Porting mobile applications to other platform-constrained platforms

Abstract

We live in a world where technology rules over everything and we want to rule over technology. For this reason, people started using computers more often and today, we can control almost everything from the palm of our hand. Phones, tablets, smart TVs, wearable devices, laptops and many other smart devices fill similar roles and this often allows us to use the same apps on all of them. This thesis focuses on the process of porting mobile apps to other two limited platforms, the TV and Smartwatch. These two platforms have been chosen because even though they are very different to one another, their applications have very similar problems. Smartwatches have the problem of allowing only a reduced amount of information on a small screen. In the case of smart TVs, you might have access to a very big screen, but due to the limited input capabilities and the large distance of interaction, the developers need to rethink and reduce the content. Since there are multiple frameworks that help to port apps from one platform to another, but in this process, the developer has to decide how to design the UI for each platform and which functionalities should remain and which are not suited for the new platform, we decided to create a new transformation method that will ease this process. The method is structured in seven parts, with step-by-step instructions and five applications ported in parallel to exemplify the steps. The accuracy of the method was evaluated at the end by transforming a delivery application from Smartphone to Smart TV and analyzing the expectations of 16 users through a questionnaire. As a result, the implemented prototype demonstrates the accuracy of the method. This method presents a unique approach to the process of porting mobile apps, through a simple, yet powerful step by step guideline.