Crap apps?

[Kahil]

No offense to any app developers out there, but aren't there enough crap apps out there? I like to check the Market on a regular basis and the majority of the new apps I see are crap apps. Basically wallpapers, soundboards, news feeds or are basically just links to a mobile site. Not to call anyone out, but the main developer I see doing this is Androidz. I just don't understand it. There really should be a rule. Yesterday I checked the Market and it was just one new release after another by this developer. What were they? News feeds for each state. I wish there was a way to exclude certain developers. Nothing really against whomever Androidz is, its just difficult sift through all those apps. I just think that there should be rules for this. I mean, I'm not saying that Google should be as strict as Apple is with apps, but there is no need for the bloat. This is how Apple/AT&T can boast about having over 100,000 apps...a good portion of the apps are basically the same app, just a different flavor.

What do y'all think about developers who do this?

 

[flu13]

I don't blame the developers. I blame the crappy market app that doesn't allow us more control over searching and filtering and sorting. You can ONLY sort by popularity and by date? Come on.

 

[Kahil]

I don't blame the developers. I blame the crappy market app that doesn't allow us more control over searching and filtering and sorting. You can ONLY sort by popularity and by date? Come on.

Exactly. If a developer wants to make a lot of apps to suit the needs/wants of a wide range of people and make a little bit of change, then great. If the Market wants to allow developers to upload just about any app to share, then great. But at least give us the ability to filter better. When we have to scroll through 50+ news feeds, we may miss a potentially good app in the mix.

 

[alostpacket]

What it comes down to is that the best way to find good apps is to come to a site like this and talk to peeps.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Probably some of both.

Filtering and ignore would be nice though

 

[Tom C.]

While searching for apps can be tedious, the Google App Store encourages developers to contribute (and often). Apparently, the news feed app code could be easily modified for any state, thus making it easy to design an individual app for each state (although if I were adept at coding, I would have tried to make one app that would get the news feed for a state that you enter as a variable). I'd be willing to bet that this kind of redundancy exists in other types of apps also.

Hopefully the coders behind the Market app will make a more refined search engine. Until then, I will try to use as many key words in my search for apps as I can to make it easier. A small price to pay for a store that now has approximately 20,000 apps (according to Wikipedia).

 

[BiGMERF]

it bothers me to the point where i dont even use most of the apps on my hone unless i really have too. if i have my ipod touch with me i use that. the minute i got my phone and typed in espn at the market place and came up with nothing i knew i was in for a bad time. no espn app? are you kidding me? forget trying to find other apps, the app store over there is a whole lot better. Plus you have to worry about if this app is gonna suck the life out of my battery or is it gonna cause lag etc. i shoudnt have to worry about these things, the need to be able to work together and as efficient as the next. the market place is just proof of androids infantcy, there is still a whole lot of growing up that needs to be done

 

[alostpacket]

it bothers me to the point where i dont even use most of the apps on my hone unless i really have too. if i have my ipod touch with me i use that. the minute i got my phone and typed in espn at the market place and came up with nothing i knew i was in for a bad time. no espn app? are you kidding me? forget trying to find other apps, the app store over there is a whole lot better. Plus you have to worry about if this app is gonna suck the life out of my battery or is it gonna cause lag etc. i shoudnt have to worry about these things, the need to be able to work together and as efficient as the next. the market place is just proof of androids infantcy, there is still a whole lot of growing up that needs to be done

No offense meant by this at all, but if you use your ipod touch to do most things, why are you a phone guide on these forums?

 

[Kahil]

it bothers me to the point where i dont even use most of the apps on my hone unless i really have too. if i have my ipod touch with me i use that. the minute i got my phone and typed in espn at the market place and came up with nothing i knew i was in for a bad time. no espn app? are you kidding me? forget trying to find other apps, the app store over there is a whole lot better. Plus you have to worry about if this app is gonna suck the life out of my battery or is it gonna cause lag etc. i shoudnt have to worry about these things, the need to be able to work together and as efficient as the next. the market place is just proof of androids infantcy, there is still a whole lot of growing up that needs to be done

That isn't really fair to Android now is it? The iPhone has been available to developers longer and got the jump on this market. As someone who has had both, the iPhone apps aren't any better. There are as many or more crap apps on the iPhone side. As for apps like ESPN, you should know better than that honestly. Official apps are only made by companies that want to make them. If you want an official ESPN app from them, then contact them and push ESPN to make an Android app. Have you tried Sports Tap? Its pretty good and from what I can tell, does the basics that the ESPN iPhone app does.

While Android OS is still in its infancy, at least it is open source, which gives it a greater potential than the iPhone OS.

 

[vincentp]

There are a lot of crap apps out there. I understand that others may legitimately want or need some things that I find useless, but a great many of the apps I scroll through are just generally worthless. I don't like the fact that I have to wade through them to get to the good stuff. A sort or filter by rating and/or number of downloads would be much appreciated.

On a side note, to the above poster - SportsTap is awesome. I've been using it since day one and I love it.

 

[flu13]

Just for the record, I believe that the default sort in the market, "By Popularity," is by number of downloads.

 

[iPhone2Droid]

I'd pay money for an app that lets me view the Market AND add dev names to HIDE all their apps. I've got 7 on my mental hitlist already.

 

[hrbib21]

Kahil, maybe you should consider switching to ATT and getting an Iphone since you seem to dislike freedom."There should be a rule."? You should also look up the term "open source" so that you may better understand how such a community works.

Complaining about free and/or cheap apps with the ability to receive a refund if unhappy; I think I've seen it all now.

How much does it really put you out to hit the uninstall button?

 

[Kahil]

Kahil, maybe you should consider switching to ATT and getting an Iphone since you seem to dislike freedom."There should be a rule."? You should also look up the term "open source" so that you may better understand how such a community works.

Complaining about free and/or cheap apps with the ability to receive a refund if unhappy; I think I've seen it all now.

How much does it really put you out to hit the uninstall button?

Freedom? Really? Going the GOP route with this huh...

Please don't talk down to me, let alone anyone else for that matter.

I'm not complaining about installing or uninstalling or getting refunds. I'm talking about browsing the Market for good, useful apps. When someone uploads countless apps that are just news feeds, apps that are just bookmarks to sites or soundboards, it gets a little old and frustrating. Its putting bloat in the Market, just like the one for the iPhone. You have hundreds, if not thousands of apps that are all the same app of a different flavor. Its really not much different than spamming. If someone wants to make an app and/or sell one, then great, awesome...but the people browsing the Market shouldn't have to sift through countless crap apps. There should either be some sort of limit or controls on these spam apps or we should be able to filter them out by developer. Really, how many different news feed apps do you need? How many sound boards do you need? Seriously, a good, single app could be made to do both. Like maybe a Google Reader app and an app like the Zedge app.

 

[craighwk]

"Couldn't care less"

It bothers me a little I guess. I fear the mad amount of crap apps could dilute the market and turn off some newcomers. Don't want these apps to cheapen our brand. Thankfully the ratings system allow me to avoid these apps without ever downloading them. Haven't really had a serious problem with any apps as of yet.