Preview of Android Studio 2.0

Every day we can see lots of updates in Android World. Today, here in this blog post we are going to discuss about Android Studio 2.0 and see how it can be used for mobile app development showing the long standing emulator and develop speed problems.

Android Studio 2.0:

Recently, Android studio 2.0 was introduced at the Android Developer Summit in Calif. The main aim of android studio 2.0 is to improve developer workflow using improved emulators; a new Instant Run feature as well as GPU Profiler.

Android Studio 2.0

In the Android Studio, the goal is to make IDE a useful tool and to become a delightful tool; it has to be incredibly stable and this is one of the reasons developers spend hours in IDE daily. The recent releases of IDE entirely focus on stability and speed.

One of the users claimed that the speeds were massively increased and this has reduced the slowness issues which confounded many Android developers with the help of Android Studio as well as its predecessors.

In order to iterate, it is necessary to quickly see how the app looks like. Most of the emulators are not as fast as they should be and keeping in mind these issues, Android Studio 2.0 was made in such a way that it adheres to the needs of people.

All the major changes have been made to increase speed and stability. The most important changes were the speed boost and all other improvements included an entirely rewritten UI which allows new functionality like as screen shots, screen rotations, window zooming, drag and drop deployment of an .apk file to the emulator. The edge of these emulators can be resized easily.

Features of Android 2.0:

All other emulator facilities includes ability to emulate GPS location operations, phone calls, texts, camera usage and lots more to see how apps perform with a full battery and with a drained battery.

The Instant Run feature offers another speed improvement and one of the important features that is needed is to make app development faster in Android Studio. Instant Run allows to quickly see the changes running on your device or emulator.

Code changes supported by Instant Run include adding or removing a class, altering the instance method implementations or the static method implementations. Removing or changing a string resource is also supported but needs an activity restart.

Certain changes which are not currently supported include adding, removing or changing annotations, instance fields, static fields and method signatures along with many other operations. The Instant Run enables more change types and it will continue to make every editing, development and running cycle faster.

Another useful feature that is highlighted by Android development team is an early preview of new GPU Profiler and debugger. This helps developers working with graphic intensive code. It has now even become easier to profile an Open GL ES Android code with GPU Profiler.

This tool is in early preview however is very powerful and shows all the details about the GL State and Commands. All the sessions can be recorded and walk through GL Framebuffer and Textures as your app is running OPENGL ES Code.

As the Android studio 2.0 preview is in “canary” channel with some of the code changes then Google developers must consider downloading the new release and running it alongside more stable versions of the IDE.

These are some of the bigger updates of in the latest release of Android Studio. In our upcoming blog posts; we will show you how the features of Android 2.0 are useful and how developers can take its advantage.

Wind Up

Developers can try the IDE preview and offer feedback on Google +. Are you interested to use this new Android Studio 2.0 then try it now and let us know how you feel? Are you willing to get more updates about the same? Then stay connected with us.

For more such updates about Android, stay tuned with Softqube Technologies, an Android app development Company in India offering android development services at affordable costs.

What are the uses of OffShore Mobile App Development?

Mobile now has become the basic necessity of every human being. Today, it has become very difficult to stay without mobile. For those who want better reach and make an impact of their presence on the internet, mobile is useful.

The reason; today Smartphones have made our life very easy and quick. We can see most of the daily routine works are now done using mobile apps. This helps you in each and every need be it for booking flight ticket, movie ticket, train ticket or chatting with friends, shopping or anything else.

With the help of these mobile apps, several things are possible within couple of seconds. It is very important for businesses to have a mobile app which runs on every platform like as Android, iOS and Windows.

In case you are looking for a well known mobile application then it is advisable for you to get in touch with any well known offshore mobile app development company as they have experts who can help you to get the perfect mobile app developed for your business.

In order to stay ahead among competitors in this industry; every mobile app development company makes constant efforts and remains updated with latest technologies. This helps to take competition to the higher level and hence it becomes difficult to get experienced developers among the crowd.

Offshore Apps Development

A recent survey shows that iOs and Android app development capture nearly 25% and 26% of mobile market respectively. 65% of total companies make more than 50% of their income via mobile devices.

Increase in the mobile usage:

Statistics show that there has been rapid increase in the usage of devices like as tablets, GPS, Playbooks, Smartphones and more. Application companies are also growing in order to meet the demands of app development industry.

Mobile App Development from Offshore Developers:

At present, mobile app developers have developed 3.9 million applications for various platforms like as Windows, iOS, Android and others. If you want to get joined here, then opt for a well known mobile app development company which will help to get the mobile app developed economically and timely.

So, why should you outsource the mobile application development project to a well known App Development Firm?

  • Data Mining: Let’s say if your mobile application is unable to properly process the required data then such applications are of very little or no use when it comes to data driven decisions.

    When you get in touch with such firms then you can easily solve the issues as these firms have experts having necessary skills and expertise that is useful for developing native & hybrid apps which can catch the information that is useful to you.

