Reader Jeff e-mailed us this morning to point out some fairly big changes to the Android Market developer's console (that's the place where you actually upload apps). There are now options for high-resolution app icons (high res being 512x512), plus "featured graphics" at 1024x500, and a space for a YouTube promotional video.
We're not the only ones seeing it (Android Police has pointed it out, too), and the change undoubtedly goes hand-in-hand with some of the new features Google showed off at its IO conference in May, the upcoming releases of Android 2.3 Gingerbread -- and Honeycomb on the horizon -- and the down time that the Market developer's console will see Thursday night. Good things are on the way, folks! Thanks, Jeff!
Reader comments
Android Market obviously getting revamp with addition of new graphics
The YouTube vid link should be a godsend - hopefully it'll reduce all the "I'm too stupid to work out how to use this app" 1* reviews you see
Although I'm guessing they'll get used for badness too :-(
Agreed, most comments give a bad view of how the app really functions.
All the youtube links will be Rick-Rolls
Video. Finally.
OK, i just checked my Dev console and the fields are active for me. If i make changes now will they show up in the market ? anyone seeing YouTube videos on apps yet ? I'd test it myself but I don't have a video yet.
you know what. i think another possible reason why google wants higher res icons is because Gingerbread will support 720p. And maybe the current icon resolutions will be slightly stretched on a 720p screen. Another thing i noticed, the pics of from the web 2.0 summit where Eric Schmidt was holding a nexus s... the resolution of the screen seemed a little higher res than regular phones we're used to. I can tell because the lock screen sliders seemed smaller, meaning google could be using a 720p screen on the Nexus S!
Yes, the current rumor is that the screen on the Nexus is 1024 x 600.
Does this mean that Gingerbread will also be capable of handling the larger format tablet machines?
How about you let us use Landscape screenshots without getting cropped? FFS, why has this not been implemented yet.