The Skritter iOS app is now out! I’ll just repost the info from their page, looks good:
It looks pretty awesome, anyway. If I used Apple stuff I’d definitely be right on this. But I’m actually not a fan of Apple at all. Generally I think their stuff is over-priced, and that what Apple is really good at is marketing rather than making technology. It is nicely designed, well-made stuff but it shouldn’t cost two to three times as much as any other brand. It’s not that good.
Please make a native Android Skritter app!
I’m going to take this opportunity to urge the guys at Skritter to release a native Android app as soon as possible. A lot of us Android users feel a little cheated that because Android is open and supports Flash, we’ve been left with a sub-standard Skritter experience. Running Skritter in an Android browser is OK, but it’s not a patch on how convenient and effective a native app would be.
At the same time, because Apple are restrictive and monopolising, and haven’t offered Flash support on their devices, their users get a native Skritter app. It shouldn’t work like that.
Having said that I do understand the motivation to get support on Apple, as it opens up a huge new market for Skritter that simply didn’t exist before. That’s fine, but please get working on a native app for your loyal Android customers!
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To clarify, I’m pretty sure the reason Android was left out is because a poll was run and determined that a majority of existing iOS customers already had iOS devices; I think they were relatively democratic about it.
A majority of customers already had iOS devices? Yeah I’m really just trying to urge the team at Skritter to get going on a native Android app.
You’re totally right that Android deserves a better Skritter experience. I’m more and more embarrassed at how bad the Android Flash version runs as I compare it to the iOS app and see what is possible. But it takes a long, long time to make a good native mobile app. We can’t afford to do it just to better serve existing Android customers–we’ll have to do it such that it can also bring in new Android customers. 3000 hours is a lot.
Do you think that Android users have different standards such that we could provide a smooth writing experience without as much polish and features where it would still be worth it, or do you think they would only be satisfied with something as good as the iOS app?
Well, I can’t speak for all the Android users, but all I’m looking for is something that loads promptly, makes good use of the screen space and is smooth to use. It seems like running it through Flash in the browser just isn’t very efficient – it eats up battery and is slightly laggy (just enough to be noticeable on a HTC Desire S). I’m not too fussed about anything other than the practice, as I can easily log in on a computer to add vocab, manage lists etc.
The offline support would be really nice, but it’s not essential for me at all. I can do Anki when I don’t have an internet connection. Like I say, I would just like a clean Skritter practice experience on Android.
I totally agree. I’m super thrilled the IOS app is out, it looks fantastic and shiny and new and…it helps me not one bit to Skritter on my Android.
Can’t speak for all the Android users, but for me, function is more important than flashiness. Especially offline function. Since my Android is so old it doesn’t even have the capability for flash, so I don’t even have online function at the moment. I’d upgrade my Android if there was a Skritter app for it that required Flash (going to need to upgrade soon anyway, it’s gasping) but I WON’T switch to Apple
[...] thing that could improve at Skritter is the Android interface. There is no Android App. You can only access the site from some Android devices. So if you use Android phones or tablets, [...]
[...] thing that could improve at Skritter is the Android interface. There is no Android App. You can only access the site from some Android devices. So if you use Android phones or tablets, [...]