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On Reviewing Apps

Over the past three years, some people have told me they don’t like the way I write software reviews. That I should just tell them whether ”they should buy the damn thing or not”. While I understand their point, with MacStories’ third anniversary quickly approaching I thought it would be appropriate to explain why I don’t do that.

An app is never ”just an app”. There are people behind the bits and buttons we use and touch every day. I have written about this before. When I am reviewing an app, I have to be honest to my reader and provide a careful and insightful analysis of the various features while taking into considerations other factors such as price, usability, and appearance. But at the same time, my writer’s instinct tells me that there’s more than just a checklist of features to mention. I want to tell *that* story.

There are a lot of sites that decide to focus their software reviews on enumerating features. That’s fine. Sometimes I believe, too, that simply telling our readers ”what’s new” in a specific piece of software is the only way we can cover a subject – otherwise we’d have to provide a disservice to our readers, by not covering it. This is especially true with software updates. And flashlight apps like Flashbot.

At MacStories, we carefully pick the things we want to talk about. We have been guilty of stupid rumors and speculation in the past, and we have learned a precious and invaluable lesson from that behavior: trust is important. Guess what, it’s about people again. You can only put so much of your soul on the Internet, and it can easily get lost somewhere along the line of rumors and linkbait. You’ll spread yourself too thin. You won’t tell a story. Some people excel at news reporting – which is an art by itself. Others, unfortunately, do it because they have to do it.

When I review an app, I want to find the story that needs to be told. I don’t want to be different just for the sake of originality – I genuinely believe that we’re witnessing a revolution of our digital era, and I don’t want to live it writing lists and inflammatory blog posts to drive our page views.

I want to tell this revolution. Or at least find a sweet spot where I, and my team, can contribute to providing a perspective that can make people think. Not just click.

Sometimes you’ll find an app that I love, while you think it’s terrible. That is fine, too. There’s no such thing as objectivity when you are reviewing something and expressing your opinions. There’s only honesty. Honesty and personality conflate in a number of ways, and when I write a review, my goal is to make sure the result is a balanced mix of facts, taste, and opinion. I try to tell the *why* and the *how* that are the sinew of my appreciation for fine software. Hopefully disagreements and constructive criticism will lead to a richer, variegate archive of software reviews in the future.

I have wondered if it was easier when our audience was in the order of hundreds, not millions. I ended up concluding that good traffic, besides allowing us to run this site, makes it all more exciting. It means we get to pick what we want to talk about, write it the way we want, and enjoy an intelligent discussion with more people because of it. And it’s getting better every day.

Perhaps we should just tell you whether you have to buy the damn thing or not. But that would take all the fun out of it.

That’s why we write what we write: because innovation never ceases to amaze us – and that’s a story worth telling.

The Essence of a Name

Following yesterday’s announcement of the new iPad, a debate has arisen as to whether Apple should have called the new iPad something along the lines of “iPad 3” or “iPad HD” so to give the device a unique name easily understandable by consumers. I think Macworld has the two smartest (and most balanced) takes on the subjects.

Dan Moren thinks going with “iPad” is a good move:

Constantly reinventing a nomenclature is unsustainable. Is every iPad between now and 2022 going to have a different number, letter, or some combination appended? Is Apple going to eventually reach the iPad 13GS+ Extreme? I’d argue that’s exactly what the company doesn’t want.

Lex Friedman disagrees:

I drive a Honda Accord. It’s a 2006 model. If Apple wants to keep the same names for its products each year like car companies do, adding a year to the product name seems like a fine approach. I always know which wipers to get for my 2006 Accord. I think the average consumer ought to know which case fits their iPad, too; making them instead rely on distinctions like third-generation—that aren’t in the official product names, or printed on the devices themselves—just makes things harder.

The first few seconds after Tim Cook was photographed on stage with a big “The new iPad” image behind him, I, too, was slightly confused and disappointed. Why would Apple want to go back to just iPad, after years of iPhone 4, iPad 2, and iPhone 4S? But then I, like Lex, thought about car companies. I am not driving a Polo 13. My mom doesn’t drive a Meriva 2S. Yet, in case of necessity, both my mom and I – the polar opposites on a scale from consumer to nerd – would know how to look up the company’s proper model name – the “version” – of the cars we drive. Mine’s a 2003 Polo. Not every car company does this, but it’s very common (and easy to understand).

