[Hlao-roo]

Does anything really exist?

[OneofLittleHarmony]

Does anything really exist?

Best answer here. Is there a missile gap? Is there an app gap?

Posted via CB10

[Superdupont 2_0]

Not my top 10 apps, I dont use any of them
Here's mine
CADpockets - autoCAD app, android only
Sight Space 3d - sketch up app, android only
BDO banking app - android only
PicsArt - android only (on my knowledge)
Telegram - nothing is better or same as android on BlackBerry world.
Mega - android port from BlackBerry world
Office Pro - better than DocsToGo from BlackBerry world
Google drive - android app
Google map - better than BlackBerry map app
Facebook messenger and app itself - no match the app from BlackBerry world


I think app gap is very much present.
Posted via CB10

If counted correctly that's about
3 apps truly not available on BB 10
At least 4 apps (equivalents) available on BB 10, but the user experience is much better with Android

Yeah, alltogether that's a significant gap for your case.
I would understand a sales rep who offers you an Android phone here.

[Superdupont 2_0]

Does anything really exist?

Cogito, ergo sum.

[Superdupont 2_0]

I'll post my to 5 or 6 on my daily driver

1) Tasker
2) Business Calendar
3) Google Voice
4) Titanium Backup
5) Evernote
6) Gmail

I think most of these functions are available on the BB 10 ecosystem, so I don't see a significant app gap here.

Side note:
If you would list up only these functions, a sales rep could also offer you BB 10.
However, if you list up the concrete app names, then of course every sales rep with some sense should definitely (try to) sell you an Android device.

[Tre Lawrence]

I think most of these functions are available on the BB 10 ecosystem, so I don't see a significant app gap here.

Side note:
If you would list up only these functions, a sales rep could also offer you BB 10.
However, if you list up the concrete app names, then of course every sales rep with some sense should definitely (try to) sell you an Android device.

Tasker alone precludes that. Nothing replicates its feature-set on BB10. I consider it an anchor app.

I can't find anything that does what Gmail does either.

And that's the thing... the individual app gaps aren't gaping. Probably a single major app here and there, but enough to create a void.

[Superdupont 2_0]

Tasker alone precludes that. .

Tasker as an anchor app aside, why should you leave the Android ecosystem for BB 10?
You have found some key Android apps which do the job efficiently together with the stock apps, no pressure to leave, so next time you enter a store you would probably buy an Android again and I couldn't blame the sales rep for advising Android.

To me that is some sort of "psychological" gap, because on BB 10 you would have to start from scratch again, finding the apps you need to be where you already are now..

PS:
I am not using GMail, but I use an MS Exchange server to manage mail, calender, contacts and notes (Remember) between BB 10, PlayBook and Outlook.
I assume the only difference is that my solution isn't for free (but more privacy friendly).

[Soulstream]

It doesn't have to be be 10000 missing apps.1 or 2 missing apps is all it takes. Also, when buying a phone, some people like it to be "future proof". What if someone has a bb10 device, and in 6 months after the purchase a new popular app is launched or his work places uses some new app suite that isn't available for BB10 (and let us be honest, most new apps don't come to BB10).

[extisis]

Not my top 10 apps, I dont use any of them
Here's mine
CADpockets - autoCAD app, android only
Sight Space 3d - sketch up app, android only
BDO banking app - android only
PicsArt - android only (on my knowledge)
Telegram - nothing is better or same as android on BlackBerry world.
Mega - android port from BlackBerry world
Office Pro - better than DocsToGo from BlackBerry world
Google drive - android app
Google map - better than BlackBerry map app
Facebook messenger and app itself - no match the app from BlackBerry world


I think app gap is very much present.
Posted via CB10

i would like to know how bad your battery life is with the core of your apps being droid.

and when you say "better than a BlackBerry" native solution are you comparing to what it would be on an droid phone are are you saying that these droid ports work better than what we have on BB10 already? If the latter, i would beg to differ.

[phillyd2]

I can't even imagine a serious conversation with any who claims that there is no app gap or it's not so bad.

My phone is a Q10 and have been with BB for a very long time. I also have iPads and they are in completely different universes in regards to apps.

[jmr1015]

"Do not try to bridge the app gap. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth; there is no app gap."

[MikeX74]

Yes, but it's not just about the number of apps, it's about the apps that people need/want for their own personal uses. For example, if I can't find apps for my bank, public transit system, local news outlets, local businesses, etc., then the gap is very real.

[ubizmo]

There are numerous treads about that discussion...
But a BlackBerry phone with Android.. is just another Android phone. Even with a BlackBerry skin on it. Then imo buy an Android phone if you want more apps. Just let BB10 and it's strength as it is.

