substantially higher than the industry norms, so kudos to the respective dev teams.

Anyway, if you’re at SXSW and want to learn more about In-The-Wild Testing, be sure to stop by the RVIP Lounge. If you’re not able to attend, then head on over to inthewildtesting.com.

The recent introduction of low-end (cheaper) smartphones has hit a tiny testing snag … not all apps will work on them. Nokia and ZTE have already announced their intentions to make these “low-end” devices that will run Windows Mobile with 256MB of memory and 7X27 processors. But Microsoft recently commented that, as things stand now, 5% of existing Windows Phone apps won’t work with the new, lower system requirements. PCWorld has more info:

The company had identified 5 percent of current apps that won’t run properly on the lower end devices. Earlier in the day a Microsoft executive said there are currently 65,000 apps available in the market.

The company will contact the developers of those apps to advise them of how to make their apps compatible with the new phones, he said. He also wrote that in most cases the apps would be required to use less memory.

Developers of those apps can also decide not to make their app available to the new phones.

Read the full article at PCWorld >>>

That means that if developers want their apps for work on ALL Windows supported phones they’re going to have to backtrack and rejigger their apps. This means more testing, which means there’s going to be a demand for testers who own these low-end phones. Heads up all you niche testers out there!