Filed under: new

New Android Market

P368

I've been reading articles about the new Android Market lately. It sounds like Google has improved it quite a bit, but there is one change that doesn't sit well with me. They've shrunk the return window down to 15 minutes.

App refunds are one area where the Android Market rises above Apple's App Store. When I had my Android phone, I was more likely to buy apps knowing I could return them if they didn't work, or if they just plain sucked. With the Apple App Store, I'm more hesitant to buy because once I hit that buy button, that's it; I own it.

I can understand decreasing the 24 hour return window. But 15 minutes seems extreme. For example: The official Geocaching app had battery drain issues when I initially bought it, but I didn't know about them until hours later. I had bought the app in the morning, knowing I'd be doing some caching later in the day. It wasn't until I had finished caching and shut the app down that I realized it was eating the battery even when it wasn't running. If I pay $10 for an app, it damn well better work perfectly from the get-go. If not, I want (and deserve, I believe,) a refund.

There are just too many apps for Android that require more than 15 minutes of testing.

On the flip-side, 15 minutes is more than us iPhone users get.

Android users: what are your thoughts? What is the magic number for refunds, in your opinion? 1 hour? 12 hours?

The new Android Market will be rolling out over the next two weeks for users with OS 1.6 and higher.

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/12/android-market-client-update.html