  • Application Testing: Once the application is developed then it is necessary to test the particular app and ensure that the mobile apps must run smoothly on various types of mobile devices and tablets available.

    Developers at App development companies must test your apps several times and fix the issues as well as refine its performance.

  • It Saves time and money: The best benefit of outsourcing is to save valuable time and money. The application launch cannot be delayed and hence here a well known mobile application development company is very useful as these can develop highly efficient apps.

In a nutshell, we can say that if you wish to get a perfect business mobile app then you must get in touch with experienced mobile app developers or mobile development companies who can help you to get the app developed the way you want.

Also, they will advice you about the latest trends and updates of the mobile app development industry.

Wind Up

Keep these benefits in mind and opt for a reputed app development firm like as Softqube Technologies and you will get all those things developed by experts that you were searching in an app.

Stay connected with us for more such information about mobile apps.

Developing Enterprise Mobile Apps within a Specific Budget

Mobile apps have now become the need of any business. Every enterprise is now getting involved in developing mobile apps. These enterprise mobile apps are to be introduced to the employees once they are completely developed.

As per the recent report, nearly 45% of end users in the enterprise still have assumptions that the final app will be complicated to use irrespective of the huge investment done. The matter is enterprise mobile apps are not so overwhelming development projects that take years to be true when you are in need of something that is very simple for employees to use.

So, when it comes to enterprise apps one can simplify things as follows:

  1. Follow the 80 -20 Rule: A recent report shows that mobile leaders spend nearly $270000 to get a single mobile app developed. From this, we can say that 80% of internal and customer oriented mobile uses do not contain any specific functions.

    And about 20% of enterprise mobile apps need custom development which includes outsourcing or hiring the in house mobile developers. IOs and Android app developers are the ones that are very expensive to be hired.

    As per the survey of Developers Economics; Android and IOS developers can be hired for $10,000 per month. This is an average figure. At times, business managers, marketers or IT teams can easily handle the prototyping simple use cases with the help of a well known mobile app development platform solution.

    Using a Mobile app Development Platform solution; one can get following benefits:

    • Speed: The average development time can vary from several months to years based on the nature of the project. Using a code free MADP solution; this development time can be reduced to days.
    • Enterprise Quality Apps: Proper use of various functions is a key and it needs dynamic integration with a backend. Various well known mobile app development companies like Softqube technologies, Mobile app development India can easily develop powerful native apps with the use of OAuth to authenticate users as well as retrieving the data quickly as per the need.
    • Reducing the costs: Development and maintenance costs are reduced to an extent as content changes can be made quickly without paying additional charges to the developers for making a simple change.

How can cost effective mobile apps be developed?

It is not necessary that every time you have to spend millions of dollars for developing an enterprise mobile app. Apart from this; there are various solutions that exist and one of them is to use current talent and resources.

One can develop powerful native apps within the budget and avoid paying high development costs. Most of the companies disdain enhancing their apps while many of these are highly affected by the sky touching development costs. So, avoid being one of the firms that fear from huge development costs.

Few useful ways to get enterprise mobile apps developed:

  1. Custom Native apps: Most of the mobile apps are custom built. It is one and the only way to develop an app for any particular business. One can quickly create custom apps using iOS SDK or Android SDK.

    Let’s say you want to get an app developed for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows i.e. separate operating systems then one app is to be developed four times. This is a very time consuming way to develop apps.

    Further, it takes more time to copy the code for each SDK and it creates an error which follows trying to alter the code into various platforms. Once the app is completely developed then it is time to integrate it with backend system.

    Here, there are lot of security concerns as none of the enterprise systems were built for mobile consumption. This integration can take from 50% to 70% of the development effort.

    Even if a dedicated team of developers is available for developing apps; it can take several months to build an app.

  2. Cross Platform development: Cross platform development tools are used to develop mobile apps. Using such tools one can easily develop native apps, HTML apps, hybrid apps and more.

    HTML5 apps are cross platform apps however these lack the ability to influence all the capabilities and sensors of the mobile devices. Native apps; on the other hand makes effective use of all the capabilities of the mobile device on which it runs.

    Cross platform tools like Xamarin and Titanium permits the developer to write the code only once and then create the code for remaining smart phone operating systems. This allows developers to reduce the time that is spent to write the code for all four separate app versions.

    While this boosts the development time; the issue of enterprise integration and security is still there. When it comes to Hybrid apps; the combination of native and HTML 5 apps; device specific containers are used to communicate each device and influence the native sensors as well as capabilities of that device.

    Well known tools for developing cross platform apps are Apache Cordova or Phone Gap. With Phone Gap, the code is written for once and then used in all operating systems without the need of generating separate code for every device.

    Hybrid apps offer all the benefits of native apps without bothering about the maintenance of separate code for every device.

