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Apple Removes Wi-Fi Finders From App Store
jasonbrown writes "Apple on Thursday began removing another category of apps from its iPhone App Store. This time, it's not porn, it's Wi-Fi. Apple removed several Wi-Fi apps commonly referred to as stumblers, or apps that seek out available Wi-Fi networks near your location. According to a story on Cult of Mac, apps removed by Apple include WiFi-Where, WiFiFoFum, and yFy Network Finder."
I just ran a search for WiFi in the app store, and plenty of free finders appeared.
Was there something about these specific apps, or is this just about those apps using reserved (ie subject to change) frameworks?
In short - let's not panic just yet, hm?
First they remove the pron apps, then the wifi steal- er, "borrowing" apps... What use do these "iPhone" devices have anymore, anyway?
Whatever it is, it's notablog.
It appears Apple's problem with the apps isn't with what they do but with how they do it; namely, using non-public frameworks. There probably isn't a way to do it using public frameworks, though (on Mac OS X, you need to use the private Apple80211.framework, not sure about iPhone OS X).
Is Apple actively trying to destroy any developer relationship that they had, and are they trying to show the community that they are not up to the challenge of hosting an app store?
As a software developer that owns an iPhone 3GS owner, and a first generation iPod touch, I feel like I am reminded every day as to why I do not drop $100 and write an application for my own phone.
What does Apple gain by removing these things?
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
I think this is called pissing in the well from which you drink. I really don't get why Apple is trying so hard to alienate developers. / Android user
garethw
I'm so glad you make all the hard decisions for me! Would you like to cast my next vote for me?? Oh yeah, when I actually succumb to mobile devices they will be open. This is like Microsoft telling you what software you can install on Windows! Is this the future? Twenty years from now Mac's will only be able to get applications from Apple's approved store? Yeah, I'm not gonna help with that.
Shh.
PlaceEngine developer Koozyt says other apps that use its technology have also been removed, including Yahoo! Maps for the iPhone.
If big companies are not spared what about the individual developers?
This space for rent.
All I can say is get a real phone with options you like eg android, nokia 9x ect.
Apple makes a great OS, some great hardware.
Just stay away from the DRM junk and itoys.
Or help port a real OS to it.
As amazon showed with 1984, MS with win 7 mobile and now Apple shows, your just a consumer renting space on their their vision of the world.
Time to disconnect Apple and buy or use/write a real mobile OS.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
I believe you may be thinking of Engadget.
-Arthur
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules
for the win.
if you wanted options, you would have gone android... fucksticks.
iPhone has more software than Android, hence more options.
What you really mean is if we wanted specific options (those that aren't available for iPhone, but are for Android), we'd have gone Android. So what it really comes down to is whether one really wants (in this case) a WiFi finder. I certainly won't miss such apps. But you're right, if I did, Android might be a better option.
Apple has NEVER permitted the use of private frameworks in iPhone apps. My company had to rewrite an app we were trying to deploy because we were using some undocumented features for still frame capture from the camera device. We almost made it through the authorization process, then Apple shot us down at the last second because of it. We had to wait a few more minor releases before the functionality we needed was exposed through an approved interface. It had nothing to do with our application, but rather, the way it was implemented.
In general, the use of undocumented APIs is frowned upon throughout the industry, as it makes for flaky application and reverse-vendor-lockin, when an extremely popular application relies on undocumented APIs, the APIs change, then people come bitching to the platform manufacturer for "breaking" their applications. There's nothing weird about this, whatsoever. Chill out, folks.
It can be said that it is Kafkaesque when a reason isn't given but others with the same capabilities are allowed.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
This is great news !! This is the only way developers and users will learn never to trust a closed platform. Hopefully this starts pissing people off enough to go towards Android, or preferably the only truly open smartphone OS : Maemo / Meego. So I say, please Apple, remove more useful apps !!
Ah yes, greater variety in fart generator applications is really high on my list of features I want from a phone.
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
Just somewhat related: Can Apple's Wifi chipset be somehow set to work in adhoc mode?
i.e. Can an IPhone/ITouch app (even a Jailbroken one?) let you communicate with the other 50 IPhone /ITouch users in the train you're on, without paying the cell companies?
I have the same question.
While I like some Apple products, I love my MacBook Pro I'm typing this on, I question some of Apple's and Steve Jobs' actions.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Hey, I know!
Since nobody on Slashdot knows a single thing about this action by Apple -- at this moment -- why don't we just post a bunch of shit that has absolutely no merit?! Hey, we can even call ourselves "journalists"!
Increased Volume != Increased Options.
Android already has a far greater variety of software then the Iphone due to the locked nature of the application delivery and development system. The Iphone simply has more of the same applications then Android or as everyone points out, 100 times the number of fart applications but no third party mail clients.
So with the Iphone, you have more software but fewer options.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
The issue is Apple is a gatekeeper and they are very opaque about their reasoning in the case-by-case calls. I'd rather have incompatibility and no-one telling me what I can and cannot do rather than be forced to choose among the paid offerings that are well integrated. Even if they are really shiny. I suppose this philosophy is why I run Linux, I know there are other philosophies out there: Microsoft's and Apple's existence prove this but this does not mean that I have to buy in. I think choice is a good thing, choose Apple if you like ;)
Shh.
Oh what a difference a few decades make.
Bye!
The irony of course is that Apple initially refused to approve fart apps.
So what it really comes down to is whether one really wants (in this case) a WiFi finder. I certainly won't miss such apps.
A little melodramatic, maybe, but still somewhat apt I think. Apple has shown they have no qualms about removing entire categories of applications for the iPhone, all without provocation, explanation, or compensation. Anyone who depends on (develops for or uses) the iPhone in a serious business or financial sense is crazy.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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My sig can beat up your sig.
I'll admit that even it has been a little rough,
with quirks and blips and little ticks since OS 3.1.
But even now I just say wow at the news that its been snuffed,
'cause as of late it's been so great to Find Wi while on the run.
It was lean and pretty clean as apps are want to be,
and so of use and not obtuse so now I'm slightly mad.
For no bugs I've seen have been so mean to give clear reason to me,
to kick it out and without a doubt this makes my phone so very very sad.
