The iPhone has been winning the app war with Google. Let’s count the points. 1) The iPhone is pickier about applications, meaning fewer freezes and higher quality. 2) The iPhone still manages to have more apps. 3) Developers say they like the iPhone better, because they don’t have to take into account all the variances of multiple devices. And 4) It’s easier to sort through iPhone apps thanks to their web store. But wait! Google has made a step forward by opening the door to their Android Marketonline.
The market uses the same clean look and feel that we would expect from Google. A simple search, categories, and a few “featured” or “popular” results on the home page are all that separates you from app discovery. Here’s what you can do from the Android Market:
- Browse or search through the entire application database.
- Review all the details of applications, including user reviews, details of the most recent application updates, the developer description, links to other apps by the same creator, required permissions, and so on and so forth.
- Purchase applications.
- Push installations of free or paid apps to your phone. This means that if you’re logged into the Google account associated with your phone, you can have new applications installed even when your phone isn’t around.
- Look through the apps you’ve downloaded, and initiate re-download of a previously selected app.
- Manage multiple associated devices (with the important i.e. here being “your phone and tablet”).
- Automatically see what content is designed specifically for the device you’re using based on which devices you have attached to your Google account.
- Share links to your favorite applications with a single click.
- Check out extras like live wallpaper, specialized widgets, and more.
The capability to browse so smoothly, download so readily, and explore so many other features leads us to one conclusion: Point Google.
