My beefs with Android Marketplace and the general Android app scene

[Dave12308]

So i've been an Android user for over a year now; got my DROID exactly a week to the day after launch. Over this time, i've found the Android Marketplace to be lacking in general for a number of different reasons. In the beginning, I understood; as Android was only a year old at the time; and there were not that many devices out there.

However, here we are over a year later; and the marketplace is the same basic disappointment that it was last year at this time. One would think that with the explosive growth of Android, that things would be better than they were. I guess to some extent they are, but only a tiny bit. For the most part, finding truly good apps/games is still somewhat akin to trying to find a tiny diamond in a pile of cow dung. And in too many cases still, "Coming Soon" in the Android world means "Maybe we might release this app sometime in the future, if the planets align and we feel like it"

My main beefs:

1) There is still a huge lack of good apps. In the iOS world, games/apps that are actually worth getting excited about come out daily. When a dev says something is coming to iOS, it generally does so; and in a timely fashion. In the Android world, we're lucky if we see one decent app come out per week. One decent app per MONTH is more like it. And when something exciting IS announced, all to often something gets screwed up and it never actually appears. X-Plane mobile for Android is a good example of this, it's been promised since May; yet the latest news is that it might never come out because "issues with Google's marketplace prevent us from releasing the app" - they claim it's ready but for whatever reason they CANNOT release it. In the end, Android feels like it's just another forgotten platform.

2) Miscategorized apps, and lack of parental controls. It seems like 75% of the Android devs out there must be perverts, as a majority of the crap in the market is porn related - even the Games section is inundated with perverted crap. How many "blow into the mic to lift her skirt" and "touch the screen to feel her up" apps do we need? On the Android platform, these apps are literally impossible to count, there are so many of them. And i'm sorry, it shouldn't be so easy for children to be exposed to full frontal nudity just by looking at app screenshots. Even when these apps are reported to Google, action is rarely if ever taken. I mean, an open marketplace is okay; but there has to be limits. A person wouldn't be permitted to sell marijuana at a flea market.

3) Crap JAVA apps that are basically pirated versions of dumbphone apps. There are WAYYYYY too many of these on the market, and some "devs" even charge for them. I'm sorry, bundling a JAR file ripped from a dumbphone with a Java interpreter and calling it an app should not fly. Google should NOT permit this. But they do, and like the sex apps, all the reporting in the world nets absolutely no results. These "apps" continue to proliferate and simply make it harder to find actual decent programs. I think crap like this actually HURTS sales of decent apps, since a majority of people will get sick of weeding through the crap and won't have the patience to find the good stuff.

4) Lack of big-name devs; and if they DO make games for the Android platform, they are often limited to one specific handset with no way to purchase them legally. EA is guilty of this, for example. NFS Shift is YET to make it to the market, and it's been "out" (on DROID X) since August. Gameloft has some nice Android HD games on its site, but they are generally what would be considered "old" on the iOS platform. And only about 10 of their games have actually made it to Android (the number of GL games on iOS is way more than that, 3 times more at minimum). At this rate, NFS: Hot Pursuit which was recently released on iOS MIGHT make it to Android by 2020; if we're lucky. I'm sorry, with the current market penetration of Android, you'd think it would at LEAST get preferential treatment to less popular devices (Palm Pre, for instance) - it seems like apps actually make it to the Pre first.


So, these are just a few glaring problems with the state of the Android market that come to mind. I simply posted this to generate some discussion on the subject, and see what others' opinions are.

 

[Googleaddict]

I found tons of good android apps. You just have to look through a few pages to find them. Like this one really good game was on the 8th page. And look at all the good games like fruit ninja cestos legends reckless racing and so many more. So the market is growing

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[AdamPA1006]

I don't have too many problems with the app store, although I have never really used the iPhone one much. Your right there is a **** ton on nudity and pervert apps, which hopefully most people recognize and don't bother with. I heard that that there are improvements coming so hopefully some of the issue you have raised will be fixed. Good post though.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

 

[Droidfish]

The problem is until recently the good devs have been motivated to develop their apps for the iphone first (if not exclusively) THEN once they have perfected their iphone app AND have time they port to android. Android has gained much ground in the world of smartphones and they won't be considered a developers afterthought for much longer.


