topApps on Ovi Store, an app recommender
You know, sometimes it gets really tough to discover apps on the Ovi Store? Contrary to what people might believe, the Ovi Store has apps buried so deep that sometimes don’t see the light of day (exaggeration points +1). What about local flavoured apps? Bet you didn’t know there were apps submitted from Malaysia. That’s where ‘topApps’ for Ovi Store come in, a handy little widget that we had the opportunity to design for Nokia.
Hit the read more link to find out more.
Late last year (Nov 2009), Nokia presented the opportunity for us to design (not develop) a widget that essentially makes it easy for users to discover contents on the Ovi Store. There were a few design iterations, and today we’re proud to see the completion and upload onto the Ovi Store.
So, what exactly does the app do? It pulls content from the Ovi Store, e.g top selling app on the Ovi Store, apps based on your geographical location, so that you can download these apps directly on the Ovi Store without having to search for them. Very handy me thinks.
Perhaps it’ll be easier to show you guys the screen shots instead to give you a better idea of what it does.
The loading screen, if you're on a REALLY slow network and it takes too long to load, tap the 'X' button at the top to close the app.
Featured Tab
This screen highlights some notable apps in it’s own respective categories. Tapping any of the categories will load up the list of apps.
Some app categories to choose from, the widget detected our region.
... continuation of previous screen
Category view
Let’s have a look at the ‘Ovi Top 10′, here it’ll list out the top 10 apps on the Ovi Store. Tapping on the content itself will load a more descriptive content, as well as a link to download the app on the Ovi Store. You can also sort free and paid contents.
Oh look, 2 of our widgets are in the Malaysia channel :D
Tapping download will bring you to the content on the Ovi Store
At the detailed screen, you’ll be able to download the widget as well as share the content via Email or SMS by tapping the ‘Share’ button. Ok, let me rephrase that, you can share the content link via Email or SMS :P
Staff Picks
This section highlights both free and paid applications that Nokia thinks that’s great. Tapping on it will bring you to a more detailed view of the app.
Staff Picks
Reviewed
The reviewed section is basically an app review section, where you’ll get to read about what a reviewer thinks about some of the apps on the Ovi Store. Definitely a good read before plunking in money on a widget.
The reviews
Tapping on the reviews will load a complete content :)
Settings Screen
Now, this is an interesting screen … for developers like us. Why, you say? Well … hang on, let me upload the screens first.
Settings screen
Select countries
… you get to change your location. We’re always curious about what developers in various countries have developed for their local market. If you’re free, just change your location and have a look at the apps created locally for that country. Very handy. However, I believe some of the apps can’t be downloaded probably due to the region lock, such a shame :\
Design wise, we hope that users will find familiarity with the current Ovi Store and should feel right at home.
And so you have it, a brief walk through of topApps. It was a privilege and experience to be working on this project and something of a global scale. Look forward to better and greater apps from us, especially on that certain new device that’s launching *hint hint*. We’re really excited about that.
Ovi blog wrote a better review and thoughts about topApps, hit the link to read about it.
and also, grab the free copy of topApps here!
