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Google pushes devs to make better tablet apps

By Michael Heller

Published: Oct 08, 2012, 4:04 PM

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Google pushes devs to make better tablet apps

Google has put in place a lot of tools to help out developers and allow for apps to scale to the various screen sizes available with Android devices. Of course, responsive design is only a partial answer, and ultimately it is still on developers to make their apps better for Android tablets. This means that while a lot of apps will scale well, not all do, and now Google has put out some guidelines to help devs make sure their apps are ready for Android tablets.

The guidelines are split into 10 sections, and the overall guidelines seem like fairly common sense things starting with making sure your app meets the Core App Quality guidelines, and moving on to pretty reasonable ideas like making sure your layout, fonts, images, and widgets all are designed for use on larger screens, and that the app has all of the features of the phone version.

It's the last few points on the list where Google gets into more interesting ideas that aren't necessarily common sense, because they are common issues that may be overlooked. First, Google wants devs to stop requiring hardware features in tablet apps, specifically making sure that apps don't require telephony or cameras, because those are the most likely omissions from tablets (like say the Nexus 7). On the flip side, devs need to be better about declaring apps compatible with declaring screen support sizes, especially now that there are layouts for phones, 7" tablets, and 10" tablets. And, lastly devs should be taking advantage of the various options available in the Google Play Store like being able to have multiple APKs on a single listing that will dynamically be pushed out depending on the device of the user.

source: Android Developers & Tablet App Quality Checklist

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Michael Heller is known for his clear and informative articles on mobile technology. He explores important topics such as the rollouts of 5G networks and the advancements in mobile payments, offering readers insights into the evolving tech landscape.