Apr 6th, 2010
World First Linux topup connection manager
A world first for betavine
For betavine's mobile broadband connection manager 2010 has been a game changer. We finally got a chance to raise our heads and take some strategic decisions on where we point our efforts. We have taken a lot of feedback from users in forums/blogs etc.... We have also taken stock on our download statistic. From that respect it seems Africa and Italy are our best customers and see heavy growth in that area - while emerging markets seem to be providing us with more download counts, on the Linux front Ubuntu are the runaway distro success for mobile broadband at the minute.
Our version 3 of the connection manager has integrated PAYT Topup. But more that this we took a look at our proprietary software to see how we can improve on this. Our Windows counterpart treats 'top-up' as an activity the user undertakes as opposed to a service that should be provided. The interface has evolved with a default view showing things you do on the left, and what your connected to on the top.
You will notice on Windows that your 'check balance', topup' and 'my account' are all activity based. However our first thoughts were this would be good to have pre-fetched, in other words the software should be clever enough to realize 'hey I'm PAYT I need to know this info'. When a user decides to view what his current credit is and when it was checked, a request for top up etc... It should all be under one roof. Like your print dialogue for Word, everything you do concerning 'print' is in one place right?
We also noticed things like signal strength were miss-leading the signal indicator is shown next to a connect button, while a nice png image also indicates what looks like signal strength. The UI also shows a lot of empty space, while the Vodafone logo is bottom right, we thought that deserved to be in top left position.
Once our Windows guy does select to view his credit it's displayed once then lost! We thought the application should place nice and display this with a date on when it was checked.
Once the user does decide he wants to top up he is presented with a voucher code dialogue box and a scrolling time out. Our thoughts were to integrate this process into the same 'topup' dialogue. Why not minimize context switching for our user, let the user learn via sequential memory rather than semantic memory. How many people can remember the 8th line of Holiday by Madonna - well you can if you sing the first 7 right! :-) .... How many people can remember something with semantic memory - much harder!
First Stab
Our first mock up had voucher topup and credit card top up at the bottom. At the top was your number and current stats, or at least what your stats were with a data stamp.
Choosing to check again was center of the dialogue, whilst relevant info at the top.
This also gave us a chance to come up with some nice 'top up' concepts four our icons.
Our polished icon set was heading towards a type of 'petrol' topup sign. We felt this would be the most familiar way to indicate this type of function.
Our topup dialogue once complete did seem to deliver what it says on the tin. A place that lets you do all things for your account. It moves the application towards the idea of an ambient service. When the user clicks topup the app does all the background work, and displays it all in one place up front. You don't go clicking all over the place.
The prototype is due to go on alpha release next week. Currently we only support this service for the UK network. The plan is to roll out to a further 3 Vodafone networks in the coming months if feedback is positive and our integration work with Ubuntu 10 goes well.
We feel that the design has now improved so much that it now surpasses the proprietary UI. With the inclusion of the new integrated wiki on betavine, topup services, gudev work on the core and test and support for the new modems the application is now the best and most integrated Linux modem manager in the market.
betavine hope to continually improve the application to include an improved messaging app, integration with other email clients and even anonymous logging to help Vodafone improve coverage in areas where signal strength is low.
Have a sneak look at our video of the app.
Kind regards, Nicholas.
For betavine's mobile broadband connection manager 2010 has been a game changer. We finally got a chance to raise our heads and take some strategic decisions on where we point our efforts. We have taken a lot of feedback from users in forums/blogs etc.... We have also taken stock on our download statistic. From that respect it seems Africa and Italy are our best customers and see heavy growth in that area - while emerging markets seem to be providing us with more download counts, on the Linux front Ubuntu are the runaway distro success for mobile broadband at the minute.
Our version 3 of the connection manager has integrated PAYT Topup. But more that this we took a look at our proprietary software to see how we can improve on this. Our Windows counterpart treats 'top-up' as an activity the user undertakes as opposed to a service that should be provided. The interface has evolved with a default view showing things you do on the left, and what your connected to on the top.
You will notice on Windows that your 'check balance', topup' and 'my account' are all activity based. However our first thoughts were this would be good to have pre-fetched, in other words the software should be clever enough to realize 'hey I'm PAYT I need to know this info'. When a user decides to view what his current credit is and when it was checked, a request for top up etc... It should all be under one roof. Like your print dialogue for Word, everything you do concerning 'print' is in one place right?
We also noticed things like signal strength were miss-leading the signal indicator is shown next to a connect button, while a nice png image also indicates what looks like signal strength. The UI also shows a lot of empty space, while the Vodafone logo is bottom right, we thought that deserved to be in top left position.
Once our Windows guy does select to view his credit it's displayed once then lost! We thought the application should place nice and display this with a date on when it was checked.
Once the user does decide he wants to top up he is presented with a voucher code dialogue box and a scrolling time out. Our thoughts were to integrate this process into the same 'topup' dialogue. Why not minimize context switching for our user, let the user learn via sequential memory rather than semantic memory. How many people can remember the 8th line of Holiday by Madonna - well you can if you sing the first 7 right! :-) .... How many people can remember something with semantic memory - much harder!
First Stab
Our first mock up had voucher topup and credit card top up at the bottom. At the top was your number and current stats, or at least what your stats were with a data stamp.
Choosing to check again was center of the dialogue, whilst relevant info at the top.
This also gave us a chance to come up with some nice 'top up' concepts four our icons.
Our polished icon set was heading towards a type of 'petrol' topup sign. We felt this would be the most familiar way to indicate this type of function.
Our topup dialogue once complete did seem to deliver what it says on the tin. A place that lets you do all things for your account. It moves the application towards the idea of an ambient service. When the user clicks topup the app does all the background work, and displays it all in one place up front. You don't go clicking all over the place.
The prototype is due to go on alpha release next week. Currently we only support this service for the UK network. The plan is to roll out to a further 3 Vodafone networks in the coming months if feedback is positive and our integration work with Ubuntu 10 goes well.
We feel that the design has now improved so much that it now surpasses the proprietary UI. With the inclusion of the new integrated wiki on betavine, topup services, gudev work on the core and test and support for the new modems the application is now the best and most integrated Linux modem manager in the market.
betavine hope to continually improve the application to include an improved messaging app, integration with other email clients and even anonymous logging to help Vodafone improve coverage in areas where signal strength is low.
Have a sneak look at our video of the app.
Kind regards, Nicholas.