A BlackBerry Android phone, if done well, will not be just another Android phone. It'll be rather strikingly different in the user experience it provides. Whether such a phone would be attractive enough to the public to make a material difference to BlackBerry's fortunes is something nobody knows.

As for the rest of what I quoted, of course we will all let BB10 be what it is, as long as it's around. Nobody reading these posts has any power over it.

[ljfong]

App gap exists in all platforms. Some gaps are simply much wider than others. One can argue that in terms of mobile app gaps, iOS app ecosystem has the smallest gap, Android next smallest, Windows Phone has a large app gap, BlackBerry has a very large app gap, while other even more obscure platforms like Firefox OS, Tizen have very very large app gap. This is all in terms of native app gaps. BlackBerry did its best to try to bridge the gap through Android player, but the bridge itself has many gaps of its own.

[Poi25]

If you just want it to work out of the box and love games and social networking, then yes, there is an "app gap." If you know what you're doing with technology and are willing to do a little bit of work (no work really, as devs did the "heavy lifting") by installing a few programs, then nope, no "app gap."

Every app I used on my Android devices works perfectly on my Passport; couldn't be happier

[anon(8063781)]

There is an app gap. Even the android ports that do exist burn through your battery life too quickly.

That being said, every other platform suffers the physical keyboard gap, so I'm still here....

Posted via CB10

[GadgetTravel]

I don't think there is an app gap either, if you ask the question, what do you want your smartphone to do? For some of these uses there will be apps, for some they are not needed as an alternative to the browser. But people are so used to the appscreens on their androids and apples, that the question they ask themselves is, from having been conditioned by the very presence of their phone what to do with it, that the questions they actually ask themselves is, "what buttons am i used to pushing every day that i want to continue to be able to keep pushing?" they didnt buy a phone for the need to have those specific buttons to push, they were taught by their phones that this what you want to spend your time doing with your new very expensive phone.

"There's an app for that" has really been ingrained into people's minds, and now we find BlackBerry has to be what people already are used to to attract them instead of attracting them because its different.

Youtube, for the perfect example! With flash gone in the new update, i simply have a shortcut to Youtube via the Flash Browser and it works great, but some will need to have one of the Youtube apps instead for that. (i cant even keep track of which youtube apps are supposed to work and which arent.)

Rather than think of what are my most used phone apps, i think of, what do i actually do with my phone? On a regular day, i may talk, text, stream music, listen to local FM radio, download a talk-news radio show or take a few pictures. Tiny Curve does it all! On a day i may want to kill time browsing, cuz I'm riding the bus or doing laundry, i may take the Z10 or Z30 or Q5 along instead.

There are buttons to press for all of these things. For the music theres an app, and i guess the radio is also an app. Would i have a better time with an android phone? Would i 'push more buttons?'. Or, would i waste a bunch of time (like i did) trying to close unwanted apps ad restrict the permissions that automatically reenable themselves constantly, some just when i restart my phone, and some immediately after i disabled them. Some people can just get used to that 'app ecosystem,' i guess, but it made me not want to have a phone.

For people to find out they can explore their options and make a decision, i truly believe that MOST people would choose BlackBerry in the end and will find that for the most part it has whatever apps they need. If you love your phone and your apps and dont feel a desire for a change, BlackBerry may not win you over.

As it stands, people just dont want to waste their time looking at BlackBerry bc they already think there is nothing to see here anyway. The degree to which people demand BlackBerry have the exact same way of doing things as the phone they're used to is beyond belief.

_________
I meant to say the Zeus Browser, but, it IS a flash browser.

Well, it really depends on how you use your phone. If you use it for a phone; toss in email and texting. There isn't an app gap. Some of us use it as a mobile computer. I have an iPhone as my main phone and have alternated with between a Moto X and a Q10. I love the PKB but just can't take the app situation and recently went back to the Moto X.

Apps I depend on, I'll try to cluster them:

Travel
Depending on circumstances I sometimes travel (air and rail) a lot. Some years 250,000 miles although way less this year. BB10 isn't even in this area in my opinion:

Flight Update
TripIt
American Airlines
Passbook
Amtrak
United Airlines
(More or less your airline of choice)
Airport Map Apps
Seat Guru - lets me research seats on flights before changing seats if I need to

Meeting specific apps - related to travel. I am a scientist, and go to scientific meetings. Any of any size at all will have an app for iOS and Android. At big meetings they are quite sophisticated and useful. For instance, at this years American Association for Cancer Research there were probably 10,000-15,000 attendees. All of the presentations are in the app. You can find which presentation you might be interested in, or which session and see all the details of who is presenting, times, and a room number in the convention center. From there you can get a map showing the room location. Enormously valuable to make the most of your time.

