Android Market Client Update

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/12/android-market-client-update.html

by abraham • 16 years ago

20 20 16 years ago

android-developers.blogspot.com

We are also increasing the maximum size for .apk files on Market to 50MB, to better support richer games.

They should increase this. There are some amazing games on the iPhone that are well above 50 MB. RAGE HD is 743.6 MB (but its an iPad app too) and Myst is 533.4 MB.

argarg• 16 years ago

That's why the possibility for those games to download and install their content on the SD card exists.

Android phones unlike the iPhone don't all have a huge internal memory but when it's not the case it can be extended with sd cards.

david2777• 16 years ago

The Gameloft game Dragon Hunter(Which isn't on the Android Market) comes with a 5mb .apk. Then once the app installs it connects to the internet to download the rest of the 240mb of files. That seems like the best way to work around the limit.

SingAlong• 16 years ago

That work-around comes at a cost of the server bandwidth tho. You'll have to maintain a server with the game resources. It's one time cost (or probably 2-3 times if the user uninstalls and re-installs again a few times).

But your idea is actually cool if your app needs a lot of screen specific resources. They can be downloaded later after checking the device screen specs.

sadiq• 16 years ago

"Since most users who request a refund do so within minutes of purchase, we will reduce the refund window on Market to 15 minutes"

I'm concerned that's gone too far the other way. Twenty four hours was too long for a utility/short game but at fifteen minutes, you're cutting it fine if you have installation problems or need to properly evaluate the app.

dannyr3• 16 years ago

I think this is fair. If you end up using the app for more than 15 minutes, I think you have to pay for it.

This is still generous compared to the App Store which doesn't give you an easy way to refund your app purchase.

dpcan4• 16 years ago

I completely agree. Too many users will purchase an app to play for the evening somewhere (while on a trip, for example) and just refund the next morning. It's unfair to the developers. 15 minutes is ample time to determine if the app is something you want to keep or not. As a developer, I still think this is better than the App Store, as buyers deserve the opportunity to return a purchase that is defective or not what they were expecting.

EDIT: I just thought about this another way....

With only 15 minutes, we're asking users to make pretty short snap decisions as to whether or not they want to keep the app. Just as purchasing an app is usually a spur of the moment decision, now canceling may work under the same conditions - causing MORE cancels.

zmmmmm2• 16 years ago

I'm not sure about "fair" but as a practical measure I think it's counter productive. I've never asked for a refund but every single purchase I've made has been partly because I could rationalize that I could return the app if I really didn't like it. With only 15 minutes to try it that logic won't work for me any more - I think I'll be doing way less purchases.

I don't understand why Google wouldn't just drop it down to an hour which would accomplish the same (stated) purpose but be a lot more reasonable.

dpcan4• 16 years ago

"To make it easier for developers to distribute and manage their products, we will introduce support for device targeting based on screen sizes and densities"

This is MUSIC TO MY EARS.

So many of my 1-star ratings are from users who have very specific device related issues, particularly with tablet devices with 480x800 screens and 160dip densities. My games look terrible because the graphics don't scale up under these conditions, and it's not realistic to create hundreds of graphics at different sizes for games as simple as mine.

sjs382• 16 years ago

Please keep in mind that non-tablet devices have 800x480 screens, too. (Mine phone, too at 3.5").

dpcan4• 16 years ago

Yes, but most phones with this resolution report a density of 240dpi and auto sale images to fit the full screen.

Tablets on the other hand have 800x480 screens but report a density of 160dpi and images don't scale up and look like little images in the top left corner of the screen.

Android Market Client Update

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