Android Market Update: Screenshots Imminent! [UPDATED]
UPDATE!!! WATCH THIS VIDEO(thanks Jordan):
Everyone knows that the ability for developers to upload and users to view screenshots on Android Market is a HUGE and unmet need that has been repeatedly addressed. Today Google got one step closer to making it reality – Android Developers can log into their accounts and upload screen shots and a promotion image for their application. Android Market screenshots are imminent!
Here is what we saw when logging in to upload screenies for Phandroid News:
AWESOME! But there is one HUGE thing to note:
“Screenshots are available only on the market.android.com website at this time and will not show on the device”
That kind of stinks but is understandable. When adding an update of this magnitude it makes sense they would do it in stages and roll out slowly. So I quickly put together a screenshot just to test if it would allow me to upload along with one of the promotional images, keeping their size demands in mind:
Then I hit the SAVE button and was met with an error:
I went ahead and added a second screenshot and included the promotional text that they required, clicked SAVE again and all was good in the hood. The only question now is will it show my screenshots on the Market Website? Unfortunately because of Android Market’s limited ability to display applications in the FIRST place, Phandroid News isn’t anywhere to be found. Maybe that is the market’s first problem… don’t you think our App should be FEATURE? :)
In any case, developers should get their screenshots up and consumers should keep an eye on this because a big market update seems imminent. The quicker devs move to supporting this upgrade feature the quicker I imagine Google will try to implement. Two cheers for continued improvement! Keep up the good work GOOG.
UPDATE #2: I just found the Android Dev post referencing all this… surprised nobody posted it before Phandroid! Looks like in addition to screen shots they’ve also updated the directory categorization by adding a few more cats. Here is the content from that post which you can read in full here:
Some News from Android Market
Posted by Eric Chu, Android Mobile Platform on 03 September 2009 at 3:30 PMI’m pleased to let you know about several updates to Android Market. First, we will soon introduce new features in Android Market for Android 1.6 that will improve the overall experience for users. As part of this change, developers will be able to provide screenshots, promotional icons and descriptions that will better show off applications and games.
We have also added four new sub-categories for applications: sports, health, themes, and comics. Developers can now choose these sub-categories for both new and existing applications via the publisher website. Finally, we have added seller support for developers in Italy. Italian developers can go to the publisher website to upload applications and target any of the countries where paid applications are currently available to users.
To take advantage of the upcoming Android Market refresh, we encourage you to visit the Android Market publisher website and upload additional marketing assets. Check out the video below for some of the highlights.
[Thanks Tom (dev of Battery Refresh Beta)!]