Nokia Tips

Let’s face it. Applications contribute to part of the reasons why people are passionate about different mobile platforms. Applications equally contribute to part of the reasons why people purchase certain brands of handsets. Have you ever wondered how these day to day applications you use are developed? Of course they are developed by normal human beings like you and I and they do benefit from the market as soon as their application(s) become popular demand. Now, let’s guide you on mobile application development:

What to Do

1. The first thing you need to do is to MAKE UP YOUR MIND. You could ask yourself, “Am I seriously doing this or will this turn out to be another uncompleted project?” You need to have at the back of your mind that Nothing good comes easy. You will require a lot of patience during the process. Do not jump into something you might not be able to complete at the end of the day. Once you’re through with making up your mind, then feel free to move over to step 2.
    
2. Ok, I believe we got a positive response from step 1. Now, Consider your resources. Do you have a stable PC? You will be needing a PC to actually create that application. Do you have a stable device (like a Nokia phone) to test your “product(s)” ? Once you’ve satisfied step 2, feel free to move over to step 3.
    
3. Now what Operating System are you developing for? Nokia currently has Symbian, Windows Phone 7 (WP7), Maemo & Meego as their major Operating Systems. Are you developing for just one of them or would you rather try and make your apps compatible for all platforms? As a starter, we highly recommend that you start with your favourite Operating System as you would be able to test your application(s) with your Nokia Phone with ease.

Wow, we are over with the “Prior mind setup” now, let’s go ahead and give you tips on what you will need for a proper Nokia application development environment! 🙂

What you require

1. 

   Have you heard of Qt? – Well, Qt is a cross platform application framework that is widely used for developing application software with a graphical user interface (GUI) (in which cases Qt is classified as a widget toolkit), and also used for developing non-GUI programs such as command-line tools and consoles for servers. It is pronounced “cute”. Read more about Qt here.

2. After getting familiar with the meaning of Qt Framework, you’ll definitely need to download the Software Development Kit (SDK) which you’ll use for creating your application(s). Visit qt.nokia.com/downloads and select your convenient method of installation. The SDK’s size is roughly 1.6GB
3. Once you have the Qt SDK installed on your PC, the next option would be to play with the Qt Creator. It comes pre-loaded with examples that could enhance your learning process. Try out those examples and do some “play around” with them.
4. Follow the experts: You’ll definitely need someone or group of people to look up to in your “Qt Life”. That option solely depends on you but you may wish to follow or be in touch with the following people below. We recommend them and we know their capabilities.

   @qtbynokia: This is Qt’s official twitter account. Feel free to follow them and get updates on their day to day Qt activities. They would be glad to support you when you have issues.

   @ltomuta: Lucian is a Qt expert. He is a friend of our team. Some of our team members have contact with him in the past and he was glad to help us without complain or restrictions. He is a nice person to follow.

   @janole: Yes! We highly recommend our dear Jan. You may not necessarily get support from him as regards to Qt but you ‘ll surely be needing some motivational talks or conversations. It may interest you to know that he is the author of the popular symbian twitter client – Gravity.

   @talv: Talv is similar to Jan. He develops for both the Symbian and MeeGo OS. He is the author of SymNote, SymFTP, SymPaper and MeeNote. He is sure to help you when you require assistance too.

   We are rest assured that there are so many more Qt experts out there. Do you know any of them? Please use the comment section and write about them. 🙂

See what we did with Qt. It’s actually no big deal 🙂 you can do better!

We do hope you have a pleasant Qt experience. Please Do NOT forget to share with us. GoodLuck!!!