[Q] Limited number of apps??

[headhod]

I'm buying one tomorrow and i heared that there is a very limited number of available apps in the Andoid marcket because of QVGA resolution, what about this rumor?. Can someone tell me if there is a significant number of apps available.


Looking foward for a reply

Best Wishes to all

 

[Geko90]

interested too...

well, I don't know because i don't have it, but it's strange... many android apps shouldn't care about the screen size, or, almost, that's what i hope!

let us know, dear users!

 

[Sakem]

Unfortunately, yes. There is a limitation

And not due to market but to devs who don't allow their app for QVGA (even it works well).

Anyway i'm huge app user and I find almost 90% of my usual apps. So not a big deal and u can always find alternatives to find the missing apps ;-)

On the X10mini we had a trick, installing the tattoo patched market, but since I have the "new" market on my flipout, i don't want to lose it.

 

[headhod]

okey i was downloading lots of apps and there are LOTS really, no big deal with this issue,

someone know a really missable app?

 

[MrShides]

mixzing and radar now! are (or where) missing on the charm. (pretty much the same phone

I've contacted the devs, and they provided direct APK's but didn't specify if they'd make the app compatible/available in the market

Radar Now!
http://www.radarnow.net/apk/rn_2_4.apk

Mixzing
http://www.mixzing.com/install/android/com.mixzing.basic.apk

 

[bruce_wayne]

Is there anywhere we can find a list of the missing apps? I'm not too concerned because there are often apps missing from the markets of different handsets. For instance angry birds was not available on the galaxy s. And the g1 still offers pacman for free. However it would be nice to know what's missing.

Also has anybody come across apps where the square screen has been an issue. Maybe part of the screen cropped at the bottom? Or anything similar?

 

[MrShides]

Usually there is no issue at all, however a compass APP that I downloaded thought I was holding the device differently and therefor showed north as always being east.

Radar now usually fills the entire screen on my mytouch, however on my wifes charm it needs to be slightly scrolled down to see the weather and stuff.

Beyond that though I have not run into any other issue with any app, including games.

Angry birds would run, if it could fit on the damn device....

 

[bruce_wayne]

Usually there is no issue at all, however a compass APP that I downloaded thought I was holding the device differently and therefor showed north as always being east.

Radar now usually fills the entire screen on my mytouch, however on my wifes charm it needs to be slightly scrolled down to see the weather and stuff.

Beyond that though I have not run into any other issue with any app, including games.

Angry birds would run, if it could fit on the damn device....

Thank you very much. A bit of scrolling or having to turn the handset around now and then I can deal with. I think I will be buying 1 of these soon

 

[ghostwheel]

Use a hack

if you want to be able to load "all" apps:
On a rooted phone, you can use this replacement for the market app:
xda-dev thread
But because locations on the Flipout are a bit different, use this:

adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock7 /system
exit
adb pull /system/app/com.android.vending.apk Vending.old.apk
adb push Vending.apk /system/app/com.android.vending.apk

or from a terminal on the Flipout

su
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock7 /system
cp /system/app/com.android.vending.apk /sdcard/Vending.old.apk
cp /sdcard/Vending.apk /system/app/com.android.vending.apk

Once you use the new Market, you can get all apps, except for those that have additional requirements (for example, an autofocus camera )

After using it for some time, I had a problem where Market would FC once the app finished downloading, and I had to the manually go to /cache and install it from there. To fix that you copy the old Vending.apk, reboot, and then copy the new apk again. Maybe the above thread has a fix for this problem... I haven't checked.

Most apps work really well on the Flipout!

 

[Sakem]

Yes but...this is the old market ^^ Not the one with automatic updates and new tab for comms.
No way I'll go back to the old one :/

But for people who don't have a lot of apps, it's good solution, used it on my x10mini and was fine

 

[ghostwheel]

Yes but...this is the old market ^^ Not the one with automatic updates and new tab for comms.
No way I'll go back to the old one :/

But for people who don't have a lot of apps, it's good solution, used it on my x10mini and was fine

But you can switch between them, no?
The old market when you want to search for an app, and the new one for updates (i.e. most of the time). Oh... maybe if an app isn't found it can't get updated? Hmmm....

BTW: I'm curious - do most people use auto-update? I haven't yet, because I heard of too many cases of an update breaking the app. I like to wait a bit, and see that it doesn't break stuff. I guess it depends on how much you need the particular app....

 

[Sakem]

2 markets in 1 Android OS ?!?

