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Today Larry Lieberman brings Windows Phone designer Jon Bell into the studio of Inside Windows Phone to talk about what makes an app design good or bad and how to make it better. Jon, by the way, is also a developer, which I think makes his take all the more interesting.
In the video, Jon explains our design team’s philosophy of “fierce reduction” and how to make the best use of animation, pivots, and other hallmark Windows Phone visual elements. Check it out. And if design is something you struggle with, also make sure to look over some of the design-related resources Larry also calls out on Channel 9’s site.
Unfortunately I'm at work right now, so I can't watch the video, so I'll have to wait until I get home later to watch and see if they cover the most important tip of writing great Windows Phone apps - getting the SDK.
A little off-topic. Yesterday, after 18 months of convincing, a friend of mine finally agreed to buy Windows Phone. His main concern was; how to transfer contacts, text-messages and notes from iPhone to Windows Phone. Apparently, there is no easy way of doing that. An easy way would be like, plug your old smartphone in one USB slot of your PC and Windows Phone in another. Launch the "Welcome to Windows Phone" app in PC, click Migrate button (or customize). And you are done! :-)
Currently, we can only transfer contacts, by exporting the contacts for Outlook via iTunes. Then download and install Outlook connector and then import the contacts to your hotmail. Finally use the same ID in Windows Phone to sync the contacts from people.live.com.
Atleast let the iPhone, Android or Blackberry users sync their contacts with people.live.com directly from their Phone.
@Todd Brix
"There are also devs who want to jump on new Windows Phone 8 technologies before anyone has bought a device, which is fantastic. This is why we’re doing the early Preview Program. For those who don’t get the Windows Phone 8 SDK via the program, we will get the final SDK out in time for you to capitalize on the wave of new devices. "
The wave of new devices is coming pretty soon. I assume that I'll have just a few weeks to execute on the new SDK to get my app in the store for their launch.
I'll be going to BUILD and really expecting to come home with a LOT of tips on the new SDK, along with all the great info on Windows 8 apps.
Once I get home from that and buy my Lumia 920 and Surface RT (also will be getting a Surface Pro later), I'll expect to be able to run my newly "amped up" app.
Also, looking forward to somebody getting some b-lls and bringing out a Lumia vs iFone "in your face ad", showing all the features Lumia has that iFone 5 doesn't.
Please don't let me down....
Great job on Windows Phone so far... let's go grab another 5% of the market before the end of the year....
-thanks
-e
@abm Great point. That shouldn't take somebody too long to do. I think the SDK will allow one to backup content, so migrating shouldn't be too far behind.
Getting people to move means systematically removing all the barriers.
o Make the phone software great -- check
o Make the phone hardware great - check
o Make the experience rewarding - check
o Get the tools / apps people really need the most - kinda check
o Get the easy migration path - not so check
What about it, guys?