

Impressions of Android from a dev's perspective - redbluething
http://mikamobile.blogspot.com/2011/06/android.html?z

======
zmmmmm
It's worth noting that a large part of his frustrations would be resolved if
Google hadn't lowered the refund window to 15 minutes. Google justified that
move by saying devs wanted it, but his and my experience says it's just
created a huge pain in the ass for everyone.

~~~
Egregore
It will be great if it was possible to be set by devs. Somebody wants 15
minutes, somebody wants 1 day or even one month.

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alexitosrv
The worst: my country (Colombia) doesn't belong to the list of approved
countries to publish apps. :(

~~~
mbarr
You can target apps to Colombia, it's in the rest of world section beneath the
countries where Android Market is officially launched.

List of countries where you can publish free apps:
[https://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/developer/bin/a...](https://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/developer/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=136758)

List of countries where you can publish paid apps:
[https://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=1437...](https://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=143779)

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Steko
Been thinking about this article as I play his game (which is great). Some
thoughts:

(1) it seems like there's a big opportunity for someone to step in with a
service that _just_ handles the backend work on the Android Market. Something
less then a full fledged publisher but cheaper too. If he's spending say 5% of
his time dealing with these sorts of issues (I can't imagine the number is any
higher or much higher) then one guy could, as he scales, work up to doing this
full time, handle a number of mildly successful indie developers, take 5% from
each and be mildly successful himself (more than mildly actually he'll be much
more efficient meaning he can scale to many developers).

(2) Apple's App Store on the other hand could greatly benefit from some sort
of Preferred or Trusted status for certain devs. Maybe it prioritizes their
review or allows them to bypass approval for purely bugfix releases. Perhaps
they have to fork over another 1-2% in additional fees or insurance or maybe
revenues are deferred until the update passes review.

~~~
smackfu
For (2), there certainly are unofficial statuses like that. Angry Birds
recently did an update, followed the same day by a bug fix.

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raptrex
Previous Discussion here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2670061>

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brohee
Oddly enough I can't find a Battleheart on Android Market. is it
geographically limited?

~~~
Blarat
It could be that your phone isn't supported, try this:
[https://market.android.com/details?id=com.KelliNoda.Battlehe...](https://market.android.com/details?id=com.KelliNoda.Battleheart&feature=search_result)

~~~
brohee
"This item is not compatible with your device".

Seeing as the Galaxy S is one of the most popular phone I start to see how he
gets less Android sales than on iPhone...

~~~
te_chris
Is it the version of Android you're running? I know that on my Dad's Telecom
NZ Galaxy S he's still on 2.1 because they haven't authorised any 2.2 updates
through Kies for it. I tried to install a cool synth app I'd been wanting to
test on it, but because of no 2.2 update it wouldn't work.

That's android's biggest problem: carriers delaying updates for ages because
of "testing". It's fine for hacky people, but for the general public like my
dad who enjoy having cool new tech but CBF dealing with spoofing Kies to get
it to install European updates, it's super frustrating knowing that someone
else with the same phone has an improved version just because they live
somewhere else.

~~~
brohee
I'm euro and in 2.2. Just checked I was up to date actually.

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gsarrica
I have seen this same problem with people not understanding how to uninstall
or install applications. Granted my app is free and without advertisements I
still somehow get these same kind of reviews... My favorite one star review to
date: "Once u download this to your phone u will not be able to uninstall this
app... I have been trying for days to get rid of it and it won't uninstall!"

The funny part is these people do not send emails to me asking for support
they just give the 1 star review and move on. I want to say 90% of support
emails are people thanking me or asking for new features. When I respond I
always ask then to write a review on the market. Hopefully this offsets the 1
star reviews. And remember I do all this for free.

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khookie
Just wondering, does anyone know what the most popular phone on the Android
platform is at the moment?

Thinking of upgrading from my iPhone 3G.

~~~
guelo
If you're doing dev work or just want to stay updated with the latest Google
experience you should go with the Nexus S. Otherwise it will just depend on
your carrier, off the top of my head I would say the best U.S. phones right
now are ATT the Atrix, Verizon Incredible 2, Tmo LG G2x, Sprint still the Evo.

Personally I'm waiting for the Galaxy SII next month.

~~~
khookie
Thanks

