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Tablets App Differences Between iPad/Android Tablet Versions

J

JackieInCo

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Original poster
Jul 18, 2013
5,178
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Colorado
I posted this another thread a short while ago. People are misunderstanding what we are talking about when we say too many apps on the Android tablet side are simply using scaled up phone apps instead of making a separate version for the tablet.

Here are screen caps of what we are talking about. The only Android app in these examples that allow landscape viewing is the AP news app BUT the app stays exactly the same. It doesn't change like the iHeartRadio app does which I don't show here.

Scaled up app isn't the problem on Android. It's the problem that Android developers aren't bothering to come up with a different app for tablets then what the phones use.

Look at SiriusXM, AP News, Denver Post, iHeartRadio. These apps look so different on the iPad then they do on the iPhone.

Take a look at the screen caps. First is SiriusXM on the Android tablet/phone version. These are all caps from June so some of them show old news etc.


screenshot2013060711484.png


Now here is the iPad version:


photo8w.png



Ok now look at a local app that I use, 9News. First is the Android phone/tablet version:


ca6y.png



And the iPad version:


wzt7.png


AP News Android phone/tablet app:

30i.png


Ipad Version:

dbq.png




Now you see what we are talking about when we say that the Android developers are just being lazy? Anytime you see the standard list format on an app on Android tablets, you know the app is a phone version.
 
R

Rodster

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2007
3,177
6
There are benefits to both OS'es and since I own both iPad's and Android tablets I can pick and choose the best apps. There are some really great android apps that were optimized for Android. Three in particular that I use are 360News and Pulse, BBC News app. These are all well done for Android.
 
MRU

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
Rodster said:
There are benefits to both OS'es and since I own both iPad's and Android tablets I can pick and choose the best apps. There are some really great android apps that were optimized for Android. Two in particular that I use are 360News and Pulse, BBC News app. These are all well done for Android.
Click to expand...

I still find Pulse better on iPad than Android myself (on iPad I use it in landscape)... I switched to Currents on Android instead.

But yeah there is certainly a good argument for having both iOS and Android - if only we had cross platform 'app' purchases. If we could associate our iTunes email and Google Play Store account together - so if we bought an app on iOS it would be free on Android and vice versa. We already have paid the developer.
 
J

JackieInCo

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Original poster
Jul 18, 2013
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Colorado
Rodster said:
There are benefits to both OS'es and since I own both iPad's and Android tablets I can pick and choose the best apps. There are some really great android apps that were optimized for Android. Three in particular that I use are 360News and Pulse, BBC News app. These are all well done for Android.
Click to expand...

No doubt that there are tablet optimized apps on Android but there are still far too many that aren't. Many apps on iOS give you a different lay out when you turn the tablet to landscape.
 
R

Rodster

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2007
3,177
6
JackieInCo said:
No doubt that there are tablet optimized apps on Android but there are still far too many that aren't. Many apps on iOS give you a different lay out when you turn the tablet to landscape.
Click to expand...

That's because Apple was the first company to make a commercially popular tablet so that's where all the Devs put their focus on.

It's the same with videogame consoles. The PS2 was more popular than the Xbox because it came out first so Devs targeted that platform first. The reversal happened with the Xbox 360 and PS3 where the Devs targeted the X360 because it was the next gen console that arrived before the PS3. It's all a matter of business, who got there first and marketshare.

The other big factor for iOS is that the OS is less fragmented than what you see with Android. It surely has gotten better but when you sell $79 gingerbread tablets a Dev might look at that and wonder which Android OS should he/she target?
 
ucfgrad93

ucfgrad93

macrumors Core
Aug 17, 2007
19,535
10,820
Colorado
JackieInCo said:
I posted this another thread a short while ago. People are misunderstanding what we are talking about when we say too many apps on the Android tablet side are simply using scaled up phone apps instead of making a separate version for the tablet.

Here are screen caps of what we are talking about. The only Android app in these examples that allow landscape viewing is the AP news app BUT the app stays exactly the same. It doesn't change like the iHeartRadio app does which I don't show here.

Scaled up app isn't the problem on Android. It's the problem that Android developers aren't bothering to come up with a different app for tablets then what the phones use.

Look at SiriusXM, AP News, Denver Post, iHeartRadio. These apps look so different on the iPad then they do on the iPhone.

Take a look at the screen caps. First is SiriusXM on the Android tablet/phone version. These are all caps from June so some of them show old news etc.


