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Anyone a bit disappointed by the number of unoptimised apps for the iPad?

Ubuntu

Ubuntu

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 3, 2005
2,184
526
UK/US
Hi all,

Just received the iPad I purchased for my dad and I'm currently setting it up for him. He'll like to use Skype which I've downloaded but I'm a bit disappointed that its the same iPhone app, and while you can zoom in its just not making the most out of the large screen. A lot of apps seem to be like this (now I know what the + icon for is in the app store) and for some apps they're expecting me to pay another £2 just for the "HD" version, which for a nicer resolution isn't really worth it to me.

What do you all think though? I've only had it for one day, are a lot of apps like this?
 
Ubuntu said:
snip... and for some apps they're expecting me to pay another £2 just for the "HD" version, which for a nicer resolution isn't really worth it to me.
Click to expand...

Sorry but this is the part that bothers me - is it really that much money? It's just funny and interesting to see what people value and the sense of entitlement when it comes to mobile apps.
 
yeah. it can be annoying to come across one. you seem to be suggesting that there is a huge amount. do you have any numbers to back up that claim? i don't find it terribly disappointing. i mean, skype works pretty much the same, so no big deal. i would say that unoptomized apps are a tiny proportion of my daily use. to be honest, i haven't come across many that have this extra fee for the ipad version.
 
There's either 90,000 or 125,000 iPad "optimized" apps. So no, I don't ever feel sad about the "lack" of them, because there isn't a lack of them. If your favorite app isn't "optimized" take it up with the app developer.
 
Yeah, as a new iPad owner but long (long) time iPhone user it's pretty disapointing to see so many of my apps either not have an iPad version or charge extra for a special "HD" version.

I ended up jaibreaking my iPad and bought retinapad which definitely helps with games, but regular apps still look awful.
 
jbennardo said:
You could always develop some yourself.
Click to expand...

I am currently learning iOS/ObjectC, so one day hopefully I will. Oh snap! :D

jbennardo said:
Sorry but this is the part that bothers me - is it really that much money? It's just funny and interesting to see what people value and the sense of entitlement when it comes to mobile apps.
Click to expand...

I think I'm being perfectly reasonable. Its the same content and often developers will use RAW images anyway at a much higher resolution. I appreciate why the developer might do this but I'm not happy with paying £2 for the same content because compared to most apps thats already quite a bit. If its a 69p app and it has a 69p HD version I'll buy it, definitely. At the end of the day I'm a paying customer, I'm entitled to expect that an app available for sale for my device meets the quality I'd expect. Either that or they shouldn't offer it for the iPad. If its just an iPhone app I've transferred then fine, no problem.

You think this is funny though? Other than my family and myself, I don't know anyone else who actually buys apps legally anymore. That is what bothers me - people who won't pay 69p for an app on a £400+ device because they feel they've spent so much on the phone that they are entitled to all the software, so I do take some offence by what you've said.


radiogoober said:
There's either 90,000 or 125,000 iPad "optimized" apps. So no, I don't ever feel sad about the "lack" of them, because there isn't a lack of them. If your favorite app isn't "optimized" take it up with the app developer.
Click to expand...

I'm just looking at the apps I transferred over from my iTunes (I have an iPhone myself). The majority of apps are not optimised for the iPad in my experience.


palpatine said:
yeah. it can be annoying to come across one. you seem to be suggesting that there is a huge amount. do you have any numbers to back up that claim? i don't find it terribly disappointing. i mean, skype works pretty much the same, so no big deal. i would say that unoptomized apps are a tiny proportion of my daily use. to be honest, i haven't come across many that have this extra fee for the ipad version.
Click to expand...

I'm just basing it on the apps I've transferred and updated. A lot of the shop apps my dad would like (Argos, Amazon, etc) aren't optimised for example. Its mainly the games though.
 
Ubuntu said:
I am currently learning iOS/ObjectC, so one day hopefully I will. Oh snap! :D
Click to expand...

That's great dude - seriously.


Ubuntu said:
I think I'm being perfectly reasonable. Its the same content and often developers will use RAW images anyway at a much higher resolution. I appreciate why the developer might do this but I'm not happy with paying £2 for the same content because compared to most apps thats already quite a bit. If its a 69p app and it has a 69p HD version I'll buy it, definitely. At the end of the day I'm a paying customer, I'm entitled to expect that an app available for sale for my device meets the quality I'd expect. Either that or they shouldn't offer it for the iPad. If its just an iPhone app I've transferred then fine, no problem.

You think this is funny though? Other than my family and myself, I don't know anyone else who actually buys apps legally anymore. That is what bothers me - people who won't pay 69p for an app on a £400+ device because they feel they've spent so much on the phone that they are entitled to all the software, so I do take some offence by what you've said.
Click to expand...

I see your point and i didn't necessarily mean you. You just happened to write it haha. Some devs just upsized their iPhone app and called it HD for a cash grab. iPad should be a unique experience optimized for the device - like say Weather Channel. Bottom line, don't pay for crap.
 
I kinda see what you mean.


Its not really up to me anyway, as it is for my dad and I hope he'll like it, but he had an iPod touch and all I'm worried about is that he's going to try the apps and be like "Its just the same size as the iPod's app, or otherwise quite pixelated." and won't like it as much.

Thanks for the replies anyway.
 
Ubuntu said:
I am currently learning iOS/ObjectC, so one day hopefully I will. Oh snap! :D



I think I'm being perfectly reasonable. Its the same content and often developers will use RAW images anyway at a much higher resolution. I appreciate why the developer might do this but I'm not happy with paying £2 for the same content because compared to most apps thats already quite a bit. If its a 69p app and it has a 69p HD version I'll buy it, definitely. At the end of the day I'm a paying customer, I'm entitled to expect that an app available for sale for my device meets the quality I'd expect. Either that or they shouldn't offer it for the iPad. If its just an iPhone app I've transferred then fine, no problem.

