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OK.. allow me to express my frustrations of this enourmously integral app on any android powered phone.
1. I am unable to do predictive search on it
2. It always use strict search queries and does not show matching spellings on the apps or even similar apps that we may like.
3. The interface is terrible
4. No straightforward way to purchase apps like the Itunes with saved credit card details.
5. No screenshot of any apps in the apps detail page.
I also use the Iphone and the app store on Iphone is MUCH MUCH better as it does everything that Android market doesnt.
What other things do you think is wrong with this app?
There is a new version of Market coming with Donut, which should resolve at least some of your concerns (see http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2009/09/some-news-from-android-market.html ).
Not sure what you mean on point 4 - buying an app is very easy IMHO, and I've only ever entered my cc details once.
Regards,
Dave
Oh - forgot to add. My biggest issue with the Market are the comments.
There are far too many duff comments against applications where either the commenter has no idea what they are talking about, has not read the instructions, or is trying to make a "clever" statement to Google (e.g. all those comments about CyanogenMod).
The comment systems needs to be cleverer so that all this trash doesn't detract from the really useful comments.
Regards,
Dave
I hope they are fixing the search function.. the UI looks a little better in the video.
Easy now. I know the martket isnt as polished at the apple appstore but remember that apples appstore is a cashcow while this doesnt being in nowhere near the same revenue.
I believe Donut is available now, along with the new market app.
http://www.androidguys.com/2009/09/30/are-we-on-eve-of-donut-rollout/
http://www.androidguys.com/2009/10/01/android-1-6-donut-ota-release-confirmed/
How can google make a search function that is so bad, they have to fix that
dieseldk said:
How can google make a search function that is so bad, they have to fix that
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Click to collapse
HAHAHA +1 for this one.
Been using the new market for 2 weeks now, it is better than the old android market, but still not 100%.
The most annoying things is the mini-gallery of "Featured" apps at the top.
When you use your finger to swipe them, your finger obscures the icons and more importantly the title of the "Focused" app, so you can't actually see what the name is.
Mind numbingly stupid.
Either the swipeable area needs to be vertically larger so you can swipe and not obscure the icon, and or the "focused" title should be moved above the gallery.. Can't believe no one ever tested it in the real world.
One more thing...
I live in Romania and i don't have access to payed apps....only for the free ones..... I would like to buy a navigation app and i can't....
That is because your region is not "Market Enabled" rather than an issue with the Market application itself. If you use the marker enabler (see http://code.google.com/p/market-enabler/ ) you should be able to effectively change your region to one where paid apps are available.
Regards,
Dave
Thanks Dave.
I'll try that and let you know.
One more question though....Do i need to root my hero for the market enabler to work?
If this isn't in the right place, please move it mods.
Basically I think that the market is a bit incomplete.
There are changes I'd like to be made and i've voiced my concerns with google.
Now I need the community backing to actually see these things implemented.
To read about the suggestions and comment, visit this link
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=3c9422da6b79a597&hl=en
I try and address problems with the market and even underlying Android issues that have yet to be resolved.
Add your input and they'll have to listen.
Good idea... You might also add to the list a way to delete apps from download that won't be used anymore. I have three in my download that I will never install again and can't get them off the list. Imagine a few of those in there and it starts to take up alot of space with apps you aren't interested in anymore.
I posted a reply there as it seems to have gotten some attention there. Some of the issues are already in feature request on android issues, I linked to them. Starring the issues increases chances someone will take care of it.
Suggestion added Jeffro.
Thanks for posting Areinu!
If I could make suggestions for Android Market:
(1) Fix all this missing protected apps for new device / firmware quickly
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=665742
This is silly issue and will only hurt Android platform. This will greatly discourage Android developers for making good apps.
I want to support Android, I want to make it success! I can do this by spending money on Android apps, but I simply cant because of this issue.
And I am afraid this will repeat once new firmware released.
Take a look how long this issue is ... ridiculous
(2) Remove restrictions on countries for purchasing apps
Right now, certain countries like Sweden for example cannot even see the apps!
(3) Add ability to FILTER apps TITLE
I want to "hide" all those WALLPAPERS, SEXY whatnot.
Android is nice, really nice platform. But this Android Market issues are blocking its success.
here in Denmark we can't even see non-free apps in the ma market. because of this, users of ex. iPhone won't even try the platform. its sad really.
Sent from my HTC Legend using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Filtering is very much needed. I tend to view the 'just in' apps, but lately its just a list of MMCANDROIDs latest releases of boarderline under age Asian girls. Its really annoying that you cant block out the stuff you have no interest in.
I'm adding them as they come.
Post a comment on the page to make sure Google eventually sees it.
Get rid of 'em pesky advertisements...
I am sure many of you out there already know about this app, but for those who don't here it is.
