Developer Interview: Gergely Orosz

Developer Interview

This week, for our series of programmer interviews, we're joined by Gergely Orosz who is an established developer with the likes of AppFlowCocktail Flow and Flashlight vii nether his belt. Caput on by the break for the interview and to read up on his advice and thoughts on the Windows Phone programmer feel equally well every bit the platform itself from a consumer perspective.

Tell us about yourself and how you got into software development.

I'm living in London and work as a WPF developer. I've gotten into software development at college - I graduated with a computer science caste and started doing WP7 evolution when the beta was announced in 2022. I've adult nigh of my applications together with a startup company from Budapest, Distinction Ltd (http://teamdistinction.com) who are an amazing grouping of UX experts and developers.

What do yous think of Microsoft's platform (from a user perspective) and how exercise you compare information technology to competitors?

I think it'due south a platform very well put together with several neat differentiators from iPhone and Android. Having used both platforms, I call up it's condom to say that feature and usability wise WP7 Mango is at least as skillful – and many some cases even better - than iPhone and Android. People who I evidence my telephone are ever surprised how cool WP7 actually is.

What's the number one feature you dearest the most in Mango?

From a developers perspective the operation has vastly improved (east.g. animations are almost twice equally fast) and background agents and local SQL database make app development much easier. From a user'southward perspective I actually like the fact that my Twitter and LinkedIn accounts are likewise synced on the telephone.

What path(southward) led y'all to develop for Windows Phone?

When Windows Phone came out, having learnt from the ecosystem with Distinction nosotros were pretty sure this platform has the potential to gain significant market share in a few years and be caput to head competitors with iPhone and Android. If at that place'south 1 thing one could learn from reading iPhone and Android app developer stories is that early on mover developers have a much better run a risk of continuing out in the market place. Nosotros decided to be at that place early on and come across if we can develop apps that would stand out from the crowd early cheers to their quality, without having to invest significantly in marketing.

What'due south your take on the Windows Telephone development procedure?

I find developing for Windows Phone to be very smooth. The tools are superior, the App Hub is a much improved experience subsequently the summertime refresh. I too institute approval times to exist consistent as well with usually clear reasoning given should an app be rejected. There are some parts that could be improved though – for example publishing beta apps could be faster as now it sometimes takes 24 hours for it to exist available to testers which isn't very rapid.

Have you developed for other platforms and if so how does the evolution process compare?

I've non developed myself, however Distinction have ported Cocktail Flow to Android (http://cocktailflow.com/) and are working on the iPhone version. Fifty-fifty though they've had the application structure and content ready, merely porting the awarding to the ii platforms took more time then developing the app from scratch for Windows Phone. With Android they've spent probably over 50% of their time targeting unlike devices due to the fragmentation of the Bone (which is merely every bit painful every bit many say). With iOS the whole approach is much more low level and the learning curve is longer than when developing for Android.

You've got a number of successful apps nether your belt, including AppFlow, Cocktail Catamenia and Flashlight 7 to name but a few. What'southward your secret?

With Stardom our secrets are probably these:

Having a swell squad with an astonishing UX designer, peachy Silverlight and backend programmers, all enthusiastic nigh the platform. I don't retrieve either of our apps would accept been then succesful if they were but a one man projection.
Not compromising on user experience and working around fifty-fifty the smallest performance issues, creating seamless user feel. For instance in Cocktail Flow we spent over a calendar week tweaking operation and in some cases even cut features that simply didn't experience fluent enough.
Building all of this on top of quality content and useful features – it's the UX that people initially praise our apps for, but the content and features that brand them open them once more and again. We see this being very true for most of our apps - e.g. in AppFlow nosotros make sure that lists are updating daily and are releasing new packages for Cocktail Flow regularly as well.

What other Windows Phone projects are you lot working on?

I've developed a minor jitney tracker awarding for Edinburgh, the city I've lived for quite a few years, but currently am only tweaking the existing ones in my gratuitous time.

What communication would yous give to other aspiring developers?

Invest heavily in design, build on interesting and rich content or features and don't compromise on quality – mediocre apps only won't stand out of the crowd.

Thank you for your time. Any closing words well-nigh WP7'southward futurity?

With Nokia having entered the WP7 market I retrieve 2022 will bring dramatically rising marketshare, lots of buzz and even more opportunities for WP7. If e'er, now is the fourth dimension to invest and develop some slap-up apps.

At that place you have it folks, wise words from an experienced programmer. Be sure to check out his personal website and follow him on Twitter.