Wind Up

Apart from those listed above, there are many other ways through which enterprise apps can be developed easily and quickly. We will definitely discuss them in our upcoming blogs. It is necessary for you to know as to which method suits you the most.

You can select the way that most suits your requirements. If you wish to get guidance from experts then you can get in touch with Softqube Technologies, Mobile App Development India. Here, you will get every sort of guidance related to mobile apps including the platform that will be suitable for developing apps for particular platform.

Let us know how this blog post was useful to you? Feel free to write us back.

Android is Now Eight Years Old

We are so busy in our schedules that we keep ourselves updated with the trends but we forget to take a look since how long they are in the market. Be it Android or Google, do we have any idea when it came in the market or since how long are they surviving here?

Today, here in this blog post we are going to take a look at Android Platform and know about how long has it sustained in the market? 5th November; eight years ago that means in 2007; was the day when Android was born.

Happy Birthday Android

Android is now eight years old. 5th November 2007 is the birth of the platform. Android was formally announced along with its union with Google, HTC, Samsung, LG, Sony, Motorola and lots of such software companies, chip manufacturers as well as mobile carriers.

In the initial stages, it was presented as the open source alternative to various mobile operating systems like Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, RIM’s blackberry, Nokia’s Symbian and the most well known iPhone.

Within these eight years, the mobile market has changed rapidly and Android has now dominated the market as it is now the single most used operating system on the planet and runs on billions of phones as well as devices like as tablet, smart watches, set top box, Smart TVs, in car entertainment systems and lots more.

The entire mobile world is dominated by Android now days. Yes, Apple’s iOs is available but it has very less share. Android has now released its full sixth version which can also be said as its thirteenth notable revision.

Still there are plenty of improvements in the platform to be made and manufacturers’, developers are in constant efforts to improve it and we have seen the progress in last eight years.

History of Android:

Android development began in September 2003 and later it was owned by Google in 2005. The SDK or we can say Software Development Kit for Android was released on November 12, 2007. As the beta versions were released on 5th November, it is celebrate as “Android Birthday” every year all over the world.

Let’s take a look at the entire eight years journey of Android:

Android came in the market with the Android beta release in November 2007. Android one is the first commercial version that was released in September 2008.

And from then onwards, Android is continually being developed by Google as well as Open Handset Alliance with number of updates to the base operating system after the initial release. Recently Android’s major update Android 6.0 “Marshmallow” was released in October 2015.

If we closely take a look at Android’s versions then they are named with a confectionery themed code name and are released in alphabetical order with the first version being Android 1.5 Cupcake and following ones as follows:

Android Version names:

