After all the great things I've heard about iPhone's marketplace, I was going to get one until AT&T did their little data plan switch.
Then I got the EVO, hoping because Android was a developing market and there were thousands and thousands of apps, it would compare to iPhone's.
Not even close. I'm scrolling through, trying to find cool apps, and most of them seem to be utility apps or some such stuff. Most of the reviews on these things seem to indicate the apps are buggy or the developer has stopped support.
Where are all the cool apps like iPhone has? Are they in the paid section? Even those seem to be buggy from what I'm reading in the User Comments sections. How come iPhone gets great voice to text support (I know people who use this function a lot) and Android doesn't? Corporations are putting out iPhone apps left and right and Android has practically nothing. And the ones they ARE putting out, again, seem buggy.
Seems like a great waste to me.
Someone please clue me in and show me what I've been missing.
The AppStore has an 18 month head start on the Android Market, not to mention there are like 5 times the number of iPod/iPhones then Android devices right now. So it makes since that developers have up to this point been putting a majority of their time and resources into the AppStore. But, with 160k+ Android activations a day and growing Android WILL take over iPhones at some point in the future and we'll really begin to see a ton of developer support as the platform continues to quickly grow.
Ya what he ^ said. Android will eventually be big enough where developers cannot ignore the potential customers. As long as google doesn't fragment the market too much, you should see the big developers start dual releasing software (similar to xbox and ps3).
great voice to text supprt, you know thats google's software tht does that on the iphone
I got a apple fanboy at work and he is always saying my market sucks and I ask him to show me some of his life changing apps, and he has nothing cool
norkoastal said:
Ya what he ^ said. Android will eventually be big enough where developers cannot ignore the potential customers. As long as google doesn't fragment the market too much, you should see the big developers start dual releasing software (similar to xbox and ps3).
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maybe is apple drops that part of EULA where an apple developer must be only dedicated to apple development or be dropped from the app store, much like our facebook app is far behind the apple one. the new team has to catch up
nbakid2000 said:
After all the great things I've heard about iPhone's marketplace, I was going to get one until AT&T did their little data plan switch.
Then I got the EVO, hoping because Android was a developing market and there were thousands and thousands of apps, it would compare to iPhone's.
Not even close. I'm scrolling through, trying to find cool apps, and most of them seem to be utility apps or some such stuff. Most of the reviews on these things seem to indicate the apps are buggy or the developer has stopped support.
Where are all the cool apps like iPhone has? Are they in the paid section? Even those seem to be buggy from what I'm reading in the User Comments sections. How come iPhone gets great voice to text support (I know people who use this function a lot) and Android doesn't? Corporations are putting out iPhone apps left and right and Android has practically nothing. And the ones they ARE putting out, again, seem buggy.
Seems like a great waste to me.
Someone please clue me in and show me what I've been missing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you looking for in the Market? What do you want an App to do for you? You cannot just get into to the Market to 'look for cool apps'. It will be very helpful if you narrow your search, that way you can get the help you want. The Android Market cannot be blamed for corporations that put out sub-par or buggy apps. Take your issues up with their developers.
If you depend solely on users comments to make your decision about an app, you might end up not trying any. Since Android phones have varied models and specifications there are bound to be different experiences from different users. Even for users with the same device, the App may appear a bit buggy because of the modifications they have made to their phones.
There are different communities of users that review Apps and offer feedback that may be useful. AppBrain is a good one to try. Good luck.
I try not to read too much into user comments because some of the people either dont know how to use the app or are trying to use a brand new app on an outdated android phone/os
BrianDigital; said:
I got a apple fanboy at work and he is always saying my market sucks and I ask him to show me some of his life changing apps, and he has nothing cool
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Click to collapse
Cause there is nothing that cool lol. I've been using AppStore for 2 years going now and still use it with my iPad. To me, the only thing the AppStore does better are the games. That's expected because they have been out longer. I have yet to try any android games so I could be wrong. Most of appstore apps are gimmicks and a waste of space. They do have a good selection of very good programs, as does the android store. Android store also has more free programs that are better I've noticed. Even the great programs that cost money are cheap. The biggest thing is that you can refund within 24 hours on the android store.
This is a personal preference. I like good useful programs where I wont delete it 5 mins later. Now I think about it, most of the apps I used on the iphone and iPad now are from Cydia.
what is a "cool app" for you? once you can define it as a boolean string you'll be all set.
until then its not unlike the iphone store...tens of thousands of apps. of that a huge number are redundant and or outdated. a good chunk are crap or useless. that leaves a bunch of needles in the haystack.
