Ask HN: What do you think of my android app?

31 points by vinod_s19 11 years ago | 15 comments

If asked to explain in single sentence, I would say it is twitter version of Quora/AskReddit/YahooAnswers.

The idea behind the app is this - every question in this world can be asked in a simple short way, even complex questions can be asked in multiple short questions. The same goes with answers - every answer can be broken into multiple short answers.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plusask.android

powatom 11 years ago |

> The idea behind the app is this - every question in this world can be asked in a simple short way, even complex questions can be asked in multiple short questions. The same goes with answers - every answer can be broken into multiple short answers.

Are you sure this is actually true, or is it just wishful thinking?

Complicated concepts cannot always be distilled into 140 characters, and not all questions can be answered in such a short space or indeed, in such a format. I would imagine that the vast majority of the questions and answers will be trivial, which in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that for any detail, users will need to look elsewhere.

This feels basically like one of those Twitter Poll apps, although many (most?) charge for their features.

Don't give up, but I think you need to focus on detail - otherwise this is just Jelly (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/jelly/id685652528?mt=8) with a less interesting UI.

vinod_s19 11 years ago | |

I think jelly focuses on getting answers to each and every question posted. But the main focus of +ask is to identify the most interesting/pressing questions we have in the society and to get the public opinion for them.

The identification of those questions-worth-asking-the-public happens by the usage of '+ask' button by the users.

vinod_s19 11 years ago | |

> Are you sure this is actually true, or is it just wishful thinking? Powatom, it is not completely true. It can be true only theoretically. You are right when you said that most of the questions asked by most of the people in our daily lives are trivial and can be answered in a simple manner without elaboration.

Casseres 11 years ago |

The color, style, and usability are all great. Two things though:

I didnt know what the faces at the bottom mean until I clicked them. I dont think the faces should be changed, but maybe just a quick, "Hey, tap on this face if you don't know, or this face if you don't know and want to ask this question to someone else" at the app's first run.

Also, in my opinion, the "Please Wait..." should be replaced by "Loading..." Everyone know things have to load, but telling someone to wait makes them think that it is slow.

Good job making the app. It looks good, it is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it's enough to keep people hooked though. I think it's a great platform to keep building on.

Edit: You should probably put the United States at the very top of the list if you think most users are going to want to select that.

vinod_s19 11 years ago | |

Casseres, have noted down all of your points.

Thanks for the awesome feedback!

panteravaca 11 years ago |

Are you considering revamping the UI to match with Material Design soon? Also It might be worth while adding a onboarding experience before the user is set up in the app. This would allow you to explain the buttons at the bottom better (speaking of which it might be better to use two different icons, like change the one on the right to a "reply arrow" or something like forwarding so the user knows that the button means they will re-ask the question).

vinod_s19 11 years ago | |

Panteravaca, changing it to material design is on the cards. The idea behind choosing ":/ +ask" at the right bottom is to be consistent with the use of '+ask' throughout the QA card. Thanks for the suggestions. Will have to work on onboarding experience.

damian2000 11 years ago |

It looks like its nicely designed. Do you need a lot of active users to make the app successful? Its not really obvious who answers the questions... maybe just add an answer question screenshot.

vinod_s19 11 years ago | |

Hi Damian, thanks for your comment. The app needs some initial active users to be useful. The intention is not to be user centric like Quora. That's the reason for not displaying the user name who added the answer. Thanks for the suggestion. Will be adding 'add an answer' screenshot.

penetrarthur 11 years ago |

Load the next question when I am easing the current one.

I don't understand what the bottom two buttons mean.

vinod_s19 11 years ago | |

Penetrathur, the bottom 2 emoticons are for "I do not know" and "I do not know but ask others the question". Emoticons are used as substitutes for those texts. A click on any of them would give a hint on what their purpose is. Thanks for the comment.

haidrali 11 years ago |

Nice app with similar concept but different and good implementation

vinod_s19 11 years ago | |

Haidrali, thanks for your comment.

danm72 11 years ago |

The design needs some work, like the unstyled nav bar

vinod_s19 11 years ago | |

Damn, thanks for your feedback