For me, the killer app for android is dropsync. This program works like the desktop Dropbox client, providing true two way syncing of a directory on my device with a subdirectory of my Dropbox account.
"Ohmigod I have spent my breakfast money on a gadget that's slow and broken, so to ease the inevitable butthurt let's remind the world of how open Android is and how many things I could have done with it if it worked."
The two that stand out for me are NFC and app integration (intents).
With Android Beam, NFC is a pretty cool way to share things. The only quirk is the positioning of the NFC chip by different phone manufacturers, which means bumping phones back to back doesn't always work and you need to slide a few cm up or down.
Meanwhile, Intents is something which iOS developers would appreciate. Both Dropbox and Microsoft (Live) faced problems recently where their SDKs were found to be in violation of the iOS App Store. This resulted in third party developers being punished, by not being able to update their apps until the SDK issues were resolved, even if the update involved bug fixes or feature upgrades unrelated to the SDK.
Walking up to a person to share things!? We have the Internet. You can already share things with people faster with less effort anywhere in the world. You want me to get someone else to pull out their phone and tap it?
Also pairing. You are pairing wireless devices. Which means you have a short range wireless network already. And you want to add another shorter range wireless network to pair? You can already leverage an existing technology.
I can see uses for payments, and sharing information on things like museum displays. But this is not wide spread enough that it matters yet. I guess this is a chicken and egg problem. But maybe you can leverage an existing tech more?
Completely agree with intents. Stupid that they don't have it yet.
There are still many places where you don't have reception and there's no wifi. For example, if you want to share a contact card with someone when visiting a new company (large building, blocking most of the cell signal), then simple short-range communication is probably going to be the easiest to setup.
I think NFC makes sense in quite a few situations. For example, if there's no wifi or data coverage, or you don't want to share private data via a third party service like FaceBook or Twitter.
Using NFC to pair devices for transfer is quicker than doing it manually. No need to navigate to the bluetooth settings page, search for device, enter pairing code, etc.
App integration and default apps are the only two things that are worth anything in the list IMO. However, combined with the fact that iOS app ecosystem is still quite superior to Androids more than makes up for the difference.
FYI the video title on YT is 10 Things the iPhone 5 Can't do that Nexus 4 Can
Intents is worth listing three times imho but I still think he could have come up with a better list of standout features for Android/Nexus 4. Was lucky I wasn't drinking anything when he said soft keys.
The first 2 I get. The rest? Who cares? I live in Japan, where NFC is probably used more than any other country. But I don't need it. I pay cash for most things and my train pass is a rechargeable card. All NFC would allow me to do is pull out a different thing from my pocket or bag to pay with.
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[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 48.7 ms ] threadSeriously, trying to load that page on my iPhone was a disaster.
2. Setting Default Apps
3. NFC Tech
4. Google Now
5. Larger display with "HD Resolution"
6. Wireless Charging
7. Widgets
8. Soft Keys (e.g. the bottom row of keys dissapears in landscape mode)
9. Swipe Keyboard
10. Photosphere
"Ohmigod I have spent my breakfast money on a gadget that's slow and broken, so to ease the inevitable butthurt let's remind the world of how open Android is and how many things I could have done with it if it worked."
With Android Beam, NFC is a pretty cool way to share things. The only quirk is the positioning of the NFC chip by different phone manufacturers, which means bumping phones back to back doesn't always work and you need to slide a few cm up or down.
Meanwhile, Intents is something which iOS developers would appreciate. Both Dropbox and Microsoft (Live) faced problems recently where their SDKs were found to be in violation of the iOS App Store. This resulted in third party developers being punished, by not being able to update their apps until the SDK issues were resolved, even if the update involved bug fixes or feature upgrades unrelated to the SDK.
Walking up to a person to share things!? We have the Internet. You can already share things with people faster with less effort anywhere in the world. You want me to get someone else to pull out their phone and tap it?
Also pairing. You are pairing wireless devices. Which means you have a short range wireless network already. And you want to add another shorter range wireless network to pair? You can already leverage an existing technology.
I can see uses for payments, and sharing information on things like museum displays. But this is not wide spread enough that it matters yet. I guess this is a chicken and egg problem. But maybe you can leverage an existing tech more?
Completely agree with intents. Stupid that they don't have it yet.
Using NFC to pair devices for transfer is quicker than doing it manually. No need to navigate to the bluetooth settings page, search for device, enter pairing code, etc.
Intents is worth listing three times imho but I still think he could have come up with a better list of standout features for Android/Nexus 4. Was lucky I wasn't drinking anything when he said soft keys.