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Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

android-gripes.tumblr.com

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Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#101

Post by d_r »

ThomPete wrote: post #85
d_r wrote: post #23

iOS comes with a handy set of UI controls that look decent even without customization. You can use the default UITableView, for instance (looking at the Meebo screenshot) and get the nice look-and-feel out of the box. This especially helps a low-budget dev like myself. Apple showcase of the controls that come out-of-the box and various ways to tweak them: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/userex..…

Do you think there would be a niche for creating good looking high quality UI controls for Android? Or will it still be a too big hassle to implement them?

I'm sure devs would love a snazzy UI framework that "just works" on popular screen sizes. I, for one, would use it. If it was open-source and distributed under a permissive enough license, even better.

Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#102

Post by ZeroGravitas »

actf wrote: post #63
redthrowaway wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android has more market share than iOS, which would seem to suggest it's moved far beyond the "technical, geeky" crowd. My hunch is that we're starting to see a Windows/Mac differentiation here, with Android emerging as the clear winner of mobile and iOS being reserved for the trendy/artistic/quality crowd. That carries over into the apps themselves, with Android apps (like their windows counterparts) being clean and…

I've never really understood the Windows/Mac analogy here. I think the main reason many people end up using Windows over OSX, or any other OS, has always been the availability of software. People use Windows because there is a lot of really good software that just isn't available on other platforms. Granted this is slowly becoming less of an issue now that OSX is gaining some ground, but it is still an issue for a lo…

You have to go back further in time for the analogy to make sense. Which platform was Powerpoint originally written for? Seems crazy that it was written for the Mac now that it's so associated with Windows and Microsoft. Even the fact that Adobe Photoshop was a Mac program first seems a bit unlikely as Adobe has been treating the Mac as a second class citizen for a while.

They're basically predicting the same early lead then loss of market share, then mindshare will happen again, not saying that it's already happened.

Also, note that the "Mac users spend more money on software" argument was very popular, even (or indeed, especially) in the bleakest of dark times for the Mac platform. Meanwhile, software that was given away for free and/or relied on network effects (Skype, Firefox, various P2P things) generally started and focused on Windows, because that's where the people were.

Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#103

Post by tobylane »

Because far far more people on iOS are on hardware of the latest, standard hardware that the software is aimed at.

As I understand, the Nexus is the one Android is putting forward as an example, it is the highest quality of all phones. The whole of the current generation of iOS devices are the same, perfected examples of the hardware and software working together.

There are probably Android phones of better hardware than an iPhone, but do you know any apps that demand these phones, that are too slow on anything with a slower processor?

Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#104

Post by frou_dh »

jarek wrote: post #16

Wow, the Android ones look much nicer. Oversized icons? Garish blue? Gimmicky graphics? Just focus on the content, please.

What oversized icons? You need these to work reliably on a 3.5" touchscreen with a finger. It's good design to be "generous" in target area.

Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#105

Post by andybak »

trotsky wrote: post #22

Interesting blog, every entry appears to be a substantial jab at the platform itself... not really just "gripes" as I see them. I am impressed with how dedicated he is to the pursuit, not only does he have a blog solely for his android gripes, but he's also made an androidgripes gmail account as well as a twitter account and a facebook page to promote the blog. It doesn't seem to be possible to find the blogger's nam…

Gruber's just picked it up with no comment other than a strange piece of snide: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/04/07/android-apps-loo...

(What is he implying? Assuming sarcasm - he is saying that it's not a coincidence but that some unnamed other parties claim it is. I don't really get it but it seems like he's getting too lazy to actually offer an extended argument these days)

Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#106

Post by candeira »

A counterexample is Wunderlist, which is built with Titanium Appcelerator, and looks and works really well on both platforms. It is also identical where it should but not where it mustn't: it follows the conventions of each platform in details such as where to put tabs, how to access the settings, etcetera.

* For Android - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.wunderkinder.wunde...

* For iOS - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wunderlist-task-manager/id406...

Btw, I am interested if you know of other good multiplatform apps (not games) built using third-party middleware.

Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#107

Post by mcritz »

d_r wrote: post #23

iOS comes with a handy set of UI controls that look decent even without customization. You can use the default UITableView, for instance (looking at the Meebo screenshot) and get the nice look-and-feel out of the box. This especially helps a low-budget dev like myself. Apple showcase of the controls that come out-of-the box and various ways to tweak them: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/userex..…

UI controls are a contributing factor to Android’s ugliness. I’ll argue that Android doesn’t have a worthy equivalent to Xcode’s Interface Builder.

I have documented that iOS comes with scores of fonts available for Developers at http://iOSFonts.com at the same time (and someone correct me if I’m wrong) Android only has Droid Sans.

In many cases devs — and especially designers — for the mobile market are dog-fooding; they will likely use the iOS version of the app they make because they own the hardware themselves.

Google sets a low bar and a poor example for UX.

There are other factors, too. Some of which are that there is a higher ROI on iOS apps, a larger market share (when you count iPod touch as part of your audience), and an audience more likely to be concerned with quality.

Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#108

Post by larsberg »

I wouldn't be particularly surprised if they outsource the non-iOS development. Many multi-platform shops I know build only one flavor and then to save on full-time developer costs send out the work on other platforms elsewhere. I know of a few startups doing mobile apps who are now hiring Android devs, but did those apps as a purely out-of-house thing when they were small.

And it wouldn't be new for the industry. I had a buddy at Midway Chicago for many years, where they used to do many of their sports games on XBox and outsource the PS3/Wii ports.

Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#109

Post by wzdd »

trotsky wrote: post #22

Interesting blog, every entry appears to be a substantial jab at the platform itself... not really just "gripes" as I see them. I am impressed with how dedicated he is to the pursuit, not only does he have a blog solely for his android gripes, but he's also made an androidgripes gmail account as well as a twitter account and a facebook page to promote the blog. It doesn't seem to be possible to find the blogger's nam…

This is super paranoid and somewhat disappointing. Occam's razor says that it's just an opinionated blogger. Apple has a huge marketing budget and no known history of astroturfing (unlike, for example, Sony). They don't need to do it, it's not their style.

Anyway, the author of the blog has a response: http://android-gripes.tumblr.com/why

Edit: Imagine this blog was titled "iOS gripes" and talked about unjust bannings from the App Store. Would you suggest that Google was astroturfing?

Re: Why do apps from the same company look worse on Android than on iPhone?

#110

Post by ZeroGravitas »

Am I crazy or does the Android speedtest seem much more pleasant and usable? I've not used either, but from the single screenshot I can much more easily get a handle on the info from the Android one. The iPhone one seems a bit riced up to the detriment of usability (which is the important thing that Apple does well, not just looking pretty, right?).

e.g.

1) big down and up icons next to the down and up speeds, to reinforce the text at a glance. 2) The text "kilobits / sec" is a readable white, rather than mid-grey and isn't obscured by the indicator hand. 3) Though the text on the Apple one has been corrected to match the dial which now shows K or M, the currently measured speed is given without units. I had trouble differentiating between the "1.18" and the "58" immediately below it which appears to be an advertisement.

Also, isn't the Android one just the old iPhone interface. So is the argument that Android is so fundamentally flawed, that it makes apps magically look exactly like an iPhone app from 6 months ago?

Here's an iPhone 3GS and 4 screenshot showing it being basically indistinguishable from the Android one (except buttons were moved to the top):

http://itracki.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/181941-speedte...

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