Today, the +Android Developers page on Google+ elaborated on some other changes that were announced quite a while ago. Now users that browse the Google Play Store from a tablet like the Nexus 7 or Nexus 10, will see the “Designed for Tablets” section as the default view in the top lists. They also announced that apps and games that do not meet the “Designed for Tablets” criteria will be then marked as “Designed for Phones’ for users that are browsing the Play Store from tablets.
For developers, if you want to check to see if your app meets the “Designed for Tablets” criteria, you can go to the Developer Console to check your tablet optimization tips. Now if you see any issues listed, you’ll need to address them in your app and upload a new binary for distribution. Once all the issues are resolved, your app will then be eligible for the “Designed for Tablets” section. Of course, normal ranking and filtering will apply.
Android Developers touts that every day thousands of Android developers are taking advantage of the tremendous Android tablet opportunity. With more tablet-optimized apps being featured, it should get more developers to create tablet-optimized apps and will also mean that more Android tablets will be sold. As it stands now, Android tablets are really just bigger Android phones. Especially when many of the apps are not tablet optimized. I’d have to say that’s one of the biggest things that Apple has over Android in the tablet space. Hopefully that changes soon. But this is a good step towards that.
You should see the changes available now on Google Play, so head on over to the Play Store on your tablet and see what kind of tablet-optimized apps are available now. Hopefully we’ll see hundreds of thousands soon to shut Apple up. What are some of your favorite tablet-optimized devices for Android tablets?