Uneven rules and duplicate tools have no doubt likely doomed,
our favorite apps we bought for laughs with money oh so small.
So let none be shocked and none be fooled to find out that we've zoomed,
on to other phones with other tones and no more garden wall.
I dti'r na ndall is ri' fear na leathshu'ile.
yep, and if you read the previous article, you would know developers are having problems coding for android as you never know what kind of hardware you will get.
so you can have a dozen third party mail clients but only two of them will work on your android phone cause it has a different screen that doens't work quite right with the other apps.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
no shit?
rewriting history since 2109
Yet there are many many applications which perform well on all android hardware.
.net, DirectX and so forth. No wait...
You logic explains why Windows is not the most popular development platform, because you never know what hardware you're going to get, nor which version of Windows,
Android, much like Windows provides a consistent framework across multiple devices. For simple applications this is very simple, for difficult applications this is difficult, the same as in Windows and there are games and applications out there so poorly coded and tested that require a very specific version of DirectX just to run, you don't think they exist because no-body buys them. Only bad developers have these problems.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Until apple sues android out of existence.
Jobs: "I've got it! We'll make the iPhone... LESS USEFUL!"
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
If the issue is that the Apps used a private API, how did they get approved in the first place?
I'm not sure why anyone would develop for the iPhone, apparently you not only face a capricious approval process, but they may revoke that approval on a whim.
Function is the common denominator in the revoked applications
But others left in the app store have the same functionality, so if the issue is the functionality then why were they left in?
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
lol
Best idea ever Apple.
It makes me even more proud to be a PC.
It seems to me from the content of your post that you read my first and last paragraphs, and completely skipped the middle one where I made essentially the same points.
You need to work on your quick-reading.
Unfortunately, what you say isn't quite true. If it were, the problem would be self-correcting.
In order for app development to be financially viable, it has to possess a risk/reward ratio that compares favorably to other possible investments. Apple's trigger-happy tendencies raise the risk; but their install base and user willingness to shell out keeps the reward high. The real risk is not that they'll drive out app developers; but that they'll manage to preferentially drive out the good app developers.
If I am running some cookie-cutter app sweatshop, churning out masses of crap under one or more company names that are little more than reskins of one another, with slightly different content packs(here's an app with twenty fart noises, here's another one with the same noises that we had the intern spend ten minutes tweaking with audacity and the buttons reskinned to look more like mucus blotches! Here's 50 pictures from the cheapest softcore porn back-catalog that we were able to licence. Hey, here's the same app with 50 different pictures! And so on and so forth), all I need to do is make money on average. If some of my apps never get approved, some get sacked 18 months in, some do OK, some prove PT Barnum right yet again, I'll come out just fine. By making so many crap apps, each one representing a small investment, I spread my risk out substantially(and, since the iPhone is the hot thing among well-heeled and app-happy cellphone users, getting merely average results will probably be satisfactory, particularly if I'm paying offshore rates for my dev time).
On the other hand, some classic Mac indie dev house, pouring their heart and soul into one or two apps at a time, faces a very different situation. Their apps are substantially less likely to get shitcanned for sucking or for being tasteless; but their costs per app are comparatively huge. If an important patch update gets stuck in review hell for three weeks, while they rack up negative reviews, they are sunk. If their brilliant little gem happens to be a little too close to something Apple has planned for iPhone OS v. 4, it'll simply be murdered in the cradle without useful comment. Those odds are considerably less compelling.
The oddness here is that these apps were ever approved to begin with. The phone already comes with built in functionality that scans for available hotspots.
I understand this argument, but in the case of phones it is a different beast entirely because the input devices are completely different. In PCs you assume everyone has a pointing device and a keyboard, but with phones they may have a touch screen, or lack a touch screen. There might be an accelerometer, or it might not be there. You may be able to have a physical keyboard, but a lot of Android phones don't. Even with touch screens they don't all respond to input the same way. Can you imagine making a PC program when a quarter of your users have mice that give completely different input than the rest of your user base?
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
First they came for the porn apps and I did not speak out -- because I did not like porn
Then they came for the wi-fi apps, and I did not speak out -- because I did not use wi-fi
Then they came for my apps -- and there was no one left to speak out for me.
The iPhone has a small marketshare? HAHA! It has a 63.7% marketshare. Article linked to postulates one reason Apple slapped HTC with a lawsuit declaring patent infringement is because Android based phones are gaining on Apple's marketshare.
They might be number one now, but they were number one with the Apple II and look at how quickly they lost that lead.
In the bookstore of the school I attended in 1985, half of the computers sold were Macs. The rest were divided up by the various PC compatible OEMs. Than was 8 years after the Apple II came out. Looking now, Windows "accounted for 92.1% of the operating systems that powered machines visiting the 40,000-plus sites that NetApplications monitors for clients of its analytics service." That is up slightly from previously, but it does not break down OEMs. Now if Linux and other non-OS X OSes raised the percentage of OSes powering PCs to 93% that leaves OS X running 7%. Now how many of the rest are Dells, HPs, Levenos, or one of the dozens more OEMs? Seven percent may not seem like a lot but how does it compare to OEM sales?
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Until apple sues android out of existence.
I was actually thinking about this, today, in regards to HTC.
One problem Apple has with Android is a similar problem that Microsoft had with Linux--there's no one to sue. Android "belongs" to no one--it's an open source project.
So, for example, let's say Apple manages to get an injunction against HTC and they can't import their phones. So HTC stops installing Android on the phone and sends a phone without an operating system on it. When the customer buys the phone from T-mobile, say, T-mobile takes it in the back room and installs the latest greatest version of Android for that phone and brings it out to the customer.
Now Apple would obviously try to go after T-mobile. I wonder how effective that would be...
Ah yes, greater variety in fart generator applications is really high on my list of features I want from a phone.
Out of curiosity, did Final Fantasy make it to Android?
Yes. Every NES, SNES (I think), and Genesis game is on Android via emulators. Here's a review of a NES emulator: http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/26/quick-review-nesoid-nes-emulator-for-android/
I guess it's not legal, but if you're willing to go the emulator route you pay only $2 for thousands of NES games instead of the $9 I just spent on Final Fantasy on the iPhone.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Very mature.
