The Windows Phone App Gap Thread

[anon(5518418)]

Re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

In regards to this Android vs Windows Phone lag thing, I can only speak for myself but I bought myself a 2013 Nexus 7 last weekend as it was a clearance offer, I am running Android 5.1 and it lags, not badly but enough to annoy me. My lumia 640 with half the ram runs far smoother and is more of a pleasure to use. I also had a Galaxy S5, it lagged also, I can only assume that Android in general has a certain amount of lag, If your used to it you won't notice but if your also using something like a WP or iPhone the lag is the first thing you'll notice.

 

[Doohickie]

Re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

I never noticed it on my LG G4.

 

[sL1cK26]

Re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

My kids would be quick to point out no Clash of Clans, no Snapshot, no official Instagram, et al. My bank doesn't have a WP app. I nest app. I know some of these are trivial, but for people who rely on them, they're important. My phone needs to do everything. My windows phone just simply can't, and it upsets me.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

 

[anon(7901790)]

Re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

I never noticed it on my LG G4.

I've played with a G4 and you are correct, there seems to be little to no lag. I also didn't see much if any lag in the HTC M8 or M9 either. I have noticed a lag in both the S5 and S6 though. Having owned three different Samsung phones (Fascinate, Nexus and Note II), I do notice a certain lag with both the Fascinate and Note II, but not so much in the Nexus. I think the former two is because of Samsung's TouchWiz GUI. The Nexus didn't have TouchWiz and seemed to run smoother over all. Both HTC and LG have their own respective GUIs, and they seem to run a little smoother than Samsung's.

As for the complaining. I guess the biggest complaint from users is the seemingly lackadaisical (lackluster?) support that has been given to Microsoft devices.

This will put things into perspective. Microsoft has been making (or supporting) hand held devices for quite a long time (close to 20 years actually), in some cases longer than some of the people participating in this forum have been alive. It started with HP and it's Pocket PC as well as other Windows powered PDA's and phones. They've been doing it longer than Blackberry and have out lasted Palm. Blackberry went from #1 to well a distant...is it even in the top 10 anymore? Palm? Wait, where are they? Do they even exist, are they still making hand held devices?

Microsoft on the other hand has been plugging along steadily and will keep on plugging along. In the age of FedEx and, "I want it immediately, if not sooner" mentality of the Western World (The US in particular), people get upset when they don't see something happen quickly. That is not you grow a solid business. Microsoft is more like an oak tree, it keeps growing and growing. Sometimes slowly, sometimes more quickly, but it doesn't stop...EVER. An Oak tree has a nice solid base and that what Microsoft has. Growing fast is not always the best way to grow. If you outgrow your roots, you'll fall over. As long as the insides to rot out, an Oak tree will last a very long time. Nadella is making sure Microsoft roots are nice and strong, and ensuring that Microsoft doesn't rot from the inside. In doing so, Microsoft will keep growing...maybe slower than WE want, but growing none-the-less.

How does that apply to the app gap? Apps, whether they are 1st party apps or 3rd party apps, will continue to be written for Windows mobile devices. Again, probably not as fast as we want, but eventually, the apps we want will make it into the Windows Mobile ecosystem.

So be patient, take a deep breath, and don't worry about keeping up with the Jones.

 

[akshaypn]

Re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

There is nothing to complain about app gaps on those two other platforms.. Apps are made for you and regularly updated for you with all the improvements.. Those platforms are stable and just forging ahead while MS has to rebuild it's OS from the ground up every other year..

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[tgp]

Re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

So be patient, take a deep breath, and don't worry about keeping up with the Jones.

Good advice.

To answer the OP directly, few people deny that WP has an app gap. The question is: does it affect me? That is what matters!

 

[sdrexler11791]

App gap finally got me

Well, I resisted as long as I could, but the flash on my Nokia 928 died and I needed a new phone as the phone did not perform well with W10m and was hanging on W8.1m randomly. I seriously thought of switching from Verizon to AT&T to get the 950 (which would have cost me more per month and required a phone payoff on another line), but ultimately, the app gap got me. I have lost Chase and Mint and had no availability of quicken, bayweb, Honeywell home control and many others on Windows Mobile. Plus, all of my favorite Microsoft apps are now available on Android including Cortana. So I had to bite the bullet and get the Samsung S6. . I hate giving up live tiles and glance, but ultimately the app gap swayed me. I really hope that this is fixed sometime in the future so I can come back.

 

[xandros9]

Well, worth noting you may be able to get something akin to Glance in the form of Active Display.

