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A few other issues: -- There's no in-app upgrade option. If you install a lite or trial edition you have to search the Market for the full version and install

by jsz0 16y ago

A few other issues: -- There's no in-app upgrade option. If you install a lite or trial edition you have to search the Market for the full version and install it on top of your lite/trial version. So if you happen to search for an app, buy it, and install it sometimes it just won't work (because you were supposed to install the lite/trial first) -- Apps without meaningful descriptions should be deleted or hidden by default. A changelog is not a description. -- Apps that start off saying "doesn't work with..." should be deleted or hidden by default or only shown on the Android devices it does work with. -- It would be fantastic if you could sort searches by downloads, ratings, etc. You'd think since Google is a search company they could figure this one out. Maybe in 2.2?

orangecat 16y ago
Apps without meaningful descriptions should be deleted or hidden by default. A changelog is not a description. Related to that, the 325 character limit for app descriptions is absurd.
- sundarurfriend 16y ago
  I see a lot of developers complaining about this, but from the point of view of a user, that feels like the limit of how much users (me) would be willing to read per-app. In my experience, it's rare that an app cannot be adequately described in that space.
  - orangecat 16y ago
    Your comment contains 257 characters. Do you seriously think adding 72 more would allow you to effectively describe an app of any significant complexity?
    - sundarurfriend 16y ago
      It's difficult, but it's mostly doable, and more importantly, necessary. People don't read, and even if you had a longer description people aren't going to read more than a few lines of it. So instead of losing out because people didn't read the whole of your description, I see this as an incentive to place everything within the region people will read. However, I do agree that with apps of increasing complexity (WaveSecure comes to mind), you'll have to leave out a lot to fit in the space. In these cases though, I feel the rating and comments should give the user enough push to try the app, after which your app can describe itself all it wants.
chaosmachine 16y ago
"There's no in-app upgrade option." It's possible to add a link in your app to the full version, such that when it's clicked, the market page will open and the user can just click 'purchase'. It's not exactly in-app, but it works pretty well.
dpcan 16y ago
Most of the problems you describe could probably be policed by Google, but Google has asked the developers to do this, and it is definitely a problem. POINT 1 -- There's no in-app upgrade option. True, but you can quite easily link RIGHT TO the app you require your user to purchase. It's actually super easy to do, I don't know why some don't do this. However, maybe you are referring to the ability for an app to initiate a self-update, in which case, I'd love to know how to do this. POINT 2 -- Apps without meaningful descriptions should be deleted or hidden by default. A changelog is not a description. App developers are given 325 characters to tell the entire story of their apps AND describe why we require an update. It's awful. Have you ever written a Haiku? Every time I try to create an app description AND include a changelog, it's like geeky Haiku. I feel like an idiot replacing the word "for" with a "4" because of this space limitation. It's embarrassing. POINT 3 -- Apps that start off saying "doesn't work with..." should be deleted or hidden by default or only shown on the Android devices it does work with. App developers can put a target SDK, minimum SDK and even max SDK in their Manifest. I'm not sure why more don't. -- It would be fantastic if you could sort searches by downloads, ratings, etc. You'd think since Google is a search company they could figure this one out. Maybe in 2.2? Agreed. Though I'd like to one-up this and ask that there be a "Featured Apps" option where Google employees show off obscure but cool apps. Then, how about a "Sports" category in Games? I for one would be really happy to see this.
- Groxx 16y ago
  the ability for an app to initiate a self-update, in which case, I'd love to know how to do this. Seen Sparkle[1]? It's all the rage in the OSX world. Thousands of applications use it. It'd be a good place to start. Beyond that, there's also Google's Update Engine[2], also for OSX, which does updates file by file, and I believe can even work with just changesets (Sparkle replaces the whole .app bundle). At least, I think Update Engine was started by Google... Or, if you want to go for "epic" in-place self-updating, something could be done which mimics how some Linux kernel upgrades can be swapped while the OS is running. That's a neat trick. I believe Nginx can do the same, it'd probably be an easier start. Unless the binary is locked when downloaded, I don't see why that at least shouldn't be possible. Though, all that said, IANA Android developer, and don't know what limitations are in place. Could be it's just flat out impossible, I honestly don't know. [1]: http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/ http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/ [2]: http://code.google.com/p/update-engine/ http://code.google.com/p/update-engine/

by jsz0 16y ago

orangecat 16y ago

Apps without meaningful descriptions should be deleted or hidden by default. A changelog is not a description. Related to that, the 325 character limit for app descriptions is absurd.

