"Text me a download link", to me, to see that displayed prominently instead of a link to the App Store (on mobile) strikes me as a creepy way to collect phone numbers.
That probably isn't how you want to come across (and you probably don't even care about the phone numbers), so I would suggest having a different version of that page for user agent: iPhone. Please don't interpret this critique as me calling you a creep!
You know what, that's a good point. I might just hide the text-to-download if on iPhone and put the big App Store badge up there. That seems to make more sense anyway!
Isn't finding a good restaurant the most important user experience here? And by that metric, Yelp seems better suited to my needs. Making a 'less Yelp, Yelp' doesn't automatically make it better.
Yeah, it totally is the most important use experience. I'm glad Yelp suits your needs here, it didn't suit our needs, so we built this. If Yelp is better for you, please feel free to continue using it!
I prefer reviews 95% of the time, but I can see just wanting to find something that looks good and going for it, in the sense of adventure, rather than shifting through reviews that are somewhat swayed by popular opinion (new, unknown restaurants may never get their time in the spotlight if you're surfing for the best reviews).
Though I liked how professionally you concluded the thread, I think his/her point is very valid. It would have been great proof to people like me if you could have listed your app strengths and why those are important comparing with yelp, whether he/she will use your app or not secondary. Selling to tough masters is the key part of business, isn't it? Good luck!
> Though I liked how professionally you concluded the thread
Thanks!
> Selling to tough masters is the key part of business, isn't it?
So they say.
I'm operating under the assumption that people will like it, or they won't. People will either want a fast, visual, dead simple way to find what's around them, or they'll want to read reviews and look at menus. This will not be great for everyone, guaranteed.
Simplicity can be a virtue. Not that it's exactly analogous, but I think this is part of why apps like Tinder seem to be getting a lot more popular than significantly more complex apps like OkCupid, even if the latter offers far more information about matches and much more in-depth filters.
Except reviews. For me, a star rating and menu suggestions are much more valuable choosing criteria than "pretty pictures". I'm having a hard time swallowing the minimalist design as a legitimate UIX decision and not an excuse for lack of content.
That was kind of a joke, since we're built on top of Yelp. We made a conscious decision to not show reviews. Seems like that may be polarizing. Hopefully there are people on the other side who like that decision...
I'm pretty sure the whole point of this is to avoid the groupthink of reviews (and all the drama associated with Yelp supposedly suppressing some reviews) and just show you the food. If it looks good, good!
Congrats on shipping. I wanted to do something simple like this. I bought a domain for it, Radiyum.com (Radius + Food), but ended up shelving the idea for some of the reasons other folks have brought up. There's only so much time in the day!
I would think the redeployment time alone would make the browser a compelling platform (seconds versus whatever the current appstore lag is ... two weeks?)
This kind of thing always gets to me: apps that launch for iOS and then several years later realize there is this thing called "Android" and that it might catch on one day.
There's not a insanely good reason, but "the App Store" is definitely a reason. It's possible that we'll do a mobile web version in the future. Android is planned before that though.
When sent a text message about the app, some Android phones (inc. S4) resolve the URL as 'http://www.eatingaround.com/download.' - with a period at the end. I 404d when I clicked it. Worth addressing before you release Android.
Well until you find a way to give samples for taste and smell to your mobile users (good luck with that), I think that the visual side is what's left of it.
Even tho I agree with lots of other folks here about the fact that choosing a restaurant might require more data than just a couple nice pictures... as far as food itself go, a picture is what describes it best (worth a thousand words they say).
I cringed when I read that phrase. What about smell? are you going to eat food that looks great but smells bad?
The visual aspect of food is highly overrated, it mostly stems from pretentious restaurants that emphasis the importance of presentation.
I agree that food is visual, but other senses such as smell, texture are equally, if not more important than the visual aspect.
The idea for this application is not new and it seems to be only available for iOS (I'm on Android) only so I don't have much to say about it. When I want to find a nice place to eat food, word of mouth from friends or colleagues is what I use.
If you can do it as well as your other categories and market it as such you will definitely become a "must have". There is an app for happycow but it requires a lot of sorting to find a) businesses that are still open (as in both not shut down and currently open for business) and b) worth dining at!
That probably isn't how you want to come across (and you probably don't even care about the phone numbers), so I would suggest having a different version of that page for user agent: iPhone. Please don't interpret this critique as me calling you a creep!