aTrackDog questions - G1 Apps and Games

First, yes I read the FAQ's before posting. There are several apps that aTD says have updates available, but the Market does not list the newer versions. I know the FAQ says to e-mail the developer, but I guess my question is why are updates available that are not published in the Market? It's not that the app is not in the Market at all...it's there and has had updates in the past. Only now apparently a new version is available that is not listed in the Market. I've e-mailed several app developers and will post here if I get an explanation.
Also, one of the apps aTD says needs to be updated is the Market itself. I have version 1.66, and it says 1.71 is the latest version. Can I download that from Google somehow, or is the Market version a built-in part of the ROM?

atrackdog relies on updates from phones with atrackdog installed. Say I'm developing a cool, new app. I release version 1.0 on the market for everyone to use. I'm testing version 1.1 on my phone and have given the apk file to a few friends to test for me as well before I release it to the market in general (I don't want a thousand e-mails from people saying my app is br0x0rz, so I have a small test group locally.) If one of my testers has atrackdog installed, it will faithfully upload the new version information to atrackdog's servers, telling all other atrackdog users that my app has an update available...whether it's in the market or not.

Thanks for the detailed explanation! Now why the aTrackDog website couldn't explain it that concisely, I don't know.
Does that same scenario also apply to the Market? It seems less likely to me that a Google app would be on tester's phones that also have aTD installed.

beartard said:
atrackdog relies on updates from phones with atrackdog installed. Say I'm developing a cool, new app. I release version 1.0 on the market for everyone to use. I'm testing version 1.1 on my phone and have given the apk file to a few friends to test for me as well before I release it to the market in general (I don't want a thousand e-mails from people saying my app is br0x0rz, so I have a small test group locally.) If one of my testers has atrackdog installed, it will faithfully upload the new version information to atrackdog's servers, telling all other atrackdog users that my app has an update available...whether it's in the market or not.
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Ah, ok. That makes perfect sense then. Thanks for the explanation.

About the market itself, I'm going to guess that different Android devices might have different versions of the market on board. If Google tweaked the market to be Moto-droid-worthy, they might have used a different number and atrackdog will show it. I'm sure about my answer in the above post. I'm just guessing on this one.

beartard said:
About the market itself, I'm going to guess that different Android devices might have different versions of the market on board. If Google tweaked the market to be Moto-droid-worthy, they might have used a different number and atrackdog will show it. I'm sure about my answer in the above post. I'm just guessing on this one.
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That also makes sense. I suppose the Nexus (for example) would likely have a newer version of Market and that would be why aTD picks up on it.
After using it for a few days, I don't really see the usefulness of aTD from a practicality standpoint. Every app on my phone that aTD says has an update available, isn't really available on my device (except for SlideME, which is unimportant to me). It would be more useful if the app detected the user's device, and only showed updates applicable to that particular phone.

That's true. When atrackdog was released, the market app didn't give notifications when updates were available. Also, at the time, there wasn't much on the market itself, several 3rd party markets (like slideme) were also out there, and people outside the US didn't have market access anyway. It filled a gap that's largely not there anymore (for US users). I know several countries still either don't have market access or no access to paid apps from the market, so it may be very useful to them.

It's useful for a few apps which post their betas on google code, etc, such as Wireless Tether...

Related

Why is the Marketplace not Public?