sundarurfriend 16y ago
I see a lot of developers complaining about this, but from the point of view of a user, that feels like the limit of how much users (me) would be willing to read per-app. In my experience, it's rare that an app cannot be adequately described in that space.
- orangecat 16y ago
  Your comment contains 257 characters. Do you seriously think adding 72 more would allow you to effectively describe an app of any significant complexity?
  - sundarurfriend 16y ago
    It's difficult, but it's mostly doable, and more importantly, necessary. People don't read, and even if you had a longer description people aren't going to read more than a few lines of it. So instead of losing out because people didn't read the whole of your description, I see this as an incentive to place everything within the region people will read. However, I do agree that with apps of increasing complexity (WaveSecure comes to mind), you'll have to leave out a lot to fit in the space. In these cases though, I feel the rating and comments should give the user enough push to try the app, after which your app can describe itself all it wants.

chaosmachine 16y ago

"There's no in-app upgrade option." It's possible to add a link in your app to the full version, such that when it's clicked, the market page will open and the user can just click 'purchase'. It's not exactly in-app, but it works pretty well.

dpcan 16y ago

Most of the problems you describe could probably be policed by Google, but Google has asked the developers to do this, and it is definitely a problem. POINT 1 -- There's no in-app upgrade option. True, but you can quite easily link RIGHT TO the app you require your user to purchase. It's actually super easy to do, I don't know why some don't do this. However, maybe you are referring to the ability for an app to initiate a self-update, in which case, I'd love to know how to do this. POINT 2 -- Apps without meaningful descriptions should be deleted or hidden by default. A changelog is not a description. App developers are given 325 characters to tell the entire story of their apps AND describe why we require an update. It's awful. Have you ever written a Haiku? Every time I try to create an app description AND include a changelog, it's like geeky Haiku. I feel like an idiot replacing the word "for" with a "4" because of this space limitation. It's embarrassing. POINT 3 -- Apps that start off saying "doesn't work with..." should be deleted or hidden by default or only shown on the Android devices it does work with. App developers can put a target SDK, minimum SDK and even max SDK in their Manifest. I'm not sure why more don't. -- It would be fantastic if you could sort searches by downloads, ratings, etc. You'd think since Google is a search company they could figure this one out. Maybe in 2.2? Agreed. Though I'd like to one-up this and ask that there be a "Featured Apps" option where Google employees show off obscure but cool apps. Then, how about a "Sports" category in Games? I for one would be really happy to see this.

Groxx 16y ago
the ability for an app to initiate a self-update, in which case, I'd love to know how to do this. Seen Sparkle[1]? It's all the rage in the OSX world. Thousands of applications use it. It'd be a good place to start. Beyond that, there's also Google's Update Engine[2], also for OSX, which does updates file by file, and I believe can even work with just changesets (Sparkle replaces the whole .app bundle). At least, I think Update Engine was started by Google... Or, if you want to go for "epic" in-place self-updating, something could be done which mimics how some Linux kernel upgrades can be swapped while the OS is running. That's a neat trick. I believe Nginx can do the same, it'd probably be an easier start. Unless the binary is locked when downloaded, I don't see why that at least shouldn't be possible. Though, all that said, IANA Android developer, and don't know what limitations are in place. Could be it's just flat out impossible, I honestly don't know. [1]: http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/ http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/ [2]: http://code.google.com/p/update-engine/ http://code.google.com/p/update-engine/