MIDDLEBURGH

Middleburgh Mobilises 2

Following on from my previous post I have been browsing for mobile enabled web pages and android Apps optimized for my smartphone (goes to "means") which can be accessed while I am out and about (goes to opportunity) that would help answer questions related to where I am in HK (or where I should/could be) and what I am doing (or could/should do) etc (goes to motive) Self evidently I have been watching too many detective programs on TV this week and I can't but help make the comparison that searching for such pages is rather like building a short list of properties to burgle! (not that I would have personal experience of that).

Being perverse I have eschewed the obvious approach of checking out goggle and apple apps directly, saving that task for later, Instead I am mounting a systematic google search for websites associated with Hong Kong that had terms in their URLs indicating that the webpages where enabled for mobile devices etc.

The rationale is as follows: If I find an actively maintained web page it would imply that the content is of probably of use to someone and thus possibly me. If the page is inactive or broken especially if developed for PDA/WAP (which are now old technology) it still merits a look to see if it has been replaced more recently by a "mobile" or "m." or equivalent webpage, or an app.

Personally, for me, if there is an actively maintained "mobile" or "m." webpage there would have to be a compelling reason to choose the app in preference to the webpage. Or to put it a different way "why load an app and grant all sort of permissions to your phone when there are perfectly good mobile enabled webpages on the site which can be accessed on demand?"

My second line of enquiry involves trawling Twitter feeds related to HK on the basis that a lot of tweeters are putting out news about whats on/ where to go etc locally.I have never been a fan of twitter but now i am getting into it. By identifying key feeds, with lots of followers and good content I reasoned that at worst they could be consolidated as a topical source of information in their own right and at best they might lead to associated mobile enabled pages or app(s). Similarly I also started a search for RSS feeds related to HK

At some point I will go back and look at apps in apple and google stores in particular freebies Ideally would be nice to have page views as an indication of usage but I will have to settle for popularity (number downloads) and update/version history(infrequent updates implies that app may be stale) ..... more follows.

Labels: Android, Smartphones

Posted at 6/07/2013 01:06:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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