I'm currently running Google Android on my HTC Touch Vogue thanks to dzo, but I'm wondering, why is the Marketplace not available for other phones yet?
I mean, the OS is pretty well pointless at stock. All you can do is check your email and browse the web (oh right, and make calls too!). It's the applications that make it useful.
Is there any reason in specific that Google decided not to make the Marketplace available to the open-source public?
And on the same matter, if I were to request somone upload .apk's of certain (free) apps from the Marketplace, would that be deemed warez?
I'm dying to get my hands on several apps, including meebo, fBook and Twidroid, all of which are free, but are only available on the Marketplace
It would not be considered wares because they are free apps and games. As far as the market im not sure why its not open to public.
Ok then, would anyone be willing to upload the .apk's of "fbook, "Twidroid" and "meebo"?
Thanks in advance.
If i get a hold of them i will put them in my sig files and let you know, i am searching for them every day and adding them as I get them. meebo added!!
stats555 said:
If i get a hold of them i will put them in my sig files and let you know, i am searching for them every day and adding them as I get them. meebo added!!
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Thanks stats!
And on the same matter, if I were to request somone upload .apk's of certain (free) apps from the Marketplace, would that be deemed warez?
I'm dying to get my hands on several apps, including meebo, fBook and Twidroid, all of which are free, but are only available on the Marketplace
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Click to collapse
There is an optional feature for apks published to Market to key the apk to the G1 that originally downloaded it. Probably won't be usable until billing is enabled for Market sometime early next year.
try android-dls.com they have .apk's for many apps on te market
I and several other persons (I have read forum posts about) have heard from Google that they will be putting access to the Android Market via the internet.
My comment to them was that if one had to use the phone to get to the market than they were no better than the "i" (insert SUCKS) market.
Their comment back was that they were working on access to the market from a PC via the internet.
So, it is just a matter of time.
Google keeps the applications that interface with their services (Market, GMail, Maps) closed source. As long as you can get the apk's to those applications, you should be able to install them. Google really should add these apps to the android repository so everyone can access them.
I created web site for android free and open source applications just for users like you, who don't have access to the Marketplace for any reason. There is nothing uploaded yet but as soon i finish my other work i will take care of this. If anyone want to upload an app please register. URL is http://andapps.org
NOTE: Administrators and moderators. I know that this is some sort of spam, but i am not doing this for profit. Just one user helping other users. Fell free to remove this link if you want.
Security By Obscurity
The Marketplace client uses restricted API calls to perform some functions (http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/msg/71f14048eec1c8df), also there is no public web interface into the market, so I think Google believe that revealing what the Marketplace client does to access app data from their servers will lead to mashups and third party apps which use the data in ways that Google may not want to support in the future.
Al.
P.S. If you're interested in an alternative feel free to download the AndAppStore client from http://andappstore.com/AndroidPhoneApplications/apps/7661 or just visit http://andappstore.com/. I'd welcome any feedback about either the AndAppStore site or the app.
way to get apps...
There is a program you can download from the market "ASTRO" that allows you to backup things (and apps) to your SD card. Once the app is on the SD card, plug the G1 into your computer and browse (copy, paste, etc) away.
I wouldn't want to suggest that the apps could then be posted, or whatever, but...
--M

Android Market alternatives for those with no access to Market

It's apparent some carriers are not supporting the Android Market.
For those that don't have access to the Market and want access to apps, have you tried getting SAM (app store) client for your G1 from SlideME.org?
http:/slideme.org/sam2.apk
Anyone in the world can use SAM to safely buy and download with no limitations and without entering any sensitive info such as credit card details from your phone.
The only thing is that you will not see as many apps as you would on the Market, but with users help & input one day developers will realize that stocking Android Market alone does not do any good for marketing their apps to the international communities. Not to mention that the rest of the world will be hesitant to provide even their shopping habits to google.
So, you could look for apps on SlideME or Cyrket that has all the apps on Market and contact the developer and ask them to get their act together to stock other stores such as SlideME.org for this exact reason. Not everyone has access to the Android Market!!!
Follow apps from http://twitter.com/slideme if you like.
Here is an earlier announcement from SlideME team: http://www.prweb.com/releases/android/slideme/prweb2035414.htm
I am in India. and i was missing buying the apps..but not anymore..There aren't as many apps as on the market but then its just the begining...
thank you.
do we get automatic upgrades etc from you like the market provides- i looked at using slideme but wasnt sure how you would get the free upgrades for apps u have already paid for...i am in australia.
I haven't heard promising things about SlideMe's DRM solution, which appears to constantly contact the Slideme store when normal apps downloaded from Slideme are running, and not just the SlideMe market.
It looks good, and will probably be accepting Paypal. Nice alternative!
So what are developers to do? Well, recently I bashed on the SlideLOCK in a previous post… Though - the more I looked at it, this seems like the best option for developers to protect their applications. Though, hopefully google will remedy this solution and fast. Until then though, strike-one google market.
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http://strazzere.com/blog/?p=185
The last time I used Slideme it never showed updated or new apps so I had no idea when to look. Has this since been changed?
yeah- i want to know as well if you get automatic updates for each program bought?
We do updates for any downloaded apps. Maybe you have tried an old version of SAM.

aTrackDog shows updates which I can not find in the market?!