Task/Team/Project management
Basecamp app - lets me monitor interact with Basecamp site that I use for some aspects of team management

Omnifocus - deeply featured task manager, super high quality which syncs across devices (anything iOS or OSX). The cross device aspect is critical

Office Apps
Pages
Numbers
Keynote
Again, these are cross device through iCloud. I can prepare a presentation on a Mac or iPad and it syncs to my iPhone. I've given 90 minute presentations with a hundred slides and movies linked in from my phone.

Office
Native Microsoft Office although you need an Office 365 subscription for it. I have one but use the Apple Office products usually. Occasionally I need it for a document someone mails me.

Google Docs on both iOS and Android and we are using it more and more due to the sharing capabilities for multiple people working on docs and the cross platform/device nature of it

Google Maps, especially while traveling.

Dictate - very full featured dictation tool, lets you insert, overwrite etc. Then I can upload to Dropbox and my assistant transcribes with Dragon Naturally Speaking. Alternately it links to at least one 24/7/365 commercial transcription service. A couple years ago I had some urgent stuff I was working on. I was on my way to Tokyo also. I wrote it out on the flight. Read it to Dictate when I got to my hotel and sent to the service. I was like 5 in the morning on a Saturday east coast time so my assistant was of course not working. Took a shower, had dinner went back to my room, had the text in my mail. Edited it and got some sleep.

Dragon Microphone lets me use my phone in my office as a microphone for my Mac running Dragon Dictate

Evernote. The tools to capture text from images in iOS and Android are excellent and evry useful for getting docs/notes etc into the system if I away from my office scanner.

DayOne - cross device diary for tracking things ranging from how to spent your day to specifics, I use it to track meds and related

Slack - cross device (iOS, Android, OSX, Windows) messaging. I have tried repeatedly to use BBM and I just don't find it competitive to Slack

Kindle

Audible

Runkeeper

Numerous other health and fitness apps

AwayFind
Subscription service for email notification. It monitors my mail server looking for mail from a list of critical people I have listed - boss, wife, assistant and critical project related people. It also checks my calendar for the day and people I am invited to a meeting with that day get added. If any of them email me it pings me through the app, iOS and Android. Otherwise I look at email at set times and also my assistant screens a fair amount.

Plus lots of little things, and on iOS, Apple music which I am beginning to really like.


Tools, not toys.

[TheTillmanator]

Personally, with the Amazon App Store and Cobalt's Google Play, the app gap has been closed considerably. It's without a doubt still there, but not the near deal breaker it was initially. What we now have is an app convenience issue. Apple keeps things brain dead simple. "It just works!" Average Joe likes simple. Not:

"You can get Google Play Store if you go side load an app from a niche internet forum that adds a Google system account to your device, then another app to register your account with Google Play, then finally you can install and run the Google Play Store app. Also, there's another app called Lucky Patcher that you may need to use sometimes to patch apps to get them working. Simple, right?"

Then you turn around to realize Average Joe ran for the hills where his Apple store is located as soon as you said "side load." I love my Passport to death and the extra steps aren't an issue for me, but it's something I think BlackBerry needs to resolve to draw in more consumers.

[GadgetTravel]

Personally, with the Amazon App Store and Cobalt's Google Play, the app gap has been closed considerably. It's without a doubt still there, but not the near deal breaker it was initially. What we now have is an app convenience issue. Apple keeps things brain dead simple. "It just works!" Average Joe likes simple. Not:

"You can get Google Play Store if you go side load an app from a niche internet forum that adds a Google system account to your device, then another app to register your account with Google Play, then finally you can install and run the Google Play Store app. Also, there's another app called Lucky Patcher that you may need to use sometimes to patch apps to get them working. Simple, right?"

Then you turn around to realize Average Joe ran for the hills where his Apple store is located as soon as you said "side load." I love my Passport to death and the extra steps aren't an issue for me, but it's something I think BlackBerry needs to resolve to draw in more consumers.

I'm not an average Joe. I've flashed custom ROMs to old Windows phones for instance; when I needed to. I don't have time to side load or stuff like that when I don't need to, I just use Android or IOS.

[Dave Bourque]

I love these threads because of the long winded answers people give but really, it comes down to something rather simple. For some, the app gap exists and for some, it doesn't. Everyone uses their device differently.

Looking at the big picture though, it seems pretty clear it's an issue for BlackBerry on the whole, even if there's no app gap for myself. No matter how anyone twists it, there's people out there who simply will not pick up a BlackBerry because it doesn't have <insert app name>.