Apple's corporate nannyism is indeed a pain, and it's what keeps me away from iPhone. But I can't say I like Android any better. It's the usual disorganized Google product, where every product is viewed as emergent from a lot of independent programmers each doing their own thing. So there's no central vision to the product. You have a total mess of a platform that isn't even a single platform, since every Android hardware implementation is different from every other.
Really, our choices suck. Maemo (or whatever it's called now) will never achieve critical mass. Windows Moblle is, well, Windows. Symbian is showing its age. Blackberry is designed for somebody who texts a lot more than I do.
I'm sort of flirting with getting a WebOS phone, except I don't trust Palm not to screw this product up, the way they've screwed up every other product. Also, a phone plan that supports it properly costs $60/month (3G data rates in the U.S. are totally out of hand), and while I like having the Internet in my pocket, I'm not sure I like it that much.
What I should really do is go back to having a separate phone and PDA, and put up with the hassle of sharing data between them manually. (With a PAYG plan, I'd probably save $50/month.) Except nobody makes a decent PDA any more...
Yeah I'm a game developer and have been trying to get Apple to make this API public to no avail. We have a game on the DS that uses wifi hotspots as part of the gameplay. We really wanted to do an iPhone version but weren't able to because the API to find hotspots is private.
It probably will be in due time. I don't think it's even been released for the iphone yet, has it?
I dont think you understand Android development at all.
I'm not having a go at you but you seem to miss important points which are massive flaws in your arguments.
Android much like Windows has certain minimum hardware requirements (pointing device, x number of physical buttons, display device with minimum resolution). Much like Windows I can have additional or disparate hardware (D-pad vs trackball, higher res screen) but the API's are still meant to interpret the minimum standards of input so text from a soft keyboard is treated the same as text from a physical keyboard, the d-pad on a Droid/Milestone acts the same as the trackball on my Dream/G1 from the perspective of the application as that input is coming from the OS (HAL) not the HW directly.
Your issue hinges on a program which require specific hardware to be present, if a developer has this requirement then they've made a conscious decision to use a specific platform and has to deal with the problems that arise from that. This is a conscious decision on the part of the developer, not a flaw in the OS.
A program like APNDroid will work the same on all models as it was developed to use Android API not vendor specific hardware. The same as in Windows where a game (Half Life 2 for example) will work on a Logitek keyboard as well as it would on a Microsoft keyboard because it uses the Windows API for input, not hardware specific vendor drivers.
The problem you describe is exactly the problem Operating Systems, or more specifically the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) were made to solve. It's a 25 yr old problem, with a 24 yr old solution.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Yes, I have it right now.
I'm not asking to be a butthead, I'm just curious. Apple's customers pay money for their apps in a way I've never seen with Palm or Windows Mobile. I think that's why we're seeing major companies using a lot of resources to release apps on the iPhone. I'm just trying to get a sense of if the Android developers are seeing the same benefit.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I believe you may be thinking of Engadget.
Filtering all the Apple stories on Engadget? Who wants to read nothing but ads?!?
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
Microsoft and the Linux community seem to have worked that bit out.
I'm not sure Slashdot is the best place to advocate for fewer hardware choices.
You are welcome on my lawn.
You don't think it takes some competence to come up with 143 varieties of "Bikini Girls"?
You are welcome on my lawn.
And we all know how Apple treated them.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I don't know, sounds like he's talking out of his ass.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
It's true not all Android phones have a physical keyboard, they do all have touchscreens though. They also all have a standard set of buttons (granted not necessarily in the same place). Pretty sure they all have accelerometers too.
As far as I know the only significant differences with the various phones currently out are the versions of Android. Old phones may still be running 1.5. Version 1.6 is still popular and newer phones like the Droid and NexusOne use 2.1 I believe.
Really? When did it hit the app store?
I'm honestly asking, as the "preview" I just saw on kotaku says "Available soon on the App Store"
If their brilliant little gem happens to be a little too close to something Apple has planned for iPhone OS v. 4, it'll simply be murdered in the cradle without useful comment.
It is the sheer nastiness of Apple's extreme highhanded policies and litigious corporate mindset that makes Apple platforms less and less attractive to me as time goes by. I have (and actually quite like) a MacBook, and the iPod is by far the best mp3 player around, but hardly a day goes by without Apple or sometimes Steve Jobs personally fucking someone over.
I'll be voting with my wallet next time any of my devices need replacing. I've been using Linux on my desktop machines for over 15 years, and there's nothing stopping me using it on my next laptop. And I will not be buying an iPhone.
If you bought it before then count it as format shifting. And bravely break laws that you find are unjust. Think of it as protest. Otherwise you are succumbing to threats by the mafiaa which is kinda lame. That and I haven't heard of anyone dling a rom getting charged millions for doing so (unlike mp3s).
It was like 3 days ago. The updated the graphics and music, it's nice in that regard. I think the control's a little weird.. but for a Final Fantasy game that's not that important. I really wish they'd release IV, though. :D
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Freedom of meaningless choice.
Just because you are paranoid does not mean that no-one is out to get you.
The problem comes with a lack of strong standards. When you have a computer it has devices attatched to it and drivers that allow programers of aps to not need tweak for every computer setup.
The same is not true for phones. For example. Sliding keyboards which rotate the screen. This rotated screen setup is non-standardized. So on one phone your ap might rotate as expected when you slide out the keyboard (or hold the thing sideways). But on another phone it won't. This feature needs to be part of the OS and standardized. (Disclaimer: I know this is broken in windows mobile but i dont know if it is done right in android)
Another example is various processor types. A solution for this would be to have all apps release with a version for every chip. But devs don't seem to do this across the board for windows. (Likely solved by an ap store setting standards)
As well for windows, backwards compatibility was important. With some tweaks I can get aps from the dos days running on windows 7. With windows mobile aps they are usually poorly documented perhaps not labeling even which version of windows it has been tested on. And there is no sign of aproval. Again something a strong ap store could help fix.
I don't think an ap store is a requirement, it wasn't for windows. BUT I do think that the marketplace is too fucking messy atm. That wasn't a problem for windows. So I think it would be helpful to have one simply to set standards and layout how to do things (requiring meeting certain quility guideline or not ignoring certain features like.... differing resolutions). After that people can go off on their own.
