[App] Touring Machine - Windows Phone 7 Software Development

Touring Machine is an innovative platform developed to offer a complete sightseeing experience to adults and children. It is currently available in three editions: Mobile edition, Web edition and Augmented Reality edition.
The Mobile Edition targets Windows Phone 7.
The system supports:
Dynamically generated descriptions. There are no predefined texts. Our natural language generation engine is fully customizable, as it determines the description language, the amount of information included, and the phraseology used in the descriptions. It also takes into account the visitor’s history creating comparisons between the exhibits, as well as spatial expressions according to the user’s position. Immediate translation is also supported. The engine is called NaturalOWL and was developed by the Natural Language Processing Group(Department of Informatics, Athens University of Economics and Business).
Question / Answering: The user may ask questions in natural language and the Artificial Intelligence will try to create the proper answer.
Text-to-speech: The users may listen to the descriptions.
Maps: The user may search for the available tours using Bing Maps.
Mobile edition
Touring Machine Mobile edition is made for those visiting the actual place of the tour. The user selects one of the available tours and the application displays a list of all the nearby exhibits sorted from the closest (shown at the top) to the most far (shown at the bottom of the list). As the user moves among the exhibits, this list is automatically rearranged (taking account of the device’s orientation). The application is location – aware. Furthermore, in case an exhibit is approached which has not been previously visited, the mobile phone vibrates and reads out its name. After an exhibit is chosen, its description is generated.
The phone’s camera can be used for exhibit recognition. Given that the GPS is inactive indoors, the user may take a picture of an exhibit and a specialized image recognition algorithm will attempt to match the photo taken to one of the exhibits of the collection.
Web edition
The web edition virtually recreates the location by placing photos of it in their appropriate relative position and orientation. As a result, the user can navigate through a 3D model of virtual space using a mouse, a keyboard or a touch screen. Selecting an exhibit, a detailed description is presented.
Augmented Reality edition
The Augmented Reality edition transforms a room into a virtual museum. Having a collection of symbols drawn in pieces of paper, each symbol corresponds to a predefined exhibit. Viewing the symbols through a camera, the corresponding exhibit is displayed. The user can view the exhibit from various angles as it is a real one and read its description. This edition is ideal for educational purposes, as it has been proved that children consider it an easy and fun way to learn something.
Read more about the project at the Touring Machine website (touringmachine.cs.aueb.gr).
Some videos of our application can be found at
youtube.com/watch?v=ysfdUDxzDII
youtube.com/watch?v=IiupgWQCaL0
(Unfortunately I was not allowed to post any URLs, so I had to write them as above. Sorry for the inconvenience)

Looks great and useful too! You know its apps like this and the strength of developers taking this OS seriously, that makes me want a WP7 even more. Well done!

Related

Engineer Survey application

I am looking at developing an application that will be used to conduct on-site installation surveys. It will be designed to be browser based, and will be targeted at a pocket pc platform.
The user will start a new installation survey, and will be able to add a series of 'checkpoints' throughout the survey. The best way to describe it is to say for example that the engineer is adding proposed locations for light-switches all around the site, and needs to add the location, type of light switch, some notes, and perhaps a digital image taken from the camera of the pocket pc. Each 'light switch' will be an individual record in a database.
When the survey is complete the engineer will have a collection of light switch locations,along with notes etc. These could potentially be large in file size, so I was planning on having the 'survey' stored on the pocket pc and upload it to the web server DB when it is finished.
My question is, does anyone know of an application that has already been developed, as I don't want to re-invent the wheel.