1) try a site like appbrain.com or apps.androidtapp.com (they may provide better search options)
2) do some google searches for "top EVO apps" or "Best Android apps" etc. that helped me quite a bit.
what is cool to one person is irrelevant crap to another.
DraginMagik said:
what is a "cool app" for you? once you can define it as a boolean string you'll be all set.
what is cool to one person is irrelevant crap to another.
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exactly. sounds like you just wanna **** around on your phone to me. I AM T-PAIN!!!!!!!!!
Well you can always check out the "cool app" thread in this same section that might help a little btw
brown14you said:
What are you looking for in the Market? What do you want an App to do for you? You cannot just get into to the Market to 'look for cool apps'. It will be very helpful if you narrow your search, that way you can get the help you want. The Android Market cannot be blamed for corporations that put out sub-par or buggy apps. Take your issues up with their developers.
If you depend solely on users comments to make your decision about an app, you might end up not trying any. Since Android phones have varied models and specifications there are bound to be different experiences from different users. Even for users with the same device, the App may appear a bit buggy because of the modifications they have made to their phones.
There are different communities of users that review Apps and offer feedback that may be useful. AppBrain is a good one to try. Good luck.
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Click to collapse
I never blamed Android for the lack of apps situation. Where did I do that? I said I was disappointed with the Marketplace. At no time did I say, "I'm upset with Android and Google for not having any cool apps."
What do I want in apps? I dunno. I've never owned an iPhone so I'm not sure exactly what's out there....except I've heard that EVERYTHING is out there.
A couple of things missing off the top of my head:
Kevin's Smith app
Redbox
Blockbuster
The rest, I guess, is just cool stuff...whatever that may be. How about some nice apps for alcoholic beverages? The ones I've found (from the user reviews) don't seem that great. Again, I haven't tried them but if most people say an app isn't very good, I tend to believe it.
How about an app for cooking recipes? How about a great music player (which I haven't found yet, but MixZing seems to be pretty decent)? How about an app that compares prices?
Shazam (a music program) is supposed to be on Android. It's not. It looks like they pulled it, even though their web site advertises it.
The thing is, I don't know what app I need until I see it. I've never experienced it, so I don't know what I'm missing. *shrug* I just know I must be missing SOMEthing, based on everything I've ever heard or read about Apple's store.
On the subject of voice to text...what's a good app for that? Why can I not get something up to par with what iPhone has? Or can I?
There is a redbox app. Google shopper would be good for prices i think. Blockbuster is about to go out of business anyway lol. Shazam is definitely there because i just searched and it showed up. vlingo voice is a good voice to text even though android has that pretty much built in already. The music player that comes with the evo is good enough for me so idk about the others. Whats the kevin smith app?
I'd like to know where the free Redbox app came from. It wasn't there on my device a while ago. I just downloaded it.
Shazam is now showing up for me and I've done multiple searches over the past day for this thing. It's downloading as well.
The Kevin Smith app is found here: http://www.denvog.com/iphone/KevinSmith/index.html
nbakid2000 said:
I'd like to know where the free Redbox app came from. It wasn't there on my device a while ago. I just downloaded it.
Shazam is now showing up for me and I've done multiple searches over the past day for this thing. It's downloading as well.
The Kevin Smith app is found here: http://www.denvog.com/iphone/KevinSmith/index.html
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shazam has been there since last year or longer because i bought the hero when it came out last october and had shazam. just give it time. the "cool" apps will show up
Not sure what you mean by voice to text app
Maybe I am misunderstanding what you are asking. Voice to text is part of the android 2.1 operating system. When you hit the microphone it will put text into whatever you are using such as an e-mail or a text message. There is no need for an app for it as it is built into the operating system
Voice to text? Already supported out of the box.
However, you can get Vlingo from the marketplace. It costs quite a bit, but if you're a dedicated voice user, it can be good for you.
You have to look around. Google is your friend.
What do you want? Cool games?
Hungry Shark, Raging Thunder II, Exzeus Arcade, Slimeball Speedway, Tiki Towers, Caligo Chaser, and Gameboid are just some I can think of off the top of my head. Gameboid will multiply those games because of ROMS.
A PSx emulator is in the works by the same developer.
Google's apps themselves impressed a lot of people that I showed my phone to.
Google Sky Map, Google Goggles, Google Earth, Google Maps, etc.
Other free apps that are top knotch:
Pandora, Facebook, Twitter, Shazam, Barcode Scanner, LED Light, Handcent SMS, TV.com (awesome cbs shows right there!).
Ringdroid (make ringtones ON YOUR PHONE), QIK video chat, Fring (for skype).
There are also apps where you can download backgrounds and ringtones from a wide variety.
So... just look around. Google helps.
