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Google unveils changes to Android Market: Content filtering, Editor’s Choice, and expanded download size

Upping the market

Google unveils changes to Android Market: Content filtering, Editor’s Choice, and expanded download size
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Google has launched a number of changes to the Android Market today that are designed to help a wide variety of users of the company’s distribution channel.

For consumers, Google has introduced a new 'Editor’s Choice' label, awarded to apps that Google feels shows off Android in the best light, much in the same way that Apple uses its Featured Apps section on the App Store.

There’s also a ‘Top Developer’ title for developers that constantly produce the goods, with a number of companies like Double Fine and Amazon Mobile having already earnt the accolade at the time of writing.

Both features are currently live on the webstore, and should be winging their way over to mobile devices soon.

Another new addition is the implementation of a Content Filter - designed so that parents can stop children from downloading inappropriate apps onto their phones. Like the hundreds and thousands of ‘wallpapers’ currently available (I'll say no more).

The filter is enabled by opening up the Settings menu in the Android Market and can be password-locked to stop the little tykes from changing it back when you’re not looking.

Strangely, this option doesn’t seem to be accessible from my Galaxy Tab, yet is on the Xperia Play, so it’s likely that Google are rolling it out gradually across devices.

On the developers side, Google has lifted the outdated 50MB limit for apps on the Marketplace, meaning that an extended download time from within the app itself is now no longer necessary.

Android Central
Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).