- Chapter 1: Introduction
This project is focused on a creating mobile application based on android mobile OS. There are several frameworks out there that can be used for the application development, and it is necessary to opt the best framework for creating a robust application. The main aim for creating this application is to connect more people with the company and make something that will be useful once the project has been completed. The application is developed for a company called AL-MASA that based in Saudi Arabia, and their work involves different types of media including web design, live radio station, movie production and much more. The application will be as a showcase of the company’s work, and the purpose will be to connect new clients with the company.
1.1 About the Company – AlMasa
Since its inception in 2003 in Riyadh, the capital of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, AlMasa is connected to marketing, services, media and technology. The AlMasa Company is set to become a leading provider in the field of specialist media. The extensive and thoughtful steps were taken by AlMasa group over the years leading the company among top operating companies in Saudi Arabia. AlMasa is a name for brilliance and reliability and of distinct high-quality products. The services lines of the company include:
- Web Design
- Interactive Multimedia
- Animation
- Live radio station
- Movie
- Advertising
1.2 Introduction to Mobile Application Development
The mobile application development in current times is the most trending and stable field of software application development. Mobile application design has taken such an important role that Design-First-Design has come as an integral part of responsive application design. The design to mobile first means that web applications are now designed for mobile and hand help devices first and then for normal web browsers. At the beginning of 2010, Google first saw this trend taking shape. Mobile first in everything became the motto of the company. Two years later Pinterest came up with its iPad and Android apps. The company was launched in 2009 since then, for the first time Pinterest saw traffic from their mobile apps outgrow their web traffic (Rackspace Hosting, 2014).
1.3 Problem and Solution: Use of Mobile Apps at AlMasa
As Al-Masa particular do web and filming, and they also have a live Radio station. An android application for such a company would bring a greater advantage for users as well as for the company itself. Android applications being run on smart phones enable the users to use the application with their ease. They do not worry about the portability issues and power shortages issues. They just need smart phones to get an advantage. An android based mobile application for AlMasa will facilitate the company's users with fetching web information and accessing live Radio station. The scope of the application in a wider perspective will be there for decades. The only limitation application would suffer can be the availability of internet to access Radio Station live and for access other stuff related to web.
1.4 AIMs and Objectives
The objective is to create a mobile application for an Arabic company named AlMasa. AlMasa is an Arabic company, located in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh whose basic focus is to develop user-friendly applications.
The aim of this document is to:
1. Identify various trends in Mobile Application
2. Discuss compare Mobile Development Frameworks
3. Study the available literature for mobile applications and choose the right framework.
4. Form a technical design to develop an application by identifying the technology and tools.
1.5 Specification
Design of Application
The application is designed with a home screen that displays all the relevant sections. A user-friendly interface helps the user to guide through the application. The application will be installable through .apk file.
Interest Area
My interest area is in developing an Android based mobile application for the company. This application will disseminate valuable information of the company to users also help the company in reaching out and interacting with consumers.
Technology Used
The technology stack used for the mobile application is Java, HTML5, PhoneGap Mobile SDK and Eclipse IDE for developing the code and testing the application in Android Emulators.
The Android SDK provides a set of packages like that of Eclipse, javascript, etc; it also provides samples and tutorials that would be beneficial for study and learning of new team members.
- Chapter2: Literature Review
2.1 Domain literature review
History of mobile technology and applications
A few years ago mobile devices were email focused or lacked sophisticated screens. Mobile browser capability was limited, and the possibility of display was simple text links, even display of images was rare to find on mobile phones. Such mobile devices with email and text links display were mostly found with businesspersons addicted to email or an alpha geek. Apple changed the mobile application usage with the release of its iPhone, and the market expectations for mobile experiences completely changed (Charland, & Leroux, 2011).
Current Trends
E-commerce advances have contributed to requirements, and development, strategies of commerce applications. Most e-commerce applications assumed stationary users using wired devices. The emerging wireless and mobile networks have changed the way e-commerce applications used to be designed. Designers, researchers and developers now strategize to create mobile commerce applications. The use of mobile applications is the fields of finance, advertising, inventory management, Product locating and shopping. Mobile applications also find use in Proactive service management, auction or reverse auction, entertainment services and games. A Mobile application has its use in office and distance education as well (Varshney, & Vetter, 2002).
The growth of mobile applications is so high and acceptable that according to data it is known that 79 percent of smartphone users at some point use their smartphones. The expected number of users in 2014 is said to touch 1.75 billion thereby showing an annual increase of 24 percent as compared to 2013. The trend is for online businesses and retailers to put an emphasis on mobile development (Rackspace Hosting, 2014).
Similar Existing Application
In the company of AlMasa, no similar apps are found. So this app will add value to the organization. Some Andriod apps may be found in the Google PlayStore that display similar information but for a different company.
Benefit of the developed application for AlMasa
The mobile app will allow peoples who use it to fetch the company information. It will benefit the company as more people know about it across the globe. The app will have details of the company showcasing its work. The app will allow users to fetch real time information, listen to company news thereby increasing the company-client interaction which is very crucial for any business. The app will be able to show people what the company does. The app is free of cost and use for all users and therefore contributing to an increase in company’s expansion even more as there are high chances of more people willing to try it for free.