And lastly, a lot of developers are looking into developing for Android. With all the new Android phones and Android users, things are working out well for its marketplace. For example, with the release of the HTC Evo... former palm pre, blackberry, and winmo users came. Hardly any people moved from android to android in that case.
Pretty much all of those apps you listed I have installed on my Evo via the Market.
patelkedar91 started a great list but here's a list of my favorite apps
acv - comic viewing app if you have downloaded comics(reads cbr files!)
doubletwist - media app that plays music and video, also has a matching desktop client for syncing your android phone, much like itunes to the iphone
epicurious - recipe app
fxcamera - camera app that has some awesome built in effects
layar - augmented reality app that shows points of interest through the camera
urbanspoon - can't decide on where to eat? just set preferences and shake to get a restaurant
Photoshop.com Mobile - basic photo editing app
transdroid - app to control torrent clients from your phone, including adding torrents
zombie, run! - one of the funnest apps on my phone, uses gps location to simulate a zombie apocalypse. shows zombies as red dots and you have to avoid them and make it to a location you set, makes biking to school a lot more interesting
there's a lot more, keep looking and lurk these forums like crazy. good "cool" apps are recommended here a lot
I don't even understand the point of this post. You didn't have an iPhone, but just 'hear' that it had it lots of cool apps. Then come to Android just looking for random 'cool' apps but can't articulate what you are looking for. Sure, the iPhone had 65 different fart apps, so it has an advantage there.
I had the iPhone 3G, then 3GS, then went to the Droid and now the EVO. I don't have a ton of apps, but I use quite a few. When I moved to the Droid in November, there were only two apps that I had with the iPhone that weren't available on the Android Market; SlingPlayer and Alarm.com. Both of those have since been released on the Market too.
Shazam has been available the whole time except for some reason that it disappeared a week or so ago. Music player? Well, Android has one built in and the EVO has HTC's version. On the Market, there is Mixzing and DoubleTwist. Blockbuster? Who friggin cares. Blockbuster will be out of business before long and Netflix is better anyway. The Netflix app is coming soon to Android.
I will admit that the games were a bit better on the iPhone, but outside of that I don't miss anything about the iPhone or the App Store.
Ive been working on this app for some time now. And basically I've come here to ask for some suggestions. I have completely run out of ideas for this app, but i really enjoy doing it. I have made a few other apps with App Inventor and put them on the market but nothing has come close to how good this one is and how well it has taken off in the market. I have even went as far as to making a donate version addon for $0.99. Now the donate version just has a few mini games and a premium store. I have attached a copy of the current version of the free app for you to try out and perhaps post some helpful comments/suggestion on where i can go next with this app. If you think you have a suggestion for the donate version but want to test it out, pm me and i can send you a demo version of the donate app that you can use for 5 times before it will expire. Anyone who can give me a good idea that i can use with app inventor,and then it turns out that i use that new feature will get credit for it in the app, and i will send them a free copy of the donate version that will not be a demo. I know its not much but i really like this app and i don't want to just abandon it. So any helpful comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Its also got a lot of downloads on both the market and on SlideME.org
SlideME.org: 10054
Market: 7783
Thats another reason i don't want to just abandon it. It seems that people like it but i am just running out of ideas.
Thanks!
P.S. Since its made with app inventor its a pretty big game to install about 5mb or more.
Android Market Description Below:
"If you like the free version, please consider purchasing the donate version.
UPDATE 1/12/2011
Check out the Donate version! It adds some new mini games and an online scoreboard. I AM NOT ABANDONING THE FREE PROJECT! The free project will still receive all the major bug fixes and maybe one or two mini games.
A simple virtual pet game, where you have a fish to feed, and clean up for. Has health bar, store to buy food, and option to buy a second fish.
App Inventor Extender is required for this app to function 100% Please download it from the market.
Made with google app inventor
PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS!"
Why the apps having the worst users' reviews are shown as "Recommended Apps" ???
Hello,
How are the "Recommended Apps" selected by the Marketplace?
I am tired to see all the apps having actually the worst users' reviews be selected by Micorosoft and promoted on the Marketplace.
For instance, this week I see as recommended the games "Castlevana Puzzles" (rated only 1 star over 5) and "Deer Hunter" (rated only 1.5 star over 5) !!! Most reviews of these games state that they are not very good.
So therefore, by WHOM are they recommended ? I wonder. Not by the users for sure.
In my opinion the most important opinion is the customers' one.
MS, please stop 'recommending' apps that the users said they don't like.
How to find on the Marketplace only the apps that the USERS RECOMMEND (not MS), that is to say the ones with 3, 4 or 5 stars?
