Ever finally finished downloading a game from the market, hit open to play it and get hit with a message that says, “please download the additional resources to play” and the package is like 200mb or more? I’m sure we have all been in that situation, and that is because Google used to limit the size of Android apps in the market. The old limit was 50MB, but now Google has upped that to 4GB as promised last year at the 2011 developer conference.
- Each app can have two expansion files, each one up to 2GB, in whatever format you choose.
- Android Market will host the files to save you the hassle and cost of file serving.
- Users will see the total size of your app and all of the downloads before they install/purchase
Not many applications are going to need 4GB, I doubt any will but maybe with better graphic apps we will need it one day. The download will all be done on Google’s servers saving you the process of opening an app and downloading the resources yourself. The updated android SDK is available now so look for bigger apps to be hitting the market soon.
Via Android Developers Blog
Tyler Maciaszek
I started out as a Blackberry user and once that phone was stolen I went to Radio Shack looking at the HD2. Blackberry wasn't cutting it and admittedly I didn't know much about technology, or Android at that point so I looked at the phone with the biggest screen. I'm a media guy and I like to have it mobile. At that point the HD2 had a massive screen and that's exactly what I wanted. Immediately when I got there the manager talked me out of getting a windows device and talked me into Android. I didn't know much about CPUs, Android versions, or what a good spec sheet even looked like. I settled with the Samsung Sidekick and immediately began to hate Android. Probably from the ugly skin and the terrible specs that device had. I started looking how to make the device better and found XDA. That's when it all changed. I started learning about rooting, and flashing. From there I would go on to come across Android websites. How I found Land of Droid was through Twitter. I used #android once and John mentioned me asking if I would like to write for an Android blog. I was hesitant at first but I began to immediately love it. I am now a huge technology fan in all aspects not just mobile. Now when looking for a device I will now know that there are more to specs than a screen size.
