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It's a bit of a recurring pattern with Apple software. Good example is with tvOS, where streaming apps based on the template app that Apple provides are typical
by kitsunesoba 6y ago
It's a bit of a recurring pattern with Apple software. Good example is with tvOS, where streaming apps based on the template app that Apple provides are typically less frustrating and more functional than bespoke streaming apps.
Similarly, on iPadOS streaming services delivered through Apple TV+ channels often have better quality than those delivered via provider apps — this has been extremely visible going from watching Star Trek through the CBS TV+ channel w/4k video and 7.1 surround to The Expanse through the Prime Video app which delivers a "1080p" stream that often looks worse than Youtube 720p.
I think the root problem with all of these examples is companies treating software as a checkbox when it should be treated as core to the product.
- thewebcount 6y agoI don't know what it is about Amazon software, but at least in the Apple ecosystem, it's terrible. I downloaded the macOS version of the Kindle reader because I was reading a programming-related book. A single page turn would take seconds to complete on a Mac Pro. I ended up profiling it with Instruments. It was a QT app that they had obviously ported from another platform and done no performance tuning on. It turned out it was redrawing the page 4 or 5 times, and allocating and freeing something like 40MB of memory on each redraw. It seemed like just having a statically allocated 40MB buffer would have solved the problem, but who knows? It was pretty appalling. The ratings for their own software on their own web site show all the problems.[0] [0]https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Digital-Services-LLC-Download/dp/B00UB769KC?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Digital-Services-LLC-Download/...
- kgin 6y agoNo idea, but the Audible app is bad in ways I can’t understand.