Monday, April 20, 2015

Windows Phone App Gap -- The Reality

I consider myself a Windows Phone guy.  I used a Samsung Focus, a Lumia 920, and recently I've carried a 1520 for over 1 year.  I've told myself that there is no significant app gap.  I say that because I look at my phone and see both a Twitter and Facebook icon.  However there is more to the story.

Here are a handful of apps that I use both on my Lumia 1520 and my Galaxy S5.  I've tried to list a few areas where the Windows phone variant falls down.


App Gaps
App Gap
Mint
  • Can't refresh data while using different app
  • Much slower
  • Worse UI, less info in Alerts and Advice section
  • Doesn't have an Investment section
Facebook
  • Can't edit groups. Group admin not available at all
  • Much slower to pull up comments and likes on posts
Twitter
  • Doesn't use in twitter browser, much slower
  • Doesn't support quoting retweet
  • Can't reply, retweet, or favorite when looking at a pic
  • Notifications simply don't work in many cases
  • Much harder to see trending topics
Flixster
  • Can't see movies that are streamable from Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc
  • Much slower
  • Can't browse DVDs by genre
  • Can't filter/sort DVD by 
Redbox
  • Much slower
  • Very often fails to work correctly/doesn't load movies
  • Quit comparing as Winphone app simply wasn't working
eBay
  • Many notifications do not work
  • Ability to review offers not available
  • Can't browse by category
  • Selling didn't work nearly as well
  • harder to see unread messages
  • Couldn't find reminders in Winphone app
Bleacher Report
  • Not available
Banking apps
  • Vast majority not available
Audible
  • Stats not supported
  • Variable listening speed not supported
  • Badges and listening time trackers not supported
iHeartRadio
  • Much slower
  • Doesn't support alarm clock (my wife loves this on her G3)
Fidelity Investments
  • Doesn't show portfolio gainers and losers upon login
  • Doesn't show portfolio news on login
  • Doesn't show pending transfers
  • Doesn't do heat maps or alerts
  • Doesn't support bill paying or check deposit
  • Many more issues
ESPN
  • Much slower
  • Other than being dog slow it doesn't seem so bad :)
Amazon & Google Music
  • Doesn't exist
  • CloudMuzic works for Google music but not great

I could go on and on but you get the picture.  Yes, there are many apps that do not exist in the Windows phone marketplace but even the apps that are there are generally quite bad when compared to their Android or IOS counterpart.  I'm a Windows phone fan and want it to succeed but there is an app gap and don't let anyone tell you there isn't.