Windows Phone Apps. Are they really substandard?

[Ebuka Allison]

I see a lot of people on this forum saying windows phone apps are bad, substandard, etc. But is this realm the case? Objectively, there are quite a few good apps on the market place and even the ones bashed (Instagram and Vine), are they really that bad? They may lack some functionality, but the essentials are there. Secondly, why focus on Android and iOs app ports. Why not look,for unique Windows Phone apps? Because there are loads of them. Why beg for a specific app? Do iPads explode into smithereens if you load Kingsoft office instead of,Microsoft office or Apple pages, then what's with all the self flagellation?

 

[Chregu]

I see a lot of people on this forum saying windows phone apps are bad, substandard, etc. But is this realm the case? Objectively, there are quite a few good apps on the market place and even the ones bashed (Instagram and Vine), are they really that bad? They may lack some functionality, but the essentials are there. Secondly, why focus on Android and iOs app ports. Why not look,for unique Windows Phone apps? Because there are loads of them. Why beg for a specific app? Do iPads explode into smithereens if you load Kingsoft office instead of,Microsoft office or Apple pages, then what's with all the self flagellation?

It depends on the need of a person of course.

If you are happy with the provided apps and their functionality, that's awesome!

Personally, I'm quite happy. Spotify got finally updated after months of being incredibly bad, and now it's okay. It's still slow, it's not very pretty, but it does the job. The other apps I care about are also alright.

Still, when I compare the app situation to my iPad, with regular updates and a higher general quality, it's something to be jealous of.

Also, there are of course the sad examples like Whatsapp. It is buggy and trains the battery, and it's not even in the store anymore. I expect it to come back, but as I depend on it, I will switch platform without it. Another problem is Google. They don't provide apps for Windows Phone and Bing is very, very bad in my country.

For Facebook Microsoft solved the problem by developing an app themselves.

So, yes, there's an app problem, but that doesn't mean it's a problem for everybody.

 

[neglekted]

People are sheep. They do not want unique apps, they want the same apps that their friends with Android/iOS phones have, with exactly the same functionality. Having just "the essentials" is not enough for a lot of people. And no matter what, they will always find something wrong with it anyway. You could create the greatest app in the history of mankind, and someone somewhere will rate it 1 star and comment on how the app would be so much better if it made coffee or scratched his balls for him. We have great third party apps on Windows Phone, but to a lot of people it seems like third party apps might as well not exist, no matter the quality. They just want official apps, period. Apps like myTube and MetroTube are much better than the official YT apps, but no one really cares.

I do have to agree that the Facebook app for WP is lackluster, and WhatsApp could be better as well (not talking about useless crap like custom backgrounds and stickers, though). But it is what it is, and I'm perfectly fine with waiting for the apps to become better. For most people, though, that isn't the case. They just won't be happy with the platform unless the user experience as a whole equals that of iOS and Android, and apps do play a large part in that.

 

[CowardlyLions]

honestly, there's a bit of truth to those claims. many major apps are vastly interior to their Android/ios counterparts. Tumblr and netflix are first to come to mind. I still keep my old iPhone with me so I can use decent versions of them.

 

[Ebuka Allison]

honestly, there's a bit of truth to those claims. many major apps are vastly interior to their Android/ios counterparts. Tumblr and netflix are first to come to mind. I still keep my old iPhone with me so I can use decent versions of them.

I agree about Tumblr. Fills up my,memory pretty fast Netflix on the other hand...it does its job well. It just needs profiles and notifications.

 

[sdc1]

If people are sheep for expecting apps that are on par with the competition then I say baa.

Why should we have to our up with inferior apps?

The WhatsApp mess has highlighted an existing problem. People can pretend all they like that the problem doesn't exist but they're only fooling themselves.

Posted via Windows Phone Central App

 

[alphablue597]

I don't want every app from Android to have on my wp,but popular app should be available for us, for example flipboard,pocket, good weather app... Consider for example Linux, you don't have Microsoft Office(you have free alternatives, but you can't open big files without problems), adobe PhotoShop,Dreamweaver, games.... You have alternatives but that's not the same, and this is the main reason why Linux doesn't have many users....

