Sunday, November 21, 2010

gruber on android apps

gruber on android apps: It brings up some interesting points given mobile Internet is a way from being adequate and apps are important to a class of smartphone users.

Gruber is so deep in the Cupertino reality distortion field that he doesn't notice that many (most?) of us don't care about "killer" apps, we care about apps that do the work we care about. Besides the built-in mail and browser apps on my Nexus One, the apps I use the most are Listen (a Google Labs app, free), CardioTrainer (Android only, paid premium version), TweetDeck (Android and iOS, free), and Astrid (Android only, paid premium version). I don't care whether they are Android "killer apps" or they are out there on every smartphone OS. I care that they do for me something I value. Listen and CardioTrainer together made my workouts a lot more fun and organized, TweetDeck makes it really easy to manage my Twitter and Buzz streams, and Astrid fights a valiant battle to keep me a bit more organized. Maybe some "killer app" would change my life even more than Listen or CardioTrainer, but there's a limit to how much time I can devote to app hunting and evaluation.

Gruber and many other tech pundits seem too easily seduced by technology as a way of being, rather than the humbler but maybe more long-lasting technology as a way of doing.

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