Comments for tapadoo http://tapadoo.com Incredible Mobile App Development Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:42:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on DoneDeal for Android: Some interesting statistics by dermdaly http://tapadoo.com/2012/donedeal-for-android-some-interesting-statistics/comment-page-1/#comment-2185 dermdaly Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:42:08 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=796#comment-2185 Hi Colin, It is an actual issue all right. We can already mandate iOS 5.x to new clients as the market share is so significant; On Android we're suggesting 2.1 and above because there is so many older devices which cannot be upgraded. And, as we mentioned in the post, Ice Cream Sandwich has barely made a dent yet. (Pity as it is so good). The device and firmware issues do ramp up cost; For example shortly after launch we had a bug on a specific brand of device. In that case we were lucky - the Handset manufacturer were very helpful and couriered over 3 handsets. We could test, fix and release quickly The interesting thing here is we saw no bugs specific to the devices we have (We've a good range of devices, and Samsung and HTC have been particularly helpful) as we were able to test on these devices as well as simulators. In short - the testing phase is greater on Android than on iOS; I don't think there's an easy answer; If you want your app to run well on X, you'll have to test it on X. Can google address it? They could try to do what Apple do, but frankly I don't think they are in a position to impose versions on Handset manufacturers; The open source nature of Android means the manufacturers get to choose what version they apply. Hi Colin,
It is an actual issue all right. We can already mandate iOS 5.x to new clients as the market share is so significant; On Android we’re suggesting 2.1 and above because there is so many older devices which cannot be upgraded. And, as we mentioned in the post, Ice Cream Sandwich has barely made a dent yet. (Pity as it is so good).
The device and firmware issues do ramp up cost; For example shortly after launch we had a bug on a specific brand of device. In that case we were lucky – the Handset manufacturer were very helpful and couriered over 3 handsets. We could test, fix and release quickly
The interesting thing here is we saw no bugs specific to the devices we have (We’ve a good range of devices, and Samsung and HTC have been particularly helpful) as we were able to test on these devices as well as simulators.
In short – the testing phase is greater on Android than on iOS; I don’t think there’s an easy answer; If you want your app to run well on X, you’ll have to test it on X.
Can google address it? They could try to do what Apple do, but frankly I don’t think they are in a position to impose versions on Handset manufacturers; The open source nature of Android means the manufacturers get to choose what version they apply.

]]> Comment on DoneDeal for Android: Some interesting statistics by Colin http://tapadoo.com/2012/donedeal-for-android-some-interesting-statistics/comment-page-1/#comment-2184 Colin Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:06:48 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=796#comment-2184 You mention a staggering amount of devices in your statistics. One of the drivers, I suspect, of people into iPhone development rather than Android as a first step is the fact that you can largely get away with using only one phone for all testing up until pre-beta. (Some of the best-selling apps on the AppStore are iOS5 only, for example.) Do you think the issue of fragmentation on Android is overblown or do you see it as a genuine issue? If it is, how do you mitigate it and what do you think Google should do to address it? You mention a staggering amount of devices in your statistics. One of the drivers, I suspect, of people into iPhone development rather than Android as a first step is the fact that you can largely get away with using only one phone for all testing up until pre-beta. (Some of the best-selling apps on the AppStore are iOS5 only, for example.)

Do you think the issue of fragmentation on Android is overblown or do you see it as a genuine issue? If it is, how do you mitigate it and what do you think Google should do to address it?

]]> Comment on Why you shouldn’t expect automatic upgrades to the latest version of Android by DoneDeal for Android: Some interesting statistics | tapadoo http://tapadoo.com/2012/why-you-shouldnt-expect-automatic-upgrades-to-the-latest-version-of-android/comment-page-1/#comment-2183 DoneDeal for Android: Some interesting statistics | tapadoo Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:24:41 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=788#comment-2183 [...] The last interesting statistic for DoneDeal for Android? Android version 4.x “Ice Cream Sandwich” accounts so far for 0.83% of the usage. This doesn’t come as a surprise, nor do I think this is a concern. It is probably best explained by our earlier post on that topic [...] [...] The last interesting statistic for DoneDeal for Android? Android version 4.x “Ice Cream Sandwich” accounts so far for 0.83% of the usage. This doesn’t come as a surprise, nor do I think this is a concern. It is probably best explained by our earlier post on that topic [...]

