developer console - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

Google Updates Developer Guidelines For Tablet-Optimized Apps – Separate Screenshots And Verification Of Tablet UI

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Google, News, Nexus 10, Nexus 7

Google has been pushing developers to build tablet-optimized UIs for their apps since the Xoom was the hot new challenger to the iPad (haha). Okay, so that didn't work out very well, but with the release of devices like the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, devs are finally starting to see the value of building a great tablet experience. Of course, it's not like you'd know. The Play Store is terrible at showing off tablet UIs, but that's about to change. Google is updating the developer console to verify tablet compatibility and break up screenshots for tablet/phone interfaces.

From now on developers uploading apps will have the option to verify they have adhered to the tablet UI guidelines for 7 and/or 10-inch slates.

Mar

Google Rolls Out Automated Translation Of User Reviews In The Play Store Developer Console

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

Recently, Google quietly began to test auto translation for app reviews in the developer console. Today, the company publicly announced that same feature and began rolling it out to all devs. Now, when they log in to their control panel, they can see the reviews in their preferred language, along with the original text. Neat.

Of course, this still isn't a replacement for native fluency, but it should aid developers in troubleshooting problems that users on the other side of the language barrier discover. This, coupled with replies to reviews, enables a high degree of communication between devs and users, which can only be a great thing.

Oct

Google Play Has A Brand-New Developer Console: Completely Overhauled Interface, New Statistics, And More

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, Development, News

If you're a developer publishing apps on Google Play, the developer console is probably something you're checking every day compulsively. And Google understands that just because you're a developer, you don't need to look at something ugly and boring to track your apps' download and ratings stats, or manage their publication status. Back at I/O in June, Google showed off a bunch of new console features that were "coming soon."

And today, Google is finally unveiling those features in a brand-new version of the developer console, and you can start using it right now. Just head over to the console, and hit the "Try the new version" button (as Google has previously done with Gmail and Analytics), and you'll be good to go.

Aug

The New Developer Console Has Started To Go Live For Those Who Signed Up For The Preview

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, News

Back in late June, Google teased a new, cleaner developer console. A couple weeks after that, the beta signup went live, allowing devs to get in line for an early look at the next-gen console. Now, for those who signed up for said beta, the updated console is beginning to show up.

The first impression that we're hearing from developers who've used the new console is that it feels faster, has a much better UI, and is far easier to use. Sounds good to us.

If you signed up for the beta, go ahead and check it out - it should be available for you now.

Feb

Android Market Introducing Buyer's Currency

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Apps/Games, Google, News

One of the (numerous) problems with the Android Market has been its billing system - up to now, buyers were charged in the seller's currency. While most credit card companies were smart enough to convert the bill to the buyer's coinage, others flat out cancelled the payment. No longer - Google just announced Buyer's Currency, which gives developers the ability to set their apps' prices in each of the currencies available in the Market.

In other words, you can have your app sell for $5 in the US and £3.70 in the UK; previously, if the buyer was in the US and the app's price was in euros, the buyer would be charged in euros, and converting the fee to dollars was left up to credit card companies.

Buyer's Currency is now available to US merchants, and Google encourages all devs to set the prices asap - if you don't do so by February 23th, they will automatically convert your price.

Dec

Google Loosens Android Market Limitations: App Descriptions Are Now ~1100% Larger (4000 Chars), Recent Changes ~50% Larger (500 Chars)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, Development, News

Google has been making multiple changes to the Android Market recently, with the introduction of 6 additional screenshots, new promo graphics, YouTube video links, recent changes, and a whole new and refreshed Market app. It looks like they're not planning on stopping, as yet another, more subtle, update just hit the Android Market publishing interface, also known as the Developer Console.

The new change expands the previously measly 325 character Description and Recent Changes fields to a whopping 4,000 characters for the Description and 500 characters for the Recent Changes. It looks like the number 4,000 wasn't chosen at random - application descriptions on Apple's iOS platform can occupy exactly this many characters.

Nov

Major 6-Hour Google Market Maintenance Coming This Thursday. What Could It Be For?

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, Gingerbread 2.3, News

As a registered Android developer, today I, along with thousands of other devs, got the following email from the Android Market Support team. The email informed me that the developer console, which is the interface used for publishing new apps, will be unavailable this Thursday, November 18th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. PST. The customer-facing Market itself will continue working just fine (or so I hope at least), but no new applications or app updates will be allowed.

Now, what could this update be for? It could be as simple as the promised Market housekeeping that was announced 5 days ago, although it seemed far less serious, and I got the impression that it did not require any downtime.