for all the technology and cool applications we have today, we can't forget that accessibility is still a key issue. dumbstore FTW.
An App Platform for Dumb Phones
41–49 of 49 posts
Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones
#42Seems extremely similar to what Intuit has been building in India: Txtweb[1]. The apps support two modes PUSH and PULL. The most common is PULL, where you SMS to some number something like "@appname.optionalExtension [1] http://www.txtweb.com/
Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones
#43Similar services already exist in India and are gaining quite a lot of popularity among users. http://txtweb.com http://55444.in
Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones
#44Slightly off topic, are there actually any good (i.e. recommendable) dumb phones? It has been an interesting market to try to navigate and research.
I believe Nokia Asha line of phones is leading the charge in dumb phones in developing countries, Nokia Asha 501 being the newest. It has pretty freaking awesome (especially in countries where access to electricity is a luxury) 48 day standby time (beat that iPhone!). In addition, Asha 501 actually has some kind of support for 3rd party apps.
And if you want physical keypad instead of touchscreen, then the 301 is probably the best featurephone available. Similar crazy long battery life, good looking design, and all the features you'd need (aside flashlight). 301 also has 3G connectivity, so I believe it has better reception than pure 2G models such as 501.
Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones
#45This is exactly what companies were doing in the .com bubble of early 2000's! SMS "games" and services.
Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones
#46I like the idea, it might be a nice replacement in the wake of the Google SMS shutdown. One quick thing: You might want to make app names case insensitive. My phone automatically capitalized Ltrain, resulting in a message stating the app was not found, however when I manually changed it to ltrain it worked. Maybe simple spelling correcting for app names (e.g. off by a letter or a letter is missing) could be added too…
fixed, thanks!
Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually spent some time looking into dumb phones a couple years ago. My favorite would be the motofone. It's got an e-ink display, which is great for battery and sunlight, and 2 antennas which is also great if you heaven forbid make actual calls with it. Also, pretty sturdy, small, and light. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Fone Beware though, if you txt a lot, you won't like it. Not enough real estate for t…
Do you happen to have a recommendation for an e-ink phone that is favorable for SMS?
Other than the F3, nope. There's not a lot out there (supposed to be an android one coming soon though).
http://www.eink.com/customer_showcase_cell_phones.html
You'd think there'd be more considering how ideal it is for outdoor visibility and battery longevity.
Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones
#48Neat idea. I might recommend allowing at least the first letter (of the app) to be case-insensitive though, since lots of things auto-capitalize. Also I'm not having much luck with 'dir', and some error messages or something would help, but meh - the concept is great!
dir can be buggy, depending on how you format your location names. Can you give me an example of what's not working?
I wasn't really sure what to expect, so I tried something that Google Maps gets correct: AOL in Palo Alto to Pier 39
I didn't feel like typing too much :) What service does it use?
Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones
#49Slightly off topic, are there actually any good (i.e. recommendable) dumb phones? It has been an interesting market to try to navigate and research.
I actually spent some time looking into dumb phones a couple years ago. My favorite would be the motofone. It's got an e-ink display, which is great for battery and sunlight, and 2 antennas which is also great if you heaven forbid make actual calls with it. Also, pretty sturdy, small, and light. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Fone Beware though, if you txt a lot, you won't like it. Not enough real estate for t…
Googling for "card phone" doesn't actually bring up a lot of card phones. I see more prepaid cell phone cards and banks with mobile apps. The first card phone for sale isn't until page 2, and it's an eBay link.