14 DAY TRIAL // Mountain View-based Internet giant Google is hard at work with the release of a series of enhancements to the Android Market experience that both users and developers receive.
The Android Market client was updated on Friday, and should be delivered to all users of handsets that are based on Android 1.6 or higher.
“This new Market client introduces important features that improve merchandising of applications, streamline the browse-to-purchase experience, and make it easier for developers to distribute their applications,” a recent post on Android Developers reads.
Among the enhancements included into the mix, we can count a new carousel on the home and category screens, aimed at improving discoverability and merchandising.
For example, users are capable of quickly flipping through the carousel so as to view promoted applications. From there, they would enjoy fast access to the application's download page.
“Developers have been very active in creating great Widgets and Live Wallpapers. To make it easier for users to find their favorites, we’re introducing two new categories for Widgets and Live Wallpapers,” the said post continues.
According to Google, all of the applications that include Widgets and Wallpapers should be automatically added to these categories. Additional categories should be added into the mix in the coming weeks.
“In addition, the app details page now includes Related content, which makes it easier for users to quickly find apps of similar interest,” the said blog post continues.
Another important change included in the new release of the Android Market mobile client was the possibility to access all of the information related to a certain application on the same page, without the need to move around various tabs.
At the same time, the new release comes with application content rating, so that users would be able to get more information about the apps that interest them.
“Since most users who request a refund do so within minutes of purchase, we will reduce the refund window on Market to 15 minutes. This change will be largely transparent to buyers, but will help developers manage their businesses more effectively,” Google announced.
“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, as well as on GL texture compression formats. We are also increasing the maximum size for .apk files on Market to 50MB, to better support richer games,” the company continues.
While the new release comes with appealing features for both users and developers, more of these should be released in the future, Google announced.
