Yesterday, I wrote somewhere that rugged design doesn’t have to be ugly. Today, Shazam helps me out in that statement by adding that rugged doesn’t mean dysfunctional. They have done so in their new app.
Shazam just launched a lighter, simpler, stripped down version of their popular song identification app. Shazam Lite.
Shazam Lite basically is what the title says. It has been stripped of all the features you probably didn’t use in the main Shazam app to give you an app that does one thing, and does it beautifully. IDing songs.
Some of the key features stripped include user profiles and accounts, automatic song ID, lyrics et cetera. this gives the app what The Next Web calls a simpler user interface; and the cherry on top? It weighs in under 1 MB! It is also said to be less data hungry than its heftier brother and its contenders like SoundHound.
Shazam built this targeting developing markets and low-end Android devices that are not beefily jacked like those overseas. These markets include India, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria and Venezuela.
Iordanis Giannakakis, Shazam’s Head of Android Engineering said “We’re focused on providing Shazam in areas where connectivity is poor and available devices may be limited. Shazam Lite was built from the ground up with listeners from these regions in mind and it aims to bring the core, ‘magic’ Shazam experience to them.”
The other cherry on top is that, much like Opera Mini and other lightweight focused apps, it even runs on Android Gingerbread 2.3, which, believe me, is still around.
The main Shazam app, just for context, hits a fat heavy 26MB.
I wish many apps would go this route, really. I’m looking at Whatsapp, specifically, which has put on more weight than features in each update.
The app will also be available in other regions, as James A. Pearson put it. “GSMA estimated earlier this month ‘More than one billion people worldwide will be connected to mobile networks by 2020.’ I believe it was a logical strategy for Shazam to build on our global community of evangelists with new audiences in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We will surely see similar efforts in other regions, as we see potential growth and wider audiences in all emerging markets. We have seen half the population of North America fanatically engaged with Shazam on their devices — and we’ve just announced the app has been downloaded a billion times. Shazam Lite represents our ongoing commitment to deliver the magic of Shazam to the entire world.”
Here’s an APK of the app from APK Mirror, for your enjoyment.