Given the number of "Apps" is there anything that can touch the iPhone?

rossyl

rossyl

rossyl

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I've got a Samsung Omnia.

I got it over an iPhone due to:
- ability to play divx (non-scaled down)
- camera being better
- and no lockdown on what i could install.

However, the sheer number of Apps, their diversity and functionality they give the phone has lead me to think that come my next upgrade I will be getting an iPhone.

I don't see any other phone catching up with them any time soon. Nokia seem to be pushing their Apps, but none 9or not many) seem to be public made - i.e. just someone's idea put into production. They are all company made things: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter...etc etc.

So then - what do you think?
 
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There are some great apps, but most are pointless tat, like drink a beer or make lightsabre sounds.
 
There are lots of good apps, ones that make getting train times far faster, a wine library to assist buying wine, underground interactive maps, i could go on...

I do admit there are many pap ones though.
 
I wouldn't really get too upset about the number of apps - the vast majority of them just replicate website-functionality, so as long as you get a decent browser you should be ok. For the remainder, there generally are the fifty or so genuinely useful apps for any platform (maybe not PalmOS actually).

Consider how many apps you actually use on your PC and then I think you'll have a good idea of what you need. Personally, as long as I can comfortably do IM, SatNav, Mapping, Office (word/spreadsheet) I'm set.

@rossyl: I have a hard time believing that the National Rail app is faster than their mobile website - the latter loads instantly for me, even on 2G. Also the website is free :p
 
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Seft said:
@rossyl: I have a hard time believing that the National Rail app is faster than their mobile website - the latter loads instantly for me, even on 2G. Also the website is free :p
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Point me at the mobile website and maybe I'll help you believe. Nothing else I've used so far even comes close to the app.
 
The iphone doesnt attact me for its 'apps' over an android device. The iphone may have a lot of applications but there comes a point of saturation. Android has enough applications for me too. Its about quality in my eyes. You only ever end up using say 10 applications Id say. As for games - that is one area the iphone is doing well in I admit.

Personally I place more stock in better camera, ability to play any video you want and multitasking - hence n900..
 
rossyl said:
I don't see any other phone catching up with them any time soon. Nokia seem to be pushing their Apps, but none 9or not many) seem to be public made - i.e. just someone's idea put into production. They are all company made things: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter...etc etc.
Click to expand...

The problem with Nokia's Ovi Store is that only accept submissions from companies. Bedroom coders are locked out at the moment. :(

I've got an iPhone and there's only three apps that I use on a day-to-day basis:

- Tweetie (Twitter clients are ten-a-penny and Gravity on S60 is better)
- Spotify (great but there's a better version available on Android)
- RSSPlayer (use it for OTA podcast downloads, standard functionality on S60 and there's plenty of options on Android)

The only place where the iPhone really comes into its own is games, IMO. None of the other smartphone platforms get everywhere near the price and polish of the iPhone's best offerings.
 
Short answer: No.

Long Answer: Not really, any phone company that brings out something comparable won't really take customers away from the iphone, they'll mainly be competing for new custom in the smartphone market, which will keep iphone at the top of things.
 
http://pda.ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/pj/pj

Also pro tip: The website accepts three-letter codes for stations e.g. WAT = London Waterloo, PAD = London Paddington, RDG = Reading etc.
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There did used to be a third-party version of the National Rail website, which was developed specifically for iPhone as a web app in the pre App Store days. However, National Rail pulled it when the App Store came out so they could charge a fiver for the same service.

The PDA version renders terribly on the iPhone and cynics might think that this was because National Rail intentionally left out any iPhone mobile optimisation to sell more of the paid app... As useful as it may be, I kind of resent paying a fiver to access the train timetables given that I spend about £6K a year on train tickets.
 
Surely any Windows Mobile handset has more (and more likely useful) apps, just that you put them on via your computer due to the lack of a centralised "marketplace". There are websites dedicated to them.

Same goes for the old Palm handsets.

EDIT: I guess it's overlooked as people are buying iPhones which are smartphones and replacing their "dumbphones" of which there has always been a limited amount of apps for them.
 
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I'm just coming up to the end of my 18 months of iPhone 3G can't wait to get a new phone which is looking like the Hero at the moment.

I have about 5 screens of apps but only use probably 3 regulary which all have alternative versions across different mobile OS's.

I admit I'm not an Apple fan after using the iPhone - I will be passing it to my mum though as I think they are REALLY good for people who aren't great with technology but for me thats what has made the iPhone stale for me very quickly.
 