Image

Now here is the iPad version:


Image


Ok now look at a local app that I use, 9News. First is the Android phone/tablet version:


Image


And the iPad version:


Image

AP News Android phone/tablet app:

Image

Ipad Version:

Image



Now you see what we are talking about when we say that the Android developers are just being lazy? Anytime you see the standard list format on an app on Android tablets, you know the app is a phone version.
Click to expand...

I have never seen the differences illustrated before this. It is quite surprising for the apps you have shown. Thanks for taking the time to do this.
 
Dontazemebro

Dontazemebro

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2010
2,173
0
I dunno, somewhere in West Texas
Personally I have no use for a tablet if it can't provide a desktop like experience so I have no iPad or android tablet to reference from but it would probably be a good idea if everyone can list those apps that are/aren't optimized for tablets so people can get a good idea when rummaging thru the play store. Maybe a master list of sorts.
 
jsw

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
Dontazemebro said:
Personally I have no use for a tablet if it can't provide a desktop like experience so I have no iPad or android tablet to reference from but it would probably be a good idea if everyone can list those apps that are/aren't optimized for tablets so people can get a good idea when rummaging thru the play store. Maybe a master list of sorts.
Click to expand...
It's usually pretty easy to tell from the included screenshots on Play. If they all look like phone screens, the app is not tablet-optimized.
 
Stuntman06

Stuntman06

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2011
961
5
Metro Vancouver, B.C, Canada
JackieInCo said:
Now you see what we are talking about when we say that the Android developers are just being lazy? Anytime you see the standard list format on an app on Android tablets, you know the app is a phone version.
Click to expand...

The lack of landscape on Android tablet apps is my biggest peeve because I have a Transformer with a keyboard dock. The tablet docks in landscape and it makes the app useless to me on my tablet if it doesn't support landscape. I complained to one of the developers and he told me to use the mobile web site instead.
 
M

marc11

macrumors 68000
Mar 30, 2011
1,618
4
NY USA
While the differences you show on the few selected apps is stark it is only evident if you are using both apps side by side. If you only ever use android or ios the differences really so not matter.
 
Assault

Assault

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2013
513
0
in the taint
JackieInCo said:
I posted this another thread a short while ago. People are misunderstanding what we are talking about when we say too many apps on the Android tablet side are simply using scaled up phone apps instead of making a separate version for the tablet.

Here are screen caps of what we are talking about. The only Android app in these examples that allow landscape viewing is the AP news app BUT the app stays exactly the same. It doesn't change like the iHeartRadio app does which I don't show here.

Scaled up app isn't the problem on Android. It's the problem that Android developers aren't bothering to come up with a different app for tablets then what the phones use.

Look at SiriusXM, AP News, Denver Post, iHeartRadio. These apps look so different on the iPad then they do on the iPhone.

Take a look at the screen caps. First is SiriusXM on the Android tablet/phone version. These are all caps from June so some of them show old news etc.

Now you see what we are talking about when we say that the Android developers are just being lazy? Anytime you see the standard list format on an app on Android tablets, you know the app is a phone version.
Click to expand...

Last month Google introduced the new SDK and are giving incentives to develop for tablets, to include allowing additional images in the Play store for tablet specific apps.
All of the main apps that I use (have used) this has never been an issue for me. Mainly because I only use big name apps (doesn't look like the ones you mentioned are considered big name like say Twitter or Facebook) that you have described or I don't use the app on a tablet (i.e. Pandora. If I am using Pandora, I am in my car transmitting via BT to my car. I would never use a tablet for something like that.)

Here are some of the apps that I use on my Nex7 and would like to see how these differ on a new iPad?
 

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J

JackieInCo

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Original poster
Jul 18, 2013
5,178
1,601
Colorado
marc11 said:
While the differences you show on the few selected apps is stark it is only evident if you are using both apps side by side. If you only ever use android or ios the differences really so not matter.
Click to expand...

Which is why I posted this thread, to show the differences between the two. I kept reading how people couldn't see any difference between apps on iOS and Android. Well, it's only obvious if you have an Androd tablet and an ipad with the same apps to compare.

----------
Assault said:
Last month Google introduced the new SDK and are giving incentives to develop for tablets, to include allowing additional images in the Play store for tablet specific apps.
All of the main apps that I use (have used) this has never been an issue for me. Mainly because I only use big name apps (doesn't look like the ones you mentioned are considered big name like say Twitter or Facebook) that you have described or I don't use the app on a tablet (i.e. Pandora. If I am using Pandora, I am in my car transmitting via BT to my car. I would never use a tablet for something like that.)

Here are some of the apps that I use on my Nex7 and would like to see how these differ on a new iPad?
Click to expand...

YouTube is the only one of those I use on my iPad and it is pretty much the same look on Android. They did. Good job.
 

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