What features do you look for in an app? Review: Global Piper Hire

Now and again I like to review an app.  Especially when it has crossover for my personal hobbies!

But there’s much that goes into writing up an app review.  Besides just the ‘usability’ and interface good apps need to have some amount of a ‘sustainability’ or a backgrounder to it… what do you look for in a good app?  What makes you continue to use it?  There’s been some huge discussion lately on the differentiation between UI and UX.  Well, we can discuss as I go through the review of this guy.

I came across Global Piper Hire a little while ago, and tried it out and gave it a bad review.  Almost instantly the developer contacted me for more information on how to fix it.

He implemented pretty much most of the changes I suggested – but still as a way to go.  But I love how that’s the theme for Android, don’t think we’re finished yet, we’re growing and learning, growing from learning.

So what is it?

Pretty much as it sounds, you have a database of bagpipers, willing to perform at your function, for hire.  Seems simple enough.

The main interface has a quick 2 buttons to either register to be on the site or look through those listed.  The navigation on the bottom has tabs for the main screen (to find), about, options and contact.

Here’s some screen shots, and I think you can see where I like it, and where I don’t:

Now here’s where I think the app can improve.  I don’t think that it’s a mark against the app, just areas for improvement and make it better.

• On my screen the piper’s a little ‘smooshed’, not sure if it’s a screen redraw or a stretch to fill issue.  When I first tried it, nothing would show as it wasn’t optimized to run on ‘any screen’, but a select few.  He was able to fix that quickly.  Take note of that iOS developers as you’ll now have to fiddle with a new resolution.
• Options – it’s weird that the only 2 options are ‘gps on?’ and ‘block GPS’… those seem to be the same option… what happens if I click both?  Well, it just unclicks the other.  Seems like that would only need to be one button.
• Contact is a page to link to their email, which is good.
• Any time you open a tab an ad pops-up.  This I think is bad form, better to just have the ad as a bar instead.
• Clicking the ‘ninja menu button’ brings up a ‘no options’ pop up.  Unnecessary.
• Back to the ‘about us’ tab, this has some write up on the service it provides.  Which is cool… but it’s a little long and not intuitive that you scroll down.
• Updates for the app seem to be ‘back end’, ie. what’s possibly loading is just website design, rather than app designed.  That’s a bit of a double edged sword.  I’d like to know when the app updates features, but it may not always be ‘updated’ by all the users
• Finding a piper on the map is a little ‘overworked’.  It starts out with a full world view of all the pins.  It should just centre about where you are.  Then as you zoom in more and more, it shifts the pins around.  My pin and indicator show me at the zoomed out level somewhere in mid USA, then as you get closer it’s in Minnesota, then slowly getting closer to the actual place where I am.  This area definitely needs work.
• Last, but not least, is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a ‘non-app’ or business side to the service.  Aside from the app, a facebook page (which advertises the app) and a linkedin profile, there’s no service this is tied into, just a database made by the developer.

So, in theory, I LOVE this app.  It’s got some tweaks to work out, but any developer worth his salt can easily fix this.  What I’m really missing in this experience is the outside the bubble connection.  I can’t see many people who have just lost a loved one, or are looking to get married will download this app for that single purpose.  There needs to be some website or service external to the app where it can exist as well.  This would help add benefit to being on the database, like I am, as it’s searchable by more than just app users.  Which will in turn bring in more pipers to register.

Personally I view apps as an ‘extra’ icing on the cake for a good service.

Anyways, I thought that I’d share this because a) I want to get the word out about this service, b) provide some of the feedback to the developer, c) have a discussion with you readers about what types of UI/ecosystem to you come to expect in a good app?