2 Windows Explorer in 1 Windows OS ?!?

Think it's not possible ^^ market is part of the OS

"update breaking the app".....? I use Android for 11 months now and constantly update manually my apps through the market and never had a problem with it !!??

So why automatic updates would break it :/

IMO Market V2 is a great great improvement and I was waiting for it for months now

 

[theimpaler747]

2 markets in 1 Android OS ?!?

2 Windows Explorer in 1 Windows OS ?!?

Think it's not possible ^^ market is part of the OS

"update breaking the app".....? I use Android for 11 months now and constantly update manually my apps through the market and never had a problem with it !!??

So why automatic updates would break it :/

IMO Market V2 is a great great improvement and I was waiting for it for months now

Actually the market is not part of the os... it is a system app called vending.apk

 

[Sakem]

So a system app is not part of an OS :/ Right

So we can have 2 versions of the market on our androphones ? (Incredible !)

 

[theimpaler747]

So a system app is not part of an OS :/ Right

So we can have 2 versions of the market on our androphones ? (Incredible !)

That is correct, once rooted the system apps can be removed, changed, and manipulated

 

[Sakem]

OMG I think you really take me for a huuuuuuge noob ^^

So u definitely confirm u succeed in having 2 different versions of the market working at same time on your androphone ? (2 markets in your drawer)
If yes , you're right I feel in shame cos I thought I had a better andro level for 11 months manipulating it and I'm in fact a big noob.
If no, I'm right from the beginning and that was indeed a useless talk ^^

 

[theimpaler747]

OMG I think you really take me for a huuuuuuge noob ^^

So u definitely confirm u succeed in having 2 different versions of the market working at same time on your androphone ? (2 markets in your drawer)
If yes , you're right I feel in shame cos I thought I had a better andro level for 11 months manipulating it and I'm in fact a big noob.
If no, I'm right from the beginning and that was indeed a useless talk ^^

It depends... what markets are they? Are you referring to 2 versions of the same android market?

 

[ghostwheel]

Even better solution

I followed the instructions of hacking Vendor.apk, and produced one out of the new Market app.

So, included below is the result: new Market app, for Flipout with larger screen apps enabled.

Till now, it works really well. I see lots of apps (>1900 video, as oposed to just a bit over 1000), and I have auto update and a comment tab.

Also, FC seem to be gone (since I started with the Flipout version), but maybe it is still too early to tell since I've only been using it for a day.

I also added the autofocus camera file, which enabled me to also see and install google goggles.

Directions for installation are (copied from the original post.)

adb pull /system/app/com.android.vending.apk Vending.backup.apk
adb push Vending_v2007.apk /sdcard
adb push android.hardware.camera.autofocus.xml.txt /sdcard/android.hardware.camera.autofocus.xml
adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock7 /system
cp /sdcard/Vending_v2007.apk /system/app/com.android.vending.apk
cp /sdcard/Vending_v2007.apk /data/app/com.android.vending.apk
cp /sdcard/android.hardware.camera.autofocus.xml /system/etc/permissions
chmod 644 /system/app/com.android.vending.apk
chmod 644 /data/app/com.android.vending.apk
chmod 644 /system/etc/permissions/android.hardware.camera.autofocus.xml
chown system.system /system/app/com.android.vending.apk
rm -r /data/data/com.android.vending
reboot

• Run market enabler: in "Setting list" long press on [us] T-Mobile (T-Mobile) -> Fake this provider now.
• Now Run Market Application (you should find it in the list of all installed applications if you set permissions correctly).
• Be careful with autoupdate of your market (that will overwrite your changes).

If anything goes wrong: place your original Vending.apk files, set permissions, delete cache. It should be as before.

The hack did not allow me to download apps until I ran the market enabler. I'm not sure why that is.
The one I used is called "MarketAccess".

 

[MrShides]

Just an update....angry birds will not let you get past the first screen that shows you how to play the game. You cannot click the "check" to go past that screen as it is off the side.

I'm wondering if one of those density switcher apps might resolve this?

 

[ghostwheel]

Mine works

Strange... my version of angry birds works, no switcher. I forgot where I got it from, 'cause I couldn't find it on the market.

It is caled AngryBirds_1.3.5.apk. Is it ok to post it here? It's a free version.

Oh, there, I tried it again. Once you get to the first screen with a crosshair on the pig, press home (home key), then once out of angry birds, enter it again, and you'll see the options. From then on it plays well.