Android Alternate Market Review – Synapsy

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synapsy-logo-api-betaSynapsy is another app market that looked interesting, but as you’ll see in this quick review it didn’t make the grade.

Generally, I am a fan of aggregators – the more app stores you bring into one interface, the more reach you can get from a single deployment of your app.  This store sent a direct email to the address on file for my apps on Google Play, and a decided to take a look.

The good?  Yes, their advertisement of submitting apps in just 2-3 minutes is pretty accurate.  It didn’t really take too much time to submit.  They pulled the images and text from Google Play.

However, in this case it doesn’t seem that their reach is sufficient to merit much of my time.  The next few months showed no downloads however, and I had submitted my top two free non-game Android apps.  I don’t think a paid app would be a good idea here, since the payout threshold is 200€.

Would games fare better?  Maybe.  Am I enticed to spend any more effort on this Android market at this time?  No.  Hopefully this market will improve as they bring more stores into their fold.  For now, I don’t recommend spending much time on Synapsy.

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Android Market AlternativesHungry for info on more Android app stores?  For access to all of my reviews of Android app stores and markets, check out the Android Market Alternatives report.  It covers dozens of Android app markets in detail, with an action plan for the top ones to spend your time and effort on.

A Dose of Realism – The Android Outlands

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Ok, folks, just a quick opinion piece heredunes. I hope I lay down a balanced look at Android app markets – I find some to be worthwhile, and others not so much. I’ve reviewed quite a few in my Android Market Alternatives Report, and I’m always looking for new ones to add to my recommended list.

The harsh truth, however, is that outside the shiny center of the Android universe lies vast outlands, with empty app stores that have few customers and few downloads.  Some of these app stores make a great sales pitch, and some are connected to some giant and successful companies.  This makes it hard to navigate (and is one of the big reasons I keep reviewing app stores on this site).

As an example, I noticed that InMobi launched their own Android app store aggregator this week, and I was pretty excited to see what they were doing.  After all, I know that the less work it takes to release to multiple app stores, the better.  However, my enthusiasm faded when I saw that the list contained a number of app stores that are on my no-go list, and some (like Sony) show 25 separate entries since each country shows up separately.  So much for 120 app stores…

I may still submit an app and test the waters there, and will post a more detailed review.  There may be a few hidden gems in there that could make it worthwhile.

At any rate, don’t be swayed by pure numbers of app stores.  It’s high quality app stores that we’re after.

Android Developer Tool – Apkudo Developer

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apkudo_logoA few weeks ago, I had the chance to talk to Josh Matthews, the CEO of Apkudo.  I’ve seen Apkudo at the AnDevCon conferences, but until recently their free app testing service was in a limited beta.  No more!  Now that Apkudo Developer is available to all, I think this is a great time to talk about it.  This free tool lets you test your app on 247 different Android devices (currently), with a minimum of effort.

What Apkudo Developer does

With an arsenal of Android devices, Apkudo can do a Monkey test on hundreds of devices at once.  No time-consuming script writing, no complex setup.  Just upload and see the results.

To use the Apkudo Developer service, click the ‘Get started’ button and connect it to your Google account (you must be logged in).  The log-in is needed because they save your analysis data between sessions.

At that point, you upload your APK file and then click to start .  If there’s a queue, you may need to wait before analysis begins.  Otherwise, tests will run for a few minutes, showing your the results as they are completed.

That just leaves analyzing the results – if all goes well you’ll see a high number of devices under ‘succeeded’ and a smaller number under ‘failed’.  Don’t worry if a few fail – it may not be a serious issue.  For example, install timeout errors may not be important.

Apkudo_Android_Analysis

For each issue you get:

  •     Stack trace (for crashes)
  •     Monkey log
  •     Logcat

At this point, dig in to the data and see if you can find any issues you need to resolve.  The analysis interface lets you quickly filter and zoom in on specific types of failures for more information.

Don’t forget to note the other side of this – you know that your app had no trouble on all of the other devices.

How Apkudo can do this

Apkudo’s main business is Apkudo Approved, where they test handsets and other Android devices for manufacturers and carriers to certify the device for a suitable user experience.

Since they work with every major OEM, that gives them access to a lot of devices.  They test each device on 6k of the top apps from Google Play in the process of approving it.  They even test the hardware – the camera in a darkroom, audio, etc.

One good thing about this work with the OEMs is that it allows Apkudo to offer the Developer service for free.  The more developers use their tools, the more they can improve the service that they provide to OEMs (the paying customers).

An interesting point about this symbiosis is that aggregate data about what APIs and features upcoming apps are using can help give the OEMs insight into future apps.  So in this way, developers can help shape future device design and usability testing!

If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you know I’m not a fan of big companies gouging the little developers (e.g. fees to test and release an app), so I like this business model.  The OEMs pay for a service that helps them make them a lot of money, and developers get some free (or inexpensive) help.

What’s next

Josh made it clear that Apkudo is not sitting back and relaxing – