5 ms·

This response actually kind of scares me. Here's why. 1. No one has taken time to address the real issue—yes, there's a weird bug on launch, but the real issue

by avree 15y ago

This response actually kind of scares me. Here's why. 1. No one has taken time to address the real issue—yes, there's a weird bug on launch, but the real issue is that the app itself blows. It's terrible. It's basically entirely a web view that runs even slower than the GMail webapp itself. As Scoble says in the comments: "The bar is high for apps. Make it better than a web page or DO NOT RELEASE! Please." 2. This an absurdly easy thing to check for. This has happened first with the Google Voice app, then with the Google+ app, now with the GMail app. Is Google committed to systematically destroying their own brand?

bad_user 15y ago
I think the UIWebView component that you can embed in native apps has slower performance than Safari. I don't know the current situation, but for example Nitro was not available on UIWebView in iOS 4.3 ; also UIWebView does not do any caching by itself and doing it yourself is tricky. So this may explain why the performance of this GMail app is worse than the web app. I understand why one would release native apps with web UIs. It's totally fine if you're on a budget. But the iPhone already has a perfectly fine email app and it also syncs well with your Google Apps account through its Exchange integration. If an official GMail app is not better than the built-in functionality, then it's not only useless, but also affects their credibility.
- Turing_Machine 15y ago
  Nitro is available in iOS 5.
  - msbarnett 15y ago
    Not in UIWebView for third-party apps, unless something has changed drastically. Nitro requires that the app be able to set the execute bit on arbitrary pages in memory. Third party apps can't be granted that privilege without essentially throwing the entire app approval process out the window.
  - endtwist 15y ago
    UIWebView actually got slower in iOS 5: http://www.blaze.io/mobile/ios5-top10-performance-changes/ http://www.blaze.io/mobile/ios5-top10-performance-changes/
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
jrockway 15y ago
This an absurdly easy thing to check for. This has happened first with the Google Voice app, then with the Google+ app, now with the GMail app. Is Google committed to systematically destroying their own brand? Isn't Apple destroying their brand with the original iPhone 4's crappy antenna and with the new iPhone 4's crappy battery life? Bugs happen. It's software.
- khafra 15y ago
  But where's Google's iOS record of success that should make us overlook this error? The Google Maps app is pretty good...
  - martingordon 15y ago
    I don't have a source handy, but I'm pretty sure Maps.app for iOS was written in-house by Apple.
    - culturestate 15y ago
      This is true. SJ talks about it in one of the Mossberg interviews, I think D8.
    - kelnos 15y ago
      And the maps app on Android, written by Google, is superior in pretty much every way to its iOS counterpart. Even ignoring the navigation component.
      - martingordon 15y ago
        I agree that Maps on Android is superior to Maps on iOS, just as native Gmail on Android is better than Gmail on iOS, but the parent was using iOS Maps as an example of a good Google iOS app – it isn't a good example because Google didn't write Maps for iOS. It's not about whether Apple writes better iOS apps than Google does for Android, it's about whether Google makes any good apps for iOS.
hopeless 15y ago
I think Google (along with many other companies) are systematically betting on the decline of native apps. And frankly, I'd prefer a webview app than no app at all
- maqr 15y ago
  I prefer no app at all. For example, if you visit YouTube's mobile site on iOS, it has a neat little javascript animation that directs you on how to add it to your home screen. Once it's on the home screen, it feels like I'm opening an app. YouTube on Safari has a very app-like feel.
adriand 15y ago
I don't really find that it's that bad of an app. It's not the most amazing app ever, but if you're a Gmail user, my initial impression on the iPhone 4S is that it's slicker and faster than the web version of Gmail (not a big bar to clear, but it clears it), and it has the one crucial feature which makes me an instant convert, which is that it's easy to view certain inboxes - namely, Important and Unread. That alone makes it better than the native iPhone Mail application for me, since now I'm not going to get automated messages, newsgroup messages, etc., in my phone's main inbox. So far I'm quite happy with it (I noticed the error on initial launch but ignored it - stupid mistake for Google to make, but didn't seem to affect my use of the application) and I'm kind of relieved it doesn't have push notifications, since I'm not sure I want them unless I can turn them off. Not so sure why everyone is piling on so hard.
phil 15y ago
Yes. The first version of G+ for iPhone was really appallingly bad. In particular, it often blocked the main (UI) thread while waiting for data from the network, so it would hang for seconds at a time. Not doing that is pretty much application development 101.
joebadmo 15y ago
I imagine the problem is that an iOS gmail client just isn't that high of a priority for Google. And why should it be? In contrast, Android's gmail client is one of Android's biggest draws, and has never in my two years of using Android had a bad release. Instead it just keeps getting better.
- dailyrorschach 15y ago
  Considering Google makes its money through selling advertising, of which GMail is a big part of that, I'd imagine having iOS users viewing GMail in an app that shows GMail's ads would be a priority for them.
  - bcrawl 15y ago
    Is google allowed to display its own ads in iphone? Just curious since I thought apple had some restrictions about them. I am honestly curious, I dont know a whole lot about this subject.
    - dailyrorschach 15y ago
      I hadn't considered that - but Twitter shows ads in Twitter, and since this is a web view - maybe?
    - jemeshsu 15y ago
      Lots of iOS apps especially free apps have ads. Many are using Google ads network.
  - kelnos 15y ago
    Except that the Android Gmail app doesn't show ads...

