Did you check out these redefined mini-social media apps?

Good or bad, we don’t know, but social media platforms and communication tools are something that we just can’t ignore. After all, when there is so much happening around you, it is usually very hard to ignore all that stuff. Started in 2004, Facebook used to necessarily be a typical social media platform. And then in 2006 iPhone was launched, which was followed by the launch of Android in 2008. The introduction of another dedicated OS dedicated for smartphones laid a concrete foundation for mobile app development companies to start something waiting to disrupt the generic ways we have been living. Yes, I really mean it when I say social media and communication apps changed the way we lived our lives. No matter how much we are told social media has ruined the basics of how communication is supposed to take place, another side of the truth is also that social media has made the youth more aware and connected the not so aware youth to mainstream news and happenings around them, especially the rising scope of apps development companies, that happened with an unprecedented rate.

If you are a social media buff and are in a constant quest for finding better social media and communication tools, this article is a must read for you. We present you the new and advanced social media applications for your smartphone that we believe you will like (and probably love too):

Telegram

Although the title ‘Telegram’ sounds a lot like some messaging tool, which it most definitely is, it does more than a usual messenger does. One of the few messengers to implement chat bots for just about anything. This ability of Telegram messenger comes from its never-ending list of APIs that enhance the functionality of this amazing messenger app. The diverse utility this app offers can be guessed from when it recently launched its Payments API, which allows two parties to transfer money with the help of a simple interface. Either of the parties can create an invoice message with a pay button which opens up the payment channel. The invoice message contains all the information related to the product, keeping aside the hassles of asking for transactional information. Apart from the bots, the app also comes with the capacity to maintain groups with more than 100,000 members.

Flickr

If you are a passionate photographer and would like to find more like you, Flickr is the place to be. Flickr is like a social media platform for photographers, though strictly limited to professional purpose. You can view pictures from professional or occasional photographers around the world. Flickr also launched photography contests, where you can submit your photography work and win rewards, and more than that gain recognition on the platform. There are many freelancers on Flickr that earn well by trading pictures they click. A great place to connect with the greatest photographers around the world, Flickr is also useful if you want to start a virtual freelance business window to start a digital studio of your own, where you can sell pictures to clients from magazines, design companies, Android apps development company around the world, and many others.

Meetup

Meetup recently released its app, which has already gathered more than 5 million downloads. Unlike a conventional social media platform, Meetup keeps you updated about the upcoming events organized by enterprises, NGOs or others. Most of the small businesses trying to expand their business use Meetup to spread awareness about their businesses, their products, any new developments or simply throw an event to connect better with the people. From a non-commercial point of view, users can simply invite their friends and family people to meetup events. Meetup app is also a great way to keep up with your favourite topics and catch exclusive events with special discounts.

What makes Android Go version different for previous version?

With the launch of Android Oreo Go edition, Google has once again stood by its word that it is not a conventional business, rather an enterprise that wants to contribute positively to the world. Late in 2017, when Google launched its Android’s Oreo Go edition, a large number of people that rely on low-end smartphones and have been missing out on a huge chunk of mobile technology, were quite appreciative about it.

Although the series of Go edition phones are going to continue, Android launched its first Go edition OS through Oreo which has been optimized significantly to deliver the same great android experience even on low end smartphones. In this article, we will discuss what makes Oreo Go quite unique in itself:

Less RAM, same great performance

Android Oreo allows people to have low-end smartphones like a pro, without compromising on performance. With its specialized architecture, Go OS can provide the same great flow with just 1 GB RAM or even lesser, which is one of the factors why Go edition phones would be sold at comparatively lower prices than its Android Oreo counterparts. Recently, Microsoft launched its Nokia 1 with Android Go edition priced at a mere $85. However, some of the people are sceptical about buying Android Go phones as most such phones sport Mediatek chipsets, which usually has heat issues, and consequently, performance issues.

Exclusive set of apps

There would have been no point in using the same apps on Oreo Go that were being in the original Oreo edition. Hence, Android app development India at Google realised that in order to deliver better performance, the complete set of applications for Oreo Go needs to be reimagined with a lot of focus on using web mobile apps development on the backend, and simple interface for better compatibility with hardware to avoid lags. And with exclusive Go Apps, Oreo Go achieves its goals. The OS includes stripped down versions of some of the most popular Google apps like Gmail, YouTube, Chrome and more, which are, in no way, inferior to their original counterparts.