You mean like the network selector in the settings app provided with the phone?
Darn it, thank you for showing me the error of my ways. I *knew* I should have built that time machine in 2007 to go forward in time and get a phone that didn't exist yet... (?)
What about customers that don't like that app, or simply prefer some aspect of another implementation? They are shit out of luck now.
(Note -- I have no personal opinion about Apple's wifi finder -- I use Android.)
iPhone has more software than Android, hence more options.
We are the iBorg. Resistance is Futile. Your culture will adapt to service ours. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. And then after a period of time, we will nerf your distinctiveness because it contains naughty words or functionality we should have provided in the first place, but decided to leave it till the next version so we could milk you for another $879 bucks.
For example?
I really fail to see significance here. It'll be on android soon, the difference is people will probably do it themselves.
meanwhile, apple's starting to go very short term business strategy. I think they're more screwed than people know right now.
Soon? Citation needed
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Why is this flamebait? Parent is right, android devs are having a hard time because of the variety of android hardware. I've noticed all the iPhone comments are marked flamebait but Android are all insightful, what happened to mods today? When did the iPhone go from jesus phone to anti-christ?
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Common sense needs no citation. And your meme button is stuck.
I really fail to see significance here.
There really wasn't any. I was just asking. I was surprised that the game was being re-worked (new artwork and music and all) for the iPhone and wanted to know if an Android version was coming, too. I'm wondering (not stating... WONDERING, in case the nitwit that modded my post as flamebait is reading) if apps on the iPhone make more money than comparable apps on Android. If FF comes out on both platforms, the amount of money they both bring in is really interesting to know. If the iPhone's is higher, then that is something important for devs to know despite it being fashionable to shake our pitchforks at Apple. Unfortunately if that release is not soon, that really taints the data.
It'll be on android soon, the difference is people will probably do it themselves.
Um, no. It'll be on Android if Square ports to it or it won't happen at all.
I think they're more screwed than people know right now.
I think you're overestimating how much the masses care. People are happy to pay for apps on the iPhone. Developers will follow the money. The masses will then go "oh, neat! Actual game publishers are making games for that phone, I should get one!" Then more money is made. Then more developers go "whoah, there's money there!" And so on.
It also doesn't help that Slashdot has already cried wolf at least once with these "Apple is locking people out!" stories.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Well, it is not like there is a shortage of alternative iPhone application stores: http://www.google.ae/search?hl=ar&client=firefox-a&hs=yJR&rls=com.mandriva%3Aen-US%3Aunofficial&q=alternative+iphone+application+stores&btnG=%D8%A8%D8%AD%D8%AB!&meta=&aq=f&oq=/
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
And your meme button is stuck.
Right, because the "Beleaguered Apple is Dying this year" meme is so spring fresh!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Increased Volume != Increased Options.
Except in the real world, where this is a fundamental truth.
Android already has a far greater variety of software then the Iphone due to the locked nature of the application delivery and development system.
Unless again, you consider reality. Reality includes Jailbroken iPhones, which at last count (sometime early last year) was around 3-4 MILLION devices (ad tracking agencies help verify those numbers, but that number is from the founder of Cydia).
Your wall is illusory. Anything you can name, it's been done on the iPhone - and usually first. Because there are simply more devices for it to be run on, regardless of which side of the App Store wall you are all.
If you think you really have more choice, look at any Android top ten app list compared to an equivalent Android one...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
'Kafkaesque' would most likely denote the endless pain and futility of dealing with an organization where the participant has no idea what hoops to jump through
Case closed then. Because the hoop is the same one it has always been - don't use private API's.
It's not like it's a big mystery at this point.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If the issue is that the Apps used a private API, how did they get approved in the first place?
Because over time Apple gets better about figuring out who is using private API's.
In the early days it was the most egregious violations that visually screamed out "hey look, I am using a private API" - like Coverflow.
So then that died down, and for a while people got away with undocumented framework and system calls.
But recently Apple has started basically using a symbol analyses tool looking for calls to specific system stuff. I can imagine it was only recently they thought to look at super low level network stuff.
Apple even has been pretty nice about it generally, most developers just get a warning saying "you are using a private API, fix that before your next update please". I guess whatever this framework was using was a little more undesirable than most calls.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Or you can jailbreak your iPhone in about five minutes and do the same thing if you really want to. Personally I think jailbreaking the iPhone makes it have almost as poorly designed an interface as Android so I don't do it. I did try it though to see just how easy it is to do.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Different screens are the biggest issue IMO. They want you to use vector graphics but vector graphics look like crap. They do provide some facilities for making it easier to handle the screen sizes but it still isn't as easy as the iPhone. Even with the iPad developers only have to worry about two screen sizes. I think there is a benefit to being slow to offer options.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Apple has made the decision yet again to limit the functionality of their own devices and control their consumers choices. You would think instead of removing apps from their store that they would add more to make their own product more marketable and versitile. Maybe instead of worrying limiting functionality, Apple should think about adding functionality and consider why people want other products instead of theirs. The ability to browse flash sites would be a good start, who cares if there are apps to watch porn on the app store. All people really want is the ability to do what they need, browse the web with no limitations, and use the device with no limitations. If I want to tinker with the hardware who cares, the idea is that you are selling phones, ipods and computers.
I bought the app and it has been great. It helped me check to see if I was sharing a common wifi channel with my nearest neighbours. It also tells me the -db signal strength around the house. and it lets me log on to a range of foreign hotspots that apples settings just won't let you see. I used it today. I somehow think that this has something to do with the heralding of wireless N on the iphone. Just my hunch. But I agree it is both strange and Kafkaesque.
Happens every time and even though the intelligent users of slashdot are more than aware of this, they can't seem to fight the compulsion to re-re-re-re-state their position/perception/opinion on the matter.
Apple strong on consistent user experience. (by this I mean consistent with apple's ever-changing idea of what the user experience should be.)
Android strong on openness and flexibility. (except for where the carriers object and attempt to control it... but even then, not so much.)
