10 Android App Flops
Among Android apps, you'll find some jewels--and many stinkers. Here's our top 10 list of Android apps to skip, including a few names you might not expect.
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When it comes to mobile devices, operating systems tend to grab most of the headlines. But it is the apps that can make or break the device--and that tend to be the most helpful to users. As our recent list of 10 Epic Android Apps shows, great apps can help you be more productive, assist in travel and communications, and provide fun and diverting entertainment.
But for every great app, there are several apps that fail to make the grade. Bad apps can cause frustration, lead to delays in getting things done, and just waste space on your device.
What makes for a bad app? Well, apps can fail in a number of ways.
They can be apps that you use every day, but also curse constantly, because they make tasks that should be simple tougher than they need to be. A bad app can also be one that causes system instability, uses bandwidth unnecessarily, or is just generally buggy. And an app can fail by being completely useless.
In this list of the 10 worst Android apps, we've included some that come pre-installed on every single Android device. These are apps that you often have to use--but probably wish that you didn't. Also included are some apps whose very reason to exist is questionable at best. And in one case, we've included an app that proved to be buggy, unable to deliver on its promise, and unable to withstand the forward movement of technology.
Of course, with more than 250,000 apps on the Android Market, and given the fact that Google lets pretty much any developer create apps for the Android, you've probably seen a large number of bad apps available for Android devices. This is our list of the 10 Worst Android Apps. Using our comments section, let us know which bad apps would make your top 10 stinkers list.
Almost certainly the ultimate failed mobile application. Early on in the smartphone revolution, Flash promised to be the main way that application interfaces and rich media would be delivered to mobile devices--and Android was going to be the showcase platform for Flash. But it consistently failed to deliver anything close to the capabilities of the desktop version of Flash. Plus it was buggy and a resource hog. Even Adobe now recognizes this, and is pulling the plug on mobile Flash. Steve Jobs was right.
The official justification for the Beer Counter app is to help a group of friends figure out the bill at the end of the night. Of course, there's also the idea of knowing how many drinks one person has had during a night of over-indulging. But if you've been drinking so much that you can't keep track, I'm not sure a mobile app will help (and you'll probably forget to use it anyways.)
To a certain degree, Facebook is made for mobile usage. Being able to send status updates, upload photos, and see what your friends are doing is great when you're out and about. But the Android Facebook app itself can turn aggravating.
Outside of basic status updates, the app itself is a shadow of using the full Facebook interface in a browser. Navigating Facebook is not the easiest thing in the app. Also, chat is poorly implemented, and uploading images can be tedious.
The Geico commercial starts by asking, "Do people use smartphones to do dumb things?" Well, if you want to act like the guys in that commercial, you can download the GEICO BroStache app to add a fake mustache to your face. However, just because you see people do something in a TV commercial doesn't mean that you need to do it real life.
You would think that Google's core email app would be perfect on Google's mobile operating system. And for basic use it probably works fine. But power users of Gmail can find the Android app to be disappointing. Think failed syncs, lack of view customization, and limited filtering options. If you have a good mobile browser, it is usually a superior experience to access Gmail from the browser--rather than the app.
You can almost see the thought process behind these apps (and there are few similar ones in the Android Market.) Massagers vibrate, smartphones vibrate, let's turn the smartphone into a massager! I can think of quite a few ways to criticize and make fun of this, but I think we are all pretty clear on why this app is on this list.
In the ebook/digital media wars, one of the common arguments involves the superiority of the printed page versus a digital screen. In those arguments, I tend to side with the convenience of ebooks and digital readers. But in this case, I'm going to go out on a limb and argue for the superiority of a printed name badge, compared to hanging my Android smartphone around my neck.
I Am Rich started out its life as one of the most notorious apps on the Apple Store. It was a $1,000 app that displayed a diamond--and basically that was all it did. It was subsequently banned by Apple. At least in that case, it had a kind of scam crossed with social commentary thing going for it. As a free app in the Android Market, it doesn't make any sense.
Here's an app that every single Android user will have on hand. And nearly all of them will hate it. Android Market makes it tough to find specific apps, mainly because its search interface makes it hard to figure out if the apps displayed include the one you want, or a bunch of bad copies. Comparing this offering to Apple's clean and well-designed store makes the Market's shortcomings even more obvious.
Amazingly, several apps on the Android Market (and on other mobile platforms) pursue the same goal: Make sure that people brush their teeth for the proper amount of time. But this app brings up the funny image of a person with a smartphone in one hand and toothbrush in the other, along with the potentially disgusting image of an Android device covered in water and toothpaste.
Amazingly, several apps on the Android Market (and on other mobile platforms) pursue the same goal: Make sure that people brush their teeth for the proper amount of time. But this app brings up the funny image of a person with a smartphone in one hand and toothbrush in the other, along with the potentially disgusting image of an Android device covered in water and toothpaste.
When it comes to mobile devices, operating systems tend to grab most of the headlines. But it is the apps that can make or break the device--and that tend to be the most helpful to users. As our recent list of 10 Epic Android Apps shows, great apps can help you be more productive, assist in travel and communications, and provide fun and diverting entertainment.
But for every great app, there are several apps that fail to make the grade. Bad apps can cause frustration, lead to delays in getting things done, and just waste space on your device.
What makes for a bad app? Well, apps can fail in a number of ways.
They can be apps that you use every day, but also curse constantly, because they make tasks that should be simple tougher than they need to be. A bad app can also be one that causes system instability, uses bandwidth unnecessarily, or is just generally buggy. And an app can fail by being completely useless.
In this list of the 10 worst Android apps, we've included some that come pre-installed on every single Android device. These are apps that you often have to use--but probably wish that you didn't. Also included are some apps whose very reason to exist is questionable at best. And in one case, we've included an app that proved to be buggy, unable to deliver on its promise, and unable to withstand the forward movement of technology.
Of course, with more than 250,000 apps on the Android Market, and given the fact that Google lets pretty much any developer create apps for the Android, you've probably seen a large number of bad apps available for Android devices. This is our list of the 10 Worst Android Apps. Using our comments section, let us know which bad apps would make your top 10 stinkers list.
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