Softjourn began developing Android apps in 2008 via its development center in Ukraine. Since that time we have successfully delivered a number of Android solutions that have helped our clients improve their services, won their clients and generate more revenue for their businesses. Apart from Android development, Softjourn offersiOS, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry software development services.
"In our case, Softjourn work is the difference between product and no product.", Boaz Sigelman, Director of the Board, SayWhat.
How many phone calls do you make each day? How many of them are rejected because the person is busy and cannot talk at that moment? Now take the statistics to the US scale, where about 35 thousand calls are made each second. The number of “not successful” calls is impressive.
The Need
Our client, an Israeli-based start-up, came up with an idea of enhancing the phone call experience for Android users and saving them time when calling people who are busy and cannot take a phone call. The idea was to enable instant messaging that can be sent before making a call. By sending a “Can You Talk” message, the caller will know at once whether the call will be accepted. And in case the receiver is busy, they can reject with an instant message or an icon explaining why they cannot talk at the moment. This prevents users from making repeat phone calls.
Softjourn assisted our client with the technical realization of the idea.
The Solution
To enable instant messaging, a Jabber server and its XMPP protocol were used. It allows for the sending of quick messages before making a call (Can You Talk request) as well as at the point of rejecting an incoming call (e.g. with an “I’m busy” message). In the case that a call participant does not use the SayWhat app, text messages are sent instead. The users can reject calls with predefined icons or text, as well as type a custom message.
The Benefit
The result was a new Android app called SayWhat. Apart from allowing users to see the availability of their contacts without placing the actual call, the application lets users establish agenda for the call by sending animated emoticons – a fun enhancement for the regular calling feature!
All of the SayWhat operations are one-click which is important for the mobile experience.
The application supports multiple languages, and is already available on Google Play.
We loved helping SayWhat launch!
“Developing the SayWhat app was both an interesting and challenging experience. It was very important to have frequent meetings with the client. We often had video conferences with live demonstration of the issues, it was very helpful!”, Volodymyr K., Sr. Mobile Developer and Team Lead.