I hear the concerns of people like Lex. Not having a unique name for each generation of device does make things harder when it comes to support, referencing a product in an article, or looking up information on Google. It means you have to do more work. It means you have to type a little more to find out – either in manuals or support docs or the Apple Store itself – what generation of device you are talking about. It’s about Apple not giving us a unique way to call the iPad – well, actually they do, it’s iPad, but that makes some people uncomfortable. It’s unsettling at first, because we were used to a different convention.

But here’s the thing: people are not stupid. Sure, some people are geekier than others, but as car companies prove, eventually people find a way to properly retrieve information about the products they use. Eventually, as in more work. Which could mean using Google, reading a manual, asking a friend, or driving to the nearest Apple Store. Apple has the best customer support around, and no tech company beats Apple’s online Support resources. No one ever died from looking up a model name. 1

But why? The trade-off is an increase in simplicity and elegance. Otherwise, we’d end up like Samsung and Square-Enix, naming our products with monickers like “Epic” or “XIV” (good luck telling a 10 year-old kid that’s 14, and not “xiv”).

More importantly, Apple’s new name puts the focus on the essence of the product, not the way it follows its predecessor year after year. It’s iPad, my friend Matthew was told by Apple. And I see the thinking behind such choice: by combining a more elegant name with new features, Apple will, yes, end up having to explain better its model numbers, but they will gain in user-friendliness and overall message. Because, again, our faith in humanity might falter every once in a while, but people know how to refer to a product. If anything, my dad would have a hard time differentiating between 3GS, 4S and 3G. But he sure knows how to say “that new iPad”.

It’s about context. People will understand, and will find a way to explain what they are talking about. And if they want to be precise, hey, Apple has a way for that too.

Peter Cohen writes:

I’d also like to point out that when the first iPad was introduced, its name was the subject of huge controversy in the blogosphere and among the tech punditry, many of whom considered the name silly or likened it to a feminine hygiene product.

I also like to see it this way: by going back to “iPad”, Apple reminds us that is the iPad that should have always been. The realization of a vision. The most advanced display ever seen in a mobile device, the fastest networking available, the most apps to choose from. It’s the new iPad, but it’s also the iPad that should have been here in the first place. Now we have the technology that makes it possible.

I thought the keynote’s theme would have been “the biggest leap since the original iPad”. Tim Cook said it better: “We have redefined, once again, the category that Apple created”.

  1. To those arguing that specific names and version numbers are necessary for support, especially in software: I agree, and indeed Apple has a complete name for the iPad on its site and online Store. I could also argue that it’s harder to describe software (bits) compared to a product (a physical object).↩︎

iPad 3: Where We Predict the Future

At 10 AM tomorrow, Apple will begin the presentation of one of the most (if not the most) anticipated products in the company’s recent history: the iPad 3. Rumored to feature a Retina Display, improved graphics, and a better camera, the next iPad will have to build on the amazing success of the iPad 2 (where by “amazing” we mean “just look at those numbers”) whilst giving owners of the original iPad a reason to upgrade after two years. And with the possible implications behind the rumored new features, it looks like those who stood in line back in April 2010 will have more than one good reason to consider the Next Big Thing.

As a team, we typically refrain from reporting every single rumor that shows up ahead of an Apple product release, leaving our crystal ball and teardrop-shaped hats under the editorial desk. Having considered the variables behind a Retina iPad 3 in the past, however, we couldn’t resist this time – much like we did back at WWDC ‘11, we had to get together (in a cozy Campfire) and share our March 7th Apple Event predictions. Our own Gabe Glick already explained why he thinks a big announcement will be about software – specifically, he neatly illustrated why Aperture may be coming to iOS and the iPad 3. Below, you can follow the rest of the MacStories team as we reflect on what we think has to happen, what could happen, and what we generally would like to see in a Retina-enabled tablet future. Lots of coffee may or may not have been involved in the editing process of said predictions – pardon the excitement, but we think the next iPad is going to be a fantastic upgrade.