Hello,
I am using aTrackDog and all works fine.
I just have the problem that it shows me sometime that there is an update for an installed app (e.g. "Finance" from Google - I have 1.0 & aTrackDog says there is 1.1 or Netcounter should be 0.7.1 or SnapPhoto 1.2.7 instead of 1.2.6) but when I go to this app at the Market there is no update available?!
What is going wrong here?
Any idea would be great, thanx in advance!
The problem with the way atrackdog works is that it relies on reports from G1 phones to update its database of apps and versions. Say an application developer releases a testing version of his app to a friend to give him feedback before publicly releasing it. If that friend uses atrackdog, then everyone else's copy of atrackdog will show there's an update available before it even hits the market.
Later versions of atrackdog allow application developers to flag applications as "testing versions" and they show up as green text in the app list. Still, not all devs participate in that part of atrackdog.
ok - I understand
Thank you for the explanation
Since updating to 1.5, is anyone elses atrackdog showing stock apps?? Mine is showing everything from googleapps to setup wizard & even the gmail app. I have set them to not check for newer versions, I was just curious if I am the only one. There's 16 stock apps all together in the list
@Beast84 ........ mine does the same, shows all the stock apps too! (Haykuro 1.5)
SatanR1 said:
@Beast84 ........ mine does the same, shows all the stock apps too! (Haykuro 1.5)
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Not too big a deal. I was just curious if I was the only one

Some apps not available to me.

Can someone please explain why some apps..such as Pure Calendar Widget..arent available to me?...When I search for it or read the barcode for it I get no results?...though others seem to find them. Also Camera Zoom which is always recommended is a no go.
I have a TMO USA phone and buy other apps from the market.
thanks
What region are you in and what provider?
You could be locked out by these things -- if so check out market enabler.
Tmobile. United States.
There's some threads with manual configurations for Market Enable.. Search tool will make the trick... if not google knows everything ehehehhe
Well I am still not getting an answer to my question Why are only some paid apps available and some are not?
Is this the way it is for everyone?
harsaphes said:
Well I am still not getting an answer to my question Why are only some paid apps available and some are not?
Is this the way it is for everyone?
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Click to collapse
Yes it is, depending on the regions, there are or not some application. This is why the purpose of the creation of the Market Enabler.
Some but not all
It is not as straight-forward as that. You can use market enabler and see some paid apps but not all of them show up (for me for example). I cannot see Pure Calendar Widget either although I can see and purchase tons and tons of other paid apps. If harsaphes is already on T-Mobile, they probably don't need Market Enabler to fake that they are on T-Mobile...
The difference may be something to do with "paid" apps vs. "paid and protected/drm" apps. I am not sure though. I have not found a definitive explanation to this problem nor a solution.
Would this also pretain to the amazon mp3 app which can not be installed with any market other than the US version on US android phones? Or is there a way to push this app in manual..?

[Q] appbrain.apk

anyone try appbrain? is there a dl for the latest apk, i have an older one and is too old, install just sits.
Appbrain only links to the market. Since that isn't working, appbrain won't either. There are other market alternatives though, Slideme, applanet and andappstore.
what I don't understand is that Nookdevs list a ton of "Via Market on Phone" apps here http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_working_apps - so how are did they install them?
webvan said:
what I don't understand is that Nookdevs list a ton of "Via Market on Phone" apps here http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_working_apps - so how are did they install them?
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Click to collapse
What they mean is downloading the app from the Android Market on a phone then moving the apps over to the NC via Dropbox or Hoccer.
Sent from my Nook Color
ah ok, thanks, will give that a try then!
golfprorm said:
What they mean is downloading the app from the Android Market on a phone then moving the apps over to the NC via Dropbox or Hoccer.
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Click to collapse
So what do those w/out Android phones do?
Odd that there's no PC app to download apks from the Market. I mean, I get that Android was *designed* to use the Market, but there's obviously a need for such a tool.
edison said:
So what do those w/out Android phones do?
Odd that there's no PC app to download apks from the Market. I mean, I get that Android was *designed* to use the Market, but there's obviously a need for such a tool.
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You can get (limited) Market access using the emulator in the Android SDK. I don't know the legal issues involved though, so I won't post direct links, but instructions are easy enough to find and are very trivial to follow.
As far as I know though, this method only works well on pre-2.1 (i.e.; 1.6) devices. On 2.1+, the hacked Markets I've tried are so incredibly limited, it's not even worth it (it seems like only the most esoteric apps are available). Using 1.6 though, you'll have access to ALL apps (even paid ones) that aren't designated as 2.1+. Probably 75-80% of the apps in the Market are written for all Android versions, so you'll only be missing out on a handful of useful ones (like launchers and browsers).

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