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Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android “killer apps”

2010 November 20
tags: , , , ,
by Michael Thaler

John Gruber wants to know where the Android killer apps are. I won’t presume to speak for all Android users, but here are a few that I’m quite fond of (ignoring, as Gruber does, the superb built-in first-party apps like turn-by-turn navigation and Gmail).

  • 8pen: An innovative and beautiful complete redesign of touch-based text input.
  • Cubed (3): A music player with a unique spinning cube interface.
  • Youtube Remote: From Google, but not preinstalled or built in: easily control Youtube on your computer from across the room, using your phone.
  • LauncherPro: A fork of the stock Android home screen, heavily improved by a 3rd party developer.
  • Tasker: Automatically do anything in response to anything. (In case you think I’m exaggerating, look at it.)
  • Astrid: Best todo list app I’ve ever used.
  • Labelert: Get specific, custom notifications for different Gmail labels, even changing the notification LED color if your phone supports it.
  • Craigslist Notification: Enter Craigslist search terms, and get notified when new posts appear.
  • Parcels: Easily track packages, and get notifications whenever any of their statuses change.

There’s mine. What third-party Android apps do you like?

Update: People are telling me in comments that Parcels is apparently a ripoff of a similar iOS app. Perhaps, but does the iOS app give you system-wide notifications that stack up for later viewing in the top bar?

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from → Responses

  • cellurl

    I like
    Back Seat Driver.
    Because I wrote it.

  • Ddwd

    well you make his point valid by providing several “launcher” apps as the uber killer apps…

    • http://perpetualstudent.net/blog Michael Thaler

      Gruber:

      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.

      I cited one example, which I consider a genuine selling point. Gruber doesn’t consider it one. That’s a difference of opinion, not a argument “in favor of iOS”.

  • Foo

    [sigh] people who don’t know what “Killer App” means.

    These are not killer apps. These are just apps you use and like.

    A killer app is an app that justifies the purchase of an Android phone over competitors (namely the iPhone). Which of these apps have no equivalents in the iPhone world?

    • http://perpetualstudent.net/blog Michael Thaler

      By that definition, these are indeed killer apps–for me. That’s what I would buy a phone for. That and, getting email notification of your comment and responding to it right now. ;)

      There are no killer apps for everyone–just individual people. I’m sure there are killer apps for some people for iOS. Just not me. I can’t speak for everyone, and neither can Gruber, or anyone else.

      • http://twitter.com/HemiSplit F. A. R.

        I’ve always heard that the “killer” part of a killer app is, by definition, its universal appeal. Was I always mistaken?

        • https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkwU4ZIYLsbRmN8f6ci-Pe-JSts4TPaL1o Tim

          It’s both.

    • Crate

      Actually a lot of these apps do things that simply aren’t possible on the iphone. (Replace the keyboard, interact with other apps, background polling of data sources, replace system apps with alternatives (Not strictly impossible on the iphone, just hard to get approved..))

  • Nat

    Going by the screenshots, Parcels appears to be a brazen design rip-off of Delivery Status, which has existed for years as a Mac dashboard widget, then as an iOS app from the early days of the store.

    http://junecloud.com/

  • http://twitter.com/apere006 apere006

    I think you missed a major point from Gruber’s post. While you might really like these apps, most of these are system tweaks that apple doesn’t want. The tweaks themselves might be really useful for you but they reduce the value of android as an “App console”. Normal people cannot download an app from the android marketplace without considering system wide effects it might have. 8pen might be a great keyboard but if you don’t like it you need to figure out how to remove it. iPhone apps cannot be as powerful but anyone can install apps without worrying about ill effects. Even though I am a software developer, I barely install anything on my computer because I don’t know what apps might slow down my computer or are harmful. On my iPhone, I install any app that might be useful. I know it will not effect anything else and it will be removed completely when I uninstall it. This I a major reason why android apps don’t sell as well.
    As far the apps on your list, Parcels is a Delivery Status touch ripoff. Delivery Status is a great app from a small development company. Parcels is a shameless mediocre ripoff of the design. Craigslist Notification is not as good as CriagSelect. Astrid is the best android todo list but it would not be a top 5 todo list in the app store, IMO. There are so many great todo apps in the app store from the most powerful like Omnifocus and Things to the simplest like Put Things Off 2.0. They are all better designed then Astrid. Cubed is cool to try out but it is the most inefficient music player I have used.