LostPhil said:
Surely any Windows Mobile handset has more (and more likely useful) apps, just that you put them on via your computer due to the lack of a centralised "marketplace". There are websites dedicated to them.
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I've found the apps to be roughly equivalent, though iPhone apps are very much cheaper. The only area where the iPhone really pulls away is games. Nothing can touch it, due either to the lack of the hardware acceleration (Win Mo, S60)or limited nature of the SDK (Android, WebOS).
 
Seft said:
My phone's browser redirects to:

http://pda.ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/pj/pj

Also pro tip: The website accepts three-letter codes for stations e.g. WAT = London Waterloo, PAD = London Paddington, RDG = Reading etc.
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That's very interesting to know. I was looking for a WM program the other day that did this. :)

Arachnae said:
Short answer: No.

Long Answer: Not really, any phone company that brings out something comparable won't really take customers away from the iphone, they'll mainly be competing for new custom in the smartphone market, which will keep iphone at the top of things.
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And original customers. The Smartphone was around a loooong time before the iPhone, it just brought them away from business people and into the common market.:)

fishfishfish said:
The PDA version renders terribly on the iPhone and cynics might think that this was because National Rail intentionally left out any iPhone mobile optimisation to sell more of the paid app... As useful as it may be, I kind of resent paying a fiver to access the train timetables given that I spend about £6K a year on train tickets.
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It may be something to do with resolution. As the site is labelled PDA it was probably designed for phones and PDA's with 2-3 times the resolution of the iPhone so the rendering problem may be likelooking at any high resolution site with a low resolution screen.:)

LostPhil said:
Surely any Windows Mobile handset has more (and more likely useful) apps, just that you put them on via your computer due to the lack of a centralised "marketplace". There are websites dedicated to them.

Same goes for the old Palm handsets.

EDIT: I guess it's overlooked as people are buying iPhones which are smartphones and replacing their "dumbphones" of which there has always been a limited amount of apps for them.
Click to expand...

I think part of the problem with WM is that people seem to think "apps stores" are the only place to get apps from, so look at the new microsoft one and see only a couple of hundred versus the 100k of the iPhone and think "that's rubbish" without realising the apps store is a pile of poo (for WM) and that there are 10's of thousands of apps all over the internet for it, most free.

What is starting to annoy me recently is the number of companies that are only making apps for the iPhone. WM and Android aren't getting a look in sometimes (a prime example is thetrainlines app for iPhone), for no reason I can see, other than maybe there is more of a culture in paying for apps with the iPhone whereas WM (and maybe Android?) it's almost entirely free apps. The only paid for ones as such are actual programs that integrate loads of "apps" together for a price (usually made by the big names, Resco, SPB etc.). A prime example of this is SPB Traveller, which contains a "game", curreny converter, tip converter, clothing converter, aeroplane timetable, foreign phrase book for about 50 languages and a few more things. However it does cost $30...

I've found the apps to be roughly equivalent, though iPhone apps are very much cheaper. The only area where the iPhone really pulls away is games. Nothing can touch it, due either to the lack of the hardware acceleration (Win Mo, S60)or limited nature of the SDK (Android, WebOS).
Click to expand...

WM can have hardware accelleration, the SE Xperia for one. There are also a few good 3d games out for it, however not anywhere as near as many as on the iPhone.:)
 
LostPhil said:
Surely any Windows Mobile handset has more (and more likely useful) apps, just that you put them on via your computer due to the lack of a centralised "marketplace". There are websites dedicated to them.

Same goes for the old Palm handsets.

EDIT: I guess it's overlooked as people are buying iPhones which are smartphones and replacing their "dumbphones" of which there has always been a limited amount of apps for them.
Click to expand...

You'd think that wouldn't you.. but no.

Also unfortunately, at least with my omnia anyway, there is a lack of good windows mobile apps that are free and easy to obtain. Also it leaves things open to stuff like viruses which on a mobile device would be a real pain. I also hated the touchscreen on my omnia.
 
The sheer number of apps on the iPhone make it invaluable - it's fantastic. I've got about 80 of the things - everything from Tetris to document synchronisation, FTP/SSH clients, iTunes remote, train time app, facebook, Babelgum, Google's various apps, Dropbox, Flixster, Fring, Flickr, Xe, heart fm, vlcremote, amazon, nasa, all sorts
 
TBH while the iPhone may have 1000s of apps, there are also 1000s of crap on there too. There may only be 100s that are worthy of a peek.

The games are not too bad tho.
 
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