Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps" | Hacker News Reader

Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps"

perpetualstudent.net

36 pointsmithaler67 comments

None of those are "killer apps" in the classical definition of the phrase. Those are apps that are awesome to you, but not killer apps. People use killer app now to mean any good app, kind of how every model today is a super model if you know their name. Halo was a killer app for xbox 360. People bought xboxes to play halo, hence a killer app. People arent going to buy an android phone to use a music player with a neat cube interface.

I bought an Android phone to use Locale, of which Tasker is highly inspired by.

That definition assumes that there is such a thing as an "app worth buying a phone for" that holds for a majority of people. That will always vary by person. I've listed killer apps for Android for me; as I said, I can make no claims about killer apps for everyone, nor can you, or for that matter, Gruber. So I guess the term is kind of silly in the first place when applied to third-party mobile app offerings, no?

The iPhone had a killer app in the full web(minus flash) web browser. No other phone at the time had a web browser anywhere near as good as mobile safari is. That and google maps and mail made a compelling case to buy the phone.

Did you try Opera Mobile?

> No other phone at the time had a web browser anywhere near as good as mobile safari is.

The N95 was out for a year earlier and had a mobile webkit browser and 3G. That said, the 2G iPhone had a larger screen.

Was it multitouch screen? The integration of multitouch + the web was pretty amazing and I would consider it a killer app over the arrow based web browsing that came before the iPhone. Full web + multitouch(zooming and selection of links are amazing) + high DPI screen + large enough to get things done without being too big to fit in a pocket == killer app.

When I say that there wasn't a competitor that was close I mean in total experience not just having the web. In my opinion all the little things matter immensely.

Yeah, I think you've got it, the multitouch vs pan-and-zoom pretty much made it. Pity Nokia got so close but fudged it.

By that definition, the killer apps for me are keyboard replacements, home screen replacements, flash enabled web browsers and the Android OS itself which allows me to modify/replace stock functionality. That freedom to do what >I< want to do with my device is the reason I went with Android.

This is an interesting point that makes me wonder if there is an age divide for this.

I used to want to replace/modify/customize my personal user experience, and now that I'm older, I prefer the more closed model that Apple provides because frankly, I just don't care about spending time on those things any more.

Procrastination inducing apps and hobbyist tinkering apps, that is, as opposed to actual apps and games.

I agree. There are four killer apps to date, and they exist on all the big players: 1) Web browser 2) Email client 3) GPS/Navi 4) SMS

There is no application I've never heard anyone, other than a Gruber/Scoble like geek saying, "I need to buy an iPhone because of this app". In fact, ask someone who does NOT own an iPhone to name one iPhone application. Just one. Any one will do. I bet most of the time the answer will be a blank stare. If you're lucky you might get "there's Facebook, right?". And maybe if they're a gamer you'll get "Angry Birds" or "Doodle Jump".

The notion of a killer app for phones is a dead notion. People have a need for phones first. Then they decide which one to get. They are NOT looking at apps and deciding that since app X is on iOS that they'll buy a smartphone or an iPhone.

No-strings attached free wireless tethering is a killer app. I expect more than one Android+US Carrier to have it before AT&T+iPhone does.

Doesn't Nexus One TMo already have it? Well not completely free... you do have to have a phone plan.

That's why I qualified with more than one. The Nexus One is an unsubsidized model that the carriers effectively fought and T-Mobile tries to make up for having terrible coverage by doing the technical side correctly. Specifically, I'm saying Verizon or Sprint with Android will drop the additional monthly fee (like Verizon used to push on their navigator service) before AT&T does for iPhone.

> Halo was a killer app for xbox 360. People bought xboxes to play halo, hence a killer app.

Really? Halo was well marketed by Microsoft as a leader game that ran on Xbox, but it was fairly average as an FPS - do you have a ref for this?

My son wanted an Xbox just to play Halo, so that's one.

Of course, the Xbox has since died and we get along just fine with a PS3.

I thought that was common knowledge. First party/exclusive titles for gaming consoles are usually killer apps. People buy Playstations to play Gran Turismo and Metal Gear Solid, and people buy Nintendos to play Mario and Zelda.

killer app != favorite app. And Android doesn't need a killer app at this point.

* A redesign of touch-based text input.

* A music player with a unique interface.

* control Youtube on your computer from across the room

* A fork of the stock Android home screen

* Automatically do anything in response to anything.

* The best todo list.