Thank you
I believe it is based on the number of downloads, which is a completely different metric from the ratings.
Jim Coleman said:
I believe it is based on the number of downloads, which is a completely different metric from the ratings.
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Click to collapse
I don't think so. My app appeared on the featured list once for a while and it only has <100 downloads to this date!
It looks to be fairly random to me.
Blade0rz said:
I don't think so. My app appeared on the featured list once for a while and it only has <100 downloads to this date!
It looks to be fairly random to me.
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Click to collapse
That'd be nice. Maybe if devs know that even crappy apps will be randomly "featured" they'll have a little pride and reduce apps that aren't so shoddy.
It's also nice because apps that might otherwise not be seen will get some time in the spotlight. Could be a big deal for someone - I know it would be for me.
Back in the WMP9 days I made a few skins that people liked for their simplicity (they were designed to be "always on top"). After MS featured them on a skins site and they got a high rating they amounted to about half of my site traffic.
A little free attention from MS can make a huge difference for a smalltime dev.
Bleak Morn said:
That'd be nice. Maybe if devs know that even crappy apps will be randomly "featured" they'll have a little pride and reduce apps that aren't so shoddy.
It's also nice because apps that might otherwise not be seen will get some time in the spotlight. Could be a big deal for someone - I know it would be for me.
Back in the WMP9 days I made a few skins that people liked for their simplicity (they were designed to be "always on top"). After MS featured them on a skins site and they got a high rating they amounted to about half of my site traffic.
A little free attention from MS can make a huge difference for a smalltime dev.
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Click to collapse
I totally understand your point of view.
Nonetheless, I would probably like/prefere to have an "Apps recommended by users". I mean the apps with the best feedback from the ones that really tested the apps. Indeed, number of download means nothing.
Strange that the Marketplace does not include this. It seems natural to me.
It would be good because:
- it will encourage developers to make good apps and get a high ranking,
- it will allow users to discover and install apps that have a positive feedback. It does not mean that a lot of people aready installed it. Maybe only one or two people only installed the app, found it very good. Thanks to its high ranking, the app will be discovered by other people.
Also, I do not think that apps such as Deer Hunter or Castlevania need to be promoted like they currently are on the Marketplace: firstly, they are mediocre Xlive games. Secondly, better to promote independant small developers that Xlive games developed by Microsoft. Microsoft do not really need to promote their own game, especially when they are not so good.
arturobandini said:
I totally understand your point of view.
Nonetheless, I would probably like/prefere to have an "Apps recommended by users". I mean the apps with the best feedback from the ones that really tested the apps. Indeed, number of download means nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep in mind, ratings can be gamed as well. One vote for 5-stars could result in a 5-star rating for a 1-star app.
A while back I had an issue with the Zune software - wanted to get a list of all of my songs based on whether or not they were ZunePass (DRM) songs, or MP3's I'd bought with my 10 monthly song credits. The idea was to use the credits on the songs I've listened to most but hadn't yet unlocked.
I was having getting the software to do what I want, so I asked how to do it in the Zune forums. When that didn't get the answer I wanted, I communicated with some Zune MVP's via Twitter. They connected me with one of the Zune application development leads at MS (also on Twitter) and I directed him to the article in the Zune forums where he helped me troubleshoot and fix the issue.
One of the things I like about MS is that when I poke around, they usually put me in touch with someone who can directly solve my problem (like the app dev lead).
In this case, he provided me with a simple work-around for the problem I was having, but if you need a new app feature it's nice to be able to tell the guy in charge directly.
Oh, and if you end up taking this approach I'd love it if you'd post the link to your Zune forums thread here so I can follow along since it's an issue I might encounter soon.
:good:Among all android users, we would commonly find few apps. These apps are most famous and most time killing apps.
When any one is free or want to pass the time, he/she will use one of these apps. In one way these are time killing apps...
But in other way these are connecting us to the universe. These apps are listed below. These apps really highly demanded apps.
Social Network Apps:
-------------------------------------
WhatsApp: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp
Hike: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bsb.hike
FB Messanger: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.orca
and many more
Games:
---------------------------
Candy Crush: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.king.candycrushsaga
Hill runner: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fingersoft.hillclimb
Angry Birds:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rovio.angrybirds&hl=en
Temple Runner: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imangi.templerun2
and many more.....
Never mind to post all the above useful apps.
Never mind,
Please update useful apps.
I honestly have no idea what anything you posted means. Are you releasing a new app?
tillward said:
I honestly have no idea what anything you posted means. Are you releasing a new app?
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Yes, The new app is about to come market. It needs more two days. It is a simple one but nobody might have thought to do that. I think, it would be used by all