This is so pathetic, do you guys really think its very easy to make an app for mobile?
@Pranshul Sood, since you started this thread, how about you make a decent app for WP, i'm not asking you to do a graphics intensive game but a decent app, may be a notepad with encryption or something useful. Its so easy to call applications pathetic or crap or all the nonsense you want but until and unless you can create something useful and contribute to the community you don't have right to call other applications crap.
All you people who complain that Microsoft or whatever developer is not doing a perfect job with their application, quit whining and do something about it. Either you create something to fill the Gap or replace the application, or just stop using the application.
No one reserves the right to complain about an application until and unless you buy it, when something is free, there is always strings attached to it.
I like the sentiment, but I have to disagree.
Race car drivers (I am generalizing here, but work with me) cannot design and build race cars, but they can certainly review cars and tell you if they are fast. The definition of fast is constantly a moving target, of course, so fast means faster, as in faster than their opponents cars on race day. Therefore, fast is a relative term, and used on a comparative basis. Fast means something different today than it did in 2010 or in 1950.
In the same way, app quality can be judged in a relative fashion. When I came to windows phone from android, I immediately noticed that the WP versions of some of my favorite apps were markedly inferior. I didn't have to build my own app to appreciate the difficulties of app creation, because there was already a benchmark - the application written for android greatly exceeded the WP version. I am not blaming the operating system here, but the experience. It doesn't matter to the end user why something isn't as good, but when it doesn't offer the same dependability or functionality, you don't have to be an app builder to notice and make a judgment.
I will give you an example. I play Words With Friends, by Zynga. Coming from the free Android version, the first thing I noticed was that I had to purchase the app. I am happy now that there are no ads, but at the time what I noticed was instability and a lack of functionality. The app didn't do as much and would often crash. Clearly Zynga had the resources to do better, but the app wasn't updated, even though the android version was regularly updated.
I rated the app poorly not because I had programmed other apps, but because I knew Zynga had the resources to do much much better. Finally, a few months ago, they offered an updated app that was completely rebuilt from the "ground up." The new app has restored most all of the features the android version offered and is speedy and much more stable. I now like the app, and can most certainly tell the difference.
IMHO, the main reason why people are disappointed with app quality on the WP platform is that the apps are not as well designed and are not regularly updated. If I am an app developer, u could certainly justify 40% of my development resources going to a platform with 40% of my user base and 2.5% going to a platform with 2.5% of my user base. I think that is what has happened to WP.
As such, the OP has made a good point. Maybe some developer will see their app mentioned in this thread and realize that they solved a certain problem on another platform and can quickly and simply apply the same fix to their WP port, and if so this thread served a great purpose. But even if all it does is create an outlet for a few rightfully unhappy users I think that can be cathartic.
I hope you understand that I am not devaluing the hard work of developers, but if the product isn't up to the quality of the same application on another platform, I don't believe you have to be a developer to have the right to say so.