Ok we all hate them spoiling our nice apps.
So the options are...
Live with it,
Pay for it,
OR...
Simply download 'adfree' job done the adds disappear, gone, not seen, finished...
Hope this helps - Enjoy your apps that little bit nicer
While i do hate ads they do have their place sometimes.
Whitout those ads you probably wouldent get any free apps at all.
Hi. Here's the deal...my elderly parents are travelling this winter in another country. International roaming is expensive, as is international travel, and we're looking for as many ways as we can to save money. One of the ways we've considered to deal with both of these problems is to buy a sim card where they are at, rather than bringing their phone from home and paying outrageous international roaming charges. This is where Hero comes in...I have an unlocked HTC Hero that I could let them use. The problem is, they are intimidated by technology, and having a capable phone with lots of features is overwhelming to them. I was wondering if there's a way I can lock the phone down so it goes to the dialer and nowhere else. No lock screen, no email, no Android market, no text messages sent or received, none of that, just the dialer to make and receive calls. Ideally, I'd like to be able to return it to normal functionality when I get it back, but if this is a one-way thing, that's OK, too. It is currently running Elelinux-7.1-Hero-v3.6-Light.
I apologize profusely if this is a silly question...I'm new at all of this.
Tired_ said:
Hi. Here's the deal...my elderly parents are travelling this winter in another country. International roaming is expensive, as is international travel, and we're looking for as many ways as we can to save money. One of the ways we've considered to deal with both of these problems is to buy a sim card where they are at, rather than bringing their phone from home and paying outrageous international roaming charges. This is where Hero comes in...I have an unlocked HTC Hero that I could let them use. The problem is, they are intimidated by technology, and having a capable phone with lots of features is overwhelming to them. I was wondering if there's a way I can lock the phone down so it goes to the dialer and nowhere else. No lock screen, no email, no Android market, no text messages sent or received, none of that, just the dialer to make and receive calls. Ideally, I'd like to be able to return it to normal functionality when I get it back, but if this is a one-way thing, that's OK, too. It is currently running Elelinux-7.1-Hero-v3.6-Light.
I apologize profusely if this is a silly question...I'm new at all of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's kind of easy what you want...but not every thing can be erased
1ownload eles ROM
2. Open the archive with WinRar or other app that you use
3. Go to /system/apps and you will find all the app there with the extension .apk
4. Delete what you think that they won't use (but be very careful): for example market.apk (you said that they don't need it)
4. Close the program and you will see that the rom is more lighter
5. Flash the rom
6. Enjoy
For the part with the lock screen i don't think i can help you...
Hope you get work done
Stefan
The lock screen part is really the important part. The other apps can still be installed, just abstracted away from my parent's eyes, if they're locked into the dialer. I guess I wasn't clear enough when I described what I was looking for. I want to make it so that the dialer program is the only program accessible to the user...when they press the home button, I want it to go to the dialer rather than to a launcher. When the screen goes off due to inactivity, I want it to go to the dialer right away when any button is pressed rather than showing a lock screen. On iPhone (sorry, it's a platform I'm more familiar with), there's a jailbreak app called IncarcerApp that can do this...is there anything similar for Hero?
Lockscreen
Hi there! If you want to get rid of the lock screen what you can do is go into settings on the phone then Cyanogen mod settings then tablet tweaks and in there, there is a tick box or similar that you can press to disable the lock screen!
Hope that Helped
Thanks for the tip, PP337, but that's still not what I am looking for. I did some Googling last night, and I found a lot of developers refer to what I am looking for as 'Kiosk Mode'. Unfortunately, everything I found on that is in the context of creating a new app, rather than using an existing one.
I'm obviously not making myself clear enough, but I'm not sure how I can phrase it more clearly. I really hope we won't have to go buy a junky SIMlocked Nokia phone that we'll have to throw out in three months when they come home.
i can't understand one think....why is it so hard to unlock a phone??? especially when it's so simple...
Stefan
Unlocking a phone is indeed simple, for you and I. But for an elderly person, particularly one who is unfamiliar with technology, being confronted with a screen full of app icons can be intimidating. I tried to get my mom to use the Android phone as it is, and she is terrified of breaking something or doing something wrong, to the point where she won't use it for those fears.
I have to say, I hadn't expected it would be this difficult to make this 'open platform' do what I want it to. If it were iPhone, I'd be done by now. Disappointing.
Could you not just remove all the homescreen icons? Can't remember which launcher comes with that ROM, but if you install launcher pro for example, you can remove all the icons even the dock. You can then choose to have just one homescreen and just the dialer icon. Or you could leave it blank to just select the dialer button to make calls. Then disable the lock screen as described above. Would that be ok for them ?
Tired_ said:
I have to say, I hadn't expected it would be this difficult to make this 'open platform' do what I want it to. If it were iPhone, I'd be done by now. Disappointing.