You think this is funny though? Other than my family and myself, I don't know anyone else who actually buys apps legally anymore. That is what bothers me - people who won't pay 69p for an app on a £400+ device because they feel they've spent so much on the phone that they are entitled to all the software, so I do take some offence by what you've said.




I'm just looking at the apps I transferred over from my iTunes (I have an iPhone myself). The majority of apps are not optimised for the iPad in my experience.




I'm just basing it on the apps I've transferred and updated. A lot of the shop apps my dad would like (Argos, Amazon, etc) aren't optimised for example. Its mainly the games though.
Click to expand...

Amazon has an iPad app. Make sure you're downloading the app that has a "+" sign in the "download/purchase" button. Are you sure you're looking in th right spot on the app store? There s no lack of iPad apps.
 
palpatine said:
yeah. it can be annoying to come across one. you seem to be suggesting that there is a huge amount. do you have any numbers to back up that claim? i don't find it terribly disappointing. i mean, skype works pretty much the same, so no big deal. i would say that unoptomized apps are a tiny proportion of my daily use. to be honest, i haven't come across many that have this extra fee for the ipad version.
Click to expand...

Well there are ~450k apps on the store, and only around 100k of them are iPad native... So there's a pretty good chance your favorite iPhone app won't take full advantage of the iPad.
 
radiogoober said:
Amazon has an iPad app. Make sure you're downloading the app that has a "+" sign in the "download/purchase" button. Are you sure you're looking in th right spot on the app store? There s no lack of iPad apps.
Click to expand...

Amazon has TWO iPad apps :) the traditional and windowshop. :)
 
I tend to try and only patronize devs with either very inexpensive apps or universal. I an app is very good, like reeder, I will pay twice. However I will not buy the os x version of reeder as I believe it is basically a beta product at this time that lacks functionality found in the original version.

It's all up to you, but there are a LOT of iPad specific apps.
 
Ubuntu said:
I think I'm being perfectly reasonable. Its the same content and often developers will use RAW images anyway at a much higher resolution. I appreciate why the developer might do this but I'm not happy with paying £2 for the same content because compared to most apps thats already quite a bit.
Click to expand...

This is rarely the case though in all honesty. Sure some apps may be able to simply create artwork and downsize it especially if that artwork is vector based but many times, especially with 3D games you can't just downsize the artwork because you will lose important details even when using proper resizing methods.

IMO, it is in the developers best interest (although it costs them lots of time and money) to offer their app as universal if the app is identical aside from graphics. This is what I am doing now with my app. Even though it takes a ton of time to make assets at different resolutions (not just sizes, but also resolutions for on 3D models) I feel that since there is no difference in gameplay my app should be universal.

Now if an iPad version of an app adds new functionality due to the larger screen or higher processing power then I I have no problem with a dev developing an "HD" version of an app and charging extra for it.

Also if you plan on app development, depending on the type of app you may be better off with a third party tool vs coding it by hand, although coding it by hand will give you lots of experience.
 
I actually support the developers more sometimes with donations if they make their app cross compatible with the iPhone and iPad. HD I think should only apply to some games like Real Racing which deserves the $$.
 
Wow, the iPad is the only tablet that has as many optimized apps as it has, and people are still complaining? You could switch over to Android where you are limited to a few HUNDRED tablet optimized apps. Would that suit you better?
 
Yes, it drives me a bit crazy at times, but like another poster, I jailbroke and use RetinaPad for the non-optimized ones. Aside from still being stuck with the iPhone keyboard for those, it's pretty much an ideal setup. (And I'm mostly a portrait orientation user, so even the iPhone keyboard isn't that big a deal to me.)

Whether or not it bothers your dad is just going to depend. My husband generally doesn't care much if his apps are optimized, nor does my mother in law. If the app is the best at what it does, or just works the way they're used to, they'll use it regardless of the pixelized look. Me, I tried alternatives for a number of mine for a long time, and am now REALLY grateful to the Dev who created RetinaPad, because I have some of my favorite apps back. It's too bad Apple doesn't use his scaling instead of their inadequate 2x "solution".
 
spiderman0616 said:
Wow, the iPad is the only tablet that has as many optimized apps as it has, and people are still complaining? You could switch over to Android where you are limited to a few HUNDRED tablet optimized apps. Would that suit you better?
Click to expand...

Yes, please be happy I only whipped you with a chain 3 times because you could go next door and be whipped 4. Gotta love that logic.
 
tstarks33 said:
Yes, please be happy I only whipped you with a chain 3 times because you could go next door and be whipped 4. Gotta love that logic.
Click to expand...

Doesn't really apply here because the difference is so vast. A few hundred vs. tens of thousands.
 
tstarks33 said:
Yes, please be happy I only whipped you with a chain 3 times because you could go next door and be whipped 4. Gotta love that logic.
Click to expand...

Your post is completely unnecessary. There are over 125,000 iPad "optimized" apps in the app store. There is no shortage of apps.
 
CAVE CO., LTD in particular needs to step up their iPad development, which is non-existent at this point :(. Their shooters are by far the best iOS has to offer
 
radiogoober said:
Amazon has an iPad app. Make sure you're downloading the app that has a "+" sign in the "download/purchase" button. Are you sure you're looking in th right spot on the app store? There s no lack of iPad apps.
Click to expand...

He's not saying there is a lack of iPad apps. He's saying that a lot of the ones he bought on the iPhone either do not have iPad version or, if they do, he has to buy it again for even more money. I had a similar experience when I got my iPad, very few of my paid apps were universal so I had to rebuy quite a bit.. especially games.
 
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