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 520 using Tapatalk

 

[ohgood]

I see a lot of people on this forum saying windows phone apps are bad, substandard, etc. But is this realm the case? Objectively, there are quite a few good apps on the market place and even the ones bashed (Instagram and Vine), are they really that bad? They may lack some functionality, but the essentials are there. Secondly, why focus on Android and iOs app ports. Why not look,for unique Windows Phone apps? Because there are loads of them. Why beg for a specific app? Do iPads explode into smithereens if you load Kingsoft office instead of,Microsoft office or Apple pages, then what's with all the self flagellation?

"The iOS app does this this this and this, I want mine to do the same"
"If if doesn't do /have this functionality I use on xyz mobile os, I don't have a use for that app"

Its understandable, really. If the application wasn't wanted or needed, the user wouldn't be talking about it.

 

[Ebuka Allison]

If people are sheep for expecting apps that are on par with the competition then I say baa.

Why should we have to our up with inferior apps?

The WhatsApp mess has highlighted an existing problem. People can pretend all they like that the problem doesn't exist but they're only fooling themselves.

Posted via Windows Phone Central App

No we shouldn't. But we are overlooking tons of useful apps in the app store while begging for low power ports. Case in point, VSCO cam vs Sophie lens. Forget mass market social apps, readers,utility apps etc. There but underappreciated, that's what I mean. Android and iOS have overlapping apps yes, but there are also unique apps. Without unique apps, what's the point of switching?

 

[Ebuka Allison]

Oh and whatsapp is especially maddening. Its like a child who has been promised a treat, shown the treat, is made aware of its existence, then snatching the treat away. It just seems cruel.

 

[undulose]

I don't think so. I only wish that graphic-intensive games like Asphalt 8 be upscaled into 1080p since that game and others look more fascinating on my Nexus 7 than on my 1520. Sad but true.
Sent from my RM-937_apac_malaysia_941 using Tapatalk

 

[trev81uk]

For me personally, I enjoy the apps on my Lumia 520. I'm a big fan of the Nokia apps like MixRadio, and Bing News, Sport and Weather apps and Live tiles are in my opinion better than any comparative app on other OS's. Obviously there is a little less developer support on WP, but I have official Instagram, 4Square, BBC iPlayer apps and all work well and are comparative to those on my gf's iPhone, OK they might be missing one little feature but it's not a game changer.
Where I see the difference between WP and iOS is the clarity and tidiness of the App Store itself. Android store is horribly messy and I would hate for WP store to go the same way!

 

[MikeSo]

I agree about Tumblr. Fills up my,memory pretty fast Netflix on the other hand...it does its job well. It just needs profiles and notifications.

Netflix app plays videos. That's the best that can be said about it, and it does that job very well. But it lacks functionality that is elsewhere (instant replay, skip to next episode, listing TV episodes by season, for example).
I think that's what the OP is referring to - how even when we have official apps, they do the job OK but have very little in terms of parity of non-essential functionality.
Personally I don't care that much, but wouldn't it be great if we got more official apps that were AWESOME and that weren't third party ones? myTube for example, is an AWESOME app. Just fantastic. But it remains third party so not a "real app" that will get people to confidently choose WP over competitors.

Note that I'm talking about FEATURES only. The aforementioned Netflix for example works great on WP for what it does. And there are plenty of official apps on Google and iOS stores that have tons of features but seem to be bug ridden messes. I don't think app quality is overall a much bigger issue on WP. Mostly features and app update frequency is.

 

[anon(6038817)]

It could be worse. Trust me. I'm using a BlackBerry.

The ability to easily install and run Android apps has really improved my BlackBerry experience, but I think this will hurt BB10 in the long-run.

It will discourage developers from building native apps. Why go native when they can just install your Android app? And few popular native apps is a turn-off to the average consumer, because they have to seek out these apps outside of BlackBerry World (app store). This means no meaningful long-term growth for BB10's ecosystem, and therefore no significant adoption by the masses.

I say all this to make a point: Windows Phone is in a good place, all things considered. I really like the consistency in style across Windows Phone apps, in general. And as WP continues to gain steam in emerging markets, developers will pay more attention.

Hang in there. I think good things are on the horizon for WP.



Posted from my BlackBerry Z30