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Why PBS Won't Do Android
bogaboga writes "You might be wondering why the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service doesn't have a compelling Android footprint. I was wondering too; until they provided the answer. They say, 'Simply put, it’s too complicated for us to even consider an Android app for the first version; we’ll continue to support those viewers with mobile web. ... As we’re focused on the tablet for this project, we’re only designing for the larger screen sizes. But even there, there are a wide range of sizes and aspect ratios. It’s possible to build flexible sizing for these screen layouts, just as we do for the range of desktop web screen sizes. But the flip side to these wide variations is that in a touch experience, ergonomics plays an important role in the design. Navigational elements need to be within easy reach of the edges of the screens since people often are holding their tablets. If the experience is not fine-tuned to each variation the experience would suffer.' They also cite fragmentation. I'm left wondering whether they didn't find support for various screen sizes on Android developer website. Their budget is undoubtedly limited; are their concerns legit? What companies and organizations have developed Android applications that are good to work with on various screen sizes?"
The iPad app is crap.
It's missing the obvious, trivial user interface items like last broadcast date on shows that make finding new content other than the featured content REALLY painful. It's eye-candy heavy and usability light. The video player (the absolute core of the thing, really) has always crashed on my iPad, even though they've clearly changed their core player software (from one crashing system to another).
They should be making a much simpler, rock solid app. It's their fear of their eye-candy not looking the same which is driving this, or their fear of not being able to be sure that their ads will show.
NPR's iPhone app suffers from the same usability issues, though thanksfully isn't laden with eye-candy.