4 ms·

If you're an Android developer and looking for ideas, start here

68 points by icey 17y ago

bmalicoat 17y ago
I don't really think crowdsourcing app ideas is the best idea. Mostly you'll end up hearing from a loud minority. For example, there is a request for an Illinois Compiled Statute app....I don't really think that would have huge market appeal. Developers are better off looking at small problems or annoyances in their day-to-day that they can solve using the Android (or any phone in fact).
- nwatson 17y ago
  A single developer looking at their day-to-day needs is going to consider maybe at most 5% of the total market need for Android apps. All developers together doing the same might consider only 40% of that possible market. ... and that piece of the market will be crowded. A better approach is to consider how ubiquitous tablet/mobile almost-always-networked touch/voice-based computing is going to allow better HCI in what general spaces, cross-reference with a comprehensive list of industrial practices, see how those can improve, and team up with domain experts to identify common needs and start building libraries, back ends, and apps. There are already too many to-do lists, casual games, and social apps. It's time to make industry more efficient.
apphacker 17y ago
An email client with copy and paste would be great, and zoom.
- mdxch 17y ago
  For Android phones with a physical keyboard, the Gmail app allows you to select/copy text by holding the shift key and dragging over the text on the screen.
  - jcl 17y ago
    Also, you can long-press on a text field, which brings up a select/copy/paste menu. This seems to work across all Android apps, and presumably works on non-keyboard phones.
    - wildmXranat 17y ago
      >presumably works on non-keyboard phones Yes , it does work on my Google Ion.
    - apphacker 17y ago
      Great, but how does that allow me to copy text from someone else's email? Like a call in pin or something? If I click reply the quoted text does not show up in the text field.
      - jcl 17y ago
        Oh man, that's really bad. I rarely use the GMail app, so I hadn't run across this particular limitation yet. I found a forum thread where someone found a sequence of interactions that work around the problem, but select/copy/paste really should be in the app's menu, like they are for the browser: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Mobile/thread?tid=4d89ebb8945b19fa&hl=en http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Mobile/thread... Summary: You can use Shift-S to activate select mode, then use the scroll ball to select. (On a keyboardless phone, hold "menu" until the soft keyboard comes up, then press Shift-S to activate select mode.)
        apphacker 17y ago
        Wow thanks. Yeah that needs to get improved. :O
DrSprout 17y ago
Why do all of the Android websites look like crap on an Android phone? If there were a website you would think would have a good mobile layout, it would be one ostensibly dedicated to a mobile platform.
- wildmXranat 17y ago
  I can't say that I disagree with you. If you notice, these sites use ready to go platforms or forums without much attention to mobile users. Shame.
tvon 17y ago
and maybe look here for UI inspiration: http://wellplacedpixels.com/ http://wellplacedpixels.com/
maxharris 17y ago
Henry Ford is reputed to have said, "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse." Looking at this forum is fine, but you still have to go through the effort to integrate all of these disparate and narrow desires into something larger that you can build a business on. That's hard! Staying motivated while working on a problem that you don't have yourself is even harder.
- icey 17y ago
  I think the idea is to look for inspiration, not specifications. (At least, that's how I hope people would go about it)
  - lallysingh 17y ago
    Or in more concrete terms, customer problems that need solving.
- joubert 17y ago
  Perhaps bioengineering would have advanced much further by now if he built a faster horse
ZeroGravitas 17y ago
If you wrote an app that funneled ambient sound via the microphone to your headphones (handy for in-canal earphones as they block out so much external sound you can't hear people talking to you) would Android's flexibility allow this to be triggered in some simple manner? By simple manner I mean e.g. binding to a physical key or gesture, or adding to the built in audio app.
aresant 17y ago
If you're looking for an idea to monetize, go into the iPhone app store, sort by most popular, rinse and repeat. EDIT: Or NewGrounds or Download.com / games
joshwa 17y ago
Awesome. On page 2 is a request for the app I'm already building! I think I just found a few beta testers :)
thinkcomp 17y ago
If you're an Android developer and looking for work, please e-mail me. aarong /at/ thinkcomputer.com
milofelipe 17y ago
Thanks for this! Now my only problem is being able to sell my apps. I'm from a country where we can't create Google Checkout merchant accounts so I can't sell apps in the Android Market. I hope this changes soon.

