What makes an app a tablet app?

[RichardRight]

I don't get all the fuss about saying the Nexus 7just uses phone apps and not tablet specific apps. Almost every app on my tablet looks great. What am I supposedly missing?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[dextorboot]

From every screenshot comparison I've seen it has something to do with landscope view. At this size portrait still makes the most sense to me. And almost every popular app people complain about are ones that are just portals to websites. On my phone, where the internet connection is just so so, I get the need for an app. But on a wifi device like this I see that as losing functionality.

 

[natehoy]

I don't get all the fuss about saying the Nexus 7just uses phone apps and not tablet specific apps. Almost every app on my tablet looks great. What am I supposedly missing?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

tl;dr version: In iOS, 2:3 (iPhone/iPod Touch 1-4) or 4:7 (iPhone 5) aspect ratio is "phone" and 3:4 (all iPad) is "tablet". In Android, the difference isn't as clear-cut.


Well, from the point of view of Android, there really is no clean differentiation between a "phone app" and a "tablet app". I think that line is eventually going to be blurred on the Apple side of the house as well.


The net result, though, is that a tablet has a larger screen. So, in theory, where it makes sense, a developer can add more elements to the screen.

One good example is the Yelp app that I've seen a few screenshots of. On my Thunderbolt phone, I have my choice of views - list or map. One shows a list of local venues, the other shows a map with pins. I get the same user interface on my Nexus 7, but with larger fonts and more whitespace on the list view, and a larger map area on the map view. On the Tablet version of the app (which is currently only implemented on iOS, as I understand it), you can get a "hybrid" view that shows about 2/3 of the screen as map, with a detailed list taking up the other 1/3. This takes good advantage of the screen size, because you can see both the names AND locations of the venues at once.

The trouble is deciding how many elements will fit on a screen. In the iOS world, there are basically two aspect ratios: 2:3 (phone) and 3:4 (tablet). The new iPhone5 is an exception to this, it uses an approximately 4:7 ratio that's about half way between the two. So there's a pretty clear differentiation between "Tablet" (3:4) and "Phone" (2:3 or 5:7) aspect ratios.

In Android, screens start out very small, especially for devices with a hard keyboard, and get as big as an iPad, with the easy possibility of being bigger. The aspect ratio is completely dictated by the manufacturer, and there are tons of those. So it's a little less easy to decide between a "tablet" and a "phone" interface. What is a 7" device that's 4:7? How about a 6" device that's 2:3? 5.5" device at 4:7? 1" device at 1:1?

So, by and large, Android developers put the effort into making sure they offer one interface that's not too cluttered but scales pretty well. The Android OS is designed to scale reasonably-written small-screen apps so they still look presentable at larger screen sizes. There's also a facility that tries to present some approximation of the screen size so the best of the developers can choose how many elements to throw on the screen.

Trouble with the Nexus 7 is that the screen size is apparently presented to developers as "large", which is the same value that a 4.2" phone would present. The next size up is "xlarge", which is what a 10" tablet presents. So Android developers who want to present an automatic "tablet" presentation based on screen size will present the "phone" version to the Nexus 7.

I think (hope) we'll start seeing more apps that can sensibly present more elements giving the user the choice of a less-cluttered phone interface and a more-informative tablet interface.

Because there are a good number of us who actually prefer the "phone" UI for a lot of our apps.

With Facebook, I actually like having the "phone" UI. I don't want to see all the menus autoexpanded and taking up screen space. I know they are there, I'll go to them if I need them.

When I'm composing an email, I actually don't need or want to have half my screen taken up by a view of my inbox - I want the email I'm composing to be full-screen. I want to use the screen to see more of the email I'm composing, and/or to re-read the email I'm responding to.

But things like Yelp would make a lot of sense, for example, with a hybrid view.

It's not a make-or-break feature for me, but Apple's dictation of very few aspect ratios benefits their developers by making the decision between two user interfaces easier.