When the iPhone came out with a battery that couldn't be replaced by the user, I wrote it off. To me, that was the primary show-stopper. It's a privacy and security concern. It's a battery life/conservation concern. It's even a safety concern.
Android, on the other hand is interesting in that it is yet another high profile Linux based product that has elements of traditional Linux failure all over it. I don't mean this to sound as bad as it sounds, but I can think of no better way to put it. The game isn't over yet and perhaps the people steering Android will see the failures and find some solutions, but what traditional failures am I talking about? Simple: "Being strong on consistent user experience" among other things.
Previous articles on slashdot came close to describing problems by talking about the wide variety of android phones and how software for one does not work for all. (it's not a problem for normal Linux hackers... we know all about tarballs, DEBs and RPMS, i386/i586/i686/x86_64/PPC and other divisions based on which version of glibc it was compiled for.) But there is more. The apps themselves are "more free" and therefore have less consistent delivery of look and feel. When this happens, a solid device starts to feel like a handful of marbles. At some level of consciousness, we all perceive problems when we are presented with things that don't match up well. Whether or not it's an actual problem is irrelevant to the feelings of the user (which, by the way is foremost on the minds at Apple) which is where the real success or failure of a project lies. "Better things" fail all the time at the hands of better marketing of lesser things. If people feel one thing is better than another or more reliable or will last longer or be supported longer or will have better backing, the truth doesn't matter so much as their feelings.
As a Linux optimist, I see this as an opportunity for Linux to gain recognition and public favor. We all know that Linux is a kernel and that it's in a LOT of stuff everywhere that most people never see or think about. We also know that because it's just a kernel, the REAL problems are in how it's packaged with other things... with or without a GUI, which GUI, what package management, etc. But there's more. Look and feel has never really been stressed. KDE users will probably disagree with me on this because KDE does, in fact, push more in favor of a consistent look and feel. But they are an exception.
But even if the Android project pulls itself together and actually does build a very successful consumer implementation of a Linux based OS, it can't quite be said "It's good because it's Linux." It would still be more accurate to say "It's good in spite of being Linux" because at the moment, a successful consumer Linux OS doesn't fix all the others that we know and love.
Reality is, that a jailbroken iPhone is not really feeling right. It's a closed platform that you've cracked. It can be bricked anytime, by just clicking the wrong button in iTunes.
It's one of very very few phones that come only with specific carriers.
you can easily compare it for tethering:
* the iPhone of my wife learned to tether when she decided to pay the carrier extra so that the carrier enabled it. No other option at the time was viable, because her phone was rather unjailbreakable for quite some time.
* the G1 of mine, I had basic tethering working on the first day that I've picked it up. (Long, long before I decided to root it.)
Same thing goes for changing SIMs. My wife has been locked to one carrier till she managed to jailbreak her phone. I, OTOH, do travel often, hence I've got a box with a varying number of SIM cards, seldom less than 5. Hint: Switching cards worked on day 1 too, quite well.
The UI is another thing. Hard as it sounds, while the iPhone does have colorful and nice to look at UI, it's rather unergonomic. (ergonomic btw is not "easy-to-use", look it up) No multitasking. No way to have an IM client that is not server based (basically a 3rd party that reads my "mail"), and even that has been for years impossible at all. No hardware keyboard (ever considered, that touch screens, or even keys that change dynamically meaning, are a really bad thing in situations where you cannot concentrate fully, including full use of vision, on the device?), and so on.
Yeah, it's not politically correct, to yell "the emperor is naked", but the UI of the iPhone is at best mediocre, because it's hindered by so many limitations from the onset.
Not that the Android UI is perfect, but you'll notice it's problems are related more to polish, and not to fundamental decisions early on.
The builtin one is way worse though. It can't find wifis with no SSID and has a much higher threshold on the signal strength. No SSID might be a misconfigured wifi, but for example on a bus trip there's not much I can do about that as a passenger.
Maybe because that business reeks too much?
Same reason the iphone isn't called iOdorize.
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
More accurately, it's "mac developers." Apple has had a closed platform for some time now, and their team of lawyers ensures it stays that way.
The line must be drawn here!
I don't understand why you would need a wi-fi "finder" app on an iPhone, the thing does a pretty good job of finding them by itself.
I was in Paris a while back and needed to send a quick email, just flicked to the wireless settings page walked fifty yards down the road watching all the networks scrolling by until one popped up without a lock symbol next to it.
I for one have to agree with apple's removal of those apps. I dont know how those apps slipped trough review process , but it created uneven plain-field among developers. I dont mind hard work but i mind when i dont have same treatment as some other developer , i suspect decision to pull those apps was made because complaints from other developers or bug reports, even change in that api might be a reason for application being pulled! Company or developer made calculated risk when they used private api in their application, and suspect their risk was wary well payed off.
No software installed when imported happens in the UK. If a PDA (like iPod Touch) has a calculator function, you have to pay import duty. If you import with no software, it lacks a calculator, no import duty to be paid.
And similarly, "did Final Fantasy make it to Android?" != "did the iPhone specific version of Final Fantasy make it to Android?", what's your point?
At this rate, it won't be long before Android at least has more types of software than iPhone. And that IMO counts more than 100 different brands of the same thing.
The oddness here is that these apps were ever approved to begin with.
No - the oddness here is that people can't see beyond the end of their nose. The issue is not that a specific class of applications has been pulled but that any application is pulled. I am not going to argue with Apple's right to choose what happens on their App Store but I do question a geeks's choice when he supports a closed system over an open one. When others are making the decisions the function he takes for granted in the form that he deems pleasing is eventually going to be eroded. The market will decide whether this is a good thing for Apple's bottom line but for a geek to be an Apple apologist now just seems plain weird.
More to the point, if it doesn't have any of those things, you can brew your own without breaking the terms of your contract and maybe even make a little money (or just share the love) by letting others use it, too.
Because we simply don't care? People here get so stressed about some of the most pedantic things. I use the WiFi outside my home once in a blue moon. It's just not that important since my data plan is unlimited. 3G is perfectly suitable for the occasional internet need while I'm at the doctors office, or sitting eating lunch and reading slashdot or some random news tidbit.
