People that whine about Android ports

**playbookster** · 05-08-2012, 10:56 PM

Answer this.. would you rather have the app ported to playbook through the android player or not have the app at all? I constantly read through reviews on appworld that are for android apps and i see many negative reviews simply because it is not a native app regardless of the quality. Now if i were a developer and i saw this i would say "screw you guys, no more apps". If the app is quality please give it a review it deserves. Perhaps gives good reviews while still commenting to the developer that you would like it to be native would actually entice them to do so. Thank you.

**Darlaten** · 05-08-2012, 11:30 PM

Originally Posted by playbookster

Answer this.. would you rather have the app ported to playbook through the android player or not have the app at all? I constantly read through reviews on appworld that are for android apps and i see many negative reviews simply because it is not a native app regardless of the quality. Now if i were a developer and i saw this i would say "screw you guys, no more apps". If the app is quality please give it a review it deserves. Perhaps gives good reviews while still commenting to the developer that you would like it to be native would actually entice them to do so. Thank you.

That's an interesting question. In all honesty, I have never liked the idea of Android on the Playbook for the exact reasons/criticisms that you are seeing people leave in their reviews.

While there are some notable and worthwhile exceptions, it's been my experience that there are far too many Android apps that are, to be blunt, poorly designed, horribly implemented, buggy, and just down right awful on the Playbook. In this regard, my concern is solely with the quality of the app - not over whether the app is an Android instead of Native.

Of course, there's another side to this discussion; are the complaints that you are expressing a concern over stemming from the fact that the app is poor or that the Android player, as implemented by RIM, is poor. That's two entirely different issues. If it is the latter, then I fully concede your point as these developers, who are trying to support the Playbook via their Android apps, are in turn being crucified through no fault of their own. On the other hand, if the complaints do not stem from RIM's Android Player, but from the app themselves, then I see no problem with this.

In any event, the cat is out of the bag so the Playbook is stuck, for better or for worse, with Android on it. Thankfuly there are some worthwhile Android ports, e.g., News Republic by Mobiles Republic has fast become one of my favourite apps.

But, to tell you the truth, one of the first things I look for is to see if it is an Android app and if so, it highly unlikely that I will download it.

**zethaaron** · 05-08-2012, 11:31 PM

The problem is that even if the app is quality, no one wants to buy something that's going to crash, which Android apps often do for many people.

**Khameleon05** · 05-09-2012, 12:02 AM

Not at all.

If I want an Android app (which I don't), I'll sideload the ANDROID app. If you're going to sell something for the playbook, make it FOR the playbook.

**playbookster** · 05-09-2012, 12:13 AM

Originally Posted by Khameleon05

Not at all.

If I want an Android app (which I don't), I'll sideload the ANDROID app. If you're going to sell something for the playbook, make it FOR the playbook.

Id rather have a port than nothing at all. And im sure most people feel the same.

**Zildjian71** · 05-09-2012, 12:52 AM

Most Android apps perform exactly the same on Android devices...read the forums.

As for any dev walking away, so be it if you as a dev are too lazy to bring your wonderful super app as a native app then oh well.

Ask your self do Windows apps run on a Mac...only in a virtual machine...or on Linux under Wine?

Get real. Those of us that have been burned by Android on the PlayBook are tired of it.

There are those of use who hope that BB10 and Cascades will eliminate all things Android.

If you want a future on BlackBerry devices then get into BB10 and do it right.

**Hawkeberry** · 05-09-2012, 01:05 AM

Would prefer an android app than not have it at all. As long as it doesn't crash / lag, it doesn't matter to me.

**peter_betos** · 05-09-2012, 01:06 AM

Drive RIM to have the Android apps perform better, that's what I would do.

**416to604** · 05-09-2012, 01:53 AM

I would rather have the android port than nothing at all

**SCrid2000** · 05-09-2012, 02:04 AM

I would rather have an Android Player with Android market and have the Android Player run much like a virtual machine on a PC - completely separate, except for maybe a shared sd card.
For BB in general, converted android apps are great because it gives the platform more apps and people in general are stupid enough to think lots of apps means lots of good apps.

**emtunc** · 05-09-2012, 02:10 AM

Would you rather have a rotten apple or no apple at all? (just generalising the quality of Android ports).

**Majestic Lion** · 05-09-2012, 03:05 AM

Android can keep their apps.

**alnamvet68** · 05-09-2012, 03:09 AM

It all boils down to risk vs benefit. For me, there are more then enough troublesome android ported apps that make the whole experience just not worth while. I would go with all native apps as my preference, and do without an app or more that is ported.

**hpulley** · 05-09-2012, 03:25 AM

Glad to have Android but prefer native.

Paid $9.99 for qPDF Notes but it has saved my bacon several times so worth the cost IMO. Seems stable to me.

Overdrive isn't going to make a native version so I am very glad to have the Android version.

WWF hangs a lot but I still prefer the sideloaded android app to using the Facebook version.

Heck, sideloaded android twitter is better than the web page which only loads recent tweets.

One way android apps and even better than native is they get notifications while native apps cannot which RIM really needs to fix.

**Khameleon05** · 05-09-2012, 04:26 AM

Originally Posted by SCrid2000

I would rather have an Android Player with Android market and have the Android Player run much like a virtual machine on a PC - completely separate, except for maybe a shared sd card.

That would be nice too than we wouldn't be forced to have it constantly running even if we never use it.

The ability to launch it (or set it to launch on startup like it does now if you want)+the ability to close and reload it without restarting/open a bunch of other apps would be great.

**ruichambel** · 05-09-2012, 06:17 AM

I don't have nothing against android but i prefer native apps. i don't know whose fault is it but almost all the android apps that i've tried on my playbook crash or don't perform well.