However, it also put design limitations on their own lineup (I can't believe Apple REALLY wanted to come out with a 1024x768 tablet in this day and age, but it was either that or 2048x1536, which is impractical in a sub-8" tablet screen, and any option other than the two would not have fit their "phone/tablet" differentiation). The iPhone5 had to have caused iOS developers some Android-style consternation because the introduction of 4:7 had to be a real problem to people choosing between 2:3 and 3:4 for so long.

Meanwhile, Asus/Google could choose any screen size and aspect ratio they wanted for the Nexus 7, so they measured some pants pockets and actual hands and came up with something with a better physical design ergonomically, because they weren't limited from a user interface design viewpoint.

 

[anon(847090)]

it should make use of the big size tablet. that's it, that's the definition.

for example have a loot at this https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...store/apps/details?id=com.mint&token=hYzyOShR

in the App Screenshots. the first image is the first page displayed on phone and the second screenshot is the first page displayed on tablets.

look how different they are make use of bigger screen size. They both are same app.

 

[ep1977]

I don't get all the fuss about saying the Nexus 7just uses phone apps and not tablet specific apps. Almost every app on my tablet looks great. What am I supposedly missing?


Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

I use the ESPN scorecenter app on both my phone and Nexus 7. On the Nexus it isn't formatted properly. The names of the teams are cut off making me think this app isn't set up for tablets.

 

[badbrad17]

tl;dr version: In iOS, 2:3 (iPhone/iPod Touch 1-4) or 4:7 (iPhone 5) aspect ratio is "phone" and 3:4 (all iPad) is "tablet". In Android, the difference isn't as clear-cut.


Well, from the point of view of Android, there really is no clean differentiation between a "phone app" and a "tablet app". I think that line is eventually going to be blurred on the Apple side of the house as well.


The net result, though, is that a tablet has a larger screen. So, in theory, where it makes sense, a developer can add more elements to the screen.

One good example is the Yelp app that I've seen a few screenshots of. On my Thunderbolt phone, I have my choice of views - list or map. One shows a list of local venues, the other shows a map with pins. I get the same user interface on my Nexus 7, but with larger fonts and more whitespace on the list view, and a larger map area on the map view. On the Tablet version of the app (which is currently only implemented on iOS, as I understand it), you can get a "hybrid" view that shows about 2/3 of the screen as map, with a detailed list taking up the other 1/3. This takes good advantage of the screen size, because you can see both the names AND locations of the venues at once.

The trouble is deciding how many elements will fit on a screen. In the iOS world, there are basically two aspect ratios: 2:3 (phone) and 3:4 (tablet). The new iPhone5 is an exception to this, it uses an approximately 4:7 ratio that's about half way between the two. So there's a pretty clear differentiation between "Tablet" (3:4) and "Phone" (2:3 or 5:7) aspect ratios.

In Android, screens start out very small, especially for devices with a hard keyboard, and get as big as an iPad, with the easy possibility of being bigger. The aspect ratio is completely dictated by the manufacturer, and there are tons of those. So it's a little less easy to decide between a "tablet" and a "phone" interface. What is a 7" device that's 4:7? How about a 6" device that's 2:3? 5.5" device at 4:7? 1" device at 1:1?

So, by and large, Android developers put the effort into making sure they offer one interface that's not too cluttered but scales pretty well. The Android OS is designed to scale reasonably-written small-screen apps so they still look presentable at larger screen sizes. There's also a facility that tries to present some approximation of the screen size so the best of the developers can choose how many elements to throw on the screen.

Trouble with the Nexus 7 is that the screen size is apparently presented to developers as "large", which is the same value that a 4.2" phone would present. The next size up is "xlarge", which is what a 10" tablet presents. So Android developers who want to present an automatic "tablet" presentation based on screen size will present the "phone" version to the Nexus 7.

