iOS apps that should be on Android

Before I purchased my Galaxy Tab 10.1, I already knew that the Apple App Store dwarfed the Android Market in terms of its number of apps. However, I figured that it was because a good chunk of those were either just rip-offs of existing ones or just pathetic pieces of shit that the public shouldn’t even know about (and yet somehow managed to find their way onto the App Store). But it was after some browsing that I realized that having thousands upon thousands of apps was a GOOD thing.

What I’m experiencing with the Market is that I’m having a tough time finding applications that serve my needs because the selection is just not there. And even when I do find something that kind of does the job, there may not be an alternative that does it better or caters to the specifics I’m looking for.

What really hurts the most is the lack of interesting games. For my touch, I’ve downloaded over 200 applications and about a good 90% of them are games. I just can’t do the same with Android because there’s not much that catches my eye. What’s more is that even if there WAS something of interest, there is a good chance I already have downloaded it from the App Store. And given the lack of tablet-optimized apps, I’m not about to get a game again for the tablet if it’s not going to display properly.

Honestly, I purchased the Tab 10.1 mainly to be able to enjoy Kairosoft’s releases on that platform. Unfortunately, due to something that I’m still unsure about, all of their games EXCEPT Game Dev Story do not work well. (They’ll force close upon multi-touch/pinching or just FC eventually even without any attempt to zoom out.)

Aside from that, I’m still miffed at the fact that there is no TRUE AppShopper equivalent on Android. If someone can copy Cut the Rope, Angry Birds, and all those stupid freemium games where you sit around for hours and wait for special in-game money to roll in to enjoy the bloody games the way they were meant to be enjoyed, why can’t anyone copy AppShopper?

For me, AppBrain doesn’t cut it. On my iPod touch, I use the AppShopper app to keep a list of the apps that I want to buy. Any applications in the wish list will jump to the top of the list whenever there are updates or price changes — and this is something I really like.

Actually, if you marry AppBrain and Best Apps Market together, their offspring would probably be something similar to AppShopper as Best Apps lets you keep a wishlist. However, it doesn’t post notifications of any changes for the apps I want so I have to manually check if I want to see if there are any price drops. 9__9

Anyway, I’ll stop with the whining and get on with the list~! :3

• AppShopper — Duh.
• GarageBand — Yeah, I know this is an Apple-developed application so there is no way it’ll ever find its way onto Android. But I was stunned to discover there is nothing that comes close to what this program offers. (Or maybe I just don’t know what I should be looking for in the Market. Or perhaps I should be looking at another Android marketplace?)
• Instagram — I’m probably just not searching hard enough but there are apparently several alternatives. I tried Picplz (I think I hated the Website and its presentation, and the way it handled photos and filters or something) and it was definitely no Instagram. Little Camera‘s interesting but it’s just a program with filters and doesn’t have it own social network.
• Every damn Kairosoft game that’s currently iOS exclusive — It’s most likely a staffing issue or maybe Japan just loves iOS more but it’ll be really nice if Kairosoft would do simultaneous releases for both systems. Still, it doesn’t really explain why there are 4 games that are still sitting on Apple’s platform while Droid only has 2 exclusives.
• Taiko no Tatsujin — With this one, I’m not sure I’d be able to download it anyway since it’d probably be Japan-exclusive. Still, it’d be oodles of fun to be able to drum on the tablet~!

Ah, the list is kind of small since the remainder of it would consist of games that I already have on the touch but would just like to see on Android too. 😀 I might think of more later on though~!

You know, it’d be really nice if more of the big name gaming companies would publish their works on Google’s OS as well. Namco, Capcom, Square — they all have some sort of presence on the Market but it’s nothing compared to the App Store.

Cave is finally bringing over their stuff though which is FANTASTIC since it’d mean I can, hopefully (assuming there are no compatibility issues or freezing and such), play their shmups on a glorious 10.1″ display.

With Ice Cream Sandwich finding its way onto devices within the next few months, I’m really hoping that more developers would consider creating applications for Android. I believe demand is picking up for Android-powered devices so it’d be ideal that there will be supply in the Market to meet the demand.