  1. Cupcake (1.5)
  2. Donut (1.6)
  3. Éclair (2.0 -2.1)
  4. Froyo (2.2–2.2.3)
  5. Gingerbread (2.3–2.3.7)
  6. Honeycomb (3.0–3.2.6)
  7. Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0–4.0.4)
  8. Jelly Bean (4.1–4.3.1)
  9. KitKat (4.4–4.4.4, 4.4W–4.4W.2)
  10. Lollipop (5.0–5.1.1)
  11. Marshmallow (6.0)
Different Android Versions and their features:
  1. Android 1.0 : It includes:
    • Android Market Application
    • Web Browser
    • Camera Support
    • Access to web email servers that support POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP
    • Gmail synchronization
    • Google Contacts
    • Google Calendar
    • Google Maps with Street View
    • Google Search
    • Google Sync
    • Google Talk
    • Media Player, Bluetooth support
    • Voice Dialer
    • YouTube Video Player
    • Wi Fi Support
  2. Android 1.5 Cupcake:
    • Support for third party virtual keyboards
    • Support for Widgets
    • Supports MPEG-4 and 3GP Formats
    • A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth support
    • Animated Screen
    • Auto Rotation
    • Video upload on Youtube and Picassa
  3. Android Donut 1.6:
    • Voice based search
    • Including content in search results
    • Support for viewing App Screenshots
    • Fully integrated Gallery, Camera with quick camera access
    • WVGA screen resolutions supported
    • New Gesture Framework
  4. Android Éclair 2.0:
    • Microsoft Exchange Email Support
    • Bluetooth 2.1
    • Camera with updated features like as Flash support, Zoom, Scene mode, white balance, Colour effect and Macro Focus
    • UI browser that supports HTML 5
    • Updated Google Maps
    • More Screen size and resolution
    • Motion Event
    • Live Wallpapers, Animated Home Screen Background images
  5. Android Froyo 2.2 and 2.2.3:
    • Improvement in Speed and memory
    • Android Cloud Support
    • Browser application with JavaScript
    • Wi-Fi Hotspot Functionality
    • Advanced Microsoft Exchange support
    • Switching between multiple keyboard and languages
    • Includes Numeric and Alphanumeric passwords
    • Adobe Flash support
  6. Android Ginger Bread:
    • Updated user interface and design
    • Native support for internet telephony
    • Improved Copy Paste functionality
    • Supports NFC ( Near Field Communication)
    • Advanced Audio Effects
    • Multiple Camera Support
    • Improved support for Native Code Management
    • Sensor support
  7. Android Honey Comb 3.0:
    • Tablet support with holographic user interface
    • Includes Action Bar with access to widgets, navigation and other such contents
    • Redesigned Keyboard
    • Intuitive Copy Paste interface
    • Browser with enhanced functionality of multiple browser tabs along with “ Incognito”
    • Supports multi core processors
    • Hardware Acceleration
  8. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich:
    • Includes roboto Font Family
    • Soft buttons for Android 3.0
    • New widgets displayed in new tab
    • Pinch to Zoom Functionality
    • Advanced Error Connection
    • Face Unlock feature
    • Data Usage Settings
    • Advanced Camera features like as time lapse settings, panorama mode and zoom while recording
    • In built photo editor
  9. Android Jelly Bean 4.1:
    • Smoother User interface
    • Expandable Notification
    • Multi channel Audio
    • USB Audio
    • Turn of Notifications as per the application
    • Rearrangement of shortcuts and widgets
  10. Android Jelly Bean 4.3:
    • Blue tooth low energy support
    • Dial pad auto complete in Phone application
    • Supports more languages
    • Lock Screen Improvements
    • Day dream screen savers
    • Multiple user accounts for tablets
    • Group Messaging
  11. Android Kitkat 4.4:
    • New Interface with White elements
    • Clock with thin digits
    • Performance optimization
    • Wireless Printing
    • New Framework for UI transitions
    • Storage Access Framework
    • Audio tunnelling and monitoring
    • Bluetooth message Access Profile
    • Text wrapping disabled  in WebView browser component
    • Advanced Camera Features like as Auto Focus, white balance
    • Security enhancements
  12. Android 5.0 Lollipop:
    • Supports 64 bit CPU
    • Supports Print Previews
    • Refreshed Lock Screen
    • New Project Volta for improving battery life
    • Audio input and output via USB Devices
    • Updates received by Web Views via Google Play
    • Tap and Go Feature that allows users to transfer data from one android device to another using Google Account
    • Smart Lock Feature
    • Updated Emoji
  13. Android 5.1 Lollipop: Along with all above features these will also be available:-
    • High definition voice calls
    • Official support for multiple SIM Cards
    • Device Protection
  14. Android 6.0 Marshmallow:
    • Now on tap feature
    • Doze mode
    • Direct share feature for specific apps
    • Do Not disturb mode
    • USB Type C support
    • Demo feature for Screen shots
    • Automatic full data backup and restore for apps
    • MIDI support for musical instruments

Till today Android has covered these many stages and is still marching ahead on the path of progress. We wish Android a very happy new year that aids in its progress and boosts its revenue.

Wind Up

Hope this blog post will be useful for those who wish to know in depth about all of the Android versions and also those who are willing to purchase mobile devices with latest android version.

Before you purchase any device, take a look at the version features and then if they meet your needs you can buy one. For more such updates about Android, Stay connected with Softqube Technologies, Android App development Company India.

What Hurdles Android has to Face to Maintain its Lead in the Market?

It is very well said that Success comes to those who constantly keep themselves updated and keep working to match the newly arose demands. One can only break its own records if one improves the skills constantly.

Same is the case with Android; it keeps on overcoming huge hurdles in order to maintain its position in the market. Today, smart phones are used by almost everyone; be it a small business or limited business.

Android alone has nearly 1.4 billion monthly active users. The reason; its huge selection as well as the way it approaches several segments of smartphone consumer market. Even though android is so popular; we can say that it can have an uncertain future.

Because it has several open source variants and so the Android ecosystem is highly fragmented. This presents various issues in terms of security in app development. Slowly, the smart phone markets are diverting from well developed countries such as United States to the newly growing markets of India and Brazil.

The overall project control will be maintained by Google through its Android one project while third party vendors will boost the regionalized Android versions to specific consumer markets. In a report from Business Intelligence; challenges and opportunities faced by Android in present day were examined.

Android Market

Also the effects of fragmentation on Android as well as the limitations of Android system like as Android Wear, Android Pay were also considered.

A brief discussion of this report is as follows:

We all know that android is the widely adopted mobile platform in the entire world. In second quarter of 2015, 83% of smart phones were shipped globally out of which 285 million smart phones were those running on Android version.

Another greatest challenge faced by Android is Fragmentation. Today, if we closely take a look at the versions used by people then one third of consumers are still using devices having versions released before 2012.

On the other side, the same fragmentation is the biggest opportunity for Android. Let’s see how:

How Fragmentation can be Biggest Opportunity for Android?

Android has innumerable versions and so consumers get the wide variety of choice to choose from. If we talk about the year 2015 then in the month of August, 24000 different Android devices from various Android brands were available. Some were running on forked versions of the platform operating system developed from Android open source.