'Joe User' simply doesn't care as the functions and apps they have work just fine for day to day use. I shouldn't be surprised given the typical slashdot reader, but it's almost like there's a complete disconnect between the geeks and the typical user in here. Usually folks in here are a little more level headed to at least attempt to understand the general wants and needs of the non-nerd folk (outside of linux anyway..lol).
It like some sort of weird political extremist group in here lately. This whole Apple/Droid thing reminds me of the old Windows/Apple wars. It's become so polarized in here lately that people can't even state that they don't really care if it's a closed system, they just like the damn phone and geek ideals be damned.
Every iPhone topic turns into how Apple is evil (+1 insightful, yeah baby), and how we should despise them (+1 underrated), or their the new 'Microsoft' (+1 fanboi), even if these 'blocked' apps aren't even apps we use, or care about. You end up reading post after post about how we're missing out by not buying a droid, and we're mindless drones, ect, etc, ad-nauseum.
The very folks saying we're mindless drones just want us to become mindless droids. It's just turned into some weird caricature of South Park where the goths are running around calling everyone conformist, and stating you only need to wear dark clothes, listen to sad music, and hang out with the goth crowd to be non-conformists.
Whatever...
Actually I probably misrepresented my views. I think it is fair enough to just 'not care' and use a product because it does what you want. But detaching personal preferences from the wider issue is important. The creeping control mindset which is increasingly evident at Apple does have negative consequences. To think that Apple used to be about individual expression . . . to see what it has become is frankly depressing!
I use WiFiFoFum at my hospital to check the strength of the Wireless AP's scattered through the floors. At the moment I'm using it on a Intermec CN3 handheld scanner that we're using for Medicine scanning and verification. I wanted to get an iTouch or an iPhone so I could use it on that device since I may or may not be able to keep the CN3 that I'm currently using as my dedicated Test Platform.
By denying us access to such tools, Apple is alienating the IT Professional community and may drive us to find other applications or even (in their eyes) worse, jail-breaking the damn things so we CAN run whatever the hell we want and not what THEY want us to run.
Remember the days when we used to mock Microsoft and their advertisements by saying "Microsoft: You WILL go here today!"?
-- Wiccan Army, 13th Airborne Division "We will not fly silently into the night"
God you are so right. Although modded funny, your post is insightful.
I've been comparing iPhone and Android, and the really useful apps are available on both platforms. Shazam, Evernote, Trapster. The gimmicky compass, spirit level, sound boards etc. as well.
The extra thousands of apps for the iPhone are crap I'd never use anyway. It's as redundant as one country being able to blow up the whole world five times, versus another country only being able to do it once.
What I really want, is a keyboard. Palm have abandoned us in Australia and the other phones are taking their sweet time getting here.
Apps schmapps.
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300 versions of the same app really don't count as "options".
They do whenever we talk about Linux applications...
Using someone else's wifi (unsecured) is generally illegal and hence applications which help people perform illegal acts are bound to be withdrawn.
At least Apple has a reasonable excuse: their phone has to work on a cell network, and it needs to have restrictions placed on software. Game consoles have no such excuse.
Video game console makers' excuse is that they don't want their consoles to fall victim to an event like the North American video game recession of 1983.
Android was not out when I bought this phone. Though it is looking more and more like my next phone will be android based. just need to find a few replacement apps (winadmin and beejive).
The problem you describe is exactly the problem Operating Systems, or more specifically the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) were made to solve.
Unless it's a feature that's poorly exposed by the HAL. I've read reports in other comments on Slashdot that the Android HAL reports the GPS/compass/accelerometer in one device and that in another device as completely different kinds of device, and some of these devices have defective drivers.
iPhone has more software than Android, hence more options.
Citation? And not just for Android, but other platforms too (e.g., Symbian)? And by that, I don't mean app-store counts, as other platforms aren't restricted to that closed model - I mean total amount of software.
And yes, the other commenter makes a good point - the type of applications is more important than the raw number. Consider one platform having applications in every area of functionality. Then consider a platform that has a higher number of overall applications, but misses out applications in some areas of functionality (in other words, the higher number is due to duplicating functionality). Which is better? The Iphone falls into that latter category - because we know there are areas that are missing, because Apple refuse those, and there's no other way to download them.
Do you really expect people to buy a product that makes you happy regardless of their needs?
Errr no - I'm guessing you have some issues with reading comprehension . . . When discussing the pros and cons of a company/product it is important to be able to detach ones personal preferences/choices from the wider issues at hand, else all we end up doing is cheerleading the shit we like - which, although fun, is hardly enlightening . . .
Because we simply don't care? People here get so stressed about some of the most pedantic things. I use the WiFi outside my home once in a blue moon. It's just not that important since my data plan is unlimited. 3G is perfectly suitable for the occasional internet need while I'm at the doctors office, or sitting eating lunch and reading slashdot or some random news tidbit.
Standard Apple rule - if the Iphone has it, it's great (3G, unlimited dataplan). If not, it's "Why would I need that" or "Why care?" The great thing about this rule is that you can even change when new features are out - e.g., the Iphone had 3G years after other phones, before then it was "Why would I need that?"
but it's almost like there's a complete disconnect between the geeks and the typical user in here.
Yes, in that Apple phones are far more popular here than in the general public, judging by market share.
This whole Apple/Droid thing reminds me of the old Windows/Apple wars.
More like BeOS versus OS/2.
Every iPhone topic turns into how Apple is evil (+1 insightful, yeah baby), and how we should despise them (+1 underrated), or their the new 'Microsoft' (+1 fanboi),
Generally, anything pro-Apple is instant mod points, and any criticism usually gets modded down, unless you're careful or lucky.
The very folks saying we're mindless drones just want us to become mindless droids.
Oh right, because it's called a droid, this means people buying it are "droids".
Personally I Think Different by not buying Apple.
South Park is comedy, it's not actually based on reality. Their goth story was as much of a straw man as your argument against Droid users.
People have been paying for things on mobiles long before the original Iphone was even released. Just look at the ring tone craze, where people hand over money even for something as trivial as a short mp3 tune.
Palm and Windows Mobile (and indeed Android) are small players these days - how does the rest of the market compare?