I think (hope) we'll start seeing more apps that can sensibly present more elements giving the user the choice of a less-cluttered phone interface and a more-informative tablet interface.

Because there are a good number of us who actually prefer the "phone" UI for a lot of our apps.

With Facebook, I actually like having the "phone" UI. I don't want to see all the menus autoexpanded and taking up screen space. I know they are there, I'll go to them if I need them.

When I'm composing an email, I actually don't need or want to have half my screen taken up by a view of my inbox - I want the email I'm composing to be full-screen. I want to use the screen to see more of the email I'm composing, and/or to re-read the email I'm responding to.

But things like Yelp would make a lot of sense, for example, with a hybrid view.

It's not a make-or-break feature for me, but Apple's dictation of very few aspect ratios benefits their developers by making the decision between two user interfaces easier.

However, it also put design limitations on their own lineup (I can't believe Apple REALLY wanted to come out with a 1024x768 tablet in this day and age, but it was either that or 2048x1536, which is impractical in a sub-8" tablet screen, and any option other than the two would not have fit their "phone/tablet" differentiation). The iPhone5 had to have caused iOS developers some Android-style consternation because the introduction of 4:7 had to be a real problem to people choosing between 2:3 and 3:4 for so long.

Meanwhile, Asus/Google could choose any screen size and aspect ratio they wanted for the Nexus 7, so they measured some pants pockets and actual hands and came up with something with a better physical design ergonomically, because they weren't limited from a user interface design viewpoint.

Wow. Thank you for talking the time to write this. Very good information. Makes sense to some degree why Apple had to go with 1024x768 with the mini.

So I guess in lot of ways Apple is a bit more limited in the layout options as they move ahead. It really makes me scratch my head when looking at the resolution of the iPhone 5 and makes me wonder even more how they will fair if they make an even larger screen on the iPhone 6. What resolution can they go to without making the developers angry. I have already seen a lot of un optimized apps on the iPhone 5, so this could be a really big issue if they have to introduce another odd resolution.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Android Central Forums

 

[natehoy]

Wow. Thank you for talking the time to write this. Very good information. Makes sense to some degree why Apple had to go with 1024x768 with the mini.

So I guess in lot of ways Apple is a bit more limited in the layout options as they move ahead. It really makes me scratch my head when looking at the resolution of the iPhone 5 and makes me wonder even more how they will fair if they make an even larger screen on the iPhone 6. What resolution can they go to without making the developers angry. I have already seen a lot of un optimized apps on the iPhone 5, so this could be a really big issue if they have to introduce another odd resolution.

I'm not criticizing Apple's choice, because there are certainly advantages to a strictly fixed set of aspect ratios. Designing for Android has to be hell on earth for a developer - trying to come up with a good app that scales properly on so. freaking. many aspect ratios has got to be an exercise in tearing-hair-out frustration. Actual resolutions aren't as important, since you can always scale.

But, yeah, the iPhone5 and iPad Mini are perfect examples of how Apple has really painted themselves and their developers in a corner. They have this huge codebase of apps that look fantastic at 2:3 and 3:4, with a clear differentiation between the two. But stray outside that comfort zone and - ouch.

iPhone5: Introduce a new aspect ratio and watch the developers scream, and the users complain that their existing apps don't all scale well.

iPad Mini: Be forced to a lower resolution than you should have to be an a form factor that isn't necessarily ideal because "a tablet MUST be 3:4").

It's a tough decision. I don't know which way I would have gone if I had to produce an ecosystem from scratch. Apple values UI, of course, and has the power of a completely controlled platform. So they actually had to make the choice.

Google/Android lacks any sort of controlled platform. Manufacturers could easily build a 14:3 aspect ratio device if they wanted to, and given any sort of half-competent use of the Android toolkit apps would scale to look OK on it. But precious few developers would actually build something to support such a weird aspect ratio in landscape, so there'd be a LOT of whitespace. So Google didn't even have the choice - manufacturers could simply tell them to go to hell, so they had to write graceful scaling in from day one.

