Android and Me » android apps

Develop an Android app, submit it to BlackBerry App World and get a free PlayBook

Dustin Earley — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:54:04 +0000

RIM wants Android apps in their BlackBerry App World market so bad, they’re practically giving away PlayBooks to developers who submit them. What’s that you say, they actually are giving away PlayBooks? Oh RIM, what’s happened to you?

Instead of building quality hardware, pairing it with quality software and attracting users and app developers the old fashioned way, a clearly desperate RIM is giving away PlayBook tablets to any developer who submits their Android app to the BalckBerry App World market.

You see, RIM has developed software for the OS running on the PlayBook that allows Android apps to be ported to BlackBerry with just a few simple clicks. Apparently, RIMs plans to leech from the Android Market isn’t turning out quite like they imagined. Even after drastically lowering the price on PlayBooks, RIM still can’t get rid of them. So why not give them away in exchange for apps?

RIM’s future is still very uncertain at this point, but a free tablet is a free tablet. Need an ereader for your kids? A $500 coaster? A chew toy for your dog (just kidding, don’t give your dog a PlayBook to chew on)? You have until February 13th to submit your app and take advantage of this generous offer.

Android now has 400,000 apps, still a ways to go to catch iOS

Anthony Domanico — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:05:37 +0000

Distimo is reporting that Android now has 400,000 applications available on the Android Market, putting Android a mere 25% behind Apple’s App Store. Android’s smartphone market share continues to grow more rapidly than any other smartphone platform, and developers are taking notice.

With more and more developers developing Android applications before developing for other platforms, it will likely not be much longer before the number of Android applications matches the number of iOS apps, likely when both platforms are in the 550,000 to 600,000 range if Android’s market growth continues at the rate it has been.

Distimo’s report shows that Android’s application growth is largely coming in the free application category, with 68% of applications now available free of charge to end users, a 13% increase from April 2011 to December 2011. We expect this trend to grow even more as developers embrace the freemium model, where developers offer the basic application for free and offer premium features as in-app purchases.

While it’s encouraging to see the number of applications growing, we hope that the trend continues to bring useful and novel applications to Android rather than “crap-apps” or apps that simply replicate functions of another application.

Android 4.0.3 becomes base version of ICS; not all apps ready to roll

Dustin Earley — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:50:56 +0000

Google has just announced an “incremental” update to Ice Cream Sandwich that will now serve as the base version of the OS. From this point forward, manufacturers looking to update their handsets to ICS will be doing so with Android 4.0.3. According to the Android Developers blog, 4.0.3 will be rolling out to production phones and tablets “in the weeks ahead.” While this is a good sign that manufacturers are just about ready to start rolling out updates, not all developers are ready for the jump.

The update to 4.0.3 isn’t exactly earth shattering compared to any other version of Android 4.0.x. There’s plenty of optimizations packed inside, as well as some big fixes, Bluetooth enhancements and graphic improvements. There’s also some new APIs for developers to play with that pertain to the camera, calendar and more. As badly as I’d like to see these changes brought to a device near me, there’s something else that needs to happen first. Developers need to make sure they update their apps to work with Ice Cream Sandwich.

Android 4 may have a relatively small user-base compared to previous builds, but that doesn’t mean app developers should postpone updating their apps until more people are using Ice Cream Sandwich. Of course some developers are ready for the update, but support issues for popular apps are more rampant then you think. We reached out to the followers of the Android and Me Twitter account to see what kinds of apps you’ve been having with trouble with, and which ones are working fine, on your shiny, new Galaxy Nexus.

Netflix: Netflix really needs no introduction, and fortunately, the app has been updated to work on ICS. Breathe easy streamers.
Dolphin Browser: Easily the most popular alternative browser for Android, ICS users are having trouble using Dolphin Browser.
OnLive: If you happen to use OnLive to get your gaming fix, you’re in luck. OnLive works on the Galaxy Nexus.
Facebook: Some users are reporting problems with Facebook. Considering it’s the most popular Android app on the Market, Zuck might want to get on that.
Light Flow: Light Flow gives users an added level of control over the LED notification light on their device. While most are saying it does indeed work on the Galaxy Nexus, there are some bugs that need to be smoothed out.
GTA 3: Probably one of the most popular games on Android at the moment, some users are reporting problems with the newly released game.
Swype: This is a big one. Swype has officially announced that their innovative replacement keyboard is not ready for ICS.
Adobe Flash: Adobe promised they’d update the abandoned Flash player to work with Ice Cream Sandwich, and sure enough, it was.

