Win £1000 and Magic phones for your app design

Win £1000 and a HTC Magic handset

08/08/2009

WIN £1,000 and a top web handset - by designing a mobile phone app.

We've teamed up with Vodafone to give you a chance to invent a winning application for the Magic phone which uses Google's Android platform.

Scroll below for tips on how to invent your app

The winner will have their app built by Vodafone who will feature it on the phone's market site. So get thinking. Your app could be a program which makes social networking easier, or links pictures to the HTC's GPS system.

The phone giant has launched the contest to highlight the fact that anyone can design an app and sell it, or give it away for free on the Google Android market site.

Apps are the cornerstone of the HTC Magic's power - from Google Voice Search, Myspace, right through to a Metal Detector - the HTC Magic has it all. First prize is £1000 in cash. Ten runners up will each get an HTC Magic.

Design your mobile phone App

1) Before you enter the competition at www.vodafone.co.uk/competition you need to work out the full capabilities of the phone so that you can design an app that makes full use of it. Does it have a camera, video, wi-fi, gps, compass etc?

For a full spec of the Magic click here http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/htc-magic?WT.srch=1

2) Once you know what the phone can do, start thinking about the kind of App you can design for it. Remember, you don't have to write the program yourself (although there's nothing to stop you), you simply have to come up with an idea. A good app will link up two or more functions of the phone to perform a task. For example, you could design an app which automatically shows you where your contacts are on Google Maps. Or a button that will link a tune to a picture you have taken. The possibilities are endless, just use your imagination to harness the phone's full potential. For some ideas check out the Android apps here http://modmygphone.com/apps/

3) Once you have your idea, go to www.vodafone.co.uk/competition to enter the contest.

The winner will have their app built by Vodafone and collect £1,000, plus a Magic phone. Ten runners up will each get a phone.

We'll be blogging tips at notw.typepad.com/gadgits/ for the next few weeks.

When the competition closes, we'll help Vodafone to judge the winners.

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