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Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

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Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#131

Post by Tichy »

irons wrote: post #16
Tichy wrote: post #4

Funny, my impression is that all the useful apps tend to be on Android. For example, I use Google Talk a lot, as it saves costs for sending SMS. I keep begging my iPhone 4 friend to use it, but he never even comments. I am not sure if it is not available on iPhone (multitasking problem?), or if he just doesn't care enough. Alternatively Twitter DMs are free, too. What am I missing out on by staying on Android (except…

His point is about the third-party app ecosystem; you're talking about first-party Google products, which he acknowledges and excluded. There's nothing wrong with targeting multiple major platforms, but a market-leading platform without at least some desirable, exclusive software titles to its name is an historical anomaly.

I don't care who the vendor of the app is, to be honest. What is the difference if the app comes from Google or somebody else? The point is, what are the useful apps.

Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#132

Post by Tichy »

kyleslattery wrote: post #14
Tichy wrote: post #4

Funny, my impression is that all the useful apps tend to be on Android. For example, I use Google Talk a lot, as it saves costs for sending SMS. I keep begging my iPhone 4 friend to use it, but he never even comments. I am not sure if it is not available on iPhone (multitasking problem?), or if he just doesn't care enough. Alternatively Twitter DMs are free, too. What am I missing out on by staying on Android (except…

Looks like Google Talk is available as a web app: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/07/google-talk-for-iph... There are similar tools like Kik (which I actually like better than Google Talk), that are available for all platforms: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/07/google-talk-for-iph...

I don't see how it would work as a web app. It has to have background notifications to be able to replace SMS.

Of course for direct chatting a web app would be OK.

Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#133

Post by hboon »

Zev wrote: post #98
commandar wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got it slightly wrong, it seems. Devs were using the photo roll as a way around the lack of USB mass storage support on the iPhone.[1] It's the Address Book that some devs have used to pass data between apps.[2] [1] http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/02/apple-stanza-usb/ [2] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/220630/how-to-share-custo...

Still wondering what apps uses that trick, and which ones have gotten rejected for trying to use it ;)

TextExpander uses it for their SDK. Snippets you add in the TextExpander app is available to other apps which integrate with their SDK.

Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#134

Post by rahoulb »

cletus wrote: post #30
Tichy wrote: post #4

Funny, my impression is that all the useful apps tend to be on Android. For example, I use Google Talk a lot, as it saves costs for sending SMS. I keep begging my iPhone 4 friend to use it, but he never even comments. I am not sure if it is not available on iPhone (multitasking problem?), or if he just doesn't care enough. Alternatively Twitter DMs are free, too. What am I missing out on by staying on Android (except…

I used to use Google Talk a lot. On the desktop it's handy. On my Android phone (HTC Desire) it seemed to work well. Since getting an iPhone 4 however I've pretty much stopped using it entirely. I simply cannot find a good app for it. The ones I have found seem to sign out after 4 hours (making them useless) or just don't seem to work reliably (eg I'd get home and find a message on my desktop that hadn't made it to m…

I use OneTeam for GTalk - stays signed in for 12 hours and I've not noticed a missed notification (although they were sometimes delayed a bit)

Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#135

Post by rahoulb »

jwhitlark wrote: post #94
elblanco wrote: post #79

Android is the killer app.

With the Intent system, this is quite literally true. Android is much more in line with the unix "small, sharp tools" philosophy, while iOS apps seem like they would fall victim to Zawinski's Law. AFAIK, in iOS you interact with yourself or the OS, while on Android, you can interact with anyone who registers an intent.

The thing is that this has always been Apple's design decision - the OS marks very clear distinctions between applications (as described here in another Gruber piece about the OSX - and MacOS - window manager http://daringfireball.net/2003/05/the_problems_with_clickthr...)

The difference being the Mac allowed you to follow the same unix style philosophy through pervasive scripting, which you can't do on iOS.

EDIT: typos

Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#136

Post by DeusExMachina »

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #64
DeusExMachina wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. This is a logical error that I keep seeing being made from people, and having a logics background I can't help to notice. A implies B does not imply that not B implies not A.

>A implies B does not imply that not B implies not A. Wait, what? Every time I eat a hard candy, I get a toothache. I don't have a toothache, therefore I didn't eat a hard candy.

Actually I made a mistake there. Going on mere memory and without checking, I put the double negation, which comes from an axiom.