    As far the apps on your list, Parcels is a Delivery Status touch ripoff. Delivery Status is a great app from a small development company. Parcels is a shameless mediocre ripoff of the design. Craigslist Notification is not as good as CriagSelect. Astrid is the best android todo list but it would not be a top ten todo list in the app store, IMO. There are so many great todo apps in the app store from the most powerful like Omnifocus and Things to the simplest like Put Things Off 2.0.

    • http://ginik.ca/ Chris

      Wow, do you really need a babysitter? Just because the iPhone is so much more limited in what you can do does not make it a better system. You can’t even use a different keyboard on it?

      Ok, so let’s use your example, what if I installed 8pen and wanted to get rid of it? You say I need to spend time to figure out how to remove it? I just go uninstall it, done. Is it really that hard for iPhone users to understand that uninstalling an app gets rid of it?

      • http://twitter.com/apere006 apere006

        There still a hesitation about what effects an app will have. Do you install anything you come across on your desktop? You don’t know what installs at startup, if it touch the registry if you are on windows, etc. The fact there is a hesitation stops app sales, even for geeks. And for people who are already conditioned to not install anything on their computer because it could be a “Virus”, they will not download anything if it starts messing with the rest of their phone.

        Someone who downloads 8pen will know that it changes the keyboard but what about less obvious or delayed effects. Tasker is very powerful and could start cause negative effects that are not obvious.

        • IConrad@reddit

          > Tasker is very powerful and could start cause negative effects that are not obvious.

          No, it can’t. That’s the entire point of the Dalvik-VM model. If you don’t want it to impact your system anymore, uninstall it.

          To do anything **remotely** like what you’re discussing, would require that the phone be rooted. In which case you’re going outside of Google’s “design specs” and… frankly, anyone who runs with a rooted device has the tools necessary to correct any such problem (that they themselves created.

          • Hexose Augury

            “That’s the entire point of the Dalvik-VM model.”

            You are confused. Android applications can and do contain native code. The “Dalvik-VM” model is not a security model.

          • Wmealing

            The “VM” model also runs each app its own user space process, so it can’t interfere with other apps or even the system.

          • http://twitter.com/apere006 apere006

            I don’t mean something malicious, It could just be an unwanted effect. Some one could try out the app and start causing unwanted side effects. Even something like turning off gps under certain conditions might not be noticed until long after tasker is installed. It would not be obvious that if you want it to stop you need to uninstall tasker.

      • http://twitter.com/apere006 apere006

        You need to realize their is MANY more people who have no idea how to work their computer then their are people who do. I would guess from the time I worked at geek squad that the vast majority of people have never uninstalled an application from their windows pc.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nikolaos-Ventouras/658489939 Nikolaos Ventouras

        Wow, do you really need a babysitter?

        You don’t get it, it’s the iPhone that comes with a built-in babysitter.

        Why should I babysit my smartphone and its apps?

        You can’t even use a different keyboard on it?

        Yes, that’s exactly how I want to spend my time on earth: managing keyboard applications and petting my smartphone…

        • IConrad@reddit

          It’s a multi-hundred dollar purchase. I should be the one who owns it — not Apple, nor Google.

          Google “gets” that. Apple does not. If I want to put a different keyboard on my phone (say, because I’m a Japanese or Arabic speaker) — or just because I *want a different experience* — that should be my choice. *I* own the device.

          And as to “babysitting” — what “babysitting” of apps is there in “It looked cool so I tried it; it sucked so I uninstalled it.”?

