Google has developed a manual of good practices for developers in order that the applications optimized for tablets are more and more numerous and easy to locate on Google Play by the user. The Application Quality Guide for Tablets, Tablet App Quality Checklist, is a manual in the section for developers of Google Play where guidelines are set so that applications for tablets are a more remarkable and quality reality.
This move by the Mountain View company comes to address one of the competitive differences with respect to the iPad and the Apple App Store, where the catalog of applications that work on your tablet is really extensive and differentiated from that of the iPhone. Users of Android tablets had a smaller catalog of apps optimized for tablets Furthermore, the catalog of the Google application store is not structured in such a way that it is easy to identify the applications for these types of devices.
Thus, the Internet giant proposes to those who are going to make new applications or renew an existing one a few rules to take into account.
Almost all have to do with design adaptation to larger screens taking into account a different distribution of spaces, adapting the font, the size of the texts and the buttons and tactile links, etc ... He also talks about understand tablet hardware and its differences with that of smartphones and thus, adapt functions and elements, like widgets, to these devices.
One of the most notable parts of these guidelines is Google's emphasis on developers making it known to both themselves and users the screen size and resolution for which the application is optimized. That is, they must notify that the application is optimized for tabletsYes, after having tested it on various devices and preferably in a different format, for example 7 inches and 10 inches.
In turn, some good publishing practices of the applications in which the description must let the consumer know that he is facing an application optimized for tablets and must be offered at least one image that demonstrates it.
Google prefers that the APKs of the applications are unique, that is, that they are not duplicated for smartphones and tablets, so as not to unnecessarily multiply the number of titles and so that they are easier to find.
What we do not know, nor can we extract from the text of this Application Quality Guide for Tablets, is whether in their Google Play catalog they will make a categorization by device type, using the data that the developers will provide if they follow the guidelines, similar to that of the App Store or if we simply have to enter the description to find out. In any case, we are facing a first big step, in the meantime you can use Tablified Market to detect some.
Source: TechCrunch