And graceful scaling will always be beat out by apps that were purpose-built for an aspect ratio to start with. Scaling, however, allows you more choice in aspect ratio and therefore in product designs.

 

[Ry]

I don't get all the fuss about saying the Nexus 7just uses phone apps and not tablet specific apps. Almost every app on my tablet looks great. What am I supposedly missing?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

What apps specifically are you referring to?

 

[natehoy]

It is about layout more than scaling. A tablet compatible app will/should employ a different one... with more columns/panes than the "single hierarchy at a time" seen in phone screens. This isn't rocket science as the columns/panes can scale on 7 inches versus 10 to expand content (though obviously this is tedious with games and others employing bit mapped graphics). It is extra work for the developer though, as they have to design two interfaces, and a bunch of if/defines in their code based on the screen size of the target device.

Scaling is not a problem. Most competent Android developers already design their apps to scale across a large span of screen sizes, because they've already had to deal with the "hundreds of screen sizes/densities" problem.

I'd suggest that, in Android, you'd often need more than two interfaces (because there are more than two basic aspect ratios), and the times when you'd want to choose between them aren't nearly as clear-cut as a controlled set of aspect ratios and densities a'la iOS.

That's the real problem - "what makes an app a Tablet app?" - first define a "tablet". Would the design considerations for a 7" tablet differ from those of a 10" tablet? I'd say, for a lot of apps, "yes, it does". How about a 7" tablet as opposed to a 5.5" phone?

If you design one user interface for a 4.2" phone and call it your "phone" interface and another for a 10" tablet and call it your "tablet" interface, what do you do when you are faced with a 7" tablet?

With iOS, since the iPad came out, it's always been a "phone versus tablet" argument. You design for two aspect ratios and 4 specific resolutions (3 and 5 now that the iPhone5 is out), you're good.

Android has never been this clear. We've got phones, phablets, tablettes, minitabs, tablets, large wristwatches, and the ability to run on desktop machines with 45 inch monitors if we want to.

Freedom of the hardware designer to choose the screen density and aspect ratio that best fits their design criteria means a lot less clarity in terms of how much detail a developer wants to throw on screen for a specific app. It's not an "either/or" decision in Android.

And Apple is starting to find the limits of their "either/or" decision, as evidenced by the introduction of a new screen size on the iPhone5 (hardware design won over consistency to the ecosystem) and the forced choice of a sub-Retina display on the iPad Mini (consistency to the ecosystem won over hardware design).

 

[BoredandTattooed]

I thought the entire point of ICS was to marry Honeycomb and Gingerbread?? I thought they told developers apps had to be updated so that Tablet or Phone didn't matter anymore as long as you were ICS or higher and that apps had to be able to scale accordingly?

Guess not huh

 

[natehoy]

I thought the entire point of ICS was to marry Honeycomb and Gingerbread?? I thought they told developers apps had to be updated so that Tablet or Phone didn't matter anymore as long as you were ICS or higher and that apps had to be able to scale accordingly?

Guess not huh

Yes, they scale perfectly appropriately. All my apps look visually great on my Nexus 7, with the rare exception of a developer who chose graphics that were too small to start with (graphics tend to scale to smaller than native size pretty well, but to larger than native size very poorly).

The problem comes when a developer could have thrown more information on the screen and chooses not to.

Apple requires, as part of its design criteria, the ability to adjust what is shown on screen to take full advantage of the two (now three) aspect ratios available, and that the app must take optimal advantage of the 5 available resolutions and choose between them accordingly.

In return, it offers only those five resolutions (480x320, 960x640 iPhone/iPodTouch; 1136x640 iPhone5; 1024x768, 2048x1536 iPad). When Apple introduced a denser screen, they limited their design to exact multiples of existing resolutions so older apps could scale easily until they could be rewritten to the new doubled density. So it's really easy in a controlled ecosystem like Apple to design a maximum of 5 optimal views of your app and choose between them.