This means customer had the choice to choose from enormous versions by enormous brands and so depending on the choice, need and want; they can select the one that they are in need of. Hence, till now we can see the number of versions that are launched by Android and also its demand in the market. In this way; fragmentation serves a boon to Android platform as this helps to sell smart phones more in numbers.

Talking about Google Play Store where every android app is available; we can say that it surpasses the competition but the arrival of apps and developers really makes app development a problematic thing for marketers.

It has crossed the app sales volume in 2014 however the premium available on any particular app increases the app marketing costs. This creates the difference between the amount of traffic as well as the volume generated.

And this difference is one of the biggest hurdles for Android platform. On the contrary, iOS has less traffic but its revenue surpasses to that of Android. This means iOS has less but valuable and qualitative customers which play an important role in maintaining the brand image in the society.

New markets are the ones that decide the future of Android and Google is in constant efforts to win the battle fighting against the competition from handset manufacturers, carrier partners and from traditional rivals such as Apple.

So, here are the following things that this report covers:

  • Showing Android platform as the greatest smartphone market.
  • Factors that cause hurdles to its progress mainly fragmentation.
  • Showcasing Android’s biggest opportunity Fragmentation.
  • Reveals the growth of Android in new products and services like as Android Pay and Android wear.
  • Shows how Google is planning to win the battle.

All these above mentioned points are the topics that can have unending discussions because day in day out; Android offers new versions, new features which can bring some alterations in the statistics.

Hence, even though Android is so popular it has not stopped and is still continuing to grow facing so many hurdles but still it wins as it is the only operating system that is used even by any middle class person as well as by the affluent people.

There’s no such specification as to which class of people actually use it and hence it is made available for all. This is one of the reasons why android is gaining popularity and why every of its versions are successful in the market.

Wind Up

Every time we keep on discussing about android app development; today we thought to give our blog post a different direction and hence we came up with a topic which gives us the insight about Android market and shows us that no one can ever gain popularity without facing hurdles.

The thing is whether we are facing it or we get stopped by it. Do let us know how do you feel reading this post and what do you think about this new direction of ours. We are eager to know your feedback.

If you are interested to use Android as a platform and get your business app developed from expert Android app developers then you are at the right place, Professional Android app developers at Softqube technologies will do the right thing for you.

Get in touch with us to discuss your requirements in detail.

Best Productivity Apps for iOs

Today, in the mobile world; Apple’s iconic smartphone has a huge market share. Even most of the readers reading this post may be the iPhone owners. Most of our readers have certain purpose behind purchasing the one.

Here, we will discuss about some very useful productivity apps that can be used by any iPhone user. Such similar apps are also available for Android. These apps are ranked with the help of PC Mag as well as Lifehacker as the sources but these apps can be lot similar to that of Android as these are compatible with cross platforms.

Devices which run on iOS cannot stand lower in terms of how much they boost productivity. If you want all you need then you have to pay more money. These productivity apps can provide smooth working solutions which even Android fails to offer.

Productivity has no boundaries and using these apps; one can increase the work flow volume and get more work done. This helps to get the free time for more work or more rest depending from person to person.

Today, iPads are more in demand as they possess the screens which can easily handle an entire day’s office work including documents, spreadsheets as well as presentations on the go. Yes, one can manage tasks for the entire day and then the work can be distributed in a particular group.

iPhone Apps Development

The device can easily take care of the same. Most of the solutions available here are either available on an interface or may be available across all platforms and is capable of communicating easily. So, now your wait is over and here is the list of all these productivity apps. Let’s move ahead:

Best Productivity Apps:

  • OmniFocus: This is an application that can be organized easily and is worth its price. It offers the set of features that no other app provides in such price. This is among the most useful apps among all.
  • Evernote: This is another most popular application that is used to take notes. It can easily run on the computer; be it any OS and also works well on mobile devices. This offers a very useful set of tools in the free version and more in the paid ones.
  • Push bullet: This application gets the award of 3rd best price in the entire list of 9 productivity apps for iOs thus allowing you to share anything from files and notifications between devices irrespective of the device type whether it is iPhone, Android tablet or Mac/PC. It also provides feeds from various sources and topics that one might be interested in.
  • LogMeIn: This allows users to use the phone for controlling Mac or Windows computer. It is just like you will feel that you are sitting in front of your computer no matter where you are and what are using i.e. WIFI or 4G.

    This allows you to share files and provide cloud integration.

  • Things: An application that keeps you reminding about things you need to do or you want to do in your life. It is just like to do list app that completely widens the concept. It is a very powerful app.
  • Microsoft Office Suite: There’s no substitute to this application. Mostly those who are not satisfied with Google’s online solutions; for them this is a boon. With this app; one can have Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook on phone and tablet.
  • 30/30: This is relatively new with a completely new concept. This helps you to remove your procrastination habit and carry out more work by including timer to its interface. The timer is applicable in most of the solutions.
  • Asana: An iOs application that is compatible with other platforms as well and is used to offer different functions thus presenting a key feature which allows to boost productivity.
  • Flow: This is a collaborative task manager. This means if used by entire team; it can easily manage the project however every team member must be able to use it. It is available with a sleek interface as well as sophisticated functionality which is hidden behind its huge ease of use factor.