* Get notifications for Gmail labels

* Get notifications for Craigslist search terms

* Easily track packages

This list would appear to prove Gruber's (subtextual) point. Most of these don't seem interesting enough to break into "Featured", "Top Free", or "Top 25" (for utilities) on the app store.

> Most of these don't seem interesting enough to break into "Featured", "Top Free", or "Top 25" (for utilities) on the app store.

Why not? These are high-quality, well-designed apps based on excellent ideas.

Yeah, you might be right. I don't know. My gut is, no. But, for what it's worth, here's the current app store lists:

Featured, New:

* Apple Remote - control iTunes & such from phone.

* Path - the social network.

* Airbnb - the iPhone interface to the rental service.

* ComicStrip CS - a comic strip creation app.

* Edmunds - car ratings.

* Pushpin - grocery coupons on your phone (incidentally: what a great idea! Wish I'd thought of this.)

Featured, Hot:

* Pageonce Bills - track your bills (Comcast, etc) on your phone.

* Cinch - an A/V microblogging app.

* Steinway Metronome - a metronome.

* MotionX GPS Drive - turn-by-turn GPS

* Instagram - the very famous photo sharing app

Top, Paid

* TuneIn Radio - AM/FM from 40,000 stations

* Food Network In The Kitchen - iPhone FoodTV recipes

* Perfect Photo - photo touchup

* Color Splash - another photo manipulation app

Top, Free

* Google Voice

* Doodle Buddy Premium - a drawing app

* Facebook

* The Find - price comparisons

(Top free is just dominated by games).

Utilities, Top Paid

* Perfect Photo

* Skyfire - Flash video browser

* Barcode Scanner

* Alarm Clock Pro

* Splashtop Remote Desktop

* Flashlight

* Battery Management (BTW, the closest thing I see here to one of those maintenance apps that seems to top the Android list)

* Craigslist Pro (our version of that Craigslist notification app)

* 5-0 Pro - Police scanner

This is today's snapshot. These are not the killer iPhone apps (with the possible exception of Instagram). This is just the noise you'd have to beat with one of those Android apps to have a shot at being an iPhone killer app.

The only point I really care to make with my list is that Android's app offerings do not lack superb content, no matter how much other catalogs may have. Does Android appear to suffer in comparison to iTunes? Maybe, but that doesn't stop me in any meaningful fashion from finding apps I love on my Droid.

Then the only point you care to make is orthogonal to Gruber's question. He's asking, where are the apps that:

* Are standouts,

* Are exclusive to the Android platform,

* Have high production values, and

* Aren't system enhancements.

You're entitled to say "that's a dumb question", but you can't claim to answer the question by rejecting it.

That's a great point, and it really gets at the heart of the difference in design goals between iOS and Android.

'Course, I would argue that all of the listed apps fit all four of those criteria (even if some of their features exist in other apps on iOS), but I'll admit there's some room for disagreement there. ;)

It's not a dumb question, it's a fairly clever attempt at framing.

Why should we dignify such a frame by accepting it? The only sensible answer is "I don't care if my apps are platform exclusives" or similar.

> Why not?

Because so many of them are centered around meta tasks (input, controls, notifications). Appealing to nerds, sure, but the power of the App Store is how it provides compelling app experiences for everyone.

This is my dilemma, I have an app, some say killer app, 'Math Keyboad' but im sure a very little market. I doubt I will ever make a belp, and of course now with the Wolfram App.... sigh.

> Why not? These are high-quality, well-designed apps based on excellent ideas.

Well for starters 4 of them are excluded by the original conditions of being acceptable in the appstore. Second, of the remaining 6 some already have better counterparts in the appstore (there are complete top lists devoted to iOS todo apps and the good tends to be really very good) and "well-designed"... well I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but from the screenshots on their respective sites the Craigslist notification app doesn't look very good.

As to parcels... http://itunes.apple.com/app/delivery-status-touch/id29098601...

copycat much?

Some of these apps imply an Emacs like ability for customization. Considering that touch screens have only recently stopped sucking, I think that's very important. As sexy as the iPhone is, it doesn't have swipe or 8pen. We don't really know what all the optimal touch interfaces look like yet.

This is becoming a religious war like vi/emacs spectrum/c64 , i think that everyone should use the phone that needs or wants. Find the apps you like or need and choose the phone stop talking about it like if it's a matter of life. I think we all know Gruber has embraced the Cupertino church , that's his choice. If you don't like it don't read him, at least when his talking about how good are Apple products and how wise is the word from the prophet Jobs. If someone finds a good app is good to read about it, but to make it a song about how good is a platform i think is childish.

