HOW TO MAKE MOBILE COMMUNICATION APPLICATION

            How To Make Mobile Communication Applications

In today’s world, mobile communication is becoming more and more common over the phone. It can be with a simple SMS, or it can be to send emails, images, or even video calls. People also use WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger apps often on their phones. These apps allow individuals to interact across many different devices. This article will discuss how I developed my first app for Android. The goal of this process was to create two applications that complement each other. My goals include making both applications work seamlessly with Android and iOS devices, sharing information across all devices, and reducing the complexity of the entire application.

Developing an App Like Phone Call Recording.

In order to produce a proper product, you must think about what your product should look like in terms of design. Most people focus on developing a feature which meets the needs of users in mind. However, this is not always enough. You need to ask yourself specific questions regarding user experience, so you can determine how well everything works as expected. On my case, I decided to develop a call recording application. The main challenge was to make sure this application works across all types of phones. Thus, I decided to select smartphones, laptops, Chromebooks, Apple Watches, etc. If there are any missing features, I would add them to later versions of the application. Below is a list of smartphones that would support my application:

 

Smartphone: 1. Galaxy S7, 2. LG C-series

 

Smartphone: 3. Blackberry Z1, 4. iPhone 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (iPhone XS, XS Max), 11 (iPhone 13)

 

On to the technical side. As we have said above, my goal is to develop an independent application for iOS devices. So, before starting, I decided to start by looking at popular Android applications for iPhones. Because most of these applications allow users to record and share videos on their phones. For example, in my case, I decided to choose Video/SMS applications because they have a large coverage area, and their functionality makes my application work well across smartphone, tablet, PC, laptop, TV, and desktop. Many examples are listed below; I chose everyone. Note that some applications may not allow third parties to record audio on your device. In such cases, I had to come up with another way, but the alternative was not very suitable. An alternative that I found out was Google Voice Assistant as a result of its huge popularity. Google Voice Assistant allows someone to make voice commands via the smartphone, and many people are using it. Below is a screenshot of the available options that I have collected for Android and iPhone. I chose Samsung Galaxy smartphones because they are generally compatible with devices.

 

Google Voice Assistant Apps — What You Should Know About Siri & Cortana

 

 

Google Assistant is a virtual assistant that enables users to talk to the program without the use of the smartphone. Google Assistant lets us make voice queries, answer questions, perform tasks like performing searches, ordering food, making phone calls, connecting to Wi-Fi networks, finding information, and much more, just from the sound of our voices. Using Google Assistant comes very handy, especially to call family members or friends, who often have trouble remembering which number belongs to whom. With Google Assistant, you don't need to download or install any separate applications to take advantage of it. Also, the search that Google Assistant performs is extremely convenient. In fact, users sometimes only remember the correct spelling when they go through Google Help. Therefore, the majority of apps relying on Google Assistant were used because they are pretty easy to use.

 

Google Assistant Apps — Are They Compatible?

 

 

Google Assistant does not have exclusive rights to your conversations. When you say “Ok Google,” you are saying that you will receive Google directions, Google Weather, Google Search, Google Books, Microsoft Bing, and others. However, you cannot say “OK Google” because Google Assistant recognizes your command, and it replies. But there is no limit to Google Assistant’s abilities. In fact, it has made several improvements recently. For my application, I chose the response speed to provide a high-quality conversation experience. My application is capable of receiving four responses back at once. Two responses are in French (French has been used throughout the past 30 years). One response in Dutch. And lastly, I could choose Spanish, but it has the same response speed as English. As I said earlier, I chose Android smartphones mainly because they are relatively compatible. Although Google Assistant may seem slow as compared to Siri, I chose Pixel smartphones because they are based on Android OS. Furthermore, Pixel OS features such as notifications, quick settings, camera controls, speech recognition, Bluetooth speaker mode, multiple contact lists, multi-app compatibility in Android, etc.