The difference is that the PC isn't locked down - having more applications (if it's even true - source, please?) is less of a bonus if some categories of applications aren't available because the company doesn't allow them on the platform, or if a particular application can be blocked or removed.
I find it pretty funny that the pro-Apple crowd that use to crow on and on about how "having more applications is irrelevant so long as it does all I want" now quote the (alleged) claim of more applications as if the raw number is now the most important thing worth having. Which is it?
Everyone who's had an app pulled from the store has known beforehand that they were doing something risky and were counting on using public opinion as their insurance policy. The prohibition against using private APIs is right in the developer agreement and Apple's submission tools have become increasingly sophisticated so that some apps that made it through at one point are now being flagged. There's no risk of doing this by mistake as Apple's API docs are extensive. If you don't see the desired class documented there, it's not intended for your use and you probably reverse-engineered the OS to find it in the first place.
Meanwhile, among the Top Free Apps in the iTunes App Store right now are "Sex Positions Game - 18+ Free" (#5), "69 Positions Lite - Sex Positions" (#8), and "Adult Sex Trick" (#25). What was this about Apple removing all sexual content from the App Store?
Who wants to developer only for a hacked platform, with just a few million users - and where the number is very much a vague uncertain estimate?
(When there's a story about an Iphone virus, no doubt you or someone else will be saying it's irrelevant, because it only applies to jailbroken phones...)
Anything you can name, it's been done on the iPhone - and usually first.
3G? Copy/paste? Internet access? Mapping software? Multitasking? MMS? Video recording? Java?
But what if Apple bans something you do want tomorrow? It's not like people bought the iPhone knowing Apple wasn't going to allow WiFi finders and then complained about it. I just can't imagine paying money for a device that someone else still controls like that. To each their own I guess.. or is that to each Apple's?
I love WiFiFoFum. I use it all the time because I don't have a data plan. I think the reason they are removing them is there is recently some news story about how people are using wifi finders to find laptops located in cars and steal them. http://www.pcworld.com/article/190674/wifi_could_lead_thieves_right_to_your_laptop.html
There's actually a very good reason for this. The market doesn't build for geeks anymore. Once upon a time computers were a very geeky thing (make no mistake, that's what an iPhone is... a computer). Products where actually marketed with us in mind.
We are still here. As a potential market we still exist but no one cares because now there are so many more 'regular' users. In comparison companies don't see us as worth marketing to.
That's actually ok. There's a long history of geeks 'hacking' standard consumer devices and making them do new things. Sometimes this even results in new products for the 'normal' users. We can deal with that. Things are changing though. Manufacturers are becoming protective of their platforms. They are adding roadblocks to keep us from customizing our own stuff. Sure an iPhone can be jailbroken today but what if there isn't a bug in the next version we can exploit to do that? What if the iPhone puts the more open phones out of business? They sure seem popular enough. What if other manufacturers see the success of the iPhone and emulate them, closed nature and all? There could be nothing left for us. That's what we are really concerned about, not the 'normal' users.
It's not just the geeks that lose out if this happens. Like I said earlier, our tinkering does often lead to new features for the next generation of 'normal' user products. It's not that the iPhone doesn't do a lot of cool things today, it's that it might not do anything better tomorrow. I don't think ranting on Slashdot will do much to enlighten the public about this but it's probably about as useful as anything else we can do.
At the Wireless Geographic Logging Engine (wigle.net), a database and mapping system for "Net Stumbling" or "War Driving" hobbyists, we've seen the iPhone provide a low barrier-to-entry for this hobby. It combines a GPS with a Wifi radio, but it can only work when apps like Wifi-Where, WiFiFoFum and others are allowed to exist.
These apps were inspected for months before finally getting through the nebulous App Store approval process. Some have been available for months or even years. Now, arbitrarily, they are banned. If they use API calls that Apple didn't want them to, why were they approved? Why weren't the developers contacted behind the scenes to address any fiddly technical issues Apple might foresee?
As users all we see is a useful app, that was paid for, that now can not be updated. We can't find the least used frequency channels to set our access points to, can't take surveys of campus wireless coverage or find rogue wifi on a corporate network. And we can't help with wireless mapping projects. There's no app for that.
-- bobzilla
Wireless Geographic Logging Engine
We've always been at war with Apple.
Did you hear the good news about our chocolate rations?
Really? And what about the iPod Touch users? We don't have a data plan, we depend on WiFi.
This is PURE EAU DE TROLLETTE
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Anyone that relies on a single app, cateogry of app, or platform for their financial well being is crazy.
That is a completely batshit crazy load of crap.
No, what he really means is if you wanted freedom from someone arbitrarily removing options or preventing you from creating them yourself, you would have gone Android.
Maybe lots of people picked iPhone based partly on having a WiFi finder. But now they don't. What favorite app will disappear next? Nobody knows.
What it really comes down to is whether one really wants the final say about one's own device.
how about when the geek is writing software for the closed system and making good money at it? If I had to choose between writing software for two different platforms, whether they are open or closed isn't going to play much of a factor in my decision. What I care about is which platform is going to outsell the other, thereby increasing the potential for profits of my software.
When you didn't opt for a dataplan, your iphone would still attempt to reach out through 3g for data. This would eventually add up on your bill and they'd make their crooked money by having the iphone ping the datanetwork everytime you brought it out of sleep mode. regardless of whether you were on a wifi, it continuously attempts this every chance it gets.
For those users who didn't want to give the providers money for nothing useful at all, they wanted to use the wifi as the primary means of data transmission. and after changing the api of the datanetwork defaults on the phone to a "fake" one, they were completely free of the bullshit that is normally involved with not signing up for a contract and being alienated by their provider.
these wifi apps empowered the user to make the most out of their wifi on their phone, which made it "easier" to opt out of the seemingly obligated contracts and dataplans. resulting ultimately in less money for the greedy bastards.
So im sure that they all bitched and moaned incessantly to apple crying about how those wifi apps are the devil and the user shouldn't have things so easy. now apple, naturally wanting to "improve" their relations with the companies; fucked the customer's choices because they see very little to no consequence over removing that group of apps.
I actually haven't jailbroken my iphone, because i believe in choice and paying for apps that deserve my money. I have however disabled my 3g data, and don't ever plan on caving in to getting a "convenient" dataplan.
