Mobile App Review / Discussion
I
may have mentioned in my introduction that I have a pastime of power
lifting. As part of my training, many of
my exercises are based off formulas associated with what is called a “One Rep
Max”. This number is a theoretical
maximum amount they can be lifted in a single attempt based upon calculations
of repetitions of lower numbers. As the
formulas to calculate the maximum potential are rather complex, I use an
application called “One Rep Max” by Vander soft. As you can see in Figure 1 below there is a
data entry portion to log the weight of the lift and the number of
repetitions. It then displays the
calculated “1RM” or estimated maximum lift potential. One feature that I would like to see is to
show both imperial and metric measurements.
In the united states, most weights are measured in pounds, however if
competitions or in other countries metric is used. It would be very handy to have both displayed
or easily toggled. Currently you can
only toggle by navigation through the main menu into the application settings.
Fig 1.
Main Screen
Many internet sites rely heavily on
advertising for revenue (Vahid,
F., & Lysecky, S. 2017).
Although some may also sell data as an income source. Another way to make a profit is to charge
subscription or license fees. One Rep
Max uses a combination of advertising revenue and user subscriptions. The base model of the software is free to use. However, if you would like to use some more
of the advanced features such as graphing one would be required to purchase the
full version of the software. The app
uses Ads by Google for it’s advertising income source. This allows the user to receive targeted advertisements
based on their profile, however I believe that this application would be better
served to solicit vendors for advertisement that target the applications
audience as it is a niche app and those using it would tend to purchase or be
interested in health and fitness specifically as opposed to the “Solar Winds”
ad that we are seeing in figure 2 below.
Fig 2.
Percentage list.
The video Creating Mobile Apps indicated that “the
navigation bar at the top reduces the screen size of the application and should
only be used as necessary” (Breitenmoser,
Kurt 2012). Also, navigation buttons
such as a back arrow are very useful in navigating mobile apps. The program does not incorporate a back
button. The use of the button may take
valuable screen space and could be supplanted with the touch screen swipe
functionality, however swiping right opens up the program menu, which is also
available through the top ribbon bar seen in Figure 3. This ribbon bar also takes space away from
the application. This could be improved
by doing one or the other but not both.
The other space hog is the avatar section for the logged-on user
evidenced in figure 1. I’m sure that the
application user knows what they look like and would rather look at their
numbers.
Overall this is a very useful application for
me for quick calculations in the gym so that I can calculate my next set of
lifts for training purposes, however I do not pay for the extra features as I
track and graph progress on my own.
Although some people may use the advance features offered with the full
subscription price, I would like to see them become available to the user and
for the application to rely on the advertising revenue instead.
References
Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com/
Breitenmoser, Kurt (Director). (2012) Creating Mobile Apps: Development and Deployment [Film]. Films for the Humanities & Sciences VEA
Group Pty Ltd. Mobile App Development and
Deployment - Embedded Content - Films On Demand (infobase.com)
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