This is just a short list of the apps that do and don’t work with Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus, so feel free to share any issues you’re having in the comments below. And developers, your users are waiting.

Google launches Android Training for aspiring developers

Dustin Earley — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:23:32 +0000

The Android Developers website has always played host to a great wealth of knowledge on developing apps for Android. It’s where you go to download the SDK, find announcements on development and publish apps, among other things. Starting today, the Android Developers website will also become a training ground for developers in the making.

Announced by Reto Meier, Android Developer Relations Tech Lead, Android Training is a collection of free virtual classes aimed at helping developers with a wide variety of problems and questions. Classes range from Designing for Multiple Screens to Monetizing Your App, with a little bit of everything in between.

Meier has promised that more from Android Training is on the way, but for now, there’s more than enough to keep even the seasoned developer occupied for awhile. To see all the different classes Android Training offers, just head to the Android Developers website now.

Flurry: Developers still heavily favoring iOS over Android

Dustin Earley — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:43:21 +0000

During the Le Web technology conference held recently in Paris, France, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt took to the stage to lay out some predictions on how developers will favor Android over iOS before 2012 is finished. He said that within six month’s time, developers will be releasing apps for Android before iOS due to the sheer volume of Android devices out there. Flurry sees it differently.

Flurry is a mobile app analytics firm that has their hands on data from just about every popular smartphone OS on the market. So far, over 55,000 companies have used Flurry Analytics across more than 135,000 applications. Developers use Flurry’s analytical data before apps are initially shipped (for a number of reasons), so the company has a good idea of what platforms developers are going to be supporting out of the gate.

Flurry has collected the data from 55,000 apps that were started in 2011 and organized which platform they were developed for by quarter. While Android developer support has steadily declined (save for a small 2% uptick in Q4) throughout the year, iOS development has exploded. In Q4 2011, 73% of developers using Flurry were making apps for iOS first.

Of course this data comes from developers using Flurry, not all apps in general. Still, Flurry Analytics “powers approximately 25% of all apps downloaded from the App Store and Android Market combined.” There’s good reason to believe that Flurry’s data is an accurate description of the market. Especially once you factor in money.

Schmidt’s prediction that developers will support Android first is related to how many Android devices are out there. Not how much money apps are making. By taking a look at in-app purchases in some top apps across Android and iOS, you can see just how much more money iOS users are putting into their apps. According to Flurry, iOS developers make around three to four times as much money with iOS apps. On average, “for every $1.00 generated on iOS, the same app will generate $0.24 on Android.”

Google is certainly headed in the right direction with the Android Market, but it’s going to take a lot more than sheer volume to secure immediate developer support. Until the money is on Android’s side, iOS is going to stay the go-to platform.

Advanced app review filtering comes to the Android Market

Dustin Earley — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:58:33 +0000

App reviews have always been some what of a sore spot for developers and users alike. Reviews are an essential tool in deciding if an app is worth purchasing or not. But without a whole lot of rules behind them, it can be a pain narrowing down relevant reviews to see who had real problems on what devices, or who was just blowing off some steam. Thanks the the Android Market’s new advanced app review filtering system, finding trustworthy reviews just got a whole lot easier.

By clicking on an app in the web-based Android Market (sorting isn’t available in the mobile app yet), and then clicking on the “user reviews” tab, you can now sort app reviews in a number of different ways.

Version number is the first option on in the list, allowing you to look at reviews for all versions of the app, or just the latest version. Sorting by version is helpful for seeing if a new version got rid of any nasty bugs stopping you from purchasing.

Next up is devices. By using the device filter, you can see reviews from people using your device. Or any device registered to your account. Unfortunately, you can’t just look at reviews for any Android device out there, but sorting reviews by your phone or tablet model is certainly helpful for narrowing down any compatibility errors.

