A lot.

In 2007, Jeff Skinner and I launched the now-defunct Tappity, a site which helped people discover mobile-friendly websites. The other day, I was perusing the Tappity innards and came across something interesting: a database table filled with unique User Agent strings from devices that had visited our site. For those not familiar with User-Agent Strings, they are a sort of fingerprint which helps identify a browser, so the database table represents a large sample of mobile browsers which have accessed Tappity.

The list doesn’t represent every device, nor are the strings exclusively mobile, but it does give you an idea of the diversity that exists in the mobile universe. For example, here are some top manufacturers alongside the number of browser applications/version. Note: Minor version numbers are counted as unique:

Motorola: 357
SonyEricsson: 351
Samsung: 341
Nokia: 300
LG: 169
BlackBerry: 125
HTC: 45

The full list of User-Agents can be viewed on Google Docs. Note: There are two worksheets: one with the raw strings from the database table, and another containing my attempt to identify unique application/version numbers.

1. Will my product require use of the camera, microphone or other device-specific hardware?
2. Will it access the address book, media library or common user data?
3. Will I charge for my product, using an app store as the payment processor?
4. Will I send push notifications or need background processes?

If the answer to any of the above is ‘yes,’ then an iPhone/Android app may be right for you. If the answer is ‘no,’ you may want to consider building an HTML5 mobile website instead.

Mobile websites:

• Can access geolocation info.
• Provide offline caching and storage.
• Handle touch and gesture events.
• Are easily deployed (new versions and bug fixes)
• Are cross-platform (Android, iPhone, webOS, etc.)

Comments and discussion: #NotAnApp

Aesthetics aside…

It seems like the iPad’s keyboard, in landscape mode, leaves you no choice but to hold the device in one hand and hunt-n-peck with the other. What if the keyboard was split into two, and placed in the lower-right and left corners? Then, you could hold it with both hands, and type a la the iPhone.

It’d be a sacrifice to the key size, for sure, but it might be more comfortable and functional.

I consider myself lucky: I was let out of my contract after a several-month long dispute over AT&T’s quality of service (or lack thereof). Look above; that picture shows what I saw every day: zero to one bars of service within a 1-mile radius of my office. Anyone who’s been on the phone with me me has earned the purple-heart-of-patience award for tolerating my dropped calls (sometimes as many as 2-3 times per chat). And this phone is my only phone, the one I depend on to run my business.

I expect I’m not the only one with this problem. I’ve spoken with you too; your reception sucks.

How did I do it?

I don’t mean for this to be a how-to for those who wish to sneak out of their contract. Mine was a legitimate problem of poor service. If yours is too, here’s what you can do:

• Call AT&T (1-800-331-0500 or 611 from your wireless phone).
• Ask them to open a support ticket. It’s important that you start documenting your problem.
• Remind them that they have the data to confirm this issue: call start/end times and dropped call logs. (Updated: Thanks, Paul)
• Wait at least a month. Let them try and resolve the problem—it’s only fair.
• If they can’t resolve your problem, demand compensation or to be released from your contract.

Seems like common sense, eh? It is.

An open support ticket is the key; it’s your documentation that there’s a problem, and proof that it hasn’t been resolved in a sufficient period of time.

Remember: it’s reasonable to expect that your service works; reasonable to ask someone to repair it if broken; and reasonable to leave if it can’t be fixed.

Good luck.