Re:Web Starter Kit
by jaegerpicker on Thursday June 19, 2014 @08:28PM
(#7919006)
Google does in fact make a non-web version of Gmail. Gmail.app for iOS and the Android port of gmail. Both of which are a MUCH better experience them the comparable mobile web apps.
Re:Web Starter Kit
by notreadbyhumans on Friday June 20, 2014 @12:33PM
(#7921421)
Apple's iWork suite is an example where someone is at least trying to make applications that run equally well within the browser, on mobile and on desktops.
There aren't actually many fair/accurate comparisons around since most companies have either a shrink-wrapped product or a webapp. Rarely do you see both, and when there are I agree with jacquesm that the experience is almost always sub-par on the webapp [in comparison to the desktop app].
You can't really compare one company's webapp to another's non-webapp. i.e. you may feel GMail is better than Outlook, but since Google doesn't make a non-webapp version of GMail we don't know if that would be better than both Outlook and gmail.com. Microsoft does make a webapp version of Outlook, but I don't think many people find that better than "real" Outlook.