[APP] Pocket HP42S Scientific RPN Calculator

Hi,
For those among you who want a really functional open-source HP42S calculator. The calculator is a fully working implementation of the programmable (!) HP42S RPN. It's pretty functional: solver, graph app, integration calculatinos, matrix, conversions, statistical functions, complex numbers, etc.. This calculator saved me through school and university when I was younger. Above all, it's free and donations can be made to the author.
It has a realistic skin (which you must select first). However, this skin is not a WVGA resolution, so the screen will not be filled up completely. There's also a skin package for PocketPC on the same website, choose Ehrling42ssv.gif and its layout file, copy them into the program files\free42 folder, then in Free42, select the skin. Even though it's in 480x827 resolution, it will still not cover the whole screen but at least it is sharper than the original one.
Install the Free42Decimal.cab. (see explanations on the website for the reason)
Check it out here:
http://free42.sourceforge.net/
P.S.: works on the Touch HD (with screen not fully filled up).
Here's another link for other free HP calculators (see section: Emu48 for Windows CE Source Code 1.23 Release 2) :
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp49/pc/emulators/
Also important, the information on this page :
http://www.educalc.net/881486.page
The two links here seem to look like legal downloads (no warez), however, if you find out that it is not, please be so kind to inform us.

Windows phone 7 FAQs,everything you want to know...