If you are using iOs system then these apps will be easily useful to you. Use any one of them and let us know how you feel and how much exactly it is useful. Are you aware about any of such more apps for iOS which can boost the productivity then do share those with us.

Wind Up

Stay connected with Softqube Technologies; iPhone Apps development India in order to be benefitted from various app development services such as iPad and iPhone App development and lots more.

Get Free Images for App Development

App Developers usually are in search of free images that can be used during app development process. Google Images is the most preferred platform to get free images. Using free images is not advisable because most of the images are copyright protected.

Hence, these may not be allowed to be reused. So, which resources will be useful to get free images that can be used in the apps? Here, in this post we will highlight some of the sources that can be useful to get free images.
Let’s move ahead and see what they are:

Resources for Free images:

Beginners in the app development field usually have lower budgets and as a result, they cannot spend much on premium images. Here, is the time to search for free images that can be used in the projects.

Another option is to ask to the client if they are willing to pay for images and if he/she agrees then you can go for paid images as well. But this is one possibility. In most cases, mainly free images are used.

But still, these images also have some constraints like as some cannot be used for commercial purposes. This shows that one cannot use such kind of images in commercial apps. So, what is the option to get images?

The answer is as follows:

The right way to avail images is to purchase licenses of premium stock images. This will avoid all types of legal actions and will also provide you best quality images that can be used in your projects. Yes, always this cannot be useful especially when the budget is limited.

So, again the same question arises? Where to find free images that can be used everywhere including commercial apps. The solution for this is Public Domain images, CC0 images as well as other free image licenses that allow the use of images for commercial purpose.

Here, we have listed some of the resources that offer images for Free:

  • Super Dev Resources: This is a website where you can come to know about thousands of websites that offer free images and stock photos having licenses under CC0 or CC3.0. You can find image sources that are listed here in several posts.

    This is a great way to hunt for websites providing images at no cost especially for commercial projects.

  • Pixabay: This is one of the website that offers 300000 free photos, vectors as well as art illustrations. It helps you to search for images in their catalog which is a useful option instead of searching on Google Images.
  • PicJumbo: A very useful site that offers high quality images. This website has an easy to browse category for free images and most of the pictures are available for commercial uses.
  • Google Image Search for Commercial Images: In case none of the above options offers you what you want then this is yet another possible option available for you. Here, when you search for any keyword on Google Images then you will get all the search results that include images of all types with licenses.

    You can provide instructions to Google to give you limited search results only for those images that can be used for commercial purpose. For this, go to Advanced Image Search and fill in your keywords.

    Then go to the bottom of the page and then select the field “Usage rights”. Now, choose “free to share or use” commercially.

    You will get perfect idea from the image given below:

Before using the images make sure you have read the license available on the website because sometimes you may also come across the images which are protected with copyrights.

Brief Note: Try out any of this and let us know your feedback or if you are aware about any of such free image sources then kindly share those with our readers. Let us know how web developers tend to cope up with the issues of getting images.

If you are an expert web developer who has already passed to this phase then please share your experience with us, we would love to hear from you.

Wind Up

Hope this blog post was useful to all the web developers and this can serve as a guide to those who are looking for images for their app development projects. We will keep posting more such useful information related to web development.

Stay tuned with Softqube Technologies, App Development service provider in India for more such latest resources which can help you to develop a perfect application that is admired by the client.

Apple Pay will Now Gain Momentum

Like Google Wallet, Apple Pay is another mobile wallet. Till now, it has no such popularity. But now, it will start getting attention. Initially, very few retail stores had the new checkout terminals that were necessary to accept payments via Apple Pay.

People refuse to use it due to security reasons as they fear that the security will be worse than credit cards and some still love to swipe their cards instead of using an iPhone to make the payment. In 2015, the usage of this mobile wallet is said to be increased.

iPhone Apps Development

So, looking at the increase in its usage; it is predicted that its use will be enhanced within next couple of years.

Let’s look at some of the reasons that show Apple Pay is going to be more popular:

  • It has gained the lead: For many, mobile wallets may sound something new. However, Apple Pay covers three quarters of the market. This was confirmed by one of the Payments advisory firm.
  • It’s now time for merchants to use this mobile wallet: For those merchants who don’t accept new chip cards, 1st Oct was the deadline and now if they refuse to accept such cards then they will be liable for card frauds.

    Several checkout terminals that accept new cards will now accept payments from Apple Pay. So, now there’s no option with the sellers but to get connected with such mobile wallets instead of being penalized or outfitted.