2.2 Technical literature view
In the technical literature section, an analysis of various available technologies is performed. There are several frameworks and methods to create a mobile application. It is important to choose from the best.
2.2.2 Overview of technologies
Mobile application development is either for iOS or Andriod platforms. iOS is for iPhone mobiles, tablets and other handheld devices from Apple. Andriod OS is being used by most other mobile phones like Samsung Gallery Series, Note-2. The mobile application development is most popular for Andriod and iOS platforms like Windows Mobile and Blackberry. Java ME (Java Mobile Edition) has been increasing in demand because of the use of mobile applications in most organizations.
2.2.3 IOS
iOS is a popular Apple's mobile operating system, and it is exclusive for all Apple hardware. The iOS powers many of Apple's iDevices. Apple provides a iOS SDK (Software Development Kit) that is available for download and allows developers to code for iPhone and iPAd devices.
2.2.4 Android
Andriod is a very popular and favorite platform of mobile development. Android provides an exhaustive set of mobile devices softwares. It provides the softwares for operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. Android provides ease of development, availability of support and ease of deployment. The ease of Android applications is such that it can be built in many diverse programming languages like HTML5, CSS, JS, Ruby, Java, Game or Flash .programming(AS3). Andriod applications may be run on a real device or an Andriod Emulator that is shipped with SDK (Xuguang, 2009).
2.2.5 Windows mobile
Windows Mobile comes under the Microsoft mobile operating systems family. Windows Mobile is built upon on the Windows-CE kernel. Microsoft discontinued Windows Mobile after Windows Phone. Windows Mobile last stable release is 6.5.5.
2.2.6 Windows phone
Windows Phone is smartphone OS shipped by Microsoft. It comes after Windows Mobile although incompatible. For Windows Phone Microsoft, created a new interface, and with it introducing a design language named "Modern" (previously "Metro"). It is the OS on Nokia devices now like Nokia Lumia.
2.2.7 Java ME
The Java technology is emerging as the most important enabler of mobile solutions for enterprises. According to an estimate, there are more than 450 million Java-enabled devices. Major vendors include Siemens, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony, RIM and LD, who have adopted Java as the core technology. Java ME is designed for small devices and consists of lightweight specially designed virtual machines (Yuan, 2004).
2.2.8 PhoneGap
PhoneGap supports creating native applications using web standards that can run on different mobile platforms viz, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Bada, Symbian and WebOS. PhoneGap provides a JavaScript bridge between the devices and native hardware.PhoneGap has own Getting Started guide for each of the platform. It provides a support of HTML5, CSS and Javascript.
2.2.8 Sencha Touch
Sencha Touch consists of a JavaScript framework that generates the HTML body dynamically in an MVC fashion. The HTML code for the body is not to be written directly. Sencha Touch might be preferred by JavaScript programmers, though HTML programmers might think otherwise.
2.2.9 jQuery Mobile
jQuery Mobile might be considered a closely relative of Phone Gap. It is a JavaScript UI framework that provides cosmetic elements like buttons, menus, and animations like transitions giving the look and feel of a native app. It is easy to use for HTML, CSS or Javascript programmers. It appears to be well-supported by Adobe.
2.3 Tools used for the Mobile App
PhoneGap Andriod SDK
PhoneGap being considered simple as it uses the amalgam of JavaScript, HTML and CSS, these are easy to learn and with significant help. By using these languages one can frame an interactive User Interface, besides PhoneGap is open source as well as cross-platform framework.
Eclipse
Eclipse as an IDE being widely used, has many advantages over other frameworks. It comes as a standalone package, makes the development fast by providing shortcuts and templates for developers. The workspace approach is also more manageable under eclipse IDE.
Java
Java being considered the most efficient language as it is secure, portable and has great speed. Portability is considered the major advantage of java besides it works on the principle of multi-threading which enhances the speed of the application up to a greater extent.
So the combination of above all technologies makes the developer to develop an efficient application for smart phones.
- Chapter3: Methodology
The project is based on android application that allows people to install it on any android device for free. The app will be a big advantage to the company so more people can hear about them everywhere in the world. The app will be based on PhoneGap framework. It will require programming knowledge and skills to develop something useful for a real company and also a part of the university project. The app will have details of the company what they do and a showcase of the company's work. It will have different tabs and sections for past and current projects. Visitors and clients will be able to watch at real time company's movie or connect to the radio integrated with the actual app. Framework will use a different type of formats, like Html and javascript but mainly java will be used for coding the logic. The focus of the app is to show people what the company does. Users of the app can watch latest’s projects from the phone for free.
The application will be built by using PhoneGap, Eclipse IDE and Java. The combination of all these technologies makes the application efficient, secure and fast because of the significant and robust characteristics of each of the technologies or framework.
- Chapter4: Design and Implementation
- Chapter5: Result - Screenshot
- Chapter6: Conclusion
The amazing app will introduce the company to visitors or clients through android devices. AlMasa is real company that has a large network of clients and is trying to build a relationship with big companies. The Andriod App is a good chance for to prove and showcase skills and knowledge by producing something helpful and unique for the company. The goal was to produce something helpful for the final year project but also to help the company by creating an online app online. The App could be a means for more satisfied clients that in bringing more new clients for the company. The objective of this app was to make an online portfolio and showcase in one app about the company by showing all the work to visitors.
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