Strobaek Blog

My second app for the Windows Phone platform got certified today!

It is an app to use with goodreads.com. From their site:

“Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in the world. We have more than 8,600,000 members who have added more than 300,000,000 books to their shelves. A home for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads users recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read, find their next favorite book, form book clubs and much more. Goodreads was launched in January 2007. ”

Check out the “marketing site” for screen shots and link to Marketplace.

I have previously written about my first attempt to write an app for the Windows Phone. It is an app for lean project management using the API towards AgileZen.com. I had called it MobilZen which seemed like a good and natural name. Unfortuantely I was not the only one. It turned out an American company had registred MobileZen.com and even though they are doing something slightly different, I saw no reason to start a big fued, when they politely asked me to change the name.

Therefore I am proud to announce: SAAK - Serious Applications Agile Kanban.

Some of the graphics on windowsphone.com have not been updated yet, but I have been told it will happen shortly.

I’ve been told that you cannot have an app without having a website to market it.

Well, I’ve created a small one using the template created by Nick Harewood.

So check it out and please let me know what you think. Or even better, get the app and send me some feedback. Remember to be gentle, it is my first.

I’m almost done with next version which includes a refactoring of the UI and a lot of added functionality.

Today my first app to the Windows Phone was published into the Marketplace.

I’m quite excited and will now wait for the million of downloads.

The application is called MobileZen and is build around the lean project management web-site AgileZen.com and enables the user to view and edit their projects, stories and tasks.

I am in the process of adding a lot of extra functionality and hopefully also increase the user experience. I’ve ever been good with buttons, but I try to learn as I go along.

The following ramblings concern my first impressions on my new cell phone. Before starting at Microsoft I was told, that all employees would be given a new Windows Phone 7. Unfortunately they were in short supply here in Denmark, so I got an old HTC brick and only recently got the real one: a HTC Mozart.

A confession: privately I own an iPhone and I love it. It it the first time I have had a phone, where I did not want another one after 14 days, because it had the wrong form factor or was lacking some kind of functionality or I tried really hard to convince myself that it was a great phone, because it had cost me a lot of money.

I have had windows phones before, and let us be honest: they did not work. In the best cases, you only had to cold start it four times a day and was actually able to pick up most of your incoming calls. And that was on the better days.

My first impressions of the Mozart are good. It has a nice form factor and feels good in the pocket and hand. It is very responsive and the user interface is quite intuitive. I’ve got myself an American LiveID, and tried to install a few apps from the market place. Worked without any problems. It is going to take some time to find out which apps to use, but that is to be expected on a new device.

I have not had time to try the music player yet, but look forward to this part as well, as I currently travel around with two devices, as my iPhone still holds my music, audio books and podcasts.

I am missing a few features like being able to install your own ring-tone and using the phone as a modem, but this will hopefully be added in a future software update.

Conclusion: Even though I am missing a few features, I feel the HTC Mozart running Windows Phone 7 will be a nice replacement for my iPhone, as I doubt I will care to carry two devices around forever.