Credited and thanks so much to WINFONE7 in official windows phone 7 backstage forum by provide us these useful information. What I do is just copy and paste it here to share with XDA users and reduce the confusion.
So far we know Microsoft broke away from its native Windows Mobile stack and introduced a managed API platform for developers. Developers can use this platform to build third-party mobile apps that run on Microsoft Windows Phone OS 7.0 devices, which are expected at retail in October. The company's new line of attack rests on driving .NET developers and designers to use familiar tools and skill sets to build WP7 apps for a consumer marketplace. The WP7 application development platform is based on the Microsoft rich Internet application framework Silverlight, its gaming framework XNA and the .NET Compact Framework for micro devices. In February, Microsoft announced the XNA Framework -- which is used to build Xbox 360, Windows PC and Zune apps -- now supports Windows Phone and Silverlight. Microsoft is also leveraging its consumer-focused product channels and services by integrating Zune Media, Xbox Live and Windows Azure cloud services, a major focus throughout all of its products going forward. The Windows Phone System Design, which is code-named "Metro" for its allegiance to international signage in a clean layout with an original typeface, is closer to the Microsoft media player Zune HD than Windows. WP7 applications will be distributed through the Windows Phone Marketplace -- accessible via an integrated "hub" on all WP7 devices -- and through desktop PCs. In a model that's similar to the Apple App Store, developers can monetize their apps and earn up to 70 percent of revenues from applications that pass the Microsoft certification requirements. WP7 features an Office hub with Excel, Word, OneNote, SharePoint integration and networking in Silverlight, with Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), HttpWebRequest and WebClient. The user's personalized content on the phone drives the contextual experience, from live dynamic tiles on the Start screen to task--oriented hubs that offer a wider-than-the-screen panoramic view. Developers can build apps that take up a single screen, plug in to a Windows Phone app like the photo editor, or build hub-based panoramic experiences. You'll be able to create apps that look and feel like the Windows Phone apps that come in the box, but you'll also be able to go away from that. If you want to build a video game that's full screen and doesn't use any of the look-and-feel of Windows Phone, you can certainly do that as well. Microsoft is trying to ensure a consistent user experience for end users on both the hardware and software platforms. The WP7 devices, despite having different manufacturers, will all use an ARMv7 architecture with Cortex/Scorpion processor (or better) from Qualcomm Inc., a unified graphics subsystem (DirectX9), only two screen sizes and support capacitive touchscreens with four contact points. Other hardware specifications include 256MB RAM, 8GB Flash and a 5MP camera. First-generation WP7 devices will ship with a 800x480 WVGA touchscreen, with 480x320 HVGA expected sometime after the launch. When the second resolution is shipped, application and game developers will be expected to support both.WP7 supports standard phone-specific functionality and sensors that developers can tap into, such as location (Wi-Fi, cellular and GPS) and map control (Bing), compass, light proximity and accelerometer and push notifications. The location API works with Windows Azure cloud services. Despite the uniformity, WP7 devices will be available in different form factors; so far three prototypes have been shown. Chassis 1 is the ASUS phone used in engineering and demos by Microsoft with the onscreen keyboard. A second design is a sliding QWERTY keyboard by LG Electronics; the third is the Samsung slab-style phone.
I don't think these are final representations. Manufacturers are getting a great deal of flexibility in the look and feel of the phone. There will be a lot of innovation and industrial designs that are going to be available between now and the foreseeable future.
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Q: Will my current Windows Mobile phone get a Windows Phone 7 (WP7) update?
A: It's been announced that no current WinMo phone device (inc. the HD2) will be receiving an official WP7 update.
Q: How much will a WP7 phone cost; Who will manufacturer the phone?
A: WP7 isn't a phone, it's an all new Mobile Operating System from Microsoft. WP7 devices will be available from several device makers; HTC, Dell, LG, Samsung, Asus, etc. Prices will vary and is expected to be along the lines of current smartphone pricing.
Q: When will WP7 phone devices be available?
A: According to the announcement from Microsoft, phones will be available for the Holiday season, speculation is some of the first devices will be announced late September. Official release is rumored to be in October for Europe and November for the United States.
Q: Which US wireless service providers, will offer WP7 phones?
A: All the major wireless service providers in the US will offer WP7 phone devices. AT&T was announced as a Premier partner; might be the first to offer a WP7 phone or/and sell exclusive devices or features.
Q: Will there be Copy & Paste?