 

[Slovenix]

You'll get used to it it's okay to use anything that just works. I have the same problem, trying to stay with WM10, but what will be my next phone OS for me is really questionable. Hopefully Windows improves till then, I'm pretty positive though.

And yes I think there is some sort of glance screen.

 

[Joseph Avena]

Sad part is that the MS apps perform better on the other OS's, especially Outlook.

 

[MikeSo]

It's starting to get to me too. I am on the verge of calling it quits for Windows 10.
Over the weekend I went out to a bar I usually go to. They have one of those Internet-connected jukeboxes, where you can use an app to pay and select songs, see what's next etc. Naturally, there is no app for Windows Phone (or Windows 10), but I'm used to it, so I put in my dollar bills in the machine and select on the screen in the bar. Not that big a deal, but it's been annoying anyway. I have a Moto E at home that I sometimes take to places where I know I will want a particular app, but I didn't have it with me.

This time though, we were sitting around at the bar and decided to do a little impromptu karaoke. Everyone (except me, of course) pull out their phones to check what is coming, and select some songs. I, of course, had to walk over to the machine and insert bills. But what came next was really irritating and symptomatic of the app gap. One guy starts a karaoke app on his Android phone, that automatically syncs the lyrics to what is playing on the jukebox. That was really cool and fun, and we had a blast.
THAT is what the app gap is. It's not just the Snapchat and the banking apps and the store apps, though it is all of that too. It's the smaller apps. The fun ones. The ones that enhance your life in some way. Why would I pay hundreds (thousands, if you count subscriptions) for a new Windows phone, when I keep losing out on things like these?

My Verizon contract will be up in a few months. I was hoping that Windows 10 Mobile will have the bugs worked out by then, but when things like these keep happening, I keep wondering why I should even bother. I love the OS, but at this point the app gap is worse than it has ever been. It's just no fun anymore to have a Windows phone.

 

[Krystianpants]

How is the app gap getting worse? It's actually getting better but at a slow rate. If it was getting worse we wouldn't be seeing all these new apps coming over. Even something simple like ibasket for ios coming over shows it's getting better. It's not fixed no doubt but don't get the getting worse part. Definitely will take time. Hope continuum gets people interested it seems the one thing reviewers can agree is cool about the 950.

 

[sdrexler11791]

I don't know how Microsoft is going to get around this problem. The only thing that is going to help is for them to run native Android apps or provide a conversion utility that converts them to WM apps with no changes to the underlying code. Even with that in place, some companies are just anti-Microsoft and will probably try to block their apps from running on windows. Perhaps providing a version of Visual studio at no cost to developers that seamlessly compiles to IOS, android and Windows without any code changes will do it.

 

[tboling]

It is not Microsoft's fault that developers refuse to port their apps over to MS. Look at the Snapchat guy. He wouldn't even let a 3rd party team do it. He's just rude. Now, MS has even done all the work for them. They only need to compile it over with a touch of a button. Yet, they still refuse. I question the motives of these developers. Are they getting paid not to? I don't know. It's a mystery. Windows OS is far superior to the others. iOS is old and outdated. Apple lost their innovation with the death of Jobs. Android is great on the Nexus. It's been my experience that any phone the software isn't tested on, and has bloatware, is buggy.

That being said, I have given MS another go. I bought the 950. I like it so far. I've only ran into a couple issues, which I posted here for help. They have a year to keep me. I am willing to see if their new approach to the app market works.

 

[Jon_Rubinstein]

It's starting to get to me too. I am on the verge of calling it quits for Windows 10.
Over the weekend I went out to a bar I usually go to. They have one of those Internet-connected jukeboxes, where you can use an app to pay and select songs, see what's next etc. Naturally, there is no app for Windows Phone (or Windows 10), but I'm used to it, so I put in my dollar bills in the machine and select on the screen in the bar. Not that big a deal, but it's been annoying anyway. I have a Moto E at home that I sometimes take to places where I know I will want a particular app, but I didn't have it with me.

This time though, we were sitting around at the bar and decided to do a little impromptu karaoke. Everyone (except me, of course) pull out their phones to check what is coming, and select some songs. I, of course, had to walk over to the machine and insert bills. But what came next was really irritating and symptomatic of the app gap. One guy starts a karaoke app on his Android phone, that automatically syncs the lyrics to what is playing on the jukebox. That was really cool and fun, and we had a blast.
THAT is what the app gap is. It's not just the Snapchat and the banking apps and the store apps, though it is all of that too. It's the smaller apps. The fun ones. The ones that enhance your life in some way. Why would I pay hundreds (thousands, if you count subscriptions) for a new Windows phone, when I keep losing out on things like these?