]]> Comment on No. HTML5 is NOT the Answer by Ronan http://tapadoo.com/2011/no-html5-is-not-the-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-2173 Ronan Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:01:23 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=781#comment-2173 Fun talk last night at Beermob, Dermot. But I think millions would disagree with you about the Facebook app being rubbish. LinkedIn too. iTunes however I'm with you on. p.s. I didn't receive email with your new comment above. Fun talk last night at Beermob, Dermot. But I think millions would disagree with you about the Facebook app being rubbish. LinkedIn too. iTunes however I’m with you on.

p.s. I didn’t receive email with your new comment above.

]]> Comment on No. HTML5 is NOT the Answer by dermdaly http://tapadoo.com/2011/no-html5-is-not-the-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-2172 dermdaly Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:40:07 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=781#comment-2172 They do indeed. Which is precisely why they are rubbish. They do indeed. Which is precisely why they are rubbish.

]]> Comment on No. HTML5 is NOT the Answer by Ronan http://tapadoo.com/2011/no-html5-is-not-the-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-2170 Ronan Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:30:11 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=781#comment-2170 The Facebook apps (iPhone, iPad, Android) use HTML for the content sections (news feed, timeline, notifications, inbox), wrapped in native container. http://www.quora.com/Is-the-Facebook-iPhone-app-entirely-native-Objective-C The Facebook apps (iPhone, iPad, Android) use HTML for the content sections (news feed, timeline, notifications, inbox), wrapped in native container.

http://www.quora.com/Is-the-Facebook-iPhone-app-entirely-native-Objective-C

]]> Comment on No. HTML5 is NOT the Answer by Dave Kinsella http://tapadoo.com/2011/no-html5-is-not-the-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-2169 Dave Kinsella Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:11:31 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=781#comment-2169 I agree with Ronan's comments on device fragmentation. As more and more web enabled devices hit the market, a cross-platform approach makes more sense. Web devs have had years of dealing with browser inconsistencies and the prevailing attitude of the browser vendors is now to try to implement standards. Hardware manufacturers are still in the one-upmanship phase of adding new sensors to this device and higher resolution screens to that. It's like Netscape versus IE all over again. Personally I'd rather write HTML5 apps and deploy them via a wrapper such as PhoneGap mainly because I've realised that iTunes is not the only app store. I agree with Ronan’s comments on device fragmentation. As more and more web enabled devices hit the market, a cross-platform approach makes more sense.

Web devs have had years of dealing with browser inconsistencies and the prevailing attitude of the browser vendors is now to try to implement standards. Hardware manufacturers are still in the one-upmanship phase of adding new sensors to this device and higher resolution screens to that. It’s like Netscape versus IE all over again.

Personally I’d rather write HTML5 apps and deploy them via a wrapper such as PhoneGap mainly because I’ve realised that iTunes is not the only app store.

]]> Comment on No. HTML5 is NOT the Answer by James Hughes http://tapadoo.com/2011/no-html5-is-not-the-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-2166 James Hughes Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:51:22 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=781#comment-2166 "People forget that Apple offered web apps to people on iphone and the market responded that they wanted native apps." Because what they offered was so limited you couldn't create anything compelling perhaps? Because it was very limited. Now we see the likes of PhoneGap, NimbleKit, Mulberry etc. that provide an API between native and web technologies. This gives the app marketplace visibility (the major issue with pure web apps) while allowing people to use web technologies. These things are extremely popular and even Facebook uses their own custom PhoneGap-esque framework and Web techs for their mobile apps (cheaper, easier to get the skills, more maintainable, more portable) IMHO neither pure native nor pure web is the way IMHO but a balance between the both. For example charting libraries for iOS are less than ideal so why not use a UIWebView with perhaps HighCharts or some other canvas or SVG based javascript library that provide infinitely better options for output? Can't we all just use what fits? HTML5 is set of technologies - use it where it helps and where it makes your life easier (assuming you aren't totally sacrificing UX of course) rather than either claiming it the second coming or shunning it for creating terrible fragmentation (which compared to the Android mess isn't actually that bad or work around) “People forget that Apple offered web apps to people on iphone and the market responded that they wanted native apps.”

