On 2 February 2015 at 15:39, Carolynne Schloeder <cschloeder@wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hi, yes app size and yes optimization :-)

App size does matter
OEM's are sensitive to the size of the app for preload. They were satisfied with our last version that was under 3MB; we'll find out what they will tolerate. And we will likely push appstore promotion as part of our deep dive.[1]

Much of the size of the app is the various different images and icons that we need to include for different form factors. If we were making a version optimised for lower resolution screens (i.e. Wikipedia Lite!) we could likely drop a lot of these higher resolution icons and drop the size of the app substantially.

Couple of thoughts on optimization:
Yuri already worked to compress images on mobile web, only deployed on zero partners so far. Rolling out the image compression could be an easy start to reduce the page load.

Any compression by definition comes with a tradeoff somewhere else, such as reduced image quality or increased processing time for uncompression. If we're talking about compression across the board, then we should be very deliberate about that, especially since it may affect all of our API consumers and degrade the quality of the image experience.

In a couple of weeks, we will get into Facebook/Ericsson's network simulation lab in Menlo Park, where we can experience our UX on low end devices and slow networks.

Dan and Maryana, can you help me organize who should go to the lab?

For Mobile Apps, I nominate Adam Baso. He's experienced with both the iOS and Android SDKs, so anything he learns about best practices for slow/lossy network connections he can relay to either the iOS or the Android teams. Plus he has tons of experience with Zero-related matters.

I'd also like to go if possible, but prioritise Adam over me.

Thanks,

Dan

Dan Garry

Associate Product Manager, Mobile Apps

Wikimedia Foundation