Today, at Google I/O 2011, the Mountain View, CA.-based Android showed off a few screens from the new Android Market app for Android phones. The aim of the revamped Android Market UI is to aid in app discovery, app promotions, and to make it easier for a user to read details about a particular app. Thankfully, we managed to snap a few photos of the new Android Market.
So, what’s new? There will be new categories/sections of the Android Market. We’ll see various additional top charts – Trending, revamped Top Paid, revamped Top Free, and a curated Editor’s Choice list – making app discovery easier than ever. The Trending list will highlight the most popular apps that are “hot” at any given moment. This list is dynamic and will ideally have a significant turnover rate – this is a good thing for smaller devs that have to fight to even get noticed in the Android Market. There will also be a curated Editor’s Choice list, which includes apps that some human being deep within Google’s headquarters thinks is good enough to be put in the spotlight – this is a big deal, because it basically makes Google a “Kingmaker” for certain apps.
As for the user interface, the new Android Market will be getting all gussied up in new, more eye-catching and informative ways – lots of colors and slick graphics. The Top Paid and Top Free categories will be easier on the eyes. The app preview page will include screenshots at the top. There’s also going to be a new Developer Spotlight where featured devs can get their precious time in the limelight. And, once you’ve found an app, you’ll notice that the related apps section is broken up into two lists – apps that people tend to view alongside the current app, and apps that people tend to install alongside the current app.
Wrap all that up with a new 4GB file limit that could lead to some truly groundbreaking apps and/or games, and you’ve got the makings of a great Android Market makeover.