      • Spacegorilla

        You just don’t get it. Consumers are ‘babies’ and if you want to sell millions upon millions of consumer devices then you better design your product so a ‘baby’ can use it easily. The vast majority of consumers can’t be bothered to figure anything out, they just want something easy. That’s reality. Gruber’s larger point is correct, there just isn’t a robust developer community in the Android world, it’s simply not happening the way it is in the iOS world, the difference in quality exclusive 3rd party apps is quite clear, and huge. Android devices are being used as smartphones, that’s true, but iOS devices are being used as a mobile computing platform, which is another level up from just being a smartphone, and it’s the apps that make this difference. I see Android as eventually being dominant as a smartphone, but iOS will dominate as a mobile computing platform.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nikolaos-Ventouras/658489939 Nikolaos Ventouras

    Yawn.

    Underwhelmed.

  • b00gizm

    You totally missed the point.

    These are no killer apps. These are mostly just ugly rip-offs of famous iOS apps.

    Sheez, Parcels even steals the graphics and the color scheme of Delivery Status. That’s pathetic.

    • Anonymous

      Actually, I haven’t seen any “killer apps” in the classic sense on any phone, iOS, Android, Symbian, or other.

      To me, WordPerfect was a killer app (compared to Wordstar, for example), X was a killer app, Flash, OpenGL, SSH, HTTP (of course – that’s fairly obvious), OLE

      If it doesn’t completely change the way you look at things and make you go “Holy moly, how did I live without this?!?” it’s not a killer app.

      Mobiles have some amazing “wtf” apps (like Apple failing to support MMS for ages), some apps that make you want to kick things because they work so badly, and some apps that are just plain cool – but nothing that’s “Wow”.

      Swype – maybe. I find that pretty addictive, but not sure it’s a killer app. Google Sky is kinda cool, but really sort of pointless.

      It’s easier to list things that are “must-die” features. Pinch to zoom. Bad voice control. Coverflow. Phone gestures. Awful browsing experiences (phone and desktop). Inappropriate ad placement (think Angry Birds). Tilt features.

      It may sound like I’m picking on iOS – just because Apple invented many of these awful UI concepts, but really I’m picking on the people who think they are so superior that they disable alternative methods. The best methods to control a device are the ones that let the *user* decide.

      I, for example, have over 12GB of songs on my mobile. Most are instrumental/techno, and they have no cover art and didn’t come from some big well known artist. Coverflow therefore is not just slow, it’s a complete waste of time. It’s gimmicky in the best of times, and horrible when memory is premium.

      • http://twitter.com/payco Matthew Abbott

        Out of curiosity, what would be your solution to replace the awful UI you’re talking about? What makes more sense for zoom functionality than pinching, or double-tapping an item? Voice control and coverflow are both optional… no one’s forcing you to turn your phone sidewise while in iPod, and I had forgotten about voice control completely until a few weeks into upgrading from my 3G. Of course, both of those are also simply limited by the current technology; I haven’t had any problems with either (and I have 14 GB of music with lots of different art), but voice control is shaky at best still, even when running on a desktop.

        And user customability can be a great thing, but after taking a look at Cydia’s selection of UI changes, I was overwhelmed by the shovelware, and ended up just keeping the default skin. For whatever reason, the mobile markets get filled with crap, and I don’t need crappy dime-a-dozen developers messing around with my system files, when I really have very few annoyances with iOS’s standard UI.

        • Anonymous

          I like both the tap and the +/- control as an option for zoom. Both seem to be more intuitive then the pinch thing to me – don’t mind all three being available.

          Voice control pops up constantly on android for example – to the point it’s almost intrusive on occasion.

          The coverflow is lacking a toggle – even on a slightly inclined desk it will switch modes, which induces a long lag before showing a ton of empty covers. It would be nice to simply have an option to turn it off.

          Not seen any iOS themes in common usage, but Android has quite a few that I could take or leave. The key is being able to pick and choose what you want – like a heavy eye-candy version, or variations with less and less.

  • NotGruber

    (ignoring, as Gruber does, the superb built-in first-party apps like turn-by-turn navigation and Gmail)

    Gruber didn’t ignore these; he cited them up front, looking for killer *3rd party* apps.

  • alanone

    What third-party Android apps do you like?

    You’ve missed the point: that’s not a list of killer apps, just a list of apps you like. What exclusive apps does Android have that would drive hardware sales of the device?

    Also, gruber did give credit to the Google 1st party apps — did you not read his whole piece?