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Click to collapse
how old are your parents that you say that they "can't unlock" a phone... Both my parents use android on their phones and don't have any problems....
Don't want to be rude or things like that but it's easy on android...
Stefan
stefpaul said:
how old are your parents that you say that they "can't unlock" a phone... Both my parents use android on their phones and don't have any problems....
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She's 72, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. He's 70 and has a severe learning disability.
I tried the suggestion someone posted about LauncherPro with only one icon. She accidentally long-pressed an empty space and the menu came up and she didn't know what to do. I was able to tell her what to do because I am here now, but if that had happened when I wasn't around she wouldn't have been able to cope at all, for fear it was dialing some 1-900 number or doing something else she didn't want. I'm shocked that it isn't possible to lock Hero into a single app, but it seems it simply isn't. Thanks anyways for all your help.
Tired_ said:
She's 72, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. He's 70 and has a severe learning disability.
I tried the suggestion someone posted about LauncherPro with only one icon. She accidentally long-pressed an empty space and the menu came up and she didn't know what to do. I was able to tell her what to do because I am here now, but if that had happened when I wasn't around she wouldn't have been able to cope at all, for fear it was dialing some 1-900 number or doing something else she didn't want. I'm shocked that it isn't possible to lock Hero into a single app, but it seems it simply isn't. Thanks anyways for all your help.
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Click to collapse
Are they traveling alone? That sounds like something you should worry about more then just having a phone for them
You could use adw and lock the desktop by pressing menu and choosing 'lock desktop'. That would prevent any accidental menus popping up. You could also hide the status bar from adw settings and disable the lockscreen from cm tweaks menu. You could also download a dialer widget (https://market.android.com/details?id=dialer.impact) and set that as a widget on a single homescreen and lock the desktop on adw launcher.
Hope that helped
Car Home may help
I was looking forward to install apps, develop apps and use apps on the android wear. When I installed the android wear sdk, and ran the emulator, it didn't seem very "huge". Not much can be done!
http://developer.android.com/wear/notifications/creating.html
As linked above, Google tells us to that we can add support for wear in a few lines of code. What can be done, is limited to the buttons that can be added when swiping to the right page.
No other documentation suggest that we can make Android Wear specific apps. It's not possible to add controls and widgets (Editabletext, button, spinner etc.) like it's possible in full android. Now i know that the screen is small, and limitations has to apply..
But the limitations are counted. Imagine receiving an email, swipe right, theres a reply button, click on it, voice will be activated, speak your message, and it will send it. That's pretty cool, but not cool enough..
What if i would like to add someone to cc?, not possible using the sdk, what if i would like to add a different signature? not possible.
The idea is fine, and it's awesome to see something new, i could really see it's potential, but as of right now, i am kinda disappointed.
I was noticing this also from the non developer point of view. All the marketing of the product it's based on notifications, at least the Gear was able to support the installation of apk's and i was excited since Android was about to release his own watch it was going to unleash all the real power of the smartwatches, but getting notifications from my mom telling me to buy milk does not sound like very awesome to me.
When Android Wear was first announced, I also heard that it was only for notifications. If that is really the case, I'm not interested and will keep my Gear 2 for now.
I think notifications are one of the obvious benefits, but there's going to be a lot more that we figure out how to do with them.
Sure, the interface is restrictive, but that's kinda the idea. The real benefit will be adding that little extra special sauce to the notifications in the context of whatever else is going on. And notifications don't need to just be a note from Dear Old Mom... geolocation, sensors, and other things may come into play.
After reading most of the AD site I sorta feel like you do when you know in about a hour and and a half you're going to have to have a seat on the pot - I know I've got a potential big idea in there somewhere, but it's just not ready to come out yet.
johdaxx said:
I think notifications are one of the obvious benefits, but there's going to be a lot more that we figure out how to do with them.
Sure, the interface is restrictive, but that's kinda the idea. The real benefit will be adding that little extra special sauce to the notifications in the context of whatever else is going on. And notifications don't need to just be a note from Dear Old Mom... geolocation, sensors, and other things may come into play.
After reading most of the AD site I sorta feel like you do when you know in about a hour and and a half you're going to have to have a seat on the pot - I know I've got a potential big idea in there somewhere, but it's just not ready to come out yet.
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Click to collapse
The only potential scenario i see working, is having a service, on the phone. That service will have created a notification, showing relevant information, let's say it's showing when sunrise and sunset (depending on the time of the day), if you swipe to the right, you can click on "Show someother info". When you tap that, it will start showing some other information, the service will then have altered the text on the notification.
Thats a potential and very possible scenario. Then again.. Is it really optimal? Apps that need to show this kind of information will take up all the notification space on the phone.