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Is Android lacking when it comes to tablet optimized apps?

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xuselppa

macrumors member
Oct 10, 2012
48
0
onthecouchagain said:
All these screens make me want a Nexus 7. :(
Click to expand...

It is an awesome little tablet. The perfect size and all Nexus devices now have Wugs toolkit via Windows that can restore, root, unlock, lock, unroot, flash roms in literally one click. The program does everything for you. All Nexus devices can use this program.
Additionally, having the same type of sleep and wake function with Nexus 7 cases as the iPad has (close the lid and the Nex7 goes to sleep, open it and it auto wakes) is a bonus.

Getting Flash sideloaded and functioning properly with Jelly Bean has been the only downside. By the way, while there is no external SD card slot, you can connect an external micro USB drive via an OTG cable and access an additional 64gb of data (or whatever size the drive is), but you will have a tiny plug hanging off the micro USB port. Still, if you want a bunch of movies, documents, music or pics and can't afford to waste the space on the internal SD card, this is a great option.
 
canman4PM

canman4PM

macrumors 6502
Mar 8, 2012
299
30
Kelowna BC
I vastly prefer my iPad to a Galaxy Tab7 I got from Telus for signing up for cable, internet and phone. The G-Tab was free, and worth every penny. (That's sarcasm)

Many of the apps available to both systems are generally to vastly superior on the iPad. However, most of the Google apps are the exception - big surprise, it IS their platform, after all. As most of the apps you care about are Google-made apps AND the fact that you already run an Android phone, an Android Tab seems the smart choice. For me, as I have had iPhones for 4 years and have over 150 iOS apps, an iPad makes much more sense. I don't have to learn anything new, and all my apps are transferable and many have dedicated Pad versions with no upscaling.
 
blackhand1001

blackhand1001

macrumors 68030
Jan 6, 2009
2,600
37
canman4PM said:
I vastly prefer my iPad to a Galaxy Tab7 I got from Telus for signing up for cable, internet and phone. The G-Tab was free, and worth every penny. (That's sarcasm)

Many of the apps available to both systems are generally to vastly superior on the iPad. However, most of the Google apps are the exception - big surprise, it IS their platform, after all. As most of the apps you care about are Google-made apps AND the fact that you already run an Android phone, an Android Tab seems the smart choice. For me, as I have had iPhones for 4 years and have over 150 iOS apps, an iPad makes much more sense. I don't have to learn anything new, and all my apps are transferable and many have dedicated Pad versions with no upscaling.
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What generation galaxy tab are we talking about here. Do you mean the first generation one on gingerbread?
 
Z

zbarvian

macrumors 68010
Jul 23, 2011
2,004
2
The iPad Mini presentation really emphasized the lack of tablet optimized apps on Android.
 
Dolorian

Dolorian

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 25, 2007
1,086
0
Interesting that Apple brought this point up in their keynote today while comparing the iPad mini to an Android tablet (Nexus 7). They showed several apps on both, with the iPad mini having a tablet optimized version while the Android tablet just being the phone version scaled to size.

Thankfully nearly all the apps I use have tablet optimized versions so it doesn't affects me. That said Android developers definitely need to improve things when it comes to tablet ready apps.

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canman4PM said:
As most of the apps you care about are Google-made apps AND the fact that you already run an Android phone, an Android Tab seems the smart choice.
Click to expand...

Yeah, most apps I use are from Google and they have the tablet versions, which is nice. I was planning to go with an Android phone/tablet combo from the start, I too think it is the smart choice to have the same platform on both mobile devices.
 
onthecouchagain

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
$329. Ouch.

I so wanted the 13" Retina MBP but no discrete graphics and 128GB SSD starting for $1699 is just too much.

The iMac, though. That's a stunner. +1 for Apple. Still love them on the Mac side of things.

The most amazing thing, however was: Everything that was leaked was confirmed. Leaks are getting better and better at this.

Overall, a heck of a good keynote, if you ask me. Infinitely better than the iPhone 5 one.
 