Finally, the last feature in the new filtering options is the ability to organize reviews by helpfulness. App reviews can be sorted by the date posted, the rating and helpfulness.

These three sorting features along with in-depth review details (reviews say the device and app version the review is tied to) and the option to sort reviews by their star rating and are going to be a huge help in finding reliable information on an app.

Google’s 10 cent deals – Day 6

Nick Gray — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:20:13 +0000

Looking for some more great apps deals from the Android Market? Day six of Google’s 10 billion app download promotion is here with a handful of new apps for only a dime. Read on for today’s specials.

If you spot any of the other ten cent apps for today, leave us a comment below and we’ll add them to the list. What apps will you be buying today?

Google provides a closer look at Android’s 10 billion app downloads

Dustin Earley — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:24:12 +0000

The Android Market’s 10 billionth app download has been a hot topic this week. We’ve been talking about all the apps that are on sale to celebrate and which developers are reaping the rewards, but we haven’t really had a chance to take a look at how it all happened. Like what’s the most popular type of app? When is the most popular time to download apps? And which country downloads the most apps anyway?

Google has released a rather good looking infographic that reveals the history of the Android Market. There’s a quite a bit of information in the image, but here’s some of the highlights:

The most popular time to download apps is 9PM, on Sunday. Monday at 4AM is the least popular.
Apps are downloaded from 190 countries.
South Korea has the most downloads per capita. The US is number four.
The most downloaded type of app is games, with 25%. Entertainment is second at 12%.

And as for some individual app highlights:

100 million words are translated every week in Google Translate.
12 billion miles have been navigated in Google Maps.
20,000,000,000 keystrokes have been saved by using SwiftKey.
4054 years have been spent playing with Talking Tom.

As you can see, these numbers are impressive to say the least. And the best part is, this is only the beginning. What’s your favorite bit of info shared?

Beautiful Widgets is the first paid Android app to reach 1 million downloads

Dustin Earley — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:29:09 +0000

While the Android Market is celebrating its 10 billionth download this week, another company is busy enjoying their success. Level Up Studio, the folks behind Beautiful Widgets, is proud to announce that their widget suite is the first paid app in the Android Market to be downloaded one million times.

The road hasn’t been as easy one for Level Up, but the journey was well worth it. The company started off with one developer in 2009, and has now blossomed to eight (that’s more than you think for an app development team). Some curious facts shared by the Level Up team on Beautiful Widgets: There has been 121 updates to the app so far. Beautiful Widgets is well known for its clock widget skins, and for good cause too. There’s 1109 of them available. And as far as how often those skins are downloaded? Try 1.3 million times a month.

Congratulations Level Up Studio, you deserve it. Beautiful Widgets is one of the essential must-have Android apps, and has been for quite some time now. If you still haven’t managed to buy the app, there’s no time to waste. Right now, in celebration of the Android Market’s 10 billionth download, Beautiful Widgets is only 10 cents!

Beautiful Widgets LevelUp Studio MARKET QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

Instagram for Android a major priority

Dustin Earley — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:20:27 +0000

iOS apps have been headed to Android in droves this past year, but there’s one app that manages to maintain its comfortable spot as an exclusive on Apple devices. Despite how badly consumers want it to cross the line. That app is the ever-popular Instagram. And thankfully, it’s exclusivity period is almost at an end.

Proud winner of the Apple iPhone app of the year, Instagram needs practically no introduction. But just in case you’ve been living under a rock this past year, Instagram is a photo sharing app that lets users apply faux vintage filters to any pictures they take. It’s really as simple as that. But the app has absolutely blown up on iOS, and Android users want a piece.

Speaking at LeWeb 2011, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom confirmed that two out of his six man team of Instagram employees is working on bringing the Android version of Instagram to market. In an interview with the Guardian, Systrom revealed more.

It's hugely important to us, but we're only six people. Android is a major priority for us, but first we have to build the team, and find the best people in the world to work on these projects.Kevin SystromInstagram

There’s still no timeline for release, but Systrom is currently hiring engineers and developers in order to speed things along.

What do you think, are you dying to give Instagram for Android a shot, or has Systrom and company missed the boat?