Interesting parallel (vi/emacs). Accordingly, given that people have been arguing about vi vrs. emacs for >30 yrs, I doubt this one is going to be put to rest anytime soon.

I'm really surprised a couple app titles are missing on this list.

Swype? I've heard many iPhone owners wish they could have such a utility on their phone.

WinAmp WiFi sync? Wasn't this similar to an app Apple rejected and later popped up on Cydia? I know I've heard a lot of interest when it was submitted to the AppStore.

Barcode scanner? I know, I know. Both can do this today, BUT the G1 was capable of barcode scanning as a result of autofocus and preceded the iPhone's ability.

Chrome to Phone. Probably classifies as a system enhancement. Same goes for the ability to wipe and restore all over the cloud. Since Gruber disqualified it as part of his article, it doesn't get mentioned but this is huge, IMO.

Grooveshark?

I'm not taking sides as I own both and appreciate the similarities and differences in both platforms.

Parcels seems to be a knock-off of the iOS Delivery Status app, which I use a lot: http://junecloud.com/software/iphone/delivery-status-touch.h...

I've noticed this about the Market - there are a lot of blatant clones of better-executed iOS apps.

"I've noticed this about the Market - there are a lot of blatant clones of better-executed iOS apps."

Is this not also true of the Apple app store?

No?

Not from what I've seen. There may be multiple apps for one task, but generally they don't directly copy one another.

Which is pretty much what I've seen on Android. When I go looking for something I find an assorted of apps but rarely are they just bad clones.

I don't see a resemblance? Is any app that tracks multiple packages a knock-off? I don't think so. And I've been using original Delivery Status (as an OSX widget) before there even was App Store.

You don't see a resemblance between two apps that display package tracking details using custom whole-color list backgrounds and identically positioned iconography using similar glyphs? Between this:

http://android-apps.com/images/pname/eu.zomtec.android.deliv...

and this:

http://junecloud.com/images/entries/20101010_6613.png

... you see nothing in common? It's difficult to take your assertion seriously.

Delivery Status colors it's bars according to tracking provider's official colors (brown for UPS, purple for FedEx etc.) and uses provider's logos.

Parcels colors it's bars seemingly randomly to differentiate between them and uses some off the shelf icons for different package statuses.

Where the fuck do you see the resemblance? Only in the fact that it puts different packages into different bars and colors them differently? Should it display a Cover Flow for packages or something to differentiate itself?

Anyway, I like Delivery Status more myself, but accusing Parcels of plagiarism is idiotic.

It is clearly trying to copy it. The UI original and doesn't look native to andriod or iphone. You think its a coincidence it looks so similar to another delivery tracker. Just because the icons are worse and the colors are not useful doesn't stop it from being a ripoff. I agree that it is not illegal but it is in bad taste.

In response to Gruber's criteria, a much more objective comparison from end-user perspective would be to compare android only apps to iOS only apps, without further restrictions (eg., Who the vendor is or whether app is invalid for comparison, because one platform policy wont allow it.)

As a user/buyer, I am only interested in what I can or cannot do with a product, while comparing it with a competing product. Everything else is just details

Every time this comes up, my response is always "Google Navigation." This app is essentially superior in every way to a stand-alone gps device. The only constraint is that you need to have signal when you first request the directions. Aside from that I'd prefer it to any of the in-car systems that typically cost ~$2k. The biggest difference is that it accesses Google's index of places and businesses, and Google's ability to understand whatever mishmash of things I speak or type in.

My killer app is a SDK that lets me develop apps for a device I own without having to pay $99 a year to keep them from expiring.

To me, the biggest killer app for the iPhone is iTunes integration. I know many people with Android phones who don't use it for music (myself included) because it is fairly difficult to put music on it. And, given the fact that something like 75% of the media player market is iPod, that means that a lot of people have iTunes installed, and getting an iPhone set up is pretty painless. I know there are several music sync apps for Android, but from my experience, none of them are any good, and the fact that you have to actively look for a way to sync your music turns a lot of people off from the idea.

"I know many people with Android phones who don't use it for music (myself included) because it is fairly difficult to put music on it."

You plug it in into a USB port and drag files over to the mounted drive.

Conversely, any app or product that requires me to use iTunes is pretty much out of the running for me because it is too damn annoying to work with.

that sound unnecessarily painful. what about the amazon mp3 integration, as well as good syncing through stuff like doubletwist

You plug it in into a USB port and drag files over to the mounted drive.

