- Analytics Widget (free)
- mAnalytics (free/paid)
- DroidAnalytics (free 24-hour trial/paid)
- Mobile GA for Android (free)
Analytics Widget
- I like: Very simple, basic and easy to use.
- Wish it had: A period-over-period percent change, or even a little sparkline to go along with the single number. The fact that I've had 11 page views today (on my lowly blog) is meaningless until I can compare it to past performance. Beyond that I'd like to click through to more detailed data. If I see a spike in traffic I might want to drill down and look at referrers or search terms.
- Bug factor: It force-quit on me a few times but always recovered on its own. There's currently a note on the Android Market page for this app indicating that this is a known problem, so hopefully it will be fixed soon.
- Stars: 4 out of 5
- Verdict: I'm going to keep it on my desktop (so I can continue to refresh it compulsively).
mAnalytics
- I like: Just a little detail. It's an appropriate amount of data to display on my small mobile screen without feeling cluttered.
- Wish it had: A widget. Actually I wish I could merge Analytics Widget with mAnalytics so I could see a little overview on my desktop and then click through to detail. Other than that, it would be nice to see more of the reports and the drilldowns that I can get in the fixed web version of Google Analytics. More charts would also be a welcome addition. Turns out that there are more detail reports and more charts in the paid (vs free) version; if I develop a burning desire for these features I will buy the Pro license.
- Bug factor: No issues.
- Stars: 4 out of 5
- Verdict: I'm going to keep it. I might even spring for the Pro version. If another free app turns up with more of my desired functionality, though, I may replace it.
DroidAnalytics
- I like: As much detail as anyone would want on mobile. The settings are a nice touch; it's possible to customize your view quite a bit. I also like the fact that the developers have posted version notes; it's clear that this app has a good development path ahead of it.
- Wish it had: A slightly better user interface. I got the hang of things eventually, but it took more time than I'd like to figure out the icons and get a handle on what exactly was being displayed.
- Bug factor: I noticed several minor interface glitches. For example, rotation from portrait to landscape does not appear to work, and in one instance the date format changed on its own accord after I viewed (but did not edit) the settings.
- Stars: 3.5 out of 5
- Verdict: Although I liked this app, it's not sufficiently better than the free apps for me to keep it at this time. I am going to check back in a couple of months, though, because the developers are bound to include more features and fixes in future releases.
Mobile GA for Android
- I like: The product screenshots.
- Wish it had: Better recovery from errors.
- Bug factor: Terminal case.
- Stars: 1 out of 5
- Verdict: I'll try reinstalling it in a few months to see if the problems have been resolved.
Conclusion
I was surprised by the variety in functionality across these applications. For the time being I will keep using the Analytics Widget and mAnalytics in combination with one another; they both contain features I like, with a proper amount of detail for mobile.It's also interesting (but not surprising) to note that Google Analytics is currently the only web analytics tool with apps in the Market. How long will it take before Omniture and Webtrends apps make their debut? There are already iPhone apps for both.
Speaking of the iPhone, here's a recent post from Lars Johansson in which he reviews all Google Analytics apps for iPhone. Hopefully we'll see more web analytics apps for the Droid in the near future.
[Feb 2, 2010. Update: I've been through a round of troubleshooting with the GA for Android developers, so hopefully I will get to test out and review a working release of that app before too long. Also, I have unearthed an Omniture Android app. It was in the Android Market all along; ironically, it just didn't contain the word "analytics" in the description.]
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