12 August 2008
iPhone App store: one month on
The iPhone 3G and the app store launched about a month ago now and I think it’s been somewhat of a mixed bag: there is a plethora of shit on there which makes it hard to spot some of the gems.
When Apple announced the $99 fee for the developer program, there was an initial feeling that this would help reduce the number of people with little interest in writing original/interesting/quality apps. Unfortunately it hasn’t; a cursory browse through the app store reveals more tip calculators, fuel/expense trackers, note-taking apps, todo lists, Sudoku, and converters than you could shake a shit-covered stick at. And then there is the really pointless crap: flashlights, novelty apps, fucking candles (and they even have the audacity to charge for this rubbish), not to mention the people who don’t have a clue what user interface guidelines are all about and what makes a good UI (yes, I’m talking about you Stevens Creek Software – you’re apps are an abomination).
That said, there are good apps on there, some of which are of really high quality. Here’s a few that I use regularly:
NetNewsWire
I’ve tried many RSS feed readers on my Mac but I’ve always come back to NetNewsWire. It’s the only feed reader that just feels “right” to me and the syncing between all of my machines courtesy of it’s online NewsGator service is probably it’s killer feature. I’d tried various web-based readers optimised for the iPhone prior to the the app store launch, including NewsGator, but they always seemed slow and clunky so I was quite happy to see NetNewsWire for the iPhone make it out of the door so early.
Downloading feeds over an EDGE or GPRS connection can be painful but since upgrading to the iPhone 3G, it has been a pleasure to use, syncing with my online NewsGator account to retrieve a list of feeds and read/unread data.
A few usability gripes: with a long list of feeds, it can become hard to distinguish between folders and feeds; some kind of visual distinction would be useful. It’s also not immediately obvious that you can view articles with the built-in web view by tapping on the article heading (there is a separate button to view in Safari). Both minor gripes however and if you need your constant RSS fix, NetNewsWire should be at the top of your “to buy” list.
Texas Hold’em Poker (Apple)
OK, if you don’t play poker and your eyes are already glazing over, you might as well skip this one. This app is developed by Apple themselves and it shows. The game is straightforward: compete over a number of venues from your garage though Las Vegas all the way up to Dubai with the stakes and difficulty increasing as you progress.
The AI isn’t exactly brilliant and there will be times where the game is just plain frustrating: you’re heads up and you put your opponent all-in with your KQ suited and he/she calls with 10-2 off-suit, only for the flop to come down 10-10-2. It’s probably a good thing that this isn’t for real money, lest you through your phone out of the nearest window. However, the AI is “good enough” for a fun game of poker and it makes a the daily commute slightly less tedious.
Where this app really shines and makes it so obviously an Apple product is the near-perfect use of the iPhone’s touchscreen gesture support to provide an intuitive and fun user interface; cards can be folded by flicking them into the middle of the table; chips and be pushed into into the pot to go all-in; checking is as simple as tapping the table. You can also switch between a virtual-table mode (where you can see the players as the look at their cards and place their bets) and a more traditional racetrack mode (familiar to anybody who has played online poker) by simply changing the phone’s orientation.
Vicinity
One of the first apps that I’ve played with that takes real advantage of the location-based services available; after working out your location using triangulation or GPS, it provides you with a list of useful locations in your vicinity (do you see what they’ve done there?): nearby places, cafes, banks, pubs, supermarkets, taxis, hotels and restaurants. Again, this wasn’t very useful on the original iPhone as the cell-tower triangulation was just too slow for it to be usable but on the 3G its incredibly useful. The wikipedia/flickr links are a nice added bonus, especially if you live in a busy area/large city with many points of interest such as London.
This native app is a continuation of the good work that the Facebook team have already done with their web app – for my money one of the best web apps available for the iPhone. The native app doesn’t offer a whole lot more but it does mean a faster, smoother user experience (e.g., swiping a message in your inbox to reveal a delete button ala Mail) and there is also now a built-in chat option. Unfortunately there still doesn’t seem to be a way to edit your profile (other than your status, which I update through twitter anyway).
Twitterific
As well as NetNewsWire, Twitterific was another app that I installed straightaway. It’s not bad but it doesn’t match up to it’s desktop counterpart – I find the dark interface quite ugly on the iPhone (there is a light interface in the paid-for version although I can’t find a screenshot of this anywhere – is it really too much to ask to have this as an option in the free app too?) and scrolling is very slow and clunky. I don’t mind the ads though so I don’t really feel compelled to pay for the premium version (the same goes for the desktop version). Despite it’s lack of polish, I still think it’s the best Twitter client available (at the moment).
Things
I’ve also grabbed a copy of Things. The interface is very pretty and I’m sure the app will eventually be great but I still need to motivate myself to use it. One thing I’ve found lacking is the ability to set alarms/receive reminders for scheduled events although I suspect that is a limitation of the platform itself. You really need to be checking it every morning to get the most out of it (although I suspect that is the idea if you’re a GTD addict). There is also no syncing with the desktop version which is a deal-breaker for many (not me) but I’d encourage you to snap it up at the introductory price and wait for syncing which will arrive as a free update.
Speaking of updates
Unfortunately, the worst part of the whole experience is the App store itself and the way iTunes and the iPhone sync with eachother. When you plug your iPhone in, any apps you’ve downloaded via the iPhone app store don’t seem to sync to iTunes automatically – instead you need to manually select “Transfer purchases”. iTunes also seems to be confused about any updates that I need – it frequently tells me that I have “x apps requiring updates” when in fact there aren’t any. The iPhone App store app itself seems slow and buggy and on occasion has caused my phone to freeze altogether, requiring a hard reset – not good.
Writing my own apps
I’ve been meaning to learn how to write Objective-C/Cocoa Mac applications for a while now but haven’t ever gotten around to it. The release of the App store and the iPhone SDK has turned out to be that kick up the backside that I’ve needed – I’ve recently started learning Objective-C/Cocoa and I have a few apps in mind (I’m already working on a native iPhone interface for the SqueezeCenter software that powers Squeezebox music players.
Given that I have very little knowledge of C and absolutely no GUI app programming experience whatsoever, it’s been an interesting experience and a change of mindset (coming from a web development background) that I’m slowing coming to grips with and I’m sure I’ll be blogging about it over the next couple of months (fucking NDA not withstanding). As a Ruby programmer by day, there are certainly times when Objective-C makes me want to cry although it has some own elegances (sic) of it’s own that I’m starting to appreciate. More to follow…
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1. Comment by rupert on 05 Sep 2008 at 08:09
Very hapy to know that someone (you) is developing a controller for the slimbox.. it’s a great idea and I will certainly buy into it.. could you put me on a mailing list and inform me when it is on the app store ? thank’s for all. rupert