The common user experience mistakes on mobile
Since the infamous mobilegeddon -- the latest update from Google that means websites are now penalized for failing to be mobile friendly -- many businesses have been rushing to improve the experience of their mobile website for their users, and avoid being penalized in SERPS (search engine results page).
With a lot of information out there about all of the things you can be doing to make a user’s journey better, what about the things that you really should be avoiding? Below are the top five things NOT to do when it comes to UX on mobile:
Why mobile matters for online shoppers
There are currently an estimated 1.91 billion smartphone users worldwide, and 82 percent of them use their mobile devices to shop. As consumers are five times more likely to abandon shopping if the site isn’t optimized this means embracing mobile is crucial for businesses.
Online shopping portal DirectBuy has produced an infographic looking at how the world is moving towards a mobile shopping environment.
How to: Enable OK Google on the LG G4
The LG G4 is making quite a splash and being advertised seemingly everywhere. There's good reason for that as I previously explained in my review. Overall it's a nice phone, but there are a few things you need to know before getting underway with it.
One is that OK Google is not enabled by default, you'll need to do so yourself. It isn't intuitive, either. But the good news is that it isn't hard once you know how to do it. Here are some simple steps to get you going.
TeleSign and Telefόnica team up to cut mobile fraud
Mobile identity specialist TeleSign has announced an agreement with Spanish telecoms giant Telefόnica -- the company behind O2 in the UK and Germany -- to deliver a suite of services to address account security and fraud prevention for enterprises and service providers.
The partnership will use TeleSign's products and infrastructure, along with Telefόnica's consent-based insights, to increase account security, reduce fraud, and improve customer experience for consumers. At the same time it will help to manage costs for service providers across financial services, e-commerce, cloud and social media.
LG Rolly Keyboard is a folding keyboard for your tablet or smartphone
However much on-screen keyboards improve, they're no replacement for a good, old-fashioned keyboard. Traveling with a tablet, it might not be convenient to lug about a full-sized wireless keyboard but LG thinks its Rolly Keyboard could be the answer.
As the name suggests, this is a portable keyboard that 'rolls' up for easier transportation -- well, it rolls up into a square stick rather than a round roll, but you get the idea. Also known as the KBB-700, the Rolly Keyboard features almost full-sized keys, and can be paired with two devices via Bluetooth.
Some people are fine with using a phone in church, but not walking down the street
The thing with a mobile phone is, thanks to the fact it is mobile, it can be used -- just about - anywhere. But just because something is possible, it doesn’t mean that it should be done. PewResearch conducted a survey into phone etiquette, and the findings show that people are somewhat divided about where and when it is OK to use a phone.
Some of the results are not exactly surprising. A huge majority of those questioned were not cool with the idea of using a phone in a movie theater or during a meeting (95 and 94 percent respectively). But there are also some interesting quirks in attitudes to mobiles -- 4 percent of people, for instance, see no problem with using a cellphone in the middle of a church service.
Samsung is giving away paid apps and magazine subscriptions with Note 5 and S6 Edge+
The retail price of the Galaxy Note 5 starts at around $740 (off-contract) and $250 (2-year contract). Similarly, the Samsung Galaxy Edge+ will set you back by at least $820 (sans contract) and $300 (2-year contract). If that seems like a lot of money to you for the said devices, Samsung is offering an interesting set of goodies -- called Galaxy Gifts -- to offset the otherwise a bit pricey label.
The company is giving away a package of premium apps and subscriptions consisting of paid games including Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Driver Speedboat Paradise, PES Club Manager, and Empire: Four Kingdoms. You also get paid apps like Art Rage, Komoot, and Sketch Book for no extra charge. Worth pointing out that some of these are already free via the Play Store, and the company is taking care of in-app purchases, in such cases.
Opera Max can now compress Netflix and YouTube videos, lowering data consumption
Video streaming is one of the quickest ways to max out a data plan. This is especially true for high-definition videos, which are the commonplace on websites like Netflix and YouTube and, understandably, the obvious quality choice for many mobile viewers. Since not everyone can afford or have the option to use an unlimited data plan, we often have to sacrifice how much content we watch to not pass the traffic limit.
However, an update to Opera Max for Android promises to let us watch more videos without sacrificing much in terms of quality. The app can achieve such results through compression, and the feature is now enabled for Netflix and YouTube.
How connectivity affects hardware design [Infographic]
Connectivity has changed dramatically over the last 30 years or so, as devices have become smaller and more powerful and we as a species have become more mobile.
To chart this change, Bluepost Digital has created an infographic of the devices we used to know and love, starting all the way back in the 1980s. At this time, Floppy Disks were used to store files, computer screens were introduced by IBM and an external CD ROM drive cost around $1,000 (£6420.
Half of all Internet users are on Facebook
Approximately half of the world’s online population accesses Facebook on a monthly basis, the social media giant has reported.
By the end of Q2 2015, 1.49 billion people accessed the website at least once in a month, up 13 percent from the same period last year and representing half of the estimated global online population of 3 billion, Facebook said.
Angry Birds 2 launches for mobile gamers
Today marked a major milestone for mobile gaming studio Rovio. The Finland-based company is releasing it's latest version of the Angry Birds, this one aptly named Angry Birds 2. It follows up on the success of many predecessors, from the original to Space, Star Wars and more.
Like all previous versions, it's the tried and true "birds versus pigs" formula. There are a few strange things about it. For one, early levels are intent on telling you where to aim. For another, some levels force you to choose a different bird, You have no choice -- you can't fire until you've done it.
How shadow IT threatens the enterprise and what to do about it
Increasing adoption of BYOD and use of mobile devices means that employees have the ability to access business data from anywhere. However, this can come into conflict with company security policy.
Policies are often seen as too invasive, hard to understand and not always in tune with how employees work. This can lead to workers finding their own alternative solutions. Companies need to come up with strategies that safeguard data in use, in transit and at rest to let employees focus on their work.
TeleSign SDK streamlines verification on mobiles
Many of the latest cyber attacks focus on mobile platforms as they're often seen as inherently less secure, particularly when handling account logins and important transactions.
Mobile identity solutions company TeleSign is today launching its TeleSign Auto Verify, a new lightweight software development kit (SDK) for mobile app developers that streamlines the account verification process while providing a more reliable and cost-effective method than SMS-based verification alone.
Which US airports offer the best mobile data coverage?
With hundreds of millions of passengers passing through US airports every year, mobile networks often struggle to keep up with demand, which can result in poor and unreliable data performance.
Twice a year, RootMetrics tests mobile coverage at the 50 busiest airports in the US, using off-the-shelf smartphones to measure performance at all the places where passengers are most likely to use their phones. The latest US Airport Network Performance Review, which covers the first half of 2015, features some surprising results, including one of the busiest US airports ranking at the top and another major US airport landing near the very bottom.
Financial services companies turn to mobile messaging
With financial services companies more at risk from the consequences of a data breach than other businesses, they're on the look out for the safest, most secure communication channels to interact with customers and employees.
New research from IDC and mobile engagement specialist OpenMarket reveals that mobile messaging is the top tool many are utilizing to accomplish this task with 80 percent of global financial services organizations using Global SMS/mobile messaging to communicate and share sensitive info.
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