Z

zbarvian

macrumors 68010
Jul 23, 2011
2,004
2
onthecouchagain said:
$329. Ouch.

I so wanted the 13" Retina MBP but no discrete graphics and 128GB SSD starting for $1699 is just too much.

The iMac, though. That's a stunner. +1 for Apple. Still love them on the Mac side of things.

The most amazing thing, however was: Everything that was leaked was confirmed. Leaks are getting better and better at this.

Overall, a heck of a good keynote, if you ask me. Infinitely better than the iPhone 5 one.
Click to expand...

Yeah the Mini needed to be $249. The extra $50 over competitors would be justified with the premium quality and ecosystem, but $329 is way too high I feel. Likewise with the 13" rMBP. They have decided to favor incredible engineering over bringing prices down. They really don't make a cheap, lower-quality product. I guess that can be considered good.
 
onthecouchagain

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
zbarvian said:
Yeah the Mini needed to be $249. The extra $50 over competitors would be justified with the premium quality and ecosystem, but $329 is way too high I feel. Likewise with the 13" rMBP. They have decided to favor incredible engineering over bringing prices down. They really don't make a cheap, lower-quality product. I guess that can be considered good.
Click to expand...

Or even if the Mini was $269 or something, would have annihilated the 7" market. I'm betting Google gave such a huge sigh of relief.

The bigger deal breaker for me with the 13" Retina is the 128 GB. The graphics card is a shame, but the 128GB for $1700 is just too much of a premium.

Still, a helluva good keynote. The iPad Mini still looks good and will undoubtedly sell like hotcakes. I don't know if the 13" Retina will do as well as the 15". That price is just a killer. And the iMac... forgetaboutit--I'm in love with it. Really wanted to replace my MBA though... :\

EDIT: Strangely, Apple stock is dropping quite a bit.
 
daveathall

daveathall

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2010
2,379
1,410
North Yorkshire
I must admit that I quite like the iPad mini, I still have an original iPad so this would be sort of a step up, rumour of UK price is a hefty £260, ouch, which is about 60 quid dearer than a Nexus 7. I will be waiting to see what Google offers first before making my final decision.
 
D

Doggman

macrumors member
Jul 19, 2012
88
0
Didn't read the whole thread but this is my 2 cents on Android apps.

I've found a couple I like so far but I've found ALOT that are almost un-useable... This is very different than the App Store for Apple because almost everything you get off the App Store works decently.

However after changing the keyboard to Android's keyboard instead of ASUS's keyboard on my tablet and downloading Dolphin Browser HD I am a very happy camper. I can do some serious internetting on that thing and its quite fun. I also spend alot of my time on the YouTube app which is superb and I like the interface of it better than the full desktop version http://www.youtube.com. Still looking for a decent email app that I can hookup my school email address too.. All have failed so I just decided to only have my gmail on it which the gmail app is very nice. Facebook app is aight but not great. Overall I'm very happy with my ASUS TF700 tho and Jelly Bean is nice too.
 
Stuntman06

Stuntman06

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2011
961
5
Metro Vancouver, B.C, Canada
Most of the apps work fine on my tablet. There are a few that I have a big issue with.

Android tablets (at least the 10" versions) are supposed to be held in landscape orientation by default. Look at the logo on these tablets and in order to view them in the proper orientation, you have to hold the tablet in landscape orientation. The ASUS Transformer tablets have a keyboard dock and you dock your tablet in landscape orientation.

I have a few apps, The Weather Network, Score Mobile and my bank's app, that has no landscape mode. When I launch them they are sideways. I use a Transformer with a keyboard dock, so it is awkward to turn it sideways. If I do, I cannot properly use the keyboard. It is annoying when I want to use these apps and everything is sideways on them.
 
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Doggman

macrumors member
Jul 19, 2012
88
0
Stuntman06 said:
Most of the apps work fine on my tablet. There are a few that I have a big issue with.