 

Google Assistant Apps — Features Comparison Chart

 

I hope that this project works on smartphones. I wanted to test the application across all smartphones I have available, therefore, I decided to stick with smartphones. But unfortunately, smartphones do not come standard across all countries such as the US. There are certain differences between iOS devices. For instance, the implementation of notifications varies in each country. Some devices let you see incoming updates as soon as they hit the screen. Others, like Sony Xperia M series, can see your notifications at almost real time. Hence, these differences can impact the quality of the application if it runs badly in one country or operates well in another country. Furthermore, I decided to give the application four languages because those come together to form words. Also, I wanted two forms: one with web content, and the other with email content. The email platform was designed to offer a better interface to communicate with clients and allow users to access multiple email services. Lastly, I wanted to ensure that the application is easy to manage. Users should have a clear overview of all application settings, and to configure each device’s configuration settings in order to achieve optimal performance. All these factors helped me make decisions and decide on which application to develop, and thus, I decided to develop it for iPad.

 

In order to ensure that the application works well across various iPads, I had to consider the following features:

 

Ease of Use:

There is nothing wrong with a smartphone application. A good smartphone application should be easy to use and understand. We should, however, make the easiest app possible. With that said, this application has something in store which is not necessarily comfortable across smartphones. That is why I wanted some new features, such as notifications and calling the contacts. At the beginning, the application had to run smoothly across all smartphones since it does not have a lot of features that would improve the overall performance. But after exploring several applications, I discovered that it is feasible to have an optimized version of the application across various platforms with significant benefits.

Android smartphones are already supported by Google Assistant. Since Android smartphones come with the latest version of the OS, it would be a minor effort to have multiple variations of the application. With my help, I managed to get both Android smartphones to support my application. Moreover, Android smartphones have multiple layers in order to keep data separate from iOS devices, hence allowing to compare the performances of the application across platforms. With Android smartphones having advanced features, I knew it was important to integrate functionality-specific features into the application. For instance, when it comes to making phone calls, it would be easier to make calls from Android smartphones than iOS smartphones. This application was supported both ways which saved me a lot of time. I also understood the importance of notifications as compared to non-notifications. Notifications in general are important for users, and I was aware that they can create confusion when they decide which phone is going to ring next. I kept things simple and tried to find the right balance between the application and notification-based applications. I also noticed that my users liked being able to control their own settings.

 

Features comparison chart

 

I had to make sure that the application is perfectly tested and tested throughout the development process. First, I wanted to implement a reliable method to tell whether the application can handle the messages received in response to the text message. With that in mind, I gave the application a unique name and added it to an empty inbox. Then, I integrated a checker into the application. I wanted to know that messages sent from the application also reach my inbox, so it was important to make sure that messages go to my inbox. Another major point to note was that my application is updated regularly, that means, when new changes appear, the application is always updated. Whenever there is a significant update, the application is updated as soon as it is published on the market. Additionally, my application is stored on Google Drive as part of Google Drive’s storage system and can be downloaded anywhere, which proves that it works seamlessly on smartphones. Finally, I had to understand that there is a potential for software error. That means, whenever an application fails, no matter where it is, I always know that there is an issue, and that is something that I need on the lookout.

I used the following tools during development:

1.    Google Cloud Development

2.    Google Developer Platform

3.    Google Sheets

4.    Google Drive API

5.    Google Assistant CLI

6.    Google Chrome

7.    Google Studio

8.    Google Assistant CLI

9.    Google Analytics

10.        Google Drive API

11.        Google Adsense

12.        Google Workspace

13.        Google Sheets

14.        Google Calendar API

15.        Google Account API

16.        Google APIs Client Libraries

17.        Google Publish API

18.        Google Drive Library API

19.        Google Drive Publish API

20.        Google Data Science Experience API

21.        Google Big Query

22.        Google Data Catalog API

23.        Google Document API

24.        Google Maps

25.        Google OAuth API

26.        Google Cloud Storage API

27.        Google Application Engine (GCE)

28.        Google Search Console

29.        Google Drive API

30.        Google Signup

31.        Google Tag Manager

32.        Note that these tools were installed in Windows, Linux, MacOS, and Chrome browsers, which means that my application was supported in all