The market on the other hand does have MUCH room for improvement. I'm confident that time will correct this(I know the gingerbread release will address some of the issues with the market). I will agree that what it needs most is a filter to allow parents(or should we call them bill payers) to filter adult content and a crap filter for everyone else.

Remember the iphone app store didn't populate overnight(even though it does have much better gui)

 

[Dave12308]

I found tons of good android apps. You just have to look through a few pages to find them. Like this one really good game was on the 8th page. And look at all the good games like fruit ninja cestos legends reckless racing and so many more. So the market is growing

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

That was one of my main beefs, though. That it takes so much hunting to find them. I agree the games you mentioned are very good, however, it shouldn't be so hard to find them.

The problem is, by the time the iPhone had been out for 2 years, the App Store was in a relatively good state of being. Android should just be further along than it is. I mean, c'mon; you can't even find a decent skee-ball game on Android.

 

[hoppermi]

The way the market functions should be an embarrassment for Google. Kings of search, but if you make any mistakes typing in what you are looking for, you are out of luck. If you don't know the exact name of an app you will likely never find it.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[Dave12308]

The problem is until recently the good devs have been motivated to develop their apps for the iphone first (if not exclusively) THEN once they have perfected their iphone app AND have time they port to android. Android has gained much ground in the world of smartphones and they won't be considered a developers afterthought for much longer.

Yes, but what about apps like the X-Plane mobile that I mentioned? It already HAS been ported. And supposedly perfected. But now Laminar Research refuses to release it, and claims the issue has something to do with the market.

And you make a valid point, but with millions of units ALREADY in the hands of consumers, we should ALREADY be at the point where we're not considered a developers afterthough. Devs know the sales numbers as well as we do, so they've got no excuses.

I am confident that the market will improve, but if an iOS device came out tomorrow, i'd be mighty tempted to make the switch until the improvements actually start happening.

I will say that I have no device preference, if it weren't for my already heavy investment into the App Store, sticking it out with Android and the Google marketplace would be a no-brainer. It's just that I like having certain apps at my fingertips, and a VZW iPhone would allow me to leave my iPod Touch at home. So would an improved Android market where I could get the same apps for my Droid.

 

[Dave12308]

The way the market functions should be an embarrassment for Google. Kings of search, but if you make any mistakes typing in what you are looking for, you are out of luck. If you don't know the exact name of an app you will likely never find it.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

Yeah, that was a problem with "Free$tyle King" - to the point where folks were suggesting the dev change the name to "Freestyle King" to make it easier to find.

Although I did notice that the search thing works the way you'd expect it to a fraction of the time.

I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the market is the way it is, though. If you look at the reported issues for various versions of Android, it becomes apparent that they're none too quick to fix problems.

 

[UrbanBounca]

I've found an app in the Market for anything I've wanted to customize on my D2. However, I don't scan the Market daily looking for app's I don't need. I don't play games on the phone, either.

 

[aaf709]

I generally use the Appsbrain or AndroLib sites to find an app, then install from there. I try not to search on the phone itself (unless I know the exact name).

 

[TwerpPoet]

I generally use the Appsbrain or AndroLib sites to find an app, then install from there. I try not to search on the phone itself (unless I know the exact name).

I agree. This helps, though I'm not adverse to using AppBrain's app on the phone. Being able to search on the computer helps, and there seems to be some filtering to get rid of the really useless junk.

Still, I'd like some things to change.

1) Better searches, of course.

2) More detailed descriptions of the apps. Half the time I'm not sure what the app does, even after reading the description. And often enough there are no links to the developer's page, and the pages are often useless when there are.

3) Bigger screen shots. Of course that would mean the Market would have to directly support, if not supply, a webside store.

4) Moving widgets, and themes to their own categories, or sub categories. Maybe that way an app would have half a chance of being in the first couple pages of a search result.

5) A free programable robot that looks like the Android trademark and can prepare, transport, and deliver hot or cold beverages.

Ok, I'll let 5 slide for now. But I don't think the rest are too much to wish for.

