The state of (Google) Play
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 2:59AM I wrote recently about my Google Nexus and my continuing closeness to Android. It has been a ride that I have enjoyed so far and one with very few downsides.
And then there is Google Play.
If the app stores of the past had carried on and been modernised slightly, they would be Google Play. No, scrub that. I could find the apps I needed on the original app stores, I can't on Google Play.
For a company that curates more data than any other and then offers it up using a search engine that the majority of the world prefers, Google Play is completely the opposite. It is like a book store where the owner hasn't bothered to put the books in alphabetical order. You only ever see the titles that are on the front few pages and finding anything new is hit or miss.
When you do find something, you have to read the permissions to make sure the developer isn't going to steal all of your phone numbers or install stealth adverts in the notification bar. And so it goes on.
My Google Nexus is great. Android is great. Google Play isn't.
All News
Reader Comments (3)
Yes, there are some fundamentals missing in Google Play store... or isn't? Has it crossed your mind that some simple attributes are missing... that could be easily implemented by some experts? Maybe Google doesn't want that to be able to exploit some commercial side of the store. The less info people have, the less they can mess around. This gives some control to Google.
About the permissions, I don't care that much. In fact I have built an application based on a online platform. It works just great and it doesn't need all the permissions it says it does when downloading from Google Play.
Just be careful. And above all, don't install suspicious apps - it's not that difficult to avoid them.
Google Play is fine. Just flip back on a search to breakdown by categories. Then look at reviews , and break the reviews down.
Not sure I entirely agree with the original post. I think google play has been improving in leaps and bounds, though I do agree that there is one slight issue in terms of the search function and I do agree that it is disappointing that it is so bad considering it comes from Google. There really should be filter options (or an advanced search with filter options) for categories, new, old, ratings etc etc.
The rest of the store I find pretty good. I love the range of categories, I like how they offer trending, top paid, editors etc, and do feel they are pretty useful in finding decent new apps, though I tend to use my RSS reader generally for that. I love that it lists everything I have installed on the phone, plus everything I have ever installed, but would like a filter for that or a star system so can get rid of the junk in there or at least identify it as junk (as might have needed an app on vanilla android, but might find a phones version OK, however when moving between say sense and vanilla might require me installing it again so like to know). And I love how the comment system works, just wish it also included a star rating filter.
I also like how I can set all apps or none to auto-update, or include individual ones, I like having that choice.
What is quite funny is that at one stage the market did have a lot of these filters, but was around only for a short while. Do miss those days a little bit.
Overall I think the market is doing a pretty good job and am quite happy with what I have - or am I just misguided and don't know better......