Earlier this week, we stumbled onto a leak for Google’s upcoming “Google Play Games,” which is said to be a unifying gaming service for Android devices similar to what Apple delivered with its Game Center. Just a mere few minutes prior […]
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If there’s one thing you can be sure of it is that you can’t always trust the reviews you read on apps on the Google Play store. There a number of reasons why people would post inaccurate reviews from jealousy to downright stupidity. I’d wager that a lot of the negative reviews you see on some applications are people who simply don’t know how to use them. Google has announced via the Android Developers Blog that all Google Play developers can now reply to user reviews.
Clearly that means the flame wars are about to begin. You can bet that when a developer sees someone leaving a idiotic negative review about their application, they will reply. Now the trolls can be trolled. The ability to comment on user reviews for developers also opens the door for developers to respond to good reviews and feature suggestions.
I wonder if the fact that a developer can now reply to a negative review might prevent some people from posting negative reviews. One of the reasons so many trolls troll online is because there is typically no way for people to know who they are so the poster doesn’t have to face anything uncomfortable because of their review.
I think this is a good thing, developers should be able to respond to reviews good and bad. What do you think? Is this nothing but a loss of anonymity for users or a good way to help cut down on bogus reviews?
It looks like you’ll soon be seeing more comments from app makers on Google Play. According to a post on the Android Developers Blog today, all developers can now reply to user reviews via the Google Play Developer Console, with responses showing up publicly below the user’s original comment. The feature had previously been in trial mode, and devs have reportedly enjoyed a stronger relationship with their users — not to mention a surefire system for discovering bugs and other app glitches. Hit up the source link for more info.
Source: Android Developers Blog
Having crushed its $400K funding target on Kickstarter last year, Stainless Games has now ported its resurrected vehicular combat game to Android. This latest mobile version of Carmageddon can be had on Google Play for $1.99. Show sufficient disregard for pedestrians, however, and you might get there in time to download it free.
Update: For those on iOS, the game — which is normally $3.99 — is free for the taking today.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Mobile
Source: Carmageddon free promo (Google Play), Carmageddon (Google Play)
NOOK Media has just announced that they will be expanding their extensive catalog of reading and entertainment content by throwing in the hugely popular Google Play digital content experience. The receiving devices would be none other than their acclaimed NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ tablets, where the presence of Google Play being built into the NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ would enable customers to gain access to over 700,000 Android apps and games, more songs than you can ever listen to in your entire lifetime, and of course, who can forget the extremely speedy Chrome browser and other popular Google apps?
Both the NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ tablets were specially designed to deliver the very best reading and entertainment experience, where the NOOK HD display certainly flies the flag for the 7” tablet market very well, while the NOOK HD+’s display can certainly hold its own against the iPad 3’s display – or at least, that is what Barnes & Noble claims.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Adobe Shows Off Lightroom-like App Running On A Tablet, AT&T Galaxy Note Gets Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean As Well, 
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If you’re the owner of a Nook HD or HD+, get ready to enjoy all the Android apps. Barnes & Nobles announced today that the Nook HD tablet line will get access to the Google Play store.
Starting this week, Barnes & Noble NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ devices will be receiving access to the official Google Play app and digital content store straight from the source. Where since the birth of the NOOK line of ereaders, each Android-based device worked specifically and only with the Barnes & Noble Shop for books and movies, users will now have the ability to access both Google apps and Google Music. There’s only one catch – if you’d call it a catch, that is.
The way a user accesses the Google Play digital content store from their NOOK HD or NOOK HD+ device is through a notification which will be appearing on their device starting this week. This notification will have an opt-in option which downloads the Google Play store. With this download comes the full collection of Google services such as Gmail, YouTube, Google+, Google Search, Chrome browser, and Google Maps.
These apps come instantly when you download Google Play, each of them a requirement if you’d like to work with Google Play. Other than these additions, the NOOK experience remains entirely the same. Once you’ve downloaded Google Play and these apps all at once, the first time you tap any of them you’ll be asked to either create or log in to your Google account.
The NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are the first two devices to be working with Google Play and will likely not be the last. This is the start of a relationship between Barnes & Noble and Google that we’re expecting will send ripples through the ereader industry – or at least send a shock over to Amazon. Have a peek at the NOOK timeline below to see events leading up to this release and let us know if this addition will be pushing you into the NOOK universe.
NOOK HD gains access to Google Play, apps required is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Barnes & Noble’s refusal to open its ecosystem has long been one of our primary complaints about the company’s tablet offerings. The Nook HD and HD+ are extremely nice pieces of hardware that have been held back by their own walled software offerings — having a fast device with a nice screen only gets you so far without the proper apps. The company line up to now has been that walling off content allows for a sort of quality control, assuring that apps are developed specifically for the unique form factor of its devices. And while there’s perhaps something to be said for that sentiment in the sometimes-fragmented world of Android devices, it was hard to ignore the fact that offering up exclusive access to content through your own marketplace assures better cash flow. It also, unfortunately, means that without extensive developer outreach, there are sure to be plenty of popular apps that just never make it over to your side of the fence.
With its announcement tonight, B&N acknowledges that, in this case, open is better. The company has responded directly to user feedback and will be issuing a software update to its Nook HD and Nook HD+ devices (sorry Nook Tablet and Color owners) that brings Google Play directly to the desktop. The software will come pre-loaded on new devices and will be available as an over-the-air update. If you can’t wait that long, you’ll also be able to download it directly from the bookseller’s site. The update also brings a few other tweaks to the system, but this is far and away the biggest news. The first question we asked upon getting a quick demo: will you be able to buy content like books, magazines and movies through Play? Yep, that’s coming too.
Google has quietly tweaked its Play store policies to prevent apps like Facebook Home from updating on Android devices without going through the official method. The change, which coincides with Facebook directly tweaking its social homescreen replacement rather than pushing out an update through the Google Play store, adds a new proviso which forbids any circuitous attempts to “modify, replace or update” code.
The change joins existing prohibitions on apps that secretly download other software from outside of the Play store, but has the impact of specifically blocking Facebook’s tests with unofficial updates. The social site had been trialling a system whereby some Facebook Home users would be prompted to install a beta version for limited testing, with that beta delivered to the device directly rather than via Play.
Users would have to agree to the update, which was not downloaded automatically, and it was apparently only loaded to a device over a WiFi connection, not cellular data. Although not contrary to Google’s rules at the time, the idea of developers bypassing the market unsurprisingly didn’t go down well with the search company.
“An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism” Google Play Developer Content Policy
Facebook is yet to comment on the changes, which are part of Google’s “Dangerous Products” section of the policy. There’s more on Facebook Home in our full review.
Update: Google tells us that the following explanation was added to the Android Developers Console with regards to the policy update:
“Google Play Program Policies have been updated. See “Content Policies” section, which clarifies that “An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism.” Google Play is a trusted source for Android application downloads, and we are committed to providing a secure and consistent experience”
[via The Verge]
Google blocks non-Play Android updates in Facebook Home snub is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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