OS optimized

It is quite obvious that the next Android version is always bigger the previous one in terms of disk space it occupies. However, Oreo Go OS breaks the stereotype by taking up not even equal, but almost half of what the native Android Nougat OS takes up. The extra space it frees up allows users to store more of their personal data and media locally. Most of the phones featuring Go edition OS come with 8 or 16 GB disk space, which is an already outdated format for native OS. But in case of Oreo Go, Google has tried to squeeze out maximum out of the 8 and 16 GB stick.

User Experience

User Experience is probably the biggest reason behind the success of Oreo Go, as the much-anticipated OS in its prelaunch event itself made it quite clear that Google has not compromised with the sheer pleasurable experience that Android promises. Apart from minor changes in the UI, nothing much significant has been changed in the exclusive OS made for low-end smartphones.

Google’s attempt at making lives easier for the world always reflects the genuineness in its efforts to bring convenience in all spheres of our world. A similar attempt was made by Google earlier when it announced the launch of Android One. However, the company needs to work in parallel with Mobile app development companies to help them build apps that are as compatible as the exclusive Go apps or the purpose of launching a dedicated OS could lose its essence over time.

Minimalistic Design Approach for your Business Website

Succeeding great design for your website is the key to making that first impression that matters in this market bursting off its seams with competitors. Both the web and mobile app development companies India have realized lately, the importance of great design (and not just some average design) for their clients in interactive with visitors and leads. Although the perception of design is a very subjective thing, there are a few elements in design that call out to everyone in more or less the same way. But the scope of perception widens with the number of different elements one uses in the design space. So the key to achieving a common consensus of your targeted audience, on what you create is minimalist design approach. Apart from the apparent simplicity with less confusion, simplistic design approach has always been considered quite comprehensive.

Now many of you may wonder how you can achieve great design with minimum number of elements. Isn’t stuffing ‘more and more number of elements that speak for the purpose’ the right way to do it? Erm, not always, and in this write-up, you will see why.

Pictures

To make sure the pictures you use align with the minimalistic nature of the page, the photography should be done with magnificence in mind. Although to keep things simple, you might as well be clicking pictures of your product lying on the table. But you shouldn’t because it is only the perception of users that is simple for the design in this case, but not the techniques and methods you use to come up with that kind of design. Use a good camera i.e at least a DSLR, exceptionally good proportions of light, optimum camera angles, and subject’s contrast with the solid backdrop.

Colour Coding

Whether we talk about Android apps development companies or the ones that deal in web-based technologies; the importance of colour coding is quite apparent to both. With the introduction to flat design, we learned two of the most important things: how minimalist design can be great and how colour coding is a something that people can naturally understand. For example – if you want to indicate water, you could code it with light blue colour, or if you are trying to portray fire, you could use orange colour for the same. But something that is to be noted here is that colour coding is effective only when it is clutter-free, and doesn’t include other colours around it. If these there are too many components or sections or icons, consider adjusting the size of pictures and text to use maximum width in order to introduce white spaces between the components to reduce clutter. Another aspect of using colour coding is that one has to implement natural logic when assigning colour codes to certain components.

Negative Space

As negative as it may sound, the purpose of introducing negative space is quite positive i.e to project the authority of the core subject you want your visitors to notice. Contrast is a very powerful design technique to bring a subject to the front and that is what negative space does. While negative space is generic terms is perceived as a blank space which allows the subject to bear the spotlight; that is not what it is all about. The symmetry of negative space matters a lot, which includes how it interacts with text alignment, image alignment, margin, borders and much more. For example – if you check out Apple’s product pages, a lot of negative space has been used to draw maximum attention of the visitors to the product. Other than Apple, almost all the electronic products are using negative space to keep the focus on their product, especially smartphones.

Text

The placement of text is another decisive feature of your website and largely determines how comprehensive your website can get. While the goal is to make maximum use of infographics and least use of text, the placement of text should be neat. Again, this would increase the effort on designer’s part as it is not simply putting text on the front, rather in some boxes or frames that limit the text from creating clutter. To reduce the amount of text while still enhancing its understandability and appeal, emphasize on explaining topics with too much text, with the help of infographics. However, do not include too many infographic elements in the webpage or it may look congested. Try sticking to 2 infographic elements per 1000 words. Another important thing is text alignment and neatness, which can be achieved with text justification and using only 3 font sizes other than that of title of the page.  

So these were some of the most important elements that form a large portion of a minimalistic design. Also, in order to develop a simplistic outlook for your website, you can first check out some minimalistic website templates on the web and analyse them to come up with some better ideas by yourself. In case you are also planning to get a mobile app along with the website, contact FuGenX - one of the top mobile app and games app development companies, that focuses on creating all types of apps, with great design and functionality.