A: As it stands, No, this feature will not be available at release, according to Microsoft, WP7 will have smart links / smart sensing, this takes away the need for the copy/paste method in many situations. Smart links; which recognize a block of text, such as a hyperlink, phone number, or address, allow a specific action to be taken.
For a phone number, such "smart links" would allow the number to be dialed. An address might get pulled up in the mapping program, while clicking on a hyperlink would open that page in the browser. Implementing Copy/Paste would delay WP7's release, so MS is giving us the smart sensing feature at release, but several sources have reported Copy/Paste will come in form of an early update, but there is no official confirmation from Microsoft as of yet.
Q. Does Windows Phone support multitasking?
A.Yes, WP7 supports full out multitasking but 3rd party applications will not be allowed to run in the background unless it is through a MS service; instead the app will be paused when changing to another app., (Dehydrated state). This will allow the app to be brought back to the exact same state it was in before it was paused; reducing the strain on the phone's resources. (Hydrated state) (iPhone OS4 multitasking is similar)
Scenario: If an application is running when you the user switches to another application (by using the Start menu, or tapping on a notification, or via some other means) then the assumption as a platform is that the user now wants to focus on the new application, and doesn’t want the previous one interrupting their experience by grabbing memory, CPU, network bandwidth, or other resources. When an application is suspended, during this time, the application can save global state to disk, sign-off from web sites, or perform other clean-up operations. In general this should be relatively simple, because the page-based model of Windows Phone applications facilitates a relatively stateless programming model – much of your application’s state can be encoded in page URIs (as query-string data) or as small blobs of state, stored and retrieved on each page navigation, just like the web. After your application has finished pausing, it will be suspended and no further user code will execute. Note that you can still have push notifications coming in from the cloud, so the user can be kept up-to-date via toasts or you can have your tile updated with the latest information from the web. When your application is suspended, it is not killed immediately. If the user returns to the application “soon” then it can be resumed very quickly and the state saved during pause may not even be necessary. But if the user launches other applications that end up needing a lot of memory, your process will be killed and the memory will be relinquished to the foreground application. This is a key difference between Windows Phone 7 and previous versions of Windows Mobile – the foreground application gets access to virtually all the resources on the phone (memory, CPU, etc.) without having to worry about being starved by background apps that are doing random things at unpredictable times in the background.
If your process was not killed, resume is trivial – you don’t need to restore any state from disk, but you may need to re-start device features like accelerometer or location, and you may need to re-connect to any web services. Assuming your process was killed, the app uses the previously-saved data from pause to re-create your global state, and the per-page state / query-string data to recreate the page state for each page on the back stack. The end result of all this is that users can switch back and forth between applications and have the illusion of full multi-tasking without the downside of erratic resource usage.
Q. Will I be able to customize my OS?
A.Not to the extent you could in WinMo, but in some respects - yes. The O.S. will not allow extreme tweaking. However, it is known that there are at least two themes (black on white and white on black...more are speculated to come at launch) and the tile colors can be changed currently to your choice of six colours. On a deeper level, such as modifying the underlying OS and accessing the file system - it may not be possible to do this "out of the box".
Q: Is WP7 geared just toward the consumer market only?
A: No, WP7 offers many business features at release and will continue to add more.
Business features of the WP7 OS:
Is built from the ground up using industry best practices in secure software development (Secure Development Lifecycle).
Deeply Integrates email, calendar and contacts with Exchange Server enabling rich, seamless email and calendar management to enhance productivity.
Integrates with SharePoint through the SharePoint Workspace client, enabling enhanced collaboration through offline document access and syncing.
Helps protect corporate informationby securing the device through PINs and passwords. Information is further protected by not allowing access to data via PC tethering or support for removable SD cards. In addition, Windows Phone 7 supports IT managed EAS policies such as Require Password, Password Strength, Remote Wipe and Reset to Factory Settings with multiple failed unlock attempts.
Helps ensure data reliability and integrity through application sandboxing and managed code.Windows Phone 7 ensures communications channels between applications cannot be opened and critical system resources cannot be accessed. Most malware threats are introduced through the browser. IE Mobile helps ensure that malicious code cannot be launched from web sites, thus reducing this threat.