by avree 15y ago

bad_user 15y ago

I think the UIWebView component that you can embed in native apps has slower performance than Safari. I don't know the current situation, but for example Nitro was not available on UIWebView in iOS 4.3 ; also UIWebView does not do any caching by itself and doing it yourself is tricky. So this may explain why the performance of this GMail app is worse than the web app. I understand why one would release native apps with web UIs. It's totally fine if you're on a budget. But the iPhone already has a perfectly fine email app and it also syncs well with your Google Apps account through its Exchange integration. If an official GMail app is not better than the built-in functionality, then it's not only useless, but also affects their credibility.

Turing_Machine 15y ago
Nitro is available in iOS 5.
- msbarnett 15y ago
  Not in UIWebView for third-party apps, unless something has changed drastically. Nitro requires that the app be able to set the execute bit on arbitrary pages in memory. Third party apps can't be granted that privilege without essentially throwing the entire app approval process out the window.
- endtwist 15y ago
  UIWebView actually got slower in iOS 5: http://www.blaze.io/mobile/ios5-top10-performance-changes/ http://www.blaze.io/mobile/ios5-top10-performance-changes/
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

jrockway 15y ago

This an absurdly easy thing to check for. This has happened first with the Google Voice app, then with the Google+ app, now with the GMail app. Is Google committed to systematically destroying their own brand? Isn't Apple destroying their brand with the original iPhone 4's crappy antenna and with the new iPhone 4's crappy battery life? Bugs happen. It's software.

khafra 15y ago
But where's Google's iOS record of success that should make us overlook this error? The Google Maps app is pretty good...
- martingordon 15y ago
  I don't have a source handy, but I'm pretty sure Maps.app for iOS was written in-house by Apple.
  - culturestate 15y ago
    This is true. SJ talks about it in one of the Mossberg interviews, I think D8.
  - kelnos 15y ago
    And the maps app on Android, written by Google, is superior in pretty much every way to its iOS counterpart. Even ignoring the navigation component.
    - martingordon 15y ago
      I agree that Maps on Android is superior to Maps on iOS, just as native Gmail on Android is better than Gmail on iOS, but the parent was using iOS Maps as an example of a good Google iOS app – it isn't a good example because Google didn't write Maps for iOS. It's not about whether Apple writes better iOS apps than Google does for Android, it's about whether Google makes any good apps for iOS.

hopeless 15y ago

I think Google (along with many other companies) are systematically betting on the decline of native apps. And frankly, I'd prefer a webview app than no app at all

maqr 15y ago
I prefer no app at all. For example, if you visit YouTube's mobile site on iOS, it has a neat little javascript animation that directs you on how to add it to your home screen. Once it's on the home screen, it feels like I'm opening an app. YouTube on Safari has a very app-like feel.

adriand 15y ago

I don't really find that it's that bad of an app. It's not the most amazing app ever, but if you're a Gmail user, my initial impression on the iPhone 4S is that it's slicker and faster than the web version of Gmail (not a big bar to clear, but it clears it), and it has the one crucial feature which makes me an instant convert, which is that it's easy to view certain inboxes - namely, Important and Unread. That alone makes it better than the native iPhone Mail application for me, since now I'm not going to get automated messages, newsgroup messages, etc., in my phone's main inbox. So far I'm quite happy with it (I noticed the error on initial launch but ignored it - stupid mistake for Google to make, but didn't seem to affect my use of the application) and I'm kind of relieved it doesn't have push notifications, since I'm not sure I want them unless I can turn them off. Not so sure why everyone is piling on so hard.

phil 15y ago

Yes. The first version of G+ for iPhone was really appallingly bad. In particular, it often blocked the main (UI) thread while waiting for data from the network, so it would hang for seconds at a time. Not doing that is pretty much application development 101.

joebadmo 15y ago

I imagine the problem is that an iOS gmail client just isn't that high of a priority for Google. And why should it be? In contrast, Android's gmail client is one of Android's biggest draws, and has never in my two years of using Android had a bad release. Instead it just keeps getting better.

dailyrorschach 15y ago
Considering Google makes its money through selling advertising, of which GMail is a big part of that, I'd imagine having iOS users viewing GMail in an app that shows GMail's ads would be a priority for them.
- bcrawl 15y ago
  Is google allowed to display its own ads in iphone? Just curious since I thought apple had some restrictions about them. I am honestly curious, I dont know a whole lot about this subject.
  - dailyrorschach 15y ago
    I hadn't considered that - but Twitter shows ads in Twitter, and since this is a web view - maybe?
  - jemeshsu 15y ago
    Lots of iOS apps especially free apps have ads. Many are using Google ads network.
- kelnos 15y ago
  Except that the Android Gmail app doesn't show ads...