I want to give you a white Nokia Lumia 900!
Posted on November 5, 2012 • 5 minutes • 866 words
Yep, you heard right. I really, really want to give away two Nokia Lumias (First place get a 900 and second place gets an 800). I need you to do something for me in return, build a winning app! So how do you win? There are two ways, one device for each of the following categories:
- Create an awesome app for Windows Phone from scratch
- Port your existing Android/iOS app to Windows Phone
Even if you don’t win a top prize this contest, you will be ready for my next giveaway. Bring the apps and I’ll bring the swag!
Let me provide a little guidance on the categories:
#1 Windows Phone app from scratch
Your app should take advantage of the great APIs Windows Phone exposes. I will provide you with the tools and resources to get the job done. See further down where I explain a bit deeper about what the app should provide.
#2 Porting your app from another OS
It doesn’t matter how you get the app to Windows Phone as long as you publish it. You can use a third party system like PhoneGap or build it from the ground up. This all depends on how you built the original app. I have spoken to countless developers who have ported their apps to and they all say the same thing, it took at least 20% less time to build their app for Windows Phone.
Okay, so what should your app do? The best and award winning apps take advantage of sensors and data.
- Camera (image manipulation, video recording, etc)
- Sensors (accelerometer, location, etc)
- Fun and unique data manipulation (from sources like twitter, rss/atom feeds, etc)
- Bluetooth data tranfser
- Social Networking integration (give your users something to shout about)
Those are just some sample ideas, there is much to leverage with Windows Phone. I could sit here all day and tell you how great it is, but showing you is better. Get your hands dirty with the sample applications from the Windows Phone team.
Windows Phone 7.5 (27 examples)
Download the samples that interest you the most or will show you how to implement your idea. For example, if you have an idea for a camera app, be sure to see how its done in the example first.
To submit your application for consideration for judging, you must email me a description of what the app does, who it is intended for and the XAP file for me to run/test it. If I find that it works as expected and meets quality standards (“Hello World” apps need not apply), you can move on to the publishing phase.
This is the time for you to publish the app to the Windows Phone Store, it has to be published by Dec 14th to be eligible for this run of the contest. If you do not yet have a developer account, I will be able to provide you with a token for a year of membership for free. Once again, quality standards apply, but most likely the app would not have made it this far anyways. We will be looking for form and function. Does it feel like a Windows Phone app (some exceptions, like games)? Does it cleverly leverage sensor data?
I will pick two top apps from each category. The four finalists will then go into a public poll for the public to weigh-in their vote (American Idol Style)! The winner of the public poll for each category will get a Nokia Lumia! Of the two winners, the one with the most votes will get a Lumia 900. Second place will get a Lumia 800. To top it off, the winners will also get a license for Telerik’s RadControls for Windows Phone!
Good luck! Contact me if have any questions.
Twitter: @lancewmccarthy
Email: Nokia-Dev (at) outlook (dot) com