Provides certification and verification of applications and content through Windows Phone Marketplace, further enhancing security.
Enables secure data transmission through 128 or 256 Bit SSL Encryption.
Supports secure accessto on-premise applications and network resources using Forefront Universal Access Gateway (UAG).
Is future ready with cloud / services integration. Through the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), Microsoft offers hosted Exchange and SharePoint services. Windows Phone 7 will support mobile access to BPOS from Outlook Mobile and the Office Hub.
Check out Windows Phone for business:
www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/business/default.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/business/default.mspx
Q: What are the hardware specifications for the WP7 devices.
A: Microsoft put an end to freestyle design. Minimum hardware requirements are as follows:
Screen
Capacitive touch with 4 or more contact points
WVGA (800×480) or HVGA (480×320) resolution
No screen size requirements announced; rumors for Chassis 1 is 3.6" or larger.
Sensors
A-GPS, Accelerometer, Compass, ambient Light, Proximity sensor
Camera
5 mega pixels or more, flash required, camera shutter button required
Multimedia
No detailed specs, Codec Acceleration
Memory
256 MB RAM or more, 8 GB Flash or more
GPU
DirectX 9 and video acceleration
CPU
ARMv7 Cortex/Scorpion (1GHz) or better
5 Required Hardware Buttons
On/Off & Camera. These three, Start, Search (BING), and Back must be fixed to the front of the device.
Q: Will WP7 phones have a slide-out keyboard; what form factor will the phones be?
A: Several sources confirm that there will be three Chassis/form factors at this stage.
Chassis 1 (first devices to hit the market): Will be a slab, large touch screen with high performance specs, no hardware keyboard. Ex: HTC's rumored HD3 pictured, with a 4.5" screen.
Chassis 2: described as a portrait device with a sliding keyboard, DELL Lightning pictured, assumed to be this form factor.
Chassis 3: All we know is that it may have a smaller screen and rumors are that it may be a BB Curve or Palm Centro styled form factor.
Rumored WP7 devices
(W-stands for world phone; CDMA & GSM)
Based on research I've come across. Not confirmed.
HTC
Gold_W - Sprint
Shubert - GSM
Mondrian - GSM
Spark_W - Verizon
Scorpio, aka Olympian - Verizon
Mozart - GSM
T8788 (slide out speaker) - GSM - AT&T
HD7 (rumored to be HD3)
LG
GW910, aka Panther - GSM/CDMA
E900 - GSM
C900 - GSM
Optimus - GSM
Samsung
I917, aka Cetus
Taylor
SGH i707
i8700
DELL
Lightning - GSM
ASUS
Name unknown
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Make your PC look like WP7!
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/13901/make-your-pc-look-like-windows-phone-7/
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Device Connectivity (From the Windows Phone 7 Developer Forums)
Is ActiveSync still used to connect the device to the PC?
No, synchronization is automatic similar to the way the Zune HD connects to the PC.
How should I transfer information over the Internet?
Web technologies such as HTTPGET and WebServices are supported as methods of communicating on the Internet. You can also use Push Notifications for communication when your application is not running.
Can I use Sockets for peer to peer communication?
Windows Phone 7 Series currently does not expose the Socket classes. While the version of Silverlight on the phone follows closely the feature list for Silverlight 3 on the desktop, it is a subset of those features and will not contain all classes. (It also holds a superset of classes not available in Silverlight 3.)
How can I connect with another client in real-time?
Peer-to-peer communication is not supported with this initial release of Windows Phone 7 Series. We are always evaluating the needs of our developers and users though and it may be determined that this feature be added in the future.
From the Windows Phone 7 Developer Forums
Thanks dscammell
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VOICE/SPEECH RECOGNITION:
Great article on what Microsoft has in store for WP7's www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180144/Microsoft_hopes_WP_7_speech_features_surpass_Android_iPhone">http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...s_WP_7_speech_features_surpass_Android_iPhone
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Info about Microsoft's Azure Cloud
Currently Azure cloud includes:
LiveMesh
Skydrive
Microsoft’s HealthVault service
energy-monitoring Hohm service
Services currently not running on Azure: but will eventually.
Hotmail
Xbox Live
Microsoft’s hosted Exchange Online
SharePoint Online
CRM Online
Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS)
Danger services for mobile devices
Microsoft hasn’t provided a timetable as to when it will transfer all services to Azure but one thing is certain WP7 will be highly integrated with cloud services. The thought of having all this and other services MS is currently working on, gives WP7 fans a reason to get excited.
Windows Phone 7 Series Developer General FAQ
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Fo...s/thread/2892a6f0-ab26-48d6-b63c-e38f62eda3b3
Thanks again to WINFONE7
Cheers...hope this help....