68 points by icey 17y ago

I don't really think crowdsourcing app ideas is the best idea. Mostly you'll end up hearing from a loud minority. For example, there is a request for an Illinois Compiled Statute app....I don't really think that would have huge market appeal. Developers are better off looking at small problems or annoyances in their day-to-day that they can solve using the Android (or any phone in fact).

nwatson 17y ago
A single developer looking at their day-to-day needs is going to consider maybe at most 5% of the total market need for Android apps. All developers together doing the same might consider only 40% of that possible market. ... and that piece of the market will be crowded. A better approach is to consider how ubiquitous tablet/mobile almost-always-networked touch/voice-based computing is going to allow better HCI in what general spaces, cross-reference with a comprehensive list of industrial practices, see how those can improve, and team up with domain experts to identify common needs and start building libraries, back ends, and apps. There are already too many to-do lists, casual games, and social apps. It's time to make industry more efficient.

apphacker 17y ago

An email client with copy and paste would be great, and zoom.

mdxch 17y ago
For Android phones with a physical keyboard, the Gmail app allows you to select/copy text by holding the shift key and dragging over the text on the screen.
- jcl 17y ago
  Also, you can long-press on a text field, which brings up a select/copy/paste menu. This seems to work across all Android apps, and presumably works on non-keyboard phones.
  - wildmXranat 17y ago
    >presumably works on non-keyboard phones Yes , it does work on my Google Ion.
  - apphacker 17y ago
    Great, but how does that allow me to copy text from someone else's email? Like a call in pin or something? If I click reply the quoted text does not show up in the text field.
    - jcl 17y ago
      Oh man, that's really bad. I rarely use the GMail app, so I hadn't run across this particular limitation yet. I found a forum thread where someone found a sequence of interactions that work around the problem, but select/copy/paste really should be in the app's menu, like they are for the browser: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Mobile/thread?tid=4d89ebb8945b19fa&hl=en http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Mobile/thread... Summary: You can use Shift-S to activate select mode, then use the scroll ball to select. (On a keyboardless phone, hold "menu" until the soft keyboard comes up, then press Shift-S to activate select mode.)
      - apphacker 17y ago
        Wow thanks. Yeah that needs to get improved. :O

DrSprout 17y ago

Why do all of the Android websites look like crap on an Android phone? If there were a website you would think would have a good mobile layout, it would be one ostensibly dedicated to a mobile platform.

wildmXranat 17y ago
I can't say that I disagree with you. If you notice, these sites use ready to go platforms or forums without much attention to mobile users. Shame.

tvon 17y ago

and maybe look here for UI inspiration: http://wellplacedpixels.com/ http://wellplacedpixels.com/

maxharris 17y ago

Henry Ford is reputed to have said, "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse." Looking at this forum is fine, but you still have to go through the effort to integrate all of these disparate and narrow desires into something larger that you can build a business on. That's hard! Staying motivated while working on a problem that you don't have yourself is even harder.

icey 17y ago
I think the idea is to look for inspiration, not specifications. (At least, that's how I hope people would go about it)
- lallysingh 17y ago
  Or in more concrete terms, customer problems that need solving.
joubert 17y ago
Perhaps bioengineering would have advanced much further by now if he built a faster horse

ZeroGravitas 17y ago

If you wrote an app that funneled ambient sound via the microphone to your headphones (handy for in-canal earphones as they block out so much external sound you can't hear people talking to you) would Android's flexibility allow this to be triggered in some simple manner? By simple manner I mean e.g. binding to a physical key or gesture, or adding to the built in audio app.

aresant 17y ago

If you're looking for an idea to monetize, go into the iPhone app store, sort by most popular, rinse and repeat. EDIT: Or NewGrounds or Download.com / games

joshwa 17y ago

Awesome. On page 2 is a request for the app I'm already building! I think I just found a few beta testers :)

thinkcomp 17y ago

If you're an Android developer and looking for work, please e-mail me. aarong /at/ thinkcomputer.com

milofelipe 17y ago

Thanks for this! Now my only problem is being able to sell my apps. I'm from a country where we can't create Google Checkout merchant accounts so I can't sell apps in the Android Market. I hope this changes soon.