  • Slow Chip Cards: Before mobile wallets were actually launched, that old debit credit cards with magnetic strips were the most preferable option. Now, people get electronic cards via email. These actually take a little longer to complete the transaction.

    Here, is the turning point where mobile wallets like Apple Pay will be preferred the most as these finish the transactions quickly as compared to those magnetic strip cards.

  • Payment habits have started to evolve: Several apps like as Starbucks and Ubers’ have played an important role in increasing the use of mobile wallets. Initially apple focused on fast food restaurants as well as grocery stores.

    They encouraged customers to make payments via mobile and slowly this was converted into a habit.

  • Small businesses are slowly adopting mobile wallets: Till now, huge large retail chains adopted Apple Pay and other wallets and now even small businesses have started using the same.

    The cost of replacing terminals is the reason for small businesses switching to mobile wallets slowly. Apple focused on the same and now it has nearly 80000 small and midsized businesses every month.

  • Most beneficial ones- Reward Cards: During June, it became easy for retailers to install reward cards on Apple Pay and once installed they received incentives to use wallets and now, apple launched the most important reward programme called Starbucks.

    Within few couple of years, Apple Pay will become widely used. However, there are many reasons to believe that now the phones will replace physical wallets.

Which companies have partnered with Apple Pay?

Currently Apple Pay is working only in United States. Very soon it will reach to other countries such as Australia, Canada, China and Europe. Talking about the processing fees, Apple gets 15 cents on every transaction of $100.

Australian banks charge a nominal of fee of 5 cents per $100 spent and in US, it is $1 for every 100 dollars spent. This shows that Apple charges higher and this is the reason; other countries have still not adopted this new mobile wallet system.

At present, Apple Pay can be used in these stores:

  • Acme
  • Aeropostale
  • Apple
  • Bashas
  • BILO
  • BJs
  • Bloomingdale’s
  • Champs Sports
  • Coca Cola Vending
  • Davis Food & Drug
  • Dick’s Fresh Market
  • Duane Reade
  • Extra Mile
  • Firehouse Subs
  • Foot Locker
  • Foot Action
  • Golden State Warriors
  • Harvey’s Supermarket
  • Jamba Juice
  • House of Hoops by Foot Lockers
  • Game Stop
  • Fuddruckers
  • Food Maxx
  • Disney Store
  • Chevron
  • McDonalds
  • Maceys
  • Meijer
  • Office Depot
  • Orlando Magic
  • Nike
  • Peet’s Coffee
  • Pep Boys
  • Phoenix Suns
  • Save Mart Supermarkets
  • Sephora
  • Shaws
  • Six02
  • Sprouts Farmers Market
  • Toys’R’Us
  • United Supermarket
  • Unleashed
  • Walgreens
  • Walt Disney world
  • Whole Food Markets
  • Winn Dixie

And very soon it will be available here as well:

  • Albertsons
  • B & H Photo video
  • Baskin Robbins
  • Best Buy
  • Dunkin Donuts
  • Johnny Rockets
  • KOHL’s
  • Levi’s
  • Marriott
  • Trader Joe’s
  • White Castle
  • Urban Outfitters
  • Renaissance Hotels
  • Regal Cinemas
And these are some of the business apps that support Apple Pay:
  • Uber
  • Pinterest
  • Opentable
  • Priceline.com
  • Postmates
  • Print Studio
  • Instacart
  • Levi’s Stadium
  • Jackthreads
  • Lyft
  • MLB.com
  • KickStarter
  • Groupon
  • Disney Store
  • Dunkins Donuts
  • Eventbrite
  • Etsy
  • Fancy
  • Airbnb
  • Apple
  • Caviar
  • Chairish
  • B & H Photo video
  • Best Buy
  • Cole Haan
  • Haute Look
  • Hotel tonight
  • Houzz
  • Zulily
  • Ticketmaster
  • Target
  • Staples
  • Spring
  • Sephora
  • Stubhub
  • Starbucks

And many more are yet to join this chain. Slowly, it will be such that all of the apps will be compatible with Apple Pay.

During August 2015, Apple got support from more than 400 institutions in US itself. This includes small and regional banks. Soon it will also support credit cards of government employees, federal benefit cards for veterans as well as social security benefit cards.

This will be done with direct Express Payment Network as per Apple’s deal with government and days are very near when Apple Pay will serve the purpose of all cards even driving licenses.

Wind Up

So, now if you are one among those people who are crazy to use apple products then this serves to be an important update for you. Rest, can read this for knowledge just to know about hip and happenings of the apple world.

For more such updates, stay connected with Softqube Technologies, iPhone Apps Development in India.

What Challenges are Faced by Developers During Android App Development Process?

Technology is being used in various ways by human beings in every field. Several wireless technologies are useful in getting connected with each other. With the increased use of smartphones, the usage of internet on mobile devices has increased.