Android tablets (at least the 10" versions) are supposed to be held in landscape orientation by default. Look at the logo on these tablets and in order to view them in the proper orientation, you have to hold the tablet in landscape orientation. The ASUS Transformer tablets have a keyboard dock and you dock your tablet in landscape orientation.

I have a few apps, The Weather Network, Score Mobile and my bank's app, that has no landscape mode. When I launch them they are sideways. I use a Transformer with a keyboard dock, so it is awkward to turn it sideways. If I do, I cannot properly use the keyboard. It is annoying when I want to use these apps and everything is sideways on them.
Click to expand...

Completely agree. There should be an option to force an app into landscape orientation... CarBuzz has this issue.
 
onthecouchagain

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
ReallyBigFeet said:
Probably everyone complaining about Tim Cook's presentation voice. I ended up muting him and just watching the show halfway through.
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Yeah, it sounds like he puts too much emphasis on emphasized words. "It's JAW DROPPING!"

Feels a bit disingenuous, like he's trying too hard.
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,156
I didn't watch the iPad mini thing but I'm surprised its supposed to be so much better then the nexus 7. Android does a great job scaling for different screen sizes. If the app doesn't then you can forcefully do it.

4uty9ahe.jpg


a7ada2a2.jpg


Sure it looks bad but I really can't think of a single app that doesn't work just fine for me. Like speed test, why do I really need that to be full screen? Games all scale perfectly and look great. Other apps scale so well you'd think it was a tablet version. This is just a random app called wifi analyzer (cool free app for finding the best channel to put your router on if you are in a busy wifi area).

bugymu6y.jpg


This is Astro File Manager which is a phone app. (Apple folder is from syncing my iPhones photos to Android tablet).

4ehata8y.jpg


I truly don't have an issue with apps on a 10.1 tablet. I think a 7" would even better.
 
Z

zbarvian

macrumors 68010
Jul 23, 2011
2,004
2
Evoken said:
Yeah, iOS definitely has the advantage when it comes to tablet optimized apps. I really hope that things start changing on Android and that we begin to see more developers optimizing their apps for tablets.
Click to expand...

Android app developers already have their hands full with trying to support the thousands of different Android devices out there. I don't think they can be bothered with optimizing their apps for the small and insecure Android tablet market. Especially given the ease and profitability of making good-looking iOS apps.

This will be a drawback of Android tablets (and smartphones to a lesser extent) for the foreseeable future.
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,156
Apollo 13 said:
Here you go fellas this will end all the talk by showing proof with compaison pics
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=295476&a=295476&po=1,00.asp?p=n
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I can agree with a lot of those examples. But why would you use them!?!?

When you get on a laptop or PC how do you go to Facebook, twitter, CNN, etc etc? You open the browser and go to the web page....

Here is what my Facebook looks like. Notice the tabs at the top, I have my tapatalk open there too...lol

syza3u4u.jpg


Why use some half cocked app (both iOS and Android) when you can get the real deal? I only have use for mobile apps on a small screen device (phone)....
 
Last edited:
A

Apollo 13

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2010
679
16
cynics said:
I can agree with a lot of those examples. But why would you use them!?!?

When you get on a laptop or PC how do you go to Facebook, twitter, CNN, etc etc? You open the browser and go to the web page....

Here is what my Facebook looks like. Notice the tabs at the top, I have my tapatalk open there too...lol

Image

Why use some half cocked app (both iOS and Android) when you can get the real deal? I only have use for mobile apps on a small screen device (phone)....
Click to expand...

because clicking on a icon is more faster and easy then going to your browser and logging in.
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,156
Apollo 13 said:
because clicking on a icon is more faster and easy then going to your browser and logging in.
Click to expand...

Nope, there are multiple ways. Put it a bookmark widget, or if you don't like widgets just use a shortcut to the web page. You can stay logged in just like the app if you want too.

I put a couple thing on a blank home screen for example.

2y6a4y3y.jpg


Much better then the apps for any OS esp. since I can tie it too the browser of my choice.

nypyqa6y.jpg
 
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