As for available apps, time will either fix that or not. If it's still a significant problem a year from now I'll be surprised. At that point people will have switched to complaining about how few Android Tablet apps are available, and the answer will be the same. Some things take time.

 

[Jakepants]

So i've been an Android user for over a year now; got my DROID exactly a week to the day after launch. Over this time, i've found the Android Marketplace to be lacking in general for a number of different reasons. In the beginning, I understood; as Android was only a year old at the time; and there were not that many devices out there.

However, here we are over a year later; and the marketplace is the same basic disappointment that it was last year at this time. One would think that with the explosive growth of Android, that things would be better than they were. I guess to some extent they are, but only a tiny bit. For the most part, finding truly good apps/games is still somewhat akin to trying to find a tiny diamond in a pile of cow dung. And in too many cases still, "Coming Soon" in the Android world means "Maybe we might release this app sometime in the future, if the planets align and we feel like it"

My main beefs:

1) There is still a huge lack of good apps. In the iOS world, games/apps that are actually worth getting excited about come out daily. When a dev says something is coming to iOS, it generally does so; and in a timely fashion. In the Android world, we're lucky if we see one decent app come out per week. One decent app per MONTH is more like it. And when something exciting IS announced, all to often something gets screwed up and it never actually appears. X-Plane mobile for Android is a good example of this, it's been promised since May; yet the latest news is that it might never come out because "issues with Google's marketplace prevent us from releasing the app" - they claim it's ready but for whatever reason they CANNOT release it. In the end, Android feels like it's just another forgotten platform.

2) Miscategorized apps, and lack of parental controls. It seems like 75% of the Android devs out there must be perverts, as a majority of the crap in the market is porn related - even the Games section is inundated with perverted crap. How many "blow into the mic to lift her skirt" and "touch the screen to feel her up" apps do we need? On the Android platform, these apps are literally impossible to count, there are so many of them. And i'm sorry, it shouldn't be so easy for children to be exposed to full frontal nudity just by looking at app screenshots. Even when these apps are reported to Google, action is rarely if ever taken. I mean, an open marketplace is okay; but there has to be limits. A person wouldn't be permitted to sell marijuana at a flea market.

3) Crap JAVA apps that are basically pirated versions of dumbphone apps. There are WAYYYYY too many of these on the market, and some "devs" even charge for them. I'm sorry, bundling a JAR file ripped from a dumbphone with a Java interpreter and calling it an app should not fly. Google should NOT permit this. But they do, and like the sex apps, all the reporting in the world nets absolutely no results. These "apps" continue to proliferate and simply make it harder to find actual decent programs. I think crap like this actually HURTS sales of decent apps, since a majority of people will get sick of weeding through the crap and won't have the patience to find the good stuff.

4) Lack of big-name devs; and if they DO make games for the Android platform, they are often limited to one specific handset with no way to purchase them legally. EA is guilty of this, for example. NFS Shift is YET to make it to the market, and it's been "out" (on DROID X) since August. Gameloft has some nice Android HD games on its site, but they are generally what would be considered "old" on the iOS platform. And only about 10 of their games have actually made it to Android (the number of GL games on iOS is way more than that, 3 times more at minimum). At this rate, NFS: Hot Pursuit which was recently released on iOS MIGHT make it to Android by 2020; if we're lucky. I'm sorry, with the current market penetration of Android, you'd think it would at LEAST get preferential treatment to less popular devices (Palm Pre, for instance) - it seems like apps actually make it to the Pre first.


So, these are just a few glaring problems with the state of the Android market that come to mind. I simply posted this to generate some discussion on the subject, and see what others' opinions are.

So, basically you're upset with the market because it doesn't have a plethora of good games? Granted, I'm sort of ignoring your second point, but that's because I agree with it in that those probably shouldn't exist.

If you wanted a handheld gaming device, you probably should have just bought a PSP or DS. I mean, call me crazy, but I don't honestly go puttering about the Android Market for games. Don't get me wrong, I have angry birds, fruit ninja, and an emulator, but those are for those excruciatingly boring moments i spend away from my normal areas of amusement.

