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Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

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Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#11

Post by masklinn »

mithaler wrote: post #4
tptacek wrote: post #2

* A redesign of touch-based text input. * A music player with a unique interface. * control Youtube on your computer from across the room * A fork of the stock Android home screen * Automatically do anything in response to anything. * The best todo list. * Get notifications for Gmail labels * Get notifications for Craigslist search terms * Easily track packages This list would appear to prove Gruber's (subtextual) po…

> Most of these don't seem interesting enough to break into "Featured", "Top Free", or "Top 25" (for utilities) on the app store. Why not? These are high-quality, well-designed apps based on excellent ideas.

> Why not? These are high-quality, well-designed apps based on excellent ideas.

Well for starters 4 of them are excluded by the original conditions of being acceptable in the appstore. Second, of the remaining 6 some already have better counterparts in the appstore (there are complete top lists devoted to iOS todo apps and the good tends to be really very good) and "well-designed"... well I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but from the screenshots on their respective sites the Craigslist notification app doesn't look very good.

As to parcels... http://itunes.apple.com/app/delivery-status-touch/id29098601...

copycat much?

Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#12

Post by mithaler »

tptacek wrote: post #6
mithaler wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most of these don't seem interesting enough to break into "Featured", "Top Free", or "Top 25" (for utilities) on the app store. Why not? These are high-quality, well-designed apps based on excellent ideas.

Yeah, you might be right. I don't know. My gut is, no. But, for what it's worth, here's the current app store lists: Featured, New : * Apple Remote - control iTunes & such from phone. * Path - the social network. * Airbnb - the iPhone interface to the rental service. * ComicStrip CS - a comic strip creation app. * Edmunds - car ratings. * Pushpin - grocery coupons on your phone (incidentally: what a great idea! Wish…

The only point I really care to make with my list is that Android's app offerings do not lack superb content, no matter how much other catalogs may have. Does Android appear to suffer in comparison to iTunes? Maybe, but that doesn't stop me in any meaningful fashion from finding apps I love on my Droid.

Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#13

Post by YooLi »

None of those are "killer apps" in the classical definition of the phrase. Those are apps that are awesome to you, but not killer apps. People use killer app now to mean any good app, kind of how every model today is a super model if you know their name. Halo was a killer app for xbox 360. People bought xboxes to play halo, hence a killer app. People arent going to buy an android phone to use a music player with a neat cube interface.

Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#14

Post by tptacek »

mithaler wrote: post #12
tptacek wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, you might be right. I don't know. My gut is, no. But, for what it's worth, here's the current app store lists: Featured, New : * Apple Remote - control iTunes & such from phone. * Path - the social network. * Airbnb - the iPhone interface to the rental service. * ComicStrip CS - a comic strip creation app. * Edmunds - car ratings. * Pushpin - grocery coupons on your phone (incidentally: what a great idea! Wish…

The only point I really care to make with my list is that Android's app offerings do not lack superb content, no matter how much other catalogs may have. Does Android appear to suffer in comparison to iTunes? Maybe, but that doesn't stop me in any meaningful fashion from finding apps I love on my Droid.

Then the only point you care to make is orthogonal to Gruber's question. He's asking, where are the apps that:

* Are standouts,

* Are exclusive to the Android platform,

* Have high production values, and

* Aren't system enhancements.

You're entitled to say "that's a dumb question", but you can't claim to answer the question by rejecting it.

Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#15

Post by kyleslattery »

To me, the biggest killer app for the iPhone is iTunes integration. I know many people with Android phones who don't use it for music (myself included) because it is fairly difficult to put music on it. And, given the fact that something like 75% of the media player market is iPod, that means that a lot of people have iTunes installed, and getting an iPhone set up is pretty painless. I know there are several music sync apps for Android, but from my experience, none of them are any good, and the fact that you have to actively look for a way to sync your music turns a lot of people off from the idea.

Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#16

Post by jamesbritt »

vito wrote: post #9

Parcels seems to be a knock-off of the iOS Delivery Status app, which I use a lot: http://junecloud.com/software/iphone/delivery-status-touch.h... I've noticed this about the Market - there are a lot of blatant clones of better-executed iOS apps.

"I've noticed this about the Market - there are a lot of blatant clones of better-executed iOS apps."

Is this not also true of the Apple app store?

Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#17

Post by nuclear_eclipse »

YooLi wrote: post #13

None of those are "killer apps" in the classical definition of the phrase. Those are apps that are awesome to you, but not killer apps. People use killer app now to mean any good app, kind of how every model today is a super model if you know their name. Halo was a killer app for xbox 360. People bought xboxes to play halo, hence a killer app. People arent going to buy an android phone to use a music player with a ne…

I bought an Android phone to use Locale, of which Tasker is highly inspired by.

Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#18

Post by roadnottaken »

ghostDancer wrote: post #7

This is becoming a religious war like vi/emacs spectrum/c64 , i think that everyone should use the phone that needs or wants. Find the apps you like or need and choose the phone stop talking about it like if it's a matter of life. I think we all know Gruber has embraced the Cupertino church , that's his choice. If you don't like it don't read him, at least when his talking about how good are Apple products and how wi…

Interesting parallel (vi/emacs). Accordingly, given that people have been arguing about vi vrs. emacs for >30 yrs, I doubt this one is going to be put to rest anytime soon.

Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#19

Post by jamesbritt »

kyleslattery wrote: post #15

To me, the biggest killer app for the iPhone is iTunes integration. I know many people with Android phones who don't use it for music (myself included) because it is fairly difficult to put music on it. And, given the fact that something like 75% of the media player market is iPod, that means that a lot of people have iTunes installed, and getting an iPhone set up is pretty painless. I know there are several music sy…

"I know many people with Android phones who don't use it for music (myself included) because it is fairly difficult to put music on it."

You plug it in into a USB port and drag files over to the mounted drive.

Conversely, any app or product that requires me to use iTunes is pretty much out of the running for me because it is too damn annoying to work with.

Re: Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

#20

Post by mithaler »

YooLi wrote: post #13

None of those are "killer apps" in the classical definition of the phrase. Those are apps that are awesome to you, but not killer apps. People use killer app now to mean any good app, kind of how every model today is a super model if you know their name. Halo was a killer app for xbox 360. People bought xboxes to play halo, hence a killer app. People arent going to buy an android phone to use a music player with a ne…

That definition assumes that there is such a thing as an "app worth buying a phone for" that holds for a majority of people. That will always vary by person. I've listed killer apps for Android for me; as I said, I can make no claims about killer apps for everyone, nor can you, or for that matter, Gruber. So I guess the term is kind of silly in the first place when applied to third-party mobile app offerings, no?
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