Now that those apps have been taken from me as a choice, i am more prone to consider jailbreaking my phone so that i don't have to bend to whatever whim apple decides to take.
in the end, every move they make to control our choices; will push us to take our freedoms back. and if any developers' wallets get harmed in the process, it's apple's fault.
Oh, I seriously want to see them take on Motorola. Taking on HTC was like taking on the scrawny kid in school who isn't part of the "in crowd". He's not that dangerous, and nobody will back him up. Taking on Motorola would be more like a junior high art student taking on a college senior on a martial arts team.
They get away with HTC, because they know HTC's patent portfolio is thin. But all it would take is for Motorola to drop the filing cabinet on them containing their patent portfolio and Apple will crawl away crying for mommy.
Unless again, you consider reality. Reality includes Jailbroken iPhones, which at last count (sometime early last year) was around 3-4 MILLION devices (ad tracking agencies help verify those numbers, but that number is from the founder of Cydia).
And I taped my iphone to my car so it now drives me to work!
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
You forgot one:
Simplicity is power!
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Am I the only one who would like to see an app store where the applications are vetted for security -- i.e. will this app install backdoors in my phone, steal my identity, etc -- but otherwise allowed totally open access? I personally don't care if there are dumb, broken, offensive, duplicate, etc apps; because they might be of service to someone, even if not to me.
the iPod with Rockbox installed is by far the best mp3 player around
Fixed that for you.
The iPhone port of FF1 and FF2 (japan 2) are apparently the same versions as were released for the PSP, but less expensive and with some touch inputs added. They aren't perfect control-wise, but very fun for the nostalgia involved and at a reasonable price.
Take almost any application available for free on Linux, and there is someone publishing a $20 shareware equivalent for Mac OS(X), and hundreds to tens of thousands of Mac users paying for it.
Really? I've never heard of this. Do you have an example? Is that why shareware apps aren't made for Windows?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Of course Apple will sell more than Android. The larger installed user base makes that inevitable. Even if it were released the same day for both platforms, the fact that there are 20x more iPhones out there (number pulled from ass, don't know what it actually is) means it will sell more.
I hate to defend those people, but if they have an iPhone* they might want to have an application for some specific purposes. They have paid the $99 for the right to put their application on their own phone, so it's a no brainer that they would start distributing it through the AppStore.
*- Face it, when it came out, it was the most usable smartphone out there by far.
I can practically smell the patchouli...
If they use API calls that Apple didn't want them to, why were they approved?
Perhaps because the review process isn't as good as it should be?
There's no app for that.
There's no supported stable API for that (in iPhone OS or in Mac OS X). (Yes, I think it would be nice if there were. I'm not about to say "Apple should ship what they have now", however.)
ergonomic btw is not "easy-to-use", look it up) No multitasking.
You're telling me to "look up" ergonomic, then claiming it means "multitasking"?
Since you are so keen on "looking up" things, lets look at the actual definition:
"The applied science of equipment design, as for the workplace, intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort. Also called biotechnology, human engineering, human factors engineering."
Please enlighten us as to how the kinds of multitasking not allowed by third party iPhone apps (because the iPhone does support multitasking, and some form of that for third party apps) help in those regards.
Not that the Android UI is perfect, but you'll notice it's problems are related more to polish, and not to fundamental decisions early on.
Actually both, like the mandate of the Four buttons being a fundamental design mistake at the outset. Really kills an Android tablet. Apple made many more intelligent design choices up front and over time they are reaping the benefit of that.
Because the thing you are missing, is that the ONLY limitations the iPhone really has are things Apple can simply REMOVE from the system. That is the real secret, Apple can allow something to work when they feel like they have how it should work well thought out. The fact that you can do anything with a jailbroken iPhone you can with Android shows this to be true. You can already do more things with an iPhone today than you could at launch, Apple simply opens the platform more slowly but also more thoughtfully.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Given that Final Fantasy has not been ported to Android, nor has it been announced, I'm not sure why you need clarification on my point.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
If you want a great mp3 player I suggest...hold on to your hat...a Zune HD.
Putting aside my temperamental aversion to Microsoft, that just isn't an option here in Australia. Remember, the Zune is not available outside the US or Canada. Just goes to show how serious Microsoft ever were about that the mp3 player market.
The claim that the Classic is "stale" seems a bit silly. Sure, it's not be the most recent design, but who cares? It is elegant, simple to use, and hasn't really dated. And 160GB is more storage than anything else I've seen on offer.
Yes, not putting all your eggs in one basket is a new and crazy concept I just came up with. I invented financial diversity.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
100 times the number of fart applications but no third party mail clients.
no third party mail clients except all of the web based third party mail clients... like gmail
Like anyone can even know that
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/03/uh-oh-looks-like-the-nexus-one-has-glitchy-multi-touch-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/03/uh-oh-looks-like-the-nexus-one-has-glitchy-multi-touch-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
Need to delete apps? There's an app for that. It's called my Trash bin.
Too true, chum. But they didn't so now they can all just stand around while their world is "sanitized" to make it safe....
I have a G1 and will eventually be buying another Android phone (once they come up with a better dev phone with a hard keyboard)
Apple can go stuff itself-I hear their stock is taking a hit, too.
MORE ANDROID!!!
Oops..was I supposed to push that button?
Oh no! Can they actually hack into my phone and remove that app since they have removed it from the app store?
No, I disagree. He mentions several input options that are specific to phones. A phone may or may not have a keyboard but a computer will always have a keyboard and a mouse. An example is: if you're create a driving game for Android, why would you code for accelerometer steering if a big chunk of the users won't have the hardware? A desktop programmer would never think "what if they don't have a mouse?" Android developers will neglect everything above the bottom spec because otherwise they're limiting their market or wasting their own time.
It's not that. PC developers never think "what if my user has no mouse? Better only use the keyboard." That should be a fear for Android users though. Why write for higher-end phone hardware features if that only limits your market? As a user, why buy the nice hardware if none of it's implemented in apps?
Why do you think the MacBook and the iPod are so nice? Because of the exact same things you're turned off by. You wanna make an omelet, you gotta break a few eggs.