My Verizon contract will be up in a few months. I was hoping that Windows 10 Mobile will have the bugs worked out by then, but when things like these keep happening, I keep wondering why I should even bother. I love the OS, but at this point the app gap is worse than it has ever been. It's just no fun anymore to have a Windows phone.

Have you tried MUSIXMATCH....i does exactly as you describe on Windows Phone...

 

[MikeSo]

Have you tried MUSIXMATCH....i does exactly as you describe on Windows Phone...

I've used musiXmatch before, and while it's similar it's not at all the same (certainly not "exactly"). For one, it requires that I own/download the song it recognizes. It also has no jukebox functionality.

 

[SafeSchoolsCzar]

I'm due for a new phone in a few months and I may be forced to switch because I have a corporate phone and we use Verizon. Most of my co-workers are switching to iPhones but some are getting Androids. We're a MS partner so we all had MS phones for years but the consensus at work is the app gap is getting to them as well.

For me, I have what I need. I don't have a banking app, but I pin the mobile site and it's fine by me. As long as I have Spotify, Audible, OneNote, Cozi and PocketBible, I'm good so if VZW doesn't have a flagship WM phone in February, I'll wait. There's really only two apps I really miss from my iPhone days, the SiriusXM and Stitcher apps. Oh yeah, and it'd be nice if Waze was up-to-date but it does work.

My house is split between iPhones and WM phones but I just think iPhones are so cheaply made and fragile and it's ridiculous that you have to put a nice looking phone in a case. My Icon has never been in a case and doesn't have a scratch on it, even after multiple drops. I can't stand the Android OS, it just never seems to work exactly right and I always had to tweak it or watch the memory and while there are tons of apps, many can't be trusted. My Icon works all the time without fail, it takes amazing pictures and Win10 is awesome on it. If I do leave WM, it'll be because I have to, not because I want to.

 

[Ma1dere]

Honestly, personaly I'm rather ok with the selection of apps wp/wm has right now, but quality of them are pretty bad and updates happen almost never. Having an official twitter app that can't open links to another twits without opening the browser is unacceptable.

 

[cracgor]

How is the app gap getting worse? It's actually getting better but at a slow rate. If it was getting worse we wouldn't be seeing all these new apps coming over. Even something simple like ibasket for ios coming over shows it's getting better. It's not fixed no doubt but don't get the getting worse part. Definitely will take time. Hope continuum gets people interested it seems the one thing reviewers can agree is cool about the 950.

The app gap is definitely worse. My car has a Pandora and Aha app built into it that works on android and ios. Grocery stores have apps for coupons,lowes has an app that tells you what aisle something is on, restaurants have apps with deals or to place orders, medical dictating apps are available, reference materials are available for prescribing, medical record apps are available. All of these things exist for android and ios. I have been on windows for a long time so I barely grasp the app gap, but I have a hard time recommending windows phone to anyone even if i like the OS, because it will be a disappointment on that end. My wife switched from a 1020 which she was embarrassed to take pictures on because it was slow and blurry from day 1 to an iPhone. Even apps we think are good enough aren't (6tag) for example which she tells me is worse by far than the real app. The app gap is worse than ever and people don't want to write for windows because it I a waste of time, even if it is easy.

 

[Krystianpants]

The app gap is definitely worse. My car has a Pandora and Aha app built into it that works on android and ios. Grocery stores have apps for coupons,lowes has an app that tells you what aisle something is on, restaurants have apps with deals or to place orders, medical dictating apps are available, reference materials are available for prescribing, medical record apps are available. All of these things exist for android and ios. I have been on windows for a long time so I barely grasp the app gap, but I have a hard time recommending windows phone to anyone even if i like the OS, because it will be a disappointment on that end. My wife switched from a 1020 which she was embarrassed to take pictures on because it was slow and blurry from day 1 to an iPhone. Even apps we think are good enough aren't (6tag) for example which she tells me is worse by far than the real app. The app gap is worse than ever and people don't want to write for windows because it I a waste of time, even if it is easy.

My point is those apps never existed before so the apps in store haven't gotten worse. But yes there's a lot of niche apps out there. I never had issues finding stuff at grocery stores and I don't see people at grocery store looking at their phone to find stuff, but they release these apps anyways just in case. And of course they are so niche that they know it's unlikely a windows user will walk in and need it. So why bother? That's why the dev tools are important and I hope ms can get people on board.