Now, one device can be used for many tasks. These smart phones come with preloaded mobile apps and these apps perform all the necessary actions which can be done using laptop and desktop. For example: Various document apps are available with allow users to do all the similar tasks such writing in word, calculating in excel as well as preparing presentation in PowerPoint.

Basic mobile applications include Gmail, calendar, clock, weather information and more. Huge demand in the usage of mobile apps directed developers to develop these apps and so now we can see many app developers around us involved into development of such mobile apps.

Mobile apps are of three types: Native apps, Web based as well as hybrid apps. Native apps are available live on the device. These applications are available on any application store. Using smart phones for education purpose has become a trend now.

Let’s consider developing an educational android app:

Developing mobile applications can be sometimes very difficult task. Here, we have considered developing an educational app that must be user oriented where one can log in and begin the test after selecting the subject. Every question has the time frame of one minute.

The test must be answered within the given time frame and once submitted, the correct answers are displayed. If the question is not answered within specific time frame then the next question will appear.

Such apps are to be developed using latest android platforms and the language used is Java or HTML. For backend system, SQTLite is used. For android environment, it is mandatory to have java on your system.

Here, one can use JDK SE development kit 7. Code is written with the help of an editor like as Eclipse. Once this editor is used then the need arises to connect Android development kit with the editor and it is done with ADT plugins.

One can make use of Plugin developer tools available for developers. Developers can create different app modules such as:

  • User Login module: Here, user has to first register by clicking on the Register where he/she needs to add name, email address, mobile number and password. Apps with such modules will be available for registered users only.
  • Admin module: Users who login as administrators can post new questions by choosing a particular area as well as subject related to a particular area.

Challenges faced by developers:

It sometimes is a hard process to develop apps for multiple devices as different properties are to be set for different devices. Every android device has different version and hence while developing apps, version details are to be checked.

Android App Development

Further, the android application is also tested on various android platforms. Support for HTML5 must also be checked. Also, there’s a need to check emulators issue; which offer hardware environment for android apps.

The app size also is one of the biggest challenges faced by developers while creating android apps as it is very difficult to store huge data within less size. Also, the apps must be secured as android malware can attack it.

Wind Up

So, if you are an android app developer and wish to become an expert in this field then do read this blog post as here we have highlighted all the possible challenges that are faced by developers during the development phase.

Would you like to get more such tips about android development then stay connected with Softqube technologies, Android app development company in India.

Android App Development: Now Bigger Apps can be uploaded to Google Play

“Good news for Android app developers and Happy Days are there again!”

Google now allows developers to upload bigger android apps on Google Play. This news will create huge excitement for developers because now they can develop huge apps and earn money from the same in huge sum.

So, now if your app is 100 MB in size it doesn’t matter as it will now be easily uploaded on Google Play store. Hurray! Now developers can develop apps of up to 100 MB! This extension will help developers to make more of advanced apps.

Maximum App Size for Google Play

Previously, this limit was restricted to 50 MB and now it has been doubled. Generally, apps don’t reach to that large size but 3D games, apps with visual effects can easily reach that limit. Certain applications need lot of CPU space and for such apps, this extension serves like a boon.

Well, it’s not actually necessary to create huge apps. This extension is given only for those apps that are large in size and by no means can their size be reduced. Hence, developers are requested not to misuse this privilege.

Rule for App Development:

It is advisable to stick to the golden rule of App Development: The smaller the APK file of an Android app, the better it is. This will enable all the users even those who reside in less developed countries to make most use of the app as those people are blessed with smaller devices having less or no advanced hardware as well as cellular services with certain data caps.

Hence, when you develop an app; it is advisable to think broadly about the same instead of just thinking about you, me and people around us. Think how the entire world will be able to use your app in an effective way.

If you are using an Android device, just take a look at the storage and decide how many apps are covered within 100 MB! You will find four or five of them and rest of them will have very less size. Yes, there are some apps whose size increases once they are downloaded.

However, even though this extension is available; it is recommended to develop apps of as much less size as possible. But, there are certain apps that extend 100 MB. So, how developers can deal with them?

Apps with more than 100 MB size:

This happens in rare case still Google has solution for this as well. Such huge apps can be uploaded by using expansion files offered by Google especially for Android. These files help developers to upload apps of up to 2 GB on Google servers.

This feature is similar to the one available for iOS 9 known as “on demand resources” where the developer file is stored in cloud and then given to the users only when they need it.

So, now developers stay relaxed. Develop the apps with focus and try to keep their size less however in case there’s no chance then you can make use of Google’s new privilege and extend it up to 100 MB!

Wind Up

We think this information will be very useful to all the app developers and they will now be eager to know this. Let us know how this information has helped you in making development decisions.

Are you satisfied with the information available here? Do you want to share anything more with us regarding the same? Then, get in touch with Softqube Technologies, Best Apps Development Service Provider in India.

Let’s Work together!

"*" indicates required fields

Drop files here or
Max. file size: 5 MB, Max. files: 2.
    This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.