Up until iPhone5, it was 4 resolutions and 2 aspect ratios. The iPhone5 caused some angst amongst developers who had written for 4 specific resolutions. The iPhone5 came out and introduced a new aspect ratio and a new size - many apps scaled poorly because everyone had already written to 2 aspect ratios and 4 screen sizes specifically, and few apps scaled properly to the new screen size.

Android has never really had the easy "phone or tablet" differentiation, since it's been available in more sizes and densities than iOS. Manufacturers design their screens based on what they want to build (ergonomics, size, cost, etc) and not necessarily whether it fits into a specific size category from a user interface perspective. It's been like this since really early on in Android.

Google tried to differentiate with Honeycomb, then decided this was a Really Bad Idea (for good reasons). So now there really is no such thing as a "tablet app", only one that shows too much or too little information for a given screen size.

 

[jpash549]

The Blackberry Playbook has the bezel swipe to bring in the options. The N7 has plenty of room on the top and bottom bars. Couldn't a similar technique with perhaps simple tapping be used?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[natehoy]

The Blackberry Playbook has the bezel swipe to bring in the options. The N7 has plenty of room on the top and bottom bars. Couldn't a similar technique with perhaps simple tapping be used?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

If the touch sensor was built out beyond the display area, sure. On my HTC Thunderbolt, the display is 4.2", but there are fixed/screenprinted "home/menu/back/search" buttons that are on the same touch sensor as the main screen.

The overall design of JB is not to require or use "dedicated buttons" of that type, though. The idea is that ALL interacting elements can rotate around move to accommodate different orientations more smoothly (I've used my Nexus 7 on plenty of occasions and reached for the power button to find that I'd been holding it "upside down" for hours).

So any interactive elements outside the screen area would be modifications to Android. Which means, of course, that they will exist (Jellybean brought to an older phone that already has "hard buttons" will almost certainly be modified to recognize input from those buttons and maybe even suppress them as part of the main UI).

But with enough input, maybe they'll add some "off-screen" touch area programmability to the next version of Android - it's not a bad idea having dedicated screenprinted off-screen controls - since screenprinting is cheaper and takes up less battery than a larger screen, and cluttering the screen with controls just means less useful screen area.

 

[jpash549]

Of course we actually already have one bar icon to bring up app options- the three vertical dots on the lower bar. This is used in this forum and Freecell by Softtick but not in Appygeek for example.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[apollooff320]

Tablet apps shouldn't look like their phone app counterparts. The layout and graphics should look different unless it's a game. I like how google did the Youtube app for tablets it's sexy, but Nexus 7 uses the phone version.

 

[jcsugrue]

As a former iPad user, I can tell you that nothing is more aggravating than buying an app just to find out there was a tablet version available. The 2x scaling and giant, aliased fonts are atrocious. I would so much rather have an Android app that isn't optimized for a tablet and shows up slightly wrong, than an app that looks like it's built out of fuzzy Legos. Going forward though, developers should really consider the wide spectrum of screen resolutions available on Android. Especially with the influx of users who will have 2560 x 1600 displays after Monday's announcements.

 

[natehoy]

As a former iPad user, I can tell you that nothing is more aggravating than buying an app just to find out there was a tablet version available.

I hope we don't end up in some dystopian future where there are separate applications for tablets versus phones, ESPECIALLY in Android. If a developer feels that their application would work better with more elements on a tablet and fewer elements on a phone, the app should be written so it can scale to look good and provide the very basic information necessary on any screen size and adapt the number of elements present to the current screen size (either automatically or via user preference or both) and there should be one app written.