So yes, what I meant is "If I eat hard candy, I get toothache" does not imply "I have a toothache, so I ate hard candies". Which is the form I was commenting on. I should have provided an example (and double checked!).

Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#137

Post by trezor »

bitsm wrote: post #42

As I read it, what Gruber's exploring is the idea that it's the app store ("app console") that matters now, not the OS. Every week seems to bring another article about how Android is kicking ass in market penetration, but who really benefits outside of the carriers who get a free OS for their phones? The Android market is so fragmented that these market stats are meaningless. Love 'em or hate 'em, Apple has been incr…

but who really benefits outside of the carriers who get a free OS for their phones?

You seem confused about carriers, phone-makers and how things works in real life. Carriers may get stock-phones rebranded and customized from phone-makers, but in no way is it "their" phones or their problem getting a OS for it.

Phone makers make phones. Carriers provide carrier waves and cellphone services. These two roles are 100% independent, despite carriers sometimes present customers with custom-made phones bought by them from phone-makers.

Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#138

Post by ZeroGravitas »

tomkarlo wrote: post #52
cheald wrote: post #20

Gruber seems to make the assertion that a platform only has worth based on its exclusive "killer apps". He goes wrong there and never really recovers. Android's strength is not its suite apps, it's its flexibility. It runs on an enormous range of hardware, and doesn't require that you buy into a single vendor's toolchain to use it. The core philosophical difference between the two platforms is "Steve Jobs decides wha…

If you read the article, he's not making that assertion about the relative worth of Android. (And opening up with that as the basis of your argument is a disingenuous tactic, if done intentionally.) He's arguing that the third-party software library is weak, especially away from "enhancement/tweak" type software. Flexibility is useful only insofar as it translates into capabilities of high value to end users. It's no…

The killer app for both platforms is the web. This is fairly obvious if you remember the original iPhone had few apps and was widely considered a poor phone (or cameraphone).

The iPod was the third leg of the original announcement but it's hard to see that as a killer app when an iPod was available stand alone.

I'be never heard exclusive be a necessary feature of a killer app before this. It's more like a console fanboy bragging point and for technically comparable platforms it often seems driven by kickbacks from the platform owner. Even then it's usually just time limited exclusivity.

Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#139

Post by sqrt17 »

jmreid wrote: post #57
cheald wrote: post #20

Gruber seems to make the assertion that a platform only has worth based on its exclusive "killer apps". He goes wrong there and never really recovers. Android's strength is not its suite apps, it's its flexibility. It runs on an enormous range of hardware, and doesn't require that you buy into a single vendor's toolchain to use it. The core philosophical difference between the two platforms is "Steve Jobs decides wha…

Thing is, the "Cupertino Grand Unified Vision" usually syncs up better with the needs and desires or the general population. Some people don't want to have to configure anything to start using it or to start being productive with it. Apple's desire to focus on these types of people is obvious when not only analyze the type of features they add, but how they're implemented.

> the "Cupertino Grand Unified Vision" usually syncs up better with the needs and desires or the general population Well, hackers are hardly "the general population".

I think a meaningful comparison would be to the situation of home computers (C64, CPC, later Amiga and Atari) and consoles (NES, later SNES). If you wanted to play games, consoles offered a much better experience. In contrast, home computers could be programmed using BASIC and Assembler (and, somewhat later, C), which made them much more appealing for people who wanted to explore the possibilities for themselves.

If the general population is able to feel in control of their equipment without opening a shell on it and exploring what's in there, or being able to scratch little itches they have, that's totally fine with me.

Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?

#140

Post by Locke1689 »

5teev wrote: post #92
bjelkeman-again wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say "iPhone users tend not to know a whole lot about how the phone works deep inside, and whether by necessity or curiosity, Android users do." I don't think that is true. Most Android users have no idea how their phone works inside. They are not techies, they are just smartphone users. Most people have no idea what a computer does inside. Don't think that all Android users are techies because many on HN are.

I don't mean hardcore, nuts and bolts stuff, just that they're more involved with managing how the operating system behaves. And I'm not saying this, I was inferring from Gruber, who notes how many task managers, etc., are the most popular apps.

That's the worst kind of user, though. The "power user" is almost the bane of my existence as they do not truly understand anything yet think they understand everything.

These are the same morons that dig into the Windows registry for "super speed optimizations" and end up blowing their installation to hell.

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