Review: Playboard

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What is it?
Playboard is an application by 42 Matters AG that provides an alternate to the Google Play Store for finding and discovering Android apps.

What does it do?
The main function of the application is to find apps that match your interests. The way the app goes about doing this is by breaking up apps into “subscriptions” that allow you to and and remove apps from a particular subscription (Ex: the “Holo Everywhere Apps” subscription that features all of the apps that have been covered on Holo Everywhere!). You then go about subscribing to feeds that are of interest to you, and can install the applications straight from the feed (this will open up a new window in the Google Play Store allowing you to install).

You can also go to the Playboard website and register to create your own feeds that others can subscribe to as well. We are currently working on a HoloEverywhere feed that will list the apps that we have previously covered. Once we are approved, and the list is live, we’ll be sure to let you know.

Additionally, there is the ability to share app listings using Androids built in Share abilities.

From a design perspective, the app features a clean UI that implements a nice swipe header, coupled with a Holo light UI.

The developer also calls out some highlighted features, as well via the Play store description

Highlights:
– Customize your board with the app channels you like most
– Must-have apps and games
– Recommended apps and games of the day
– Handpicked apps from our editorial board
– Country specific apps
– Apps and games recommended from bloggers and websites

Design Highlights:
- Use of the Action bar that properly follows the Android Design Guidelines.
- Holo icons throughout the application
- Holo Light theme
- Wonderful use of Swipe navigation (left to right) when viewing apps in the subsciption view as well as the “Featured” area above the “My Subscriptions”

Design Requests:
- A Holo Dark theme would be a nice addition
- Widget, preferably a swipe scroll widget (ex: Youtube, Play store widget).

Feature Requests:
- Ability to log into your Playboard account to manage subscriptions from the website.
- Ability to create feeds from the app.

Final Thoughts:
Playboard is one of the few recommendation apps that have stood out and held their own. The app is beautiful, simple, and easy to use and closely follows the Android Design Guidelines. The subsciption idea is excellent (reminds me of RSS) and not overwhelming. As the lists are created by humans and not bots, they seem more polished and professional. An app I would highly recommend to anyone that is always on the hunt for new Android applications.

Holo Score: 8.8/10 “Highly Recommended”

Alt text Playboard // Free (Ad-Free)

Via: playboard.me

This entry was written by admin, posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:57 pm, filed under Review and tagged . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
  • http://twitter.com/arrioch Milos Mirkovic

    Great review, and great app, saw your channel today, and i added it, of course. All i want as a feature is to add apps from my phone, and it would be perfect. Please check, there are few Holo Apps channels, where you can find some hidden gems you can review. EDIT: Oh look, my channel is in the 1st screenshot, “For Customizers”, subscribe, i’m adding new apps whenever i find something good.

  • http://profiles.google.com/bmg1001 Bryan Guerrero

    Glad to see Holo Everywhere being updated more often. Great app and review.

  • http://twitter.com/ivdelchev Ivan Delchev

    Disclaimer: I am one of the devs of Playboard :)

    Thanks for featuring us guys, your channel rocks! We’ve featured you on our main screen, keep up the great work! By the way we are revamping the website and added a new web widget – http://playboard.me/widgets/?channel_id=5069b91c4fbd8ca52c000039 (wordpress version coming soon), might be cool for your site.

    @Milos – the possibility to add apps from the phone is next on our list!

    • http://twitter.com/arrioch Milos Mirkovic

      Awesome, thanks for listening! :)

    • http://twitter.com/BiDuSoft BiDuSoft

      Hi Ivan, for some reasons, your app doesn’t show my app yet. Would you please be so kind to add this app to your Playboard; Morning Bird Alarm Clock ? You can easily find this app on Google Play. I am still a small indie so every little bit of exposure will really help me a a lot. Thank you so much for your help.

      • http://twitter.com/ivdelchev Ivan Delchev

        Hi BiDuSoft – you can easily create a channel with alarm clocks and add your app. Just make sure it’s a good one otherwise it won’t be approved ;)

        • http://twitter.com/BiDuSoft BiDuSoft

          Hi Ivan, thanks for the good tips :) . I will do so immediately.

        • http://twitter.com/BiDuSoft BiDuSoft

          Hi Ivan, I have just created the channel and submitted it for review. I hope you would be so kind to take a look and let me know if it’s ok. Thank you so much for your kind help. I really appreciate it. Sincerely.