Right. But once that app gap issue is solved. The next excuse will be " but it's a BlackBerry ". lol...

Z30STA100-5/10.3.2.2339

[Dave Bourque]

I'm not an average Joe. I've flashed custom ROMs to old Windows phones for instance; when I needed to. I don't have time to side load or stuff like that when I don't need to, I just use Android or IOS.

Why would side load with BlackBerry 10? It's all done through the device.

Z30STA100-5/10.3.2.2339

[Poi25]

The next excuse will be " but it's a BlackBerry ". lol...

I bet it would be, "But who needs a QWERTY keyboard in 2015? Stop being a dinosaur and let go of your ancient tech."

[KorChi_JapThai]

The gap really exist, BlackBerry won't have android runtime.

Posted via CB10

[Superdupont 2_0]

Thanks a lot for listing these up.

I see how these work for you and to me it's clear why you wouldn't move away from your app ecosystem.
However, it's very tempting to comment a little bit.

Apps I depend on, I'll try to cluster them:
Travel
[...]
Flight Update
TripIt
American Airlines
Passbook
Amtrak
United Airlines
(More or less your airline of choice)
Airport Map Apps
Seat Guru - lets me research seats on flights before changing seats if I need to

I am a frequent flyer and never use any apps.
Just looking for the signs when I arrive at the airport, always works for me.
I select my seat either at the self-service machines or at the check-in counter.

Meeting specific apps - related to travel.
[...] All of the presentations are in the app. You can find which presentation you might be interested in, or which session and see all the details of who is presenting, times, and a room number in the convention center.
[...]

These should work with the Android runtime of BB 10, though I wouldn't use a Q/Classic to view presentations.

Task/Team/Project management
Basecamp app - lets me monitor interact with Basecamp site that I use for some aspects of team management

Don�t know this app, but could imagine it is valuable when you have to manage multiple teams of bigger size internally.

Omnifocus - deeply featured task manager, super high quality which syncs across devices (anything iOS or OSX). The cross device aspect is critical

Oh, I use an ancient method.
I cput new tasks in an ecxel sheet (which I use to track everything) and clear the "Sent Items" folder in Outlook all 3-4 weeks.
While I shuffle the mails to the destined folders, I cross-check with the tasks list to confirm the progress.
As a result my Outlook folders are always clean, I even find very old e-mails quickly, and I have never forget a task.
Combine this with the calendar app to remind me about certain tasks, meetings, holidays etc etc... and share it with my co-workers (addtionally also over MS Exchange).

Office Apps
Pages
Numbers
Keynote
Again, these are cross device through iCloud. I can prepare a presentation on a Mac or iPad and it syncs to my iPhone. I've given 90 minute presentations with a hundred slides and movies linked in from my phone.
Office
[...]

Most of the Office documents we use in my company are �too big� for a mobile device.
So, in 95% of all cases I must use a pc or laptop to create and edit an Office document.

But I admit, sometimes I just want to create a simple �backbone� on my BlackBerry and then it is really annoying to deal with the limitations of docs to go ( I find it useless)

For syncing you have also options with BB 10 (cloud services, exchange...)

Google Maps, especially while traveling.

I used the stock BB 10 maps in locations like Madrid, Paris, Copenhagen or Italian countryside etc etc... and for me it always did the job so far.
(But for sure I use Google Maps when I plan and prepare business trips on my office pc)

DayOne - cross device diary for tracking things ranging from how to spent your day to specifics, I use it to track meds and related

Diaries are available for BB 10 as well.

Slack - cross device (iOS, Android, OSX, Windows) messaging. I have tried repeatedly to use BBM and I just don't find it competitive to Slack

Well, I am sure BBM will be further developed (there are ups and downs). For me BBM helps me to avoid e-mails about trivial issues and I love Glympse.

Kindle

Latest version is available in Amazon Appstore and I put it in my top 10.
I wrote earlier that it loads slowly, but for any reason this issue seems to be gone.

Numerous other health and fitness apps

Are also available for BB 10, I have a few but essentially I mostly use only the timer funtion of the stock clock.
And I ripped a few work out videos to my sd card, which works better for me than apps.

AwayFind
Subscription service for email notification. It monitors my mail server looking for mail from a list of critical people I have listed - [...]

Sounds like Priority Hub and customized contacts notification will do the same job?

Tools, not toys.

Yeah!

[Bla1ze]

Right. But once that app gap issue is solved. The next excuse will be " but it's a BlackBerry ". lol...

Z30STA100-5/10.3.2.2339

Pretty much but you know.. one step at a time lol.