Dear Developers, let's avoid making more Hubs.

Dear developers,
As we develop more and more apps, and as the Windows Phone marketplace hit 10,000 apps, I noticed an increasingly annoying trend: Abuse of panoramic hubs.
Yes, I understand that our latest greatest app may be our first important app, but as a user, the app is only one of my many tools in my toolbox, not the center of the universe.
And I understand that a lot of us want our app to be the hub above all other apps, however, let's face it - it's unlikely any third party hubs will be as important as Microsoft's hubs.
While the 6 major hubs in Windows Phone 7 presents some sort of extensibility, a lot of 3rd party hubs don't really do much except the function it is confined to.
A panoramic hub lets developers put different types of list controls in the same page, often for the purpose of showcasing the many depths of the app. However, some apps don't really have much depth, and the usage of panorama in this case feels like 40 pages for table of contents for a 20 page book.
If the app only displays one type of data, a pivot suits a lot better.
And panorama views usually come with a gigantic title, which takes up lots of precious screen space.
Sometimes I noticed that some developers will try to use a background in an app. However, if the app does not have a strong reason to have a background, e.g. dynamic content, I think it's a lot better to let users decide their background colors in their own theme settings. This can save us a lot of Photoshop time, and save users from a lot of text legibility problems.
Just something I'd like to share as both an app developer/designer and a user. Thanks for reading. Peace.
I agree with the fact that the panorama is overused where the pivot is in 99% of cases more appropriate.
I definitely don't agree with the background image thing. Two simple points: Brand Image and Individuality. From a developer standpoint you need something that sticks in users' brains - nothing does so more than product branding. And images are an integral part of that. Since a mobile device doesn't have room for giant logos, the best thing to do is move it to the background and let the text sit on top of it.
I agree that the developer should always offer a choice of background and ensure the text is fully legible in all - but Marketplace rules forbid text not to be legible anyway.
Second, for every application in the Marketplace there are 10 more identical in functionality. So why get the user to use your app over the other 10? Make it look better. And you can't make it look better when it's using the same colour scheme and layout.
pakkei said:
And panorama views usually come with a gigantic title, which takes up lots of precious screen space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Modifying panorama's header template u can do whatever you want with the title (even delete!). Also, most important feature of panorama control is a nice looking slightly scrolling background image (that, I believe so, MS borrowed from Android's home screen).
Panorama != Hub
There is currently no way for a third-party developer to create a hub. Just because an app has a panorama view does not make it a hub.
I do agree though, the panorama view is overused.
I'd be interested if you could give an example of an app over using it as I really enjoy it when used well.
Purely from a developers perspective, I'm slightly worried that I may fall in the category of overuse.
emigrating said:
I do agree though, the panorama view is overused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree.
I think panorama apps are great. Instead of clicking and then having to go back you just swipe.
Best example for me was 1800pocketpc app which was a panorama/hub.
And then apps like facebook that are purely panorama are much easier to navigate cause you never need to reach for the back key
I love the panorama apps i have , its unique to our phones and what makes it great!
evolutionqy7 said:
I disagree.
I think panorama apps are great. Instead of clicking and then having to go back you just swipe.
Best example for me was 1800pocketpc app which was a panorama/hub.
And then apps like facebook that are purely panorama are much easier to navigate cause you never need to reach for the back key
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean that the Panorama is overused because the Pivot is a much neater way of displaying data imo. I think it separates it out nicely.(Pivot being the Outlook-style swiping to sections)
However, some apps do the panorama justice. Faebook, IMDb, etc. However 3rd party developers rarely use it right.
Sent from my OMNIA7 using Board Express
Don't get me wrong - I love the Panorama view, but some [a lot] apps do misuse it.
I have seen plenty of apps which rather than having a "settings" button to open a new view will create their settings page (and about page) as part of the panorama. That is, IMO, not how you should utilize Panorama.
The same goes for apps where you may search for something to add to your "library", placing the search page on your panorama is wrong. It doesn't belong there.
A panorama should, again IMO, be used to display information that belongs together.
Example. You have a DVD collection app; The app is more than welcome to use a panorama as the main page, perhaps it can display "all", "new" and "favorites" on different pages of the panorama. That's all fine. However, adding more pages to display settings, about, search, changelogs etc just gives an awful UX. Add settings/about/changelog as a pivot on it's own page, accessible by a settings button. Add search as a button, either opening a completely new page or an popping up an overlay on the panorama.
Interesting point, and am inclined to agree Panarama views shouldn't be padded with search and settings screens. After all, doesn't the phone sport a physical search button that would be more consistent and allow you to combine your app settings within the phones' main settings for added convenience?
Sent from my HD7 T9292 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
emigrating said:
A panorama should, again IMO, be used to display information that belongs together.
Example. You have a DVD collection app; The app is more than welcome to use a panorama as the main page, perhaps it can display "all", "new" and "favorites" on different pages of the panorama. That's all fine. However, adding more pages to display settings, about, search, changelogs etc just gives an awful UX. Add settings/about/changelog as a pivot on it's own page, accessible by a settings button. Add search as a button, either opening a completely new page or an popping up an overlay on the panorama.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The above is actually incorrect. A pivot should be used when the data of all screens are based on the same underlying data source. Outlook is the perfecet example, as you have all, new, unread which is just filters or views based on the same source: your inbox. The above where you have DVDs should be a pivot as well, since all, new and favorite are based on the single source of your DVD collection.
This is actually where people are making common mistakes with the use of a Panorama control, when it should really be a pivot control. Most users really won't know the difference between the two controls, but developers should to keep the user experience consistent across applications.
The use of a Panorama for a main screen to offer different sections of you applications is a good idea. Be careful to not have too many though. Once you have more than 4-5 sections in a Panorama, the user has the ability to get lost. And remember unlike pivots, the header of each Panorama is seperate from the others (a pivot combines them giving a better hint of the other pages).
Some things to ponder would be in a multi-page settings setup should you use a pivot or a panorama? Since its really not based on data, it should be a Panorama, but a pivot might give a better user experience.
spokanedj said:
The above is actually incorrect. A pivot should be used when the data of all screens are based on the same underlying data source. Outlook is the perfecet example, as you have all, new, unread which is just filters or views based on the same source: your inbox. The above where you have DVDs should be a pivot as well, since all, new and favorite are based on the single source of your DVD collection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't say it's incorrect. A pivot may have been a better choice, but it was based on an existing app I have installed where the panorama view isn't completely wrong.
I also believe your argument falls when we step into movie details - this should clearly be displayed as a panorama even though it's based on the same data.
spokanedj said:
Some things to ponder would be in a multi-page settings setup should you use a pivot or a panorama? Since its really not based on data, it should be a Panorama, but a pivot might give a better user experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A settings page should, IMO, always be a pivot (if more than one screen is really necessary - often it is better to have a scrollable listview instead). That said, if you manage to keep your settings on a single page, using a panorama view would still work to display the about/support/etc screens.
emigrating said:
I wouldn't say it's incorrect. A pivot may have been a better choice, but it was based on an existing app I have installed where the panorama view isn't completely wrong.
I also believe your argument falls when we step into movie details - this should clearly be displayed as a panorama even though it's based on the same data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is a video from MS that clarifies this. Pivots should be used when displaying different views or filters or data. For the Movie details if you look at the "bad pano" example, around 11:00 it explains why you woulnd't want to do that. Just because another app is using it, doesn't mean you should.
http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/jaime+rodriguez/windows-phone-design-days-pivot-and-pano
spokanedj said:
Here is a video from MS that clarifies this. Pivots should be used when displaying different views or filters or data. For the Movie details if you look at the "bad pano" example, around 11:00 it explains why you woulnd't want to do that. Just because another app is using it, doesn't mean you should.
http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/jaime+rodriguez/windows-phone-design-days-pivot-and-pano
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
?
I pretty much agreed with you that it I presented a bad example. That said, it still works and was nowhere near as bad as many of the apps in the marketplace today.
As for movie details, let's just agree to disagree. Displaying movie details (as opposed to movie listings as discussed above) in a pivot is somewhat counter intuitive and gives a far worse UX than a panorama - I know, I've tried (and had it useability tested by the actual target audience).

