13 replies to this topic

[PaulOBrien]

The Google Play Store nowadays is a veritable feast of content for your Android device. Well, I say content, for most outside the US it's apps with a sprinkling of films and books, but nonetheless there's a lot of things in there to download and play with now, which is great. What's not so great? The app itself - and there's some key things Google really need to fix, soon.

Aside from the fairly momentous challenges around discovering new apps, there are 3 fundamental things in the current release that have me tearing my hair out. They are...

Downloads stalling

I think everyone has experienced this. You set one or more apps downloading in the Play Store, but the icon either doesn't appear in the notification bar, or appears then disappears. You go back into the Play Store and the item shows as 'downloading', but nothing is happening. Pretty much everything you try doesn't seem to make any difference, in fact the only solution is forcing the Play Store app to close then re-opening it, which will fix things for a while, but you'll have to repeat the process later when the same thing happens again. This has been a bug for SO long, but has yet to be fixed. I've experienced this on multiple devices, connections and accounts... it's incredibly infuriating.

Lists scroll back to the top after viewing an item

How frustrating is it when you're viewing a list of apps in the Play Store - be it your own apps or the 'top 500 free' - and when you've viewed an item and return back to the list, it puts you back at the top? You could be browing number 376 in the top 500, but when you've finished deciding whether to install, you have to scroll back down the first 375 again to get where you were. If you can remember where you were. Again, infuriating and surely a relatively easy fix?

You can't see just the things that you've bought

I've been using Android for many, many years now and i've bought a ton of apps. Can I see just the apps i've bought so I can reinstall them on a new device? No. I can see all apps i've installed, including the free ones, but not just the purchased ones. What's slightly ludicrous is that this used to be possible (by way of a 'not installed' section) in the Play Store - actually i've cryogenically frozen my own version of the Play Store ('Legacy Play Store') to keep this functionality alive - but why it was ever removed in the first place I can't really fathom.

So those are my main Play Store annoyances, there are other more minor ones but if the above were to be fixed in a new release, i'd be a lot happier.

It's not just me is it...?

Click here to view the item

[Rusty!]

Also, please let me remove old apps I couldn't give a crap about from the 'all' section of 'My Apps'.

[3shirts]

I don't tend to get the stalling any more (used to be really bad) but the last two points and Rusty's as well are real annoyances that must, surely, be simple to rectify.

I can't believe the very developers responsible for the store, who are surely android users themselves, haven't been annoyed into rectifying this already.

[Skip Tracer]

The first thought when using the Play Store and its apparent failings is to suspect your phone or network.

Thanks Paul for the heads up on this as I now know I am not the only one.

[Zarch1972]

Ability to make your searches more granular on price..... at the moment its Paid or Free.  I have 17p (or something like that) left in my google credit from my N7 purchase, but I can't use it unless I stumble across something less than 17p.  (i'd buy anything to get rid of it, lol)


Also, the search feature is pretty poor.

For example, I have the app "GMD GestureControl ★ root" installed for removing/hiding the status bar/softkeys on my N7.

https://play.google.....gesturecontrol

The first line of the description in the Play Store for the app is "Control tablet with MULTITOUCH gestures like iPad. Hide status bar, full screen.".

So you search Play Store for "hide status bar" and guess what, GMD GestureControl ★ root doesn't even appear on the first page. #fail


Thirdly, why no ability to search by rating?  You can only sort by "popularity" or "relevance"..... why not be able to only see 4+ stars apps?  I am not interested in dross with 2 stars.



And finally, it goes without saying that Google need to bring their s*** to the UK (and other regions)...... its only been 11 months since the US release of Google Music and we are still waiting over here.

[Taysider]

Spot on Paul, they worked on the front end and left the rest. Needs a overall
I would like to see better indexing of apps, like, why would you have 3D wallpaper in the sports category?
Would like to see better/new categories like root.

[PaulOBrien]

3shirts, on 09 October 2012 - 09:02 AM, said:

I don't tend to get the stalling any more (used to be really bad) but the last two points and Rusty's as well are real annoyances that must, surely, be simple to rectify.

I can't believe the very developers responsible for the store, who are surely android users themselves, haven't been annoyed into rectifying this already.

Exactly. They're not hard fixes, surely, and the store developers must USE the store?

P

[Dave Marchant]

I can only add that, for me at least, trying to use the new UK implementation of the Amazon App Store is way worse that Play Store.   Screen just keeps resetting back to opening screen when trying to get detail of an app, or even buy and download. Often get the email confirmation of purchase before I have even successfully downloaded.

[adam1000rr]

I only return to the top of the list when browsing "My apps" which is pretty annoying, if I'm browsing the top 500 paid or free it returns to where I was before viewing or installing an app.

I get no stalls at the moment either a part from when I restore my account after wiping data. Solution is to find the app stuck on "Downloading", stop the download and restart it.

[mark2410]

Rusty!, on 09 October 2012 - 08:51 AM, said:

Also, please let me remove old apps I couldn't give a crap about from the 'all' section of 'My Apps'.

x2

i now dont try new apps because of this

[PaulOBrien]

Dave Marchant, on 09 October 2012 - 09:23 AM, said:

I can only add that, for me at least, trying to use the new UK implementation of the Amazon App Store is way worse that Play Store.   Screen just keeps resetting back to opening screen when trying to get detail of an app, or even buy and download. Often get the email confirmation of purchase before I have even successfully downloaded.

Oh man, the new Amazon store is SO slow...

P

[ayziaa]

I agree these 3 points are really the 3 big fustration of using google play store but I think there is a 4th, it's the tablet selection, witch is not a tablet selection. It's basicly a big mess of everything that seems to be running on a wide screen (games mostly). As a tablet user I would love a real dedicated section with a choise of app really optimised for tablets (dual fragments fragment implementation etc) and no games!!!!

[Voxpop2011]

The play store is completely broken.  I used to be able to download apps via my desktop from the website.  Now I get 'device incompatible' or not '... downloaded using my device etc'.   I just can't be arsed with it anymore and am really disappointed in the abysmal mess google has made of the play store and the inability to fix it.

[rapidone]

New Google Play Store has been released. V3.9.16

Now with removal of apps, Updates available notifier and some more nice features.
If you copy it into system/apps  don't forget to set the correct permissions....

APK here:
http://www.chip.de/d...K_54923571.html