Comments on: We Still Need Better Tablet Apps [Opinion]

By: Blade

Blade — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:57:00 +0000

There are over 10,000 tablet optimized apps for webOS. Dozens of them are coming in the near future for Android and for iOS, and for every other platform as well, now that their framework is open sourced. Just need to workaround some performance issues for the truly craptastic parts of the Android and iOS browsers.

By: Larry Paseornek

Larry Paseornek — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:06:00 +0000

Can anyone tell me if scrabble free works on ICS yet?

By: Mathieu Gosbee

Mathieu Gosbee — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:23:00 +0000

Would YOU take your tablet to your works washroom or your phone?

By: Geoff Gauchet

Geoff Gauchet — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:15:00 +0000

I’m in the process of porting two of my webOS tablet apps over to Android. They’re made for tablets, so they feel right at home.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:11:00 +0000

Okay, obviously you can’t possibly play games on a phone/tablet browser. Maybe in a few years, but I wasn’t even talking about that. I’m talking about other apps. You don’t really need an app for anything except tools like a calculator or Rom Manager as you said.
I know the difference between developing a web app and a stand alone app. I also know that developing a webapp is cheaper and universal, a one-size fits all type of thing. If devs focused on creating rich webapps (and Android’s/iOS’s browsers are improved) we wouldn’t need half of the apps on either the Marketplace and App Store.
However, I guess you’re right that for now we do need more native apps for Android Tablets. But the web is definitely the future.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:39:00 +0000

Plume is really cool, thanks for the advice.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:25:00 +0000

I spend 30 seconds picking out a selection that I’ll be watching for an hour or two. I find it to be a very minimal hassle. YMMV.

And the problem with the current Android tablet market is that we have a couple dozen models running Honeycomb compared to a few hundred cheap knockoffs (and Nook Colors) running Gingerbread. Given that it’s easier to develop for phones, it’s a no brainer to shoot for the larger market. Android as a whole was in the position of having a terrible app selection not so long ago (in fact, even as recently as when Honeycomb launched- we didn’t even HAVE Netflix then!) but as the platform picks up steam the app selection grows with it- which in turn leads to more platform growth.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:06:00 +0000

I’ve heard that performance is better with ICS. Unfortunately I don’t have an ICS tablet device (yet!). It’s a shame that it’ll take another year for that to roll out to people’s tablets, but hopefully by the time it does there will be more tablet optimized apps that look great and work well.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:04:00 +0000

Seriously? Have you used Twitter in a browser? The experience is horrific for power users. I could care less about a Facebook app, but the lack of a Twitter app is frustrating when Twitter made a tablet optimized version for iOS.

Also, I have done articles where I praised Android. No matter what I write there are some that don’t like it. If I criticize Android people assume that I secretly love Apple and hate Google. If I praise Android people call me an evangelistic fanboy.

I’ll write about how much more advanced Android is over iOS when it gets better apps and fixes the horrific tablet UI. ICS is great on phones, but it’s just warmed over Honeycomb on tablets. I expected more from Google.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:59:00 +0000

I mentioned Tweetcaster by name in the article. It’s okay, but it still isn’t the experience I’m looking for.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:58:00 +0000

I think they care, but I’m not sure they really have a clear strategy. The company is split between two visions: Android and Chromebooks. Android tablets and Chromebooks are in about the same place – mildly useful, but nowhere near being able to replace a laptop. Google needs to pick one solution and make it amazing, not passable.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:56:00 +0000

We do need apps. The web might be the future, but it isn’t there yet. Web apps are still a frustrating experience. We absolutely need a desktop-class browser, but there are some things that an app does better than a browser in 2012. Hopefully that will change, but for now the web is not the solution. Native apps are still the best solution.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:54:00 +0000

The increasing prevalence of ICS on what? More Android tablets? We saw the market get flooded with Android tablets for a year and the apps didn’t come. Even Google isn’t updating their apps. Saying that the picture quality of Netflix is great doesn’t make up for the jittery UI. It’s one of the worst user experiences I’ve seen. The app is clearly not optimized for hardware acceleration. It’s great if you’re just resuming a video, but that’s only because you don’t have to interact with the rest of the app. The bottom line is we need a better OS with better apps.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:41:00 +0000

I think you’re right that Android will find more success by going after the cheaper market, but I don’t think anyone wants them to pursue that market. That means cheaper products. We really just need a better OS with great apps. No one wants to have the netbook of tablets. That’s not a good road to go down.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:34:00 +0000

Feel free to shoot me some suggestions on Twitter if you have some concrete examples.