By all means, tell me if I'm wrong, but that's very honestly the impression I'm getting from your post.

-Jake

 

[Big Fate]

So i've been an Android user for over a year now; got my DROID exactly a week to the day after launch. Over this time, i've found the Android Marketplace to be lacking in general for a number of different reasons. In the beginning, I understood; as Android was only a year old at the time; and there were not that many devices out there.

However, here we are over a year later; and the marketplace is the same basic disappointment that it was last year at this time. One would think that with the explosive growth of Android, that things would be better than they were. I guess to some extent they are, but only a tiny bit. For the most part, finding truly good apps/games is still somewhat akin to trying to find a tiny diamond in a pile of cow dung. And in too many cases still, "Coming Soon" in the Android world means "Maybe we might release this app sometime in the future, if the planets align and we feel like it"

My main beefs:

1) There is still a huge lack of good apps. In the iOS world, games/apps that are actually worth getting excited about come out daily. When a dev says something is coming to iOS, it generally does so; and in a timely fashion. In the Android world, we're lucky if we see one decent app come out per week. One decent app per MONTH is more like it. And when something exciting IS announced, all to often something gets screwed up and it never actually appears. X-Plane mobile for Android is a good example of this, it's been promised since May; yet the latest news is that it might never come out because "issues with Google's marketplace prevent us from releasing the app" - they claim it's ready but for whatever reason they CANNOT release it. In the end, Android feels like it's just another forgotten platform.

2) Miscategorized apps, and lack of parental controls. It seems like 75% of the Android devs out there must be perverts, as a majority of the crap in the market is porn related - even the Games section is inundated with perverted crap. How many "blow into the mic to lift her skirt" and "touch the screen to feel her up" apps do we need? On the Android platform, these apps are literally impossible to count, there are so many of them. And i'm sorry, it shouldn't be so easy for children to be exposed to full frontal nudity just by looking at app screenshots. Even when these apps are reported to Google, action is rarely if ever taken. I mean, an open marketplace is okay; but there has to be limits. A person wouldn't be permitted to sell marijuana at a flea market.

3) Crap JAVA apps that are basically pirated versions of dumbphone apps. There are WAYYYYY too many of these on the market, and some "devs" even charge for them. I'm sorry, bundling a JAR file ripped from a dumbphone with a Java interpreter and calling it an app should not fly. Google should NOT permit this. But they do, and like the sex apps, all the reporting in the world nets absolutely no results. These "apps" continue to proliferate and simply make it harder to find actual decent programs. I think crap like this actually HURTS sales of decent apps, since a majority of people will get sick of weeding through the crap and won't have the patience to find the good stuff.

4) Lack of big-name devs; and if they DO make games for the Android platform, they are often limited to one specific handset with no way to purchase them legally. EA is guilty of this, for example. NFS Shift is YET to make it to the market, and it's been "out" (on DROID X) since August. Gameloft has some nice Android HD games on its site, but they are generally what would be considered "old" on the iOS platform. And only about 10 of their games have actually made it to Android (the number of GL games on iOS is way more than that, 3 times more at minimum). At this rate, NFS: Hot Pursuit which was recently released on iOS MIGHT make it to Android by 2020; if we're lucky. I'm sorry, with the current market penetration of Android, you'd think it would at LEAST get preferential treatment to less popular devices (Palm Pre, for instance) - it seems like apps actually make it to the Pre first.


So, these are just a few glaring problems with the state of the Android market that come to mind. I simply posted this to generate some discussion on the subject, and see what others' opinions are.

So, basically you're upset with the market because it doesn't have a plethora of good games? Granted, I'm sort of ignoring your second point, but that's because I agree with it in that those probably shouldn't exist.

If you wanted a handheld gaming device, you probably should have just bought a PSP or DS. I mean, call me crazy, but I don't honestly go puttering about the Android Market for games. Don't get me wrong, I have angry birds, fruit ninja, and an emulator, but those are for those excruciatingly boring moments i spend away from my normal areas of amusement.

By all means, tell me if I'm wrong, but that's very honestly the impression I'm getting from your post.

-Jake

As much as I hate the lack of things in the market as well I have to agree with your post here...lol