hoichoi #revamp — How we transform Online Bengali Entertainment.
Ideas that fuelled the revamp of our OTT experience in the hoichoi Android app.
hoichoi is a destination for Bengalis all over the world to enjoy their time off by watching 600+ Bengali movies and 100+ original web series and films. Since its inception in 2017, hoichoi has expanded to become one of East India’s most popular brand names.
At hoichoi.tech, we design and build the future of online Bengali entertainment. Since 2022 marks the 5th anniversary of hoichoi, we decided to build a revamped avatar for our customers.
What is a “revamp”?
In product terminology, a revamp means making small, gradual changes in an existing platform. Unlike a redesign, which involves a complete rebranding, a revamp has a shorter learning curve for the company’s existing users. Although it takes more time, a revamp is a better option for applications with a high visitor frequency.
Overcoming challenges
Doing a design and functionality revamp in an app with thousands of daily active users is risky. It has the potential to alienate existing users and requires a significant amount of time, effort and resources.
Even so, the hoichoi revamp started as a result of factors like increased demand for better functionalities and the adoption of new technologies for hoichoi’s growing audience. At hoichoi.tech, we implemented these improvements to our Android app in a new public beta.
The tech behind the product
When this project began in 2021, Android Jetpack was in its beta stage, with limited public resources, and using it for an app used by millions was challenging. Even so, we have been able to finish the project to implement the best technology for our users.
Programming Language: Kotlin
Kotlin on Android was announced at Google I/O in 2017 and is now used by more than 60% of Android app developers.
Why Kotlin over Java?
Kotlin is regarded as superior to Java due to its null-pointer safety and features that result in shorter, more readable code. Moreover, Kotlin is used to build Android’s modern UI toolkit, Jetpack Compose.
Architecture Design Pattern: MVI Architecture
MVI (Model-View-Intent) is one of Android’s newest architecture patterns. Key benefits of MVI are unidirectional and cyclic data flow, ease of debugging due to immutable state objects, and consistent state of Views throughout their lifecycle.
Developer’s Library Suite: Android Jetpack
Jetpack is a set of library components crafted to follow best practices, reduce boilerplate code, and write code that works consistently across Android versions and devices. Some of Jetpack’s architecture components we have used are Room, WorkManager, Lifecycle, ViewModel, LiveData, Navigation, Paging, and Data Binding.
User Interface Library: Jetpack Compose
Jetpack Compose is an Android user interface library based on composable functions. By using less code, powerful tools, and intuitive Kotlin APIs, Jetpack Compose simplifies and accelerates UI development.
A better OTT experience: Media3 Exoplayer
ExoPlayer is an application-level media player that offers an alternative to Android’s MediaPlayer API for playing videos over the Internet and locally. ExoPlayer includes features that MediaPlayer API does not, such as DASH and SmoothStreaming adaptive playback.
Some of the enhancements made in this revamp!
Splash Screen
The splash screen now displays some of our top shows and movies!
Home Screen
There are dedicated sections for shows, movies, your watchlist, etc. You can search for content, view your downloads, see our upcoming releases, and manage your hoichoi account settings via the bottom navigation.
Search Screen
The top genres and most searched hoichoi shows are now displayed on the search screen.
Series / Movie Details Screen
The trailer for any show now autoplays on the details page, with the option to unmute or switch to full screen. For a better user experience, the layout has undergone significant changes.
Video Player
We now have in-player brightness and volume control, as well as other important player settings. A better continue watching ensures that you pick up where you left off!
Login Screen
You can now watch your favourite hoichoi show by simply logging in with your mobile number via the bottom sheet!
Downloads Screen
You can now see if a show has been downloaded, is downloading, or is queued. Individual episodes of a series can also be checked for status.
Upcoming Screen
Scroll through the upcoming page to see trailers for new hoichoi shows!
Account Settings’ Screen
More customization options for your streaming and app experience are now available.
Subscription Plans’ Screen
The checkout process has been improved to ensure a smooth transaction via UPI or card.
Bengali Interface for the বেস্ট ইন বাংলা এন্টারটেইনমেন্ট
আমাদের ৫০ লাখ+ দর্শক এখন হইচই উপভোগ করেন সম্পূর্ণ বাংলা ইন্টারফেসে। শুধুমাত্র তাই নয়, পেয়ে যান বাংলা সাবটাইটেল অপশন আপনার পছন্দের মুভিজ এবং সিরিজের জন্য!
What now — plans of hoichoi.tech!
hoichoi Season 6 will bring a completely new experience to all of our platforms. Following the launch of our new Android mobile app, we will now release the hoichoi revamp Smart TV app for platforms like Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, MI TV, and others.
Join hoichoi.tech if you love technology and want to be a part of one of India’s fastest-growing OTT brands.
