Is Android lacking when it comes to tablet optimized apps?

[onthecouchagain]

Yeah, I love Chrome bookmark widgets on my GN. Just tap and go from the home screen.

And to me, this is the best use of widgets. Simply granting quicker and more direct access to things (be it settings ala toggles or events on calendar widgets or favorite websites with the bookmark widgets).

 

[ChazUK]

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

Are you unfamiliar with Android that much that you didn't know this can be accomplished via widgets or bookmarks on the home screen (as mentioned above)?

 

[Apollo 13]

Are you unfamiliar with Android that much that you didn't know this can be accomplished via widgets or bookmarks on the home screen (as mentioned above)?

no because I actually use android (ASUS Transformer Prime). The point is he said web browser and I don't use the bookmark widget or many widgets at all since they kill my battery. I rather click on the apps since they are sitting right there. Also a lot of these sites make apps that are more user friendly then the websites. Hell If I'm going to use the web browser I minds well just hop on my PC and get rid of my tablets.

 

[paulsalter]

I dont use a great deal of apps, so not noticed this too much, although the apps I do have that are not tablet optimised are annoying

Does anyone know what percentage of apps in each store have a tablet version?

 

[Oletros]

I don't use the bookmark widget or many widgets at all since they kill my battery.

Can you tell me how a bookmark widget can kill battery?

 

[ChazUK]

no because I actually use android (ASUS Transformer Prime). The point is he said web browser and I don't use the bookmark widget or many widgets at all since they kill my battery. I rather click on the apps since they are sitting right there. Also a lot of these sites make apps that are more user friendly then the websites. Hell If I'm going to use the web browser I minds well just hop on my PC and get rid of my tablets.

Why aren't my widgets killing my battery?
I have:
Calendar, power widget, TuneIn Radio, Exchange email, Gmail, twitter, GReader and Google+ on my home screens and no adverse effects on my battery.

Twitter, you Facebook, Google+, Gmail etc all synchronise in the background regardless if you have a widget or not (unless you disable sync for each app).

 

[Apollo 13]

Can you tell me how a bookmark widget can kill battery?

yeah the bookmark widget won't kill the battery but I prefer to have only the weather and photo widget on my tablet and the rest icons. I had twitter and facebook widgets and it felt like when I had them on the screen my battery died faster. The whole thread is going off point..and going towards freaking widgets...WTF.

 

[cynics]

The bookmark widgets are under widget selection but they are just icons. Battery life isn't really a concern for any tablet regardless since they all pack massive battery. I agree we are way off topic here.

My original point was that I wouldn't use an app that is based off a web page anytime I have access to a full screen. I like apps on my iPhone because they are designed to utilize the screen size.

 

[Hastings101]

As a Nexus 7 owner I would have to say no, it's not lacking in tablet-optimized apps. It doesn't have as many as the iPad though and now that there's an iPad Mini you might as well skip the Nexus 7 if all you're interested in is apps. If you're interested in mostly web browsing like I am I'd say the Nexus 7 is still the better purchase.

 

[Doggman]

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)....

This is genius.. I ignorantly never thought to do that. Which browser do you use primarily?

 

[Stuntman06]

no because I actually use android (ASUS Transformer Prime). The point is he said web browser and I don't use the bookmark widget or many widgets at all since they kill my battery. I rather click on the apps since they are sitting right there. Also a lot of these sites make apps that are more user friendly then the websites. Hell If I'm going to use the web browser I minds well just hop on my PC and get rid of my tablets.

yeah the bookmark widget won't kill the battery but I prefer to have only the weather and photo widget on my tablet and the rest icons. I had twitter and facebook widgets and it felt like when I had them on the screen my battery died faster. The whole thread is going off point..and going towards freaking widgets...WTF.

You can just use Bookmark shortcuts to the mobile site. They are just a single icon that takes the same amount of space as an app icon and it will not cause any battery drain.

Facebook and Twitter are amongst the crappiest apps and widgets ever. Developers should look at them and not make any apps or widgets like them. They can get away with making the crappiest apps and widgets because everyone pretty have to use them. Some people hate it so much that they use the mobile web site instead of the app.

There are actually better apps and widgets for accessing Twitter. I use Seesmic and Android Pro Widgets. With Facebook, you're hooped because FB purposely screws all third party developers by limiting what those apps can see. Friendcaster Pro is so much better than Facebook, but FB purposely cripples it by not allowing FCP to display all posts from all of my friends. I was wondering why I haven't heard from a few friends before I realised that FB blocks some people from any third party FB app.

 

[cynics]

This is genius.. I ignorantly never thought to do that. Which browser do you use primarily?

They all have their pros and cons. ICS Browser+ is good all around and fast but requires ICS. Chrome is nice for syncing bookmarks and tabs. Dolphin is nice because you can lock the user agent to desktop. Some like Opera and Maxathon for assorted reasons but i never cared for them. I just use Chrome usually and I'm trying my best to stay away from Flash so it's not a shock when it can not be side loaded or just doesn't work.

 

[Technarchy]

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)....

App is better faster and touch optimized and ad free usually.