Because what they offered was so limited you couldn’t create anything compelling perhaps? Because it was very limited. Now we see the likes of PhoneGap, NimbleKit, Mulberry etc. that provide an API between native and web technologies. This gives the app marketplace visibility (the major issue with pure web apps) while allowing people to use web technologies. These things are extremely popular and even Facebook uses their own custom PhoneGap-esque framework and Web techs for their mobile apps (cheaper, easier to get the skills, more maintainable, more portable)

IMHO neither pure native nor pure web is the way IMHO but a balance between the both. For example charting libraries for iOS are less than ideal so why not use a UIWebView with perhaps HighCharts or some other canvas or SVG based javascript library that provide infinitely better options for output?

Can’t we all just use what fits? HTML5 is set of technologies – use it where it helps and where it makes your life easier (assuming you aren’t totally sacrificing UX of course) rather than either claiming it the second coming or shunning it for creating terrible fragmentation (which compared to the Android mess isn’t actually that bad or work around)

]]> Comment on No. HTML5 is NOT the Answer by Michael Flanagan http://tapadoo.com/2011/no-html5-is-not-the-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-2157 Michael Flanagan Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:33:57 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=781#comment-2157 I don't think there's a need for the hard-line approach. I would personally lean towards the assumption that, as with the desktop, mobile will be increasingly web-powered as time goes on. On the desktop, I use "web apps" for email, project management, music, calendar, time tracking, instant messaging, social networking.. the <i>majority</i> of stuff, I'd say. Two years ago that wasn't the case and you would have been mad to suggest it. Whereas now I appreciate no end how I can switch from my Linux desktop to my OS-X laptop, over to Windows for some browser testing, or even to my mobile phone in some forward-thinking cases, and have the same experience with the same apps I'm used to, just as I left them. I agree with you that the mobile web experience isn't quite there <i>yet</i>, but I'd have to expect it's on the way. Mobile web apps and interfaces to take note of at the moment are the new Twitter and Facebook, which already look and function almost, if not entirely, on-par with their app-store counterparts, and Trello and Toggl which seem to work better (or only) on the web. I don’t think there’s a need for the hard-line approach. I would personally lean towards the assumption that, as with the desktop, mobile will be increasingly web-powered as time goes on.

On the desktop, I use “web apps” for email, project management, music, calendar, time tracking, instant messaging, social networking.. the majority of stuff, I’d say. Two years ago that wasn’t the case and you would have been mad to suggest it.

Whereas now I appreciate no end how I can switch from my Linux desktop to my OS-X laptop, over to Windows for some browser testing, or even to my mobile phone in some forward-thinking cases, and have the same experience with the same apps I’m used to, just as I left them.

I agree with you that the mobile web experience isn’t quite there yet, but I’d have to expect it’s on the way.

Mobile web apps and interfaces to take note of at the moment are the new Twitter and Facebook, which already look and function almost, if not entirely, on-par with their app-store counterparts, and Trello and Toggl which seem to work better (or only) on the web.

]]> Comment on No. HTML5 is NOT the Answer by dermdaly http://tapadoo.com/2011/no-html5-is-not-the-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-2156 dermdaly Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:39:00 +0000 http://tapadoo.com/?p=781#comment-2156 I completely agree with your points. Particularly the last sentence; I'm all for avoiding "an app for an apps sake". I completely agree with your points. Particularly the last sentence; I’m all for avoiding “an app for an apps sake”.

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