I have an ancient Ipod Touch … seems like there are many free apps available. Many that I would have downloaded excpet that I didn’t have room.
I recently got a Kindle Fire and I can’t seem to find any of the same or comparable free apps.
Is there a reason for that ? I had heard that Amazon tries to steer you away from some apps that are otherwise available.
The main reason is simply time. The iTunes app store has had three years to build up its library and developers have had three years to get acquainted with programming for the beast. The Kindle app store is only a few weeks old and the Kindle itself is using a modified version of Android so it’s not quite as straightforward as using previous Android experience.
That said, I’ve been periodically eyeing up my Mom’s Fire and they seem to be adding apps at a reasonable rate. I suspect the platform will be swinging this time next year.
Apps take up very little room. Try deleting a handful of songs and then downloading.
Apple reached 400,000 apps in June. Android has the same amount now, double what it had a year ago, so it’s catching up fast.
Does the Kindle Fire even have access to the regular Google Marketplace? I thought it only had access to the Amazon App Store, which has a more limited selection…perhaps that’s why you’re not seeing things.
And even though there are a lot of apps that are the same on both iOS and Android (i.e., literally a port from the app developer,) there are some that are only on iOS, so searching for their exact name will get you nothing in Android, even if there is another app that is for all intents and purposes identical.
the problem is that the Kindle Fire can’t access the Android Market by default, you only have access to the Amazon App Market. You might be able to get the Android Market on your device somehow.
Apple hit 500,000 in October, Android claimed 380,000 in December.
Download the dropbox or box.net app on the kindle fire, then search for and download the android marketplace app on a computer. Put it in the dropbox or box.net folder online, then install it from the kindle fire. Not all apps will work and not all apps will work smoothly, but you can have access to so much more than intended.
And 400,000 on January 4th 2012. Cite. Sorry to be nit-picky, but this *is *the Dope.
Only about 200 apps on either platform are worthwhile, though :D.
However the answer is simply that Amazon’s app store is its whole own deal, with an approval process etc similar to Apple’s, this means that while the Kindle Fire is an Android device it doesn’t have access to the same selection of apps that a regular Android device would have.
If you root it or whatever I’m sure you can get access to the full Google Android Market.
Heh - I was working from when I looked it up in another thread, a day before your cite was updated. 
This is, despite the exaggeration, an important point. 100,000 apps seems like a huge difference, but there are a LOT of fart and flashlight apps in there. At this point, any major app is going to have a counterpart in both stores.
I’d say that 200 is being generous. 
Who has the better OS? Apple seems to have very good service. Would you compare the android with what microsoft did with it’s OS?
Now that is a very contentious question. The only people who can really answer that are people who have used both. I haven’t, but I am very happy with Android.
Yo.
Android by a mile (or, if you prefer, ~1.6 km)
Things iOS does better:
Simplicity: It’s easy to use, and has a small learning curve. A lot less “tweaking” is required to get full functionality out of it, and most of the things you need access to, on the phone or in the apps, are right there. By contrast, Android often “hides” things via the menu button, and sometimes you can go two menu buttons deep! This isn’t intuituve for a lot of people (especialyl the two menu layers deep thing, though IIRC they finally stopped that,) so some people complain they can’t do XYZ, or it’s too hard to do it, because it’s more button presses, and might require more technical knowledge to set up.
Media syncing: For all it’s flaws, iTunes is still pretty good as long as you tell it what to do properly. Say you want this music on your iPhone/iPod, not this, update this podcast weekly, swap out this movie file with the enxt one on my list, etc… and it will do it automatically. By contrast, pretty much everything on an Android phone has to be either manually managed, or, at best, managed automatically within each app, so you might have to set three or four differentapps to each automatically do what you want…there’s still no good “single software” solution for ALL media files.
The hardware looks pretty: Even though there are a plethora of Android phones, eah with their own form-factor, I still think the iPhone 4 (hardware wise) looks best out of all smartphones. I didn’t care as much for the original and 3G/3GS…I prefer the less-rounded, metal-edged look of the 4/4S, and I’m upset that for all the copying of the 3G form-factor that went on in the android world, there han’t been any good copies of the 4S form-factor…probably all those lawsuits against Samsung for copying the 3G look. 
App selection: There are more in the App Store, and certain iOS apps that are really fun and/or useful, that have either no equivilent in the Android Market, a crappy knock-off, or (sometimes the worst,) a really bad, half-assed port of the iOS version that has crippling bugs, won’t work with all Android hardware, and uses too many resources because it wasn’t optimized for Android.
Things Android does better:
Pretty much everything else.
Custimization: Even though I like the look of the iPhone 4/4S, not everyone does…Android phones are so varied that you can get one that caters to you, most of the time (like isaid, no good knockoff of the 4S design, but jsut about everything else is covered.) Want a hardware keyboard? It’s getting harder to find them, but the Droid 2 is still selling, and Droid 3 is coming out soon…the Epic 4G, even though it has a “sequel” without a keyboard, is still being sold (and now cheaper.) There’s even one that has a portraitkeyboard if you’re coming from Blackberry (but don’t et it…the Droid Pro is terrible…but if all you care about is a portrait, hardawre keyboard, you’re covered with Android!)
And even amongst all the other ones that are touch-screen only, there’s options…small screens, large screens, cheapo-ones that aren’t as powerful, butget the job done, super-expensive ones that are “pure Android” and get all the updates first, and have the best hardware, etc…
You can also customize the software so much better on Android. Widgets are amazing…you can easily, right on your desktop/homescreen (Hell, even on your lockscreen) put one of any style of clock, battery meter, notifications for missed calls, texts, emails, etc…, a quick view calendar, and just about anything else. It’s really handy being able to easily check your upcoming appointments, the last few Facebook feed updates, etc… without ever having to navigate to or open an app.
Expandable storage: Not available on all Android phones…and with the newest version of android this might go away entirely (though legacy support will exist for a while, at least,) but most Android owners can simply swap out the microSD card for a bigger one for more space, or double their media storage capacity. I can also just plug my phone into my PC, click on ‘storage mode,’ and drag/drop files to it just as if it were a regular flash drive.
User-replaceable battery: Almost all (maybe even all) Android phones have use-replaceable batteries…real handy to have a spare or two to keep in the car, at the office, or in your bag/purse for when you run out of juice and either don’t have a USB cable, or don’t/can’t leave your phone “tied down.”
Standardized connectors: All current Android phones, to my knowledge, have to use MicroUSB to charge and move data. Many of them also have mini-HDMI out for paying movies on TV’s and such, too. Those calbes are dirt cheap on places like monocable, even good quality ones. Apple’s connectors can be had for cheap, but I have been burned by them in the past, since there is more “stuff” going on with them, it’s easier for a crappy knock-off company to made a cable that doesn’t work right. By contrast, microUSB has a whopping five pins.
More freedom in general: Google does not give two shits about what I do with my phone…now, the actual manufacturers and carriers care a little, but less than Apple does, and the trend lately is them giving the users more freedom…HTC and Motorola both raised a stink with their fans by locking down a coupel recent phones more tightly than usual, and when people complained, said “ok, we’ll stop doing that.”
So my vote is for Android.