New Android Market Update Brings a Number of Changes

Google is now starting to push out a new version of Android Market, the company’s own app store for Android handsets, that brings with it a number of enhancements that should be welcomed by many users. The new version of Android Market takes it to version nmber 3.3.11 and adds settings for automatically updating all apps, unless you choose not to, updates to occur over WiFi only, adding shortcuts to the homescreen automatically once a new app gets downloaded akin to what’s being done on Honeycomb, and smaller font sizes. Here’s what Android Police found:

• New setting: Auto-update apps (presumably, sets all apps to auto-update mode, woohoo!)
• New setting: Update over Wi-Fi only
• New setting: Auto-add shortcuts (automatically adds homescreen shortcuts for new apps, ala Honeycomb)
• Smaller font
• New app drawer icon
• Microphone (voice command) button in search menu
• Star rating chart on app pages
• Minor UI tweaks

The auto-update app feature is nice as currently apps are defaulted to non-auto-update unless a user goes in and changes the setting for each app. Combined with update over WiFi only, users can now have the latest versions of their favorite apps pushed to them without requiring a user to manage the update and restricting the update over WiFi will definitely help users who are on a metered wireless data plan get the most out of their experience.

Users who do not want to wait for the new Android Market to be pushed to their devices can download the APK and install the update manually themselves from here. A word of caution, however, is that the new version of Android Market is still glitchy with Honeycomb so tablet users who want a more stable version should wait for Google.