I hope that's not the only way to get music on an Android phone because it sounds like a PITA. I don't want to pick through 30GB of music looking for song files to add to my phone. With the iPhone I have selected some playlists that stay on the phone and are updated anytime I plug the phone back into the computer (also works for movies, books, documents, photos). I never have to think about it beyond adding a song to the playlist. I can also tell iTunes to finish filling the phone with whatever music it thinks I might want. From what I gather it uses play counts and date the music was added the library.

This is just way too complicated for the average user, especially if they're already using iTunes to manage their music (which they probably are). Instead of just plugging in their phone and having it just work, they have to:

  1. Plug the phone in
  2. Figure out that they have to pull down the notification shade and choose "mount disk"
  3. Figure out where iTunes keeps their music files
  4. Find the mounted disk on their system
  5. Copy over the files

Safari Mobile was the killer app for me. At the time I switched to iPhone, no other phone had a comparable web experience. This is no longer the case, as the competitive landscape for browsing has changed significantly.

Now that I'm locked in to (and satisfied with) iOS with respect to accessory and software purchases (in the very much the same way Canon photographers are unlikely to switch to Nikon), I find no need to switch to any other platform, even though they may be just as good as or a little better than iOS.

Is this a joke? iTunes is a horrible app that is way to underpowered and annoying to use, you are limited to syncing which means you can't use it with more than one device or more than one computer, and you can't copy half an album or just a few songs from a playlist.

iTunes takes up the first twenty spots on the list of what I hate about the iPhone. It is awful in so many ways that it boggles the mind.

What's better? DoubleTwist? WinAmp?

To me the only thing killer about the iTunes integration for the iPhone is that it almost kills the experience for me. I would really like to get rid of iTunes, but I can't since I need to use it to sync my iPhone.

For music I use Spotify, and Spotify has applications for both iPhone and Android.

I also listen to podcasts, but I would like to manage that entirely from my phone instead of having to use iTunes to download the episodes. I know you can get new episodes with the phone, but that is far too manual and requires WiFi which I keep turned off to save on battery.

iPhone is - by far - the platform with the most interesting apps. Here's a few things that impressed me:

* I have this small "survival tips" paper book written by an ex-SAS guy. Now there's an app for that.

* Revolution studios have published their Broken Sword games for iDevices, with UI and audio improvements.

* There are paper magazines that ONLY discuss iPhone apps.

Google Maps bike directions are my killer app.

Same here with walking directions. Without street view I found Maps on my iPhone to be nowhere near as good.

Can you clarify what it is you're missing? Both walking directions and street view work well in Maps on my iPhone.

I like to see the street I'm walking down with an arrow pointing me where I need to go.

The iPhone can't do this at present because street view and walking directions are two separate things.

Street view is there in Maps on iOS. There is an icon that looks like a person on the details of any push pin or the current location pointer. Touch it, and you zoom into street view.

See my other comment - street view doesn't exist in directions on iPhone. The Android term for it is 'Navigation' but it amounts to seeing the view you'd see with your eyes, with a fat arrow pointing you where you need to go.

It's really useful, especially as I've only lived in London for two years.

I'll leave the debate over what makes a "killer app" to you guys. I just want to thank the OP for his list. I'm really digging 8pen so far. It's changing how I interact with my phone (which, one could argue, deems it "killer").

8pen doesn't seem to be quicker or simpler than a on screen keyboard. Is there any prove that it's worth learning? Why not just put a Shorthand keyboard? At least the method is prove to work!

well at least I don't have to worry about lusting after the Android, after reading this list...

No mate, that's not what he asked. He asked:

3. Third-party apps that are exclusive to Android.

And followed it up with this:

"At this point, I’m guessing, Android fans are ready to exclaim that the fact that Android supports things like home screen replacements (or other system-level tools, such as touchscreen keyboard replacements) — and that iOS does not — is precisely why they prefer Android, and/or consider iOS to be an unacceptable toy, or what have you. But, again, that’s not the argument I’m making. I’m talking about third-party developer exclusives — and the only ones Android has are ones that Apple doesn’t want."

And yet you provided:

4 system enhancements (keyboard, media player, homescreen, email labeller)

4 apps available on the iOS

1 possibly genuinely killer app, but that falls into the geeky automation category

I fail to see why that matters - a killer app that is exclusive for Android would by definition be one Apple didn't want.

What matters is what its users wants, and clearly at least one user wants this app.

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