After the break, you’ll find our predictions. We will check back on these later this week, and make sure to tune in on MacStories’ homepage tomorrow for our complete coverage. Read more

MacStories Reading List: February 26 – March 4

It’s been a transitional week for the Apple community, with pundits busy on arguing whether a Retina Display in the upcoming iPad 3 could mean Apple is getting ready to enable Retina resolutions on Macs as well, and just about everyone else being simply excited about Apple’s media event, scheduled for March 7th. And in between talks of new displays, Mountain Lion (again), and features we should see in iOS 6, Apple still managed to hit 25 billion downloads from the App Store with an updated list of all-time top apps.

A note on the system we’re now using to track and collect our Reading List archives. When we started the Reading List in January, we wrote “there’s some great writing on the Internet that we often can’t link to in our daily coverage, if only because there isn’t much we can add to an already excellent article”. On top of that, I’d like to add that there are some great authors on the Internet, and in particular in the Apple community, that we’d like to directly support with our weekly collections of links and excerpts. That is why, starting today, you’ll find an archive of every article ever appeared on MacStories’ Reading Lists on Readability.

With a paid option that gives back 70% of users’ contributions to the sites they read the most, we hope to make it easier than ever to find articles we have liked and collected, and to actively, economically contribute to the people behind those articles. You can find the official Readability iOS app in the App Store (with the aforementioned paid option available as in-app purchase), and our review here.

Obviously, you’ll still be able to use your favorite read-later or browser app of choice to consume our weekly Reading List. And as usual, on behalf of the entire MacStories team, I wish you a good reading. Read more

Retina & Universal

Matthew Panzarino at The Next Web has a good overview of a possible issue with the rumored iPad 3’s Retina Display and universal apps: download sizes and 3G. He explains:

Apple’s iPad 3 is set to launch next week and all signs point to it having a Retina display running at 2048×1536 pixels. This should provide a clearer, sharper image to most users and will display many applications in a fantastic new light, as long as developers have prepared them properly.

But the necessity to include these images may present a problem with the mandatory 20MB file size limit that Apple has imposed on 3G downloads.

The problem being: if the iPad really goes Retina, then developers of apps using custom graphics will have to use new images, which will likely be heavy and bump the download size of an app. For universal apps, already carrying Retina and non-Retina images (the latter both for iPhone and iPad), this can become a serious issue if we assume that most users who will see the “Over 20 MB” alert will be scared away or simply forget to buy an app. And developers (and Apple) want to make the process of buying apps as frictionless and immediate as possible.

I see two solutions. Either Apple gets the carriers to agree to larger download sizes, establishing a new “average” that should work for most apps (let’s say 60 MB as Panzarino suggests), or they rebuild the download mechanism completely by allowing devices to “ignore” resources they don’t need. The second solution would be a “cleaner” approach, in that it would address the root of this likely scenario – that is, devices downloading apps containing all kinds of images and resources for Retina and non-Retina displays.

By “localizing” images in a way languages are localized on the OS, Apple could find a way to know if an image is destined to an iPad or not. And if so, if it’s also destined to a Retina iPad, or old-generation iPad. Furthermore, in theory, this would also allow Apple to differentiate between images used by an iPhone and iPad which, right now, are always downloaded within the same, single .app package. Paul Haddad, who tweeted about the issue today, confirms my suspicion that this method would require a fundamental change to apps – I can only assume it would require different naming conventions or new APIs to let devices be “smarter” in understanding the resources they need to look for when downloading a new app. But the issue is real – always assuming the iPad 3 will feature a Retina Display, which seems like a pretty good bet at this point – and I think this is something Apple has surely considered.

The other way, of course, is to get carriers on board with larger downloads while on 3G – but the issue of universal apps bumping downloads (and thus 3G usage) would still remain for the users, and Apple would still need to somehow address the core of the issue, which is the existence of Retina and non-Retina devices downloading universal apps containing multiple custom graphics at the same time. I agree with Matthew, this issue will be an interesting one to watch.

