uMobile Phase 2
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uMobile's phase 2 will consist of additional portlet development, feature enhancement, and bug fixes resulting in a uMobile server and native app 1.1 release. |
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Architecture Updates
Performance Improvements
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Link from Web-based to Native Modules
Some uMobile portlets need to link to native modules in the native app. For example, the courses portlet's link to a professor's contact information should link to the native directory module, while the course location should link to the native map module. This development item should cover working out a consistent strategy for native app link URLs and applying this strategy to the course and search portlets.
Android Button Integration
uMobile does not currently support the expected behavior for all button presses to the menu, search, back, etc. buttons. Implementing consistent handling for these buttons will improve the native experience offered to Android users.
Module Updates
Map
As of 1.0, the native map module allows users to search across campus locations, but does not offer a compelling way to browse locations. Adding tag/category information to the map data would allow the map interface to offer a browsing interface, and the map might additionally be enhanced by adding multi-campus support.
Features important for making the map module more competitive in the uMobile 1.1 release include:
- Categories and browsing
- Multi-campus support
- Allow user to center map to geolocation
- Tablet-specific UI
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It would also be beneficial to implement the new uMobile search API in the courses portlet, allowing the portlet to report search results from implemented LMSs.
Directory
Contact download
uMobile users should be able to download directory contact information to their phone's local address book.
Tablet-specific UI
The directory's native interface would benefit from a tablet-specific UI that makes use of the additional available screen real estate.
Announcements/Notifications
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uMobile would benefit from the development of additional custom portlets . Such that offer additional university-specific functionality and help uMobile compete with other platforms. High-priority portlets might include:
- Dining Menus
- Athletics
- Computing Lab Availability
These portlets could be implemented using a strategy similar to the maps/courses portlets, in which the initial implementation offers the user interface, a generic API, and a default mock data implementation. Individual universities would be responsible for connecting the generic API to their custom data source.