[Q] Reading Experience of Scanned Textbooks on Nexus 7 (2013)

Hi,
I physically own some technical books, mostly on engineering. Usually, I scan some chapters and sometimes I digitize them into PDF for simplistic reasons: To avoid carrying them. Later, I can skim through them on my old good Nexus 4 with ebookdroid using auto crop. However, screen size is not enough to be able to view a complete page, which is usually needed when there are many equations referenced from page top to bottom.
The scanned technical textbooks are hard to be recreated using OCR-able, well-defined and optimized PDFs. If you discount lately published specific and rare text - ebooks, the publication industry should re-create mobile PDF version of considerably older textbooks; current ebook-ized versions are essentially highly compressed images of each page, have serialized and put in a PDF container.
The experience with these books requires a readable and detailed full-page view. As an additional example, the screen should also be able to produce very small symbols like indices placed below to the mathematical equations. Therefore, a tablet to be used efficiently with scanned textbooks should have at least provide following features:
* Readable full page view (high res screen of N7-2013 needs to be tested).
* Auto crop functionality for scanned PDFs. (ebook droid handles this efficiently)
* Small letter readability. (high res screen of N7-2013 needs to be tested)
The Nexus 7 particularly looks promising on these features I'd like to learn about the experiences if you had with Nexus 7 (2013) under similar circumstances. I can share a few pages of my scanned book chapters for you to test if you'd require.
I use mine (among other things) for Manga, which tend to have many small details and it's working quite well. Send me some of your scanned pages if you want and i will test drive them on my N7.

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