Sluggish Development for Androids Apps In General

[David Russell3]

I can hold my hand up and admit to disliking Apple, a lot.
Nevertheless, I have an ipad because of work. I was an early Android adopter having imported an Asus TF101 which for its time was brilliant as were the apps such as EzPDF etc and on the whole it outclassed/matched the Ipad 2 in every area. Having upgraded my Android tablet to a Note 10.1 and having had an ipad now for last 2 years I have noticed a disturbing trend. While most of the popular Apples apps, such as PDF expert/Goodreader etc are being constantly updated the same cannot be said of the corresponding android apps. While ezpdf on Android was miles ahead of PDF expert/Goodreader on Ipad 3 years ago it is not sluggish and clumsy in comparison these days. Other android PDF apps and core apps in general are lagging behind. This is a weird set of circumstances. Android has tablets with better screens, input devices and a more open OS yet the development cycle is stagnating. Why cant Google or Samsung inject some funds into improving the core apps. Seriously, someone purchase Readdle and get some quality innovation back into the core apps. This has implications, I was going to get a Samsung 12.2 pro this month to replace my Ipad 4. Having trialled it I must say the hardware is breathtaking but the core apps are holding it back, which makes me sad. What is everyone elses view?

 

[Rukbat]

Which 'core apps' would those be? As a developer, I've never found any program written exactly the way I'd write it, but I've found Android apps to perform every function I want to perform on my phone. I'd change something here or there, but I still don't have a problem with the email app I use, although I'd like a slightly different UI. About the only app I've really made a serious request for a change was Better Open With. Not bad for 176 apps currently installed and a few hundred others backed up. (I would have complained about Maps, but My Directions cured the failings in Maps.)

 

[David Russell3]

I agree with you, I have no complaints of Android on my phone but on my tablet I think the app market is stagnating. PDF annotation is particularly lacking and hasnt evolved over the last 3 years. EZPDF is the most feature rich out there but it is not a patch on the likes of Ipad PDF expert (over the last year I have had 12 updates to PDF expert on ipad introducing extra features and not a single new feature on EZPDF or similar android pdf tools). Database tools are not great on android (vs IPAD filemaker say), the office clones are clumsy and are unusable unless you use a keyboard and mouse. Overall, I get the impression that top developers are no longer as interested in Android now, for example many apps, such as ezpdf for example, are now better on the ipad than on Android despite the fact they started on android. Android may be winning the unit battle but i feel it is losing the app battle.

 

[GiorgiD]

Hello,

I am developer of Better Open With. What change do you want to see in the app?

 

[David Russell3]

None really in Better Open With. My main worry is that I am seeing constant improvement of my ipad apps such as PDF Expert with the Android equivalents lagging behind.

 

[GiorgiD]

I see. By the way can you leave a review and/or G+ it if you like the app?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Branchfire]

Hi there,

Sorry to barge in. We're Branchfire, the developer for iAnnotate. You mentioned you found Android PDF apps lagging behind and we agree. We re-wrote ours from the ground up. You might want to give it a look. The new app is available for Android, ChromeOS and Kindle with more to come. It will also be in pretty much continuous development for the foreseeable future. We'd post a link but we're still newbies here but searching the Play Store for "iannotate" will get you what you're looking for.

Hope we can fill that demand for you!