February 2012 In Review

February sure went by quickly, but that certainly doesn’t mean there was a shortage of news, reviews and editorials - in fact it was quite the opposite. After a pretty big January with their education announcement and financial earnings, Apple didn’t slow down in February. They released new ads, previewed Mountain Lion, continued the PR battle over supplier responsibility and confirmed the (presumed iPad keynote) media event for March 7th. February was also a big month for Apps with an updated Tweetbot for iPhone and new Tweetbot for iPad, Clear, Photoshop, Vimeo 2.0 and VLC amongst others. Whilst we continued to focus on providing you, our readers, with great editorial content we discussed topics such as the iPad as a PC, supplier responsibility, greed and iOS 6 wishes amongst others.

Jump the break to view the full review of February 2012. You can also view January 2012 in Review here.

Read more

MacStories Reading List: February 19 – February 26

In our longest Reading List collection to date, we’ve curated some great articles about Mountain Lion (which is still a hot topic among bloggers), Apple’s renewed “scamming apps” problem, and a variety of other subjects, including iOS-ification, the Home Screen, and third-party developers. It’s not just about quantity (more than 15 entries this week) – we think this week’s Reading List is the one with the highest quality material so far. So grab a good cup of coffee (albeit we have nothing against tea, as some of you have asked), your favorite chair, and let’s dive in. Read more

iOS 6 Wishes

I read two great articles over the past few days detailing how Apple could improve iOS by taking a page from its competitors’ book (specifically, Android and Windows Phone 7) to enhance the way apps communicate with each other, and by looking at the way webOS handles multitasking and application windows on the TouchPad. They are good articles with some clever ideas, so make sure to check them out.

I have been writing a lot about ecosystems, file sharing and inter-app communication in the past months. After the public launch of iCloud last October, I’ve argued that Apple’s cloud solution is the platform for the next decade that might as well become the “operating system” itself, although it (and, by reflection, iOS) still lacks document-oriented functionalities to facilitate the process of creating and moving documents between apps. I have also made the case for a “universal save” option for iOS apps that might take advantage of iCloud, and, fortunately, it seems Apple is listening.

Today I’d like to go on the record with a list of features and options I’d like to see in a future version of iOS. I’m not typically huge on lists or “feature request” (last one was a series of predictions for WWDC ‘11), but I believe it’s worth discussing the direction where Apple is headed with its mobile operating system and, while we’re at it, propose solutions to improve existing apps and system utilities. I’ll check back on this list after WWDC ‘12. Read more

iPad 3 Variables

With the (rumored) next-generation iPad approaching its (rumored) announcement on March 7th, I thought it would be interesting to collect some of the predictions we’ve made thus far based on the rumors and oft-quoted “inside reports” we have heard until today.

Unlike most Apple product launches, like, say, the iPhone 4S in October, there seems to be a certain degree of certainty in what the device is going to look like and the hardware changes it’ll feature when compared to the existing iPad. Thanks to various parts that have surfaced from China, several mentions by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, and a general assumption that “it’s about time”, it appears the iPad 3 is going to feature a high-resolution, 2048 x 1536 Retina Display. Just like the jump from iPhone 3G-era displays to the iPhone 4, a Retina iPad (which John Gruber has been predicting since 2011) would allow for crisper graphics on screen and a better reading experience thanks to the increased number of pixels per inch.

Reported in just about any recent rumor on the iPad 3, the Retina Display has become the marquee addition those who follow Apple rumors expect to see in the next-gen device. As we’ve seen with our previous coverage, however, there are other hardware changes that Apple could bring to the iPad 3, namely better cameras, faster processor, and LTE connectivity.

In the past months, I have seen reactions from people who have followed the iPad 3 rumors typically split in two categories:

Theory #1: iPad 3 has Retina Display, new cameras, LTE, new A6 processor.

Theory #2: iPad 3 has Retina Display, slightly improved cameras, faster A5 processor.

The two theories imply that the new iPad is going to be a major revision with dramatically faster CPU and graphics to power the Retina Display plus LTE connectivity, or a speed-bump of the existing iPad with the addition of a Retina Display, but no LTE, dramatically faster processor, or iPhone-class cameras. Both are based on a series of rumors, patterns, and facts to be considered. Read more