 

[Shadowriver]

Here what Apple think about it:

Apple Keynote october 2012 -ipad mini.FLV - YouTube

Yes, they scale perfectly appropriately. All my apps look visually great on my Nexus 7, with the rare exception of a developer who chose graphics that were too small to start with (graphics tend to scale to smaller than native size pretty well, but to larger than native size very poorly).

The problem comes when a developer could have thrown more information on the screen and chooses not to.

Apple requires, as part of its design criteria, the ability to adjust what is shown on screen to take full advantage of the two (now three) aspect ratios available, and that the app must take optimal advantage of the 5 available resolutions and choose between them accordingly.

In return, it offers only those five resolutions (480x320, 960x640 iPhone/iPodTouch; 1136x640 iPhone5; 1024x768, 2048x1536 iPad). When Apple introduced a denser screen, they limited their design to exact multiples of existing resolutions so older apps could scale easily until they could be rewritten to the new doubled density. So it's really easy in a controlled ecosystem like Apple to design a maximum of 5 optimal views of your app and choose between them.

Up until iPhone5, it was 4 resolutions and 2 aspect ratios. The iPhone5 caused some angst amongst developers who had written for 4 specific resolutions. The iPhone5 came out and introduced a new aspect ratio and a new size - many apps scaled poorly because everyone had already written to 2 aspect ratios and 4 screen sizes specifically, and few apps scaled properly to the new screen size.

Android has never really had the easy "phone or tablet" differentiation, since it's been available in more sizes and densities than iOS. Manufacturers design their screens based on what they want to build (ergonomics, size, cost, etc) and not necessarily whether it fits into a specific size category from a user interface perspective. It's been like this since really early on in Android.

Google tried to differentiate with Honeycomb, then decided this was a Really Bad Idea (for good reasons). So now there really is no such thing as a "tablet app", only one that shows too much or too little information for a given screen size.

You wrong, you really think Google didn't think about this? Android have screen classification system of screen size relateve to density:

Supporting Multiple Screens | Android Developers

Screen dencities should not matter for developer, other then supplying graphics for each of them not only to make it pretty on large dencity but so in small screen they don't take much memory, in which you use vector graphics it should not be a problem.... bah Android SDK give you tool for that for you. Android since 2.2 feature density relative measurement units, you have operate them like pixel dencity is static, if you use them UI will look the same no matter which dencity you use, Android take care of dencity diffrences for you.

So in other words you just need to detect 7 inch device (which then we consider tablet isn't?) and then apply tablet layout and after that let Android UI streaching systems do the rest on other sizes, you could also detect 10-inch to add some extra things on the screen. Problem is Android devlopers don't even think about 7-inch and beyond and let phone layout be streched on tablet, yes it's usable but at the end it's a waste of the screen. Google provides you everything you need do tablet apps but developer are simply not interested for some reason.

In other words you just need to detect if device is 7 -inch, throw tablet layout and then let UI straching do the reast with other screen sizes, you can also detect 10-inch to add extra stuff, but if you already support 7-ich the expirence should be already better

 

[jcsugrue]

I hope we don't end up in some dystopian future where there are separate applications for tablets versus phones, ESPECIALLY in Android. If a developer feels that their application would work better with more elements on a tablet and fewer elements on a phone, the app should be written so it can scale to look good and provide the very basic information necessary on any screen size and adapt the number of elements present to the current screen size (either automatically or via user preference or both) and there should be one app written.

Just looking at my Nexus 7, I'm already starting to see that trend. CNN for Tablet, Fandango for Tablet, Swiftkey Tablet, USA Today for Tablet... Google has set a development standard for tablet app quality, so that there is no need for two different APKs. I think what they really need to do is crack down and enforce it. We don't need a bunch of half assed iOS ports. The last thing we need, with such a broad spectrum of resolutions available for Android devices, is for developers to start lazily releasing ldpi, mdpi, hdpi, and xhdpi versions of every app they churn out.

 

[chefclean]

The app should not only fit into the whole screen but the resolution should be comparable to the device.