New Android Market For The Galaxy Tab
More memory means more advanced Apps & Games
Google will be updating the Android Market on devices running Android 1.6 or higher to introduce a number of changes that will affect users and developers alike. The biggest change in the new Android Market isn’t necessarily in the look and feel, but in the new policy that only allows refunds within a 15-minute time limit rather than the previous 24 hour window for refunds.
Android Market Layout
As you can see the layout of the tabs for Apps, Games, Carrier label has been changed to a curved layout. There is a new carousel showing off apps in the top that you can scroll through. There are also some changes when you tap on a specific application, including a promotional graphic. You can also now download application packages sized up to 50MB instead of the previous 25MB, which may lead to more advanced games on Android.
Highlights
- Reducing the purchase refund window to 15 minutes. Previously, users had 24-48 hours to try an application and get a refund if they didn’t like it. Some developers worried that a long refund period could lead to abuses, but users were limited to one refund per application so I don’t understand the reason for this change.
- Users will be able to filter applications by content rating. Developers must set a content rating for their apps by December 15th: Mature, Teen, Pre-Teen, or All. Applications or games without a rating will be treated as Mature.
- The details page for every app will show a 180×120 Promotional Graphic at the top, provided by the developer in the Developer Console.
- Developers can also specify more than 2 screenshots, in several different sizes (currently 320×480, 480×800, or 480×854). Presumably the number of sizes will expand as different resolutions become more common.
- Market will support filtering based on screen sizes and densities, as well as on GL texture compression formats. Filtering is based on <compatible-screens> and <uses-gl-texture> elements in an app’s manifest, instead of console settings.
- The Market is getting new “dynamic” categories that will be based on an app’s manifest. If your app includes wallpapers or widgets, Market will automatically add them to the new categories.
- The maximum size for application packages is increasing from 25MB to 50MB.
Comments
Be the first to write a comment
You must me logged in to write a comment.