I use Flipboard for 90% of my tech and world news. I barely see websites anymore because the experience sucks compared to Flipboard. Plus aggregate news saves me heaps of time over browsing 15+ different websites daily.

 

[Stuntman06]

App is better faster and touch optimized and ad free usually.

I use Flipboard for 90% of my tech and world news. I barely see websites anymore because the experience sucks compared to Flipboard. Plus aggregate news saves me heaps of time over browsing 15+ different websites daily.

I generally use Pulse to view many web sites. I do use the browser for forums such as this.

 

[Dolorian]

I generally use Pulse to view many web sites. I do use the browser for forums such as this.

I use feedly which is similar to Pulse. I never visit websites for checking out and reading news anymore. I link feedly to my Google Reader account and consume all my tech and web design news there in a very attractive and straightforward interface.

 

[dmelgar]

As an android developer I can make several comments.
- it is hard to think about how to change the UI for a tablet vs a phone. The variety of screen sizes, aspect ratios and resolutions makes it hard. In practice you have to pick a couple of sizes and design for that. It would be easier if there were a common size or overwhelmingly popular device.
- android apps are hard to sell. Advertising is the best route. Trying to sell an app to someone who only bought an android tablet because it was the cheapest thing around is not a big incentive unless the revenue comes from advertising.
- on a tablet many websites look good enough. It's tough to support multiple platforms. One site covers them all.

 

[cynics]

As an android developer I can make several comments.
- it is hard to think about how to change the UI for a tablet vs a phone. The variety of screen sizes, aspect ratios and resolutions makes it hard. In practice you have to pick a couple of sizes and design for that. It would be easier if there were a common size or overwhelmingly popular device.
- android apps are hard to sell. Advertising is the best route. Trying to sell an app to someone who only bought an android tablet because it was the cheapest thing around is not a big incentive unless the revenue comes from advertising.
- on a tablet many websites look good enough. It's tough to support multiple platforms. One site covers them all.

Uhm. Aside from the nexus 7 aren't all Android tablets 10.1" at a 16:10 aspect ratio?

 

[Apollo 13]

Uhm. Aside from the nexus 7 aren't all Android tablets 10.1" at a 16:10 aspect ratio?

nope there's a ton of 7 and even 8 inch tablets for android on the market.

 

[cynics]

nope there's a ton of 7 and even 8 inch tablets for android on the market.

But if you were going to write an app for a common size write it for 7 and/or 10.1" and let android do the rest. It's not like an iOS device it will size itself for the display.

 

[Stuntman06]

As an android developer I can make several comments.
- it is hard to think about how to change the UI for a tablet vs a phone. The variety of screen sizes, aspect ratios and resolutions makes it hard. In practice you have to pick a couple of sizes and design for that. It would be easier if there were a common size or overwhelmingly popular device.
- android apps are hard to sell. Advertising is the best route. Trying to sell an app to someone who only bought an android tablet because it was the cheapest thing around is not a big incentive unless the revenue comes from advertising.
- on a tablet many websites look good enough. It's tough to support multiple platforms. One site covers them all.

I emailed the developer of an app about the fact that it doesn't rotate to landscape. It is a banking app. The response I got was that it was not recommended for tablets and I should use the mobile app instead. I was a bit miffed at the response since they clearly allowed me to install the app on my tablet, but then they recommend that I not use it.

I would just like your opinion about the difficulty (or ease) of making something like a banking app work in landscape. Such an app pretty much just displays my account information and allow me to pay bills. I have a Transformer tablet and it is always docked in the keyboard if I plan to do any typing which means I have to use it in landscape when banking.

Even putting big black bars to the left and right to make it the same aspect as a portrait orientation app would be acceptible to me. I just want to use the app and keyboard on my tablet. It is just too much to ask me to undock my tablet and turn it sideways just to be able to use the app.

 

[dmelgar]

I emailed the developer of an app about the fact that it doesn't rotate to landscape. It is a banking app. The response I got was that it was not recommended for tablets and I should use the mobile app instead. I was a bit miffed at the response since they clearly allowed me to install the app on my tablet, but then they recommend that I not use it.

I would just like your opinion about the difficulty (or ease) of making something like a banking app work in landscape. Such an app pretty much just displays my account information and allow me to pay bills. I have a Transformer tablet and it is always docked in the keyboard if I plan to do any typing which means I have to use it in landscape when banking.

Even putting big black bars to the left and right to make it the same aspect as a portrait orientation app would be acceptible to me. I just want to use the app and keyboard on my tablet. It is just too much to ask me to undock my tablet and turn it sideways just to be able to use the app.

It's fairly easy, almost trivial to support landscape and portrait if you're keeping the same content. The real problem is that to do a good UI, you again need to optimize for the aspect ratio and size. Turning portrait to landscape count as two different aspect ratios and sizes.

 

[AppleDeviceUser]

Yeah it's lacking but not really in a way, they scale up and are not designed to be tablet apps. So they work but they don't look very good, compared to an app made for a tablet. I would suggest getting Apple's iPad 4th Gen