market - 41/43 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

Milestone Reached: Android App Markets Reach 100,000 Submitted And 83,000 Active Applications

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News

Today marks the first time we see the number "100,000" associated with the Android Market. Or, wait, no we don't - remember this, this, this, and about 5 million other posts? Let me try again.

Today marks the first time Android actually crossed the 100,000 apps mark, a whole month early from my earlier September projection, if we go by the unofficial app count from AndroLib.com:

Don't be confused by the discrepancies in the official count and AndroLib - as we explained before, they count many markets (not just the official Android Market) and don't account for unpublished apps.

Jul

[App Of The Week] ExtendedControls, A Power Control Widget On Steroids + Giveaway For 50 Licenses!

Posted by David Ruddock in App Reviews, Applications, Contests / Giveaways, Reviews, Videos

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

This contest is now over. We have selected the winners - see if you are one of them towards the bottom of the page.

ExtendedControls - Power Control On Steroids

Do you like Android’s native Power Control widget? Are you unable to go through the day without using it more times than you can count? Do you wish it had a few more buttons (for things like Airplane Mode, or a flashlight) and that they could all fit in one row? Then you’ll probably be very interested in ExtendedControls—an app which takes the wonderful idea that is the Power Control widget, and turns it into a supercharged multi-tool.

Jul

Story Claiming Only 20% Of Android Users Would Buy Another Android Phone Is False: CNN Money Just Can’t Read

Posted by David Ruddock in News

Last week, CNN Money published an article claiming Android had an 80% customer turnover rate based on a survey by Yankee Group. Despite the fact that this number would mean Android users are more dissatisfied than users of any other smartphone OS, the story made the rounds.

CNN Money later came out and admitted they had made a rather large mistake. The statistic they quoted was the percentage of smartphone users who said “Android” in response to the question, “What operating system will your next smartphone run?” Clearly this 20% goes from being abominable to rather positive for Android, which is currently estimated to control 13% of the smartphone operating system market.

Jul

Android Developers UI Design Tips Presentation Aims To Homogenize Android App Interfaces In The Style Of Twitter, Facebook, And Yelp

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications

Ever notice how Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp all use (nearly) the same start screen implementation?

Apparently this is no coincidence. A presentation given at an Android Developer conference is urging app developers to conform to this design when developing their own apps. Why? Consistency lends itself to usability.

Android has long been a victim of its own openness—many claim it is a “geek” or “technophile” operating system. This stigma can, in part, be traced to the fact that Android apps have not been held accountable to any but the most lax standards (Eg, doesn’t blow up your phone) to be featured in the Android Market.

Jul

Android Market And Google Checkout Problem – Buy Your Apps/Games But Receive Nothing, Sorry!

Posted by Andrew Huff in Applications, Apps/Games, Games, News

Recently it has been reported that Google plans to add carrier billing options to the Android Market. This is great news for developers, but it may be moot, as we’re getting reports that a lot of users are having issues downloading apps that they have purchased. When a user tries to purchase an app, it seems that the market is hanging while authorizing their payment, regardless of their checkout method (credit card or carrier billing).

This isn’t the first time that users have had issues with the market – just recently Google had to address the issue of applications mysteriously disappearing.

Jul

Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement Updated To Allow Carrier Billing. Paid Apps In More International Markets Soon?

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

In a short post on the Android developers blog, Googler Tim Bray let word out that the Android Market’s Developer Distribution Agreement had been updated in a significant way:

Posted by Tim Bray on 23 July 2010 at 5:24 PM

Please note that we have updated the Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement (DDA). This is in preparation for some work we’re doing on introducing new payment options, which we think developers will like.

In the spirit of transparency, we wanted to highlight the changes:

In Section 13.1, “authorized carriers” have been added as an indemnified party.

Section 13.2 is new in its entirety, covering indemnity for payment processors for claims related to tax accrual.

Jul

[App Of The Week] Craigsnotifica by Widget, A Powerful And Customizable Tool For Navigating Craigslist

Posted by David Ruddock in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Introduction

We here at Android Police know how important apps are as a part of the overall Android experience. We also know how notoriously difficult the Android Market is to navigate. With these two things in mind, we decided to introduce the Android Police App Of The Week.

Every week, we'll take one app that we think is a cut above the rest, and give you an in-depth look at what we think makes it exemplary.

Like the idea of Craigslist? Don’t like actually using the website (especially on your phone)? Or like the idea of having a more powerful Craigslist with features such as notifications, favorites, and saved lists of searches?

Jul

The Facts Behind AndroLib Android Market Application Discrepancies

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

The news of the Android Market reaching the milestone of 100,000 apps may have been great news for Android – but perhaps it came a bit too soon.

Those numbers come from AndroLib, but Google has announced the official numbers, with the Android Market having just over 70,000 apps. So, why the big difference in numbers? Google’s numbers come only from the official Android Market, the one pre-loaded on just about every Android phone, and the one you are probably most familiar with.

But AndroLib calculates its own numbers quite differently. In addition to counting several additional markets, AndroLib counts the number of apps that have appeared in the Market, and does not account for deleted apps; oftentimes, this can lead to multiple duplicated apps in their count.

Jul

Follow-Up: Astro File Manager Goes Pro, Removes Ads

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

Yesterday we published a piece regarding Astro File Manager’s now-mandatory ads. Earlier today, the developer of Astro (Metago) released Astro File Manager Pro. It comes in at $2.99, and its only “Pro” feature at the moment is that it removes ads from the application.

Some users may feel this is a cheap-shot. I disagree. Metago has taken the high ground in regard to the paid apps philosophy, here’s how. The ad-supported version of Astro has all the features of Astro Pro, and is in no way limited in its functionality. To say that the developer deserves no income from their application (which is far and away the best file explorer on Android) is rather ludicrous, given the readily apparent effort put into Astro File Manager.

Jul

Gameloft Relaxes DRM Policy, Gives Customers Option To Reinstall Games

Posted by Andrew Huff in Apps/Games, Games, News

Mobile game developer Gameloft recently came under fire for their DRM policy, which claimed that any user who purchased a game could not for any reason re-download it. This included wipes caused by authorized system updates to Android phones.

Needless to say, this angered many Gameloft customers, who paid upwards of $5 for each game. It didn't take long for the outrage to push Gameloft into announcing that it would be reviewing the DRM policy, but no timetable was provided.

Dave Loft (no pun intended), who has been in contact with Gameloft about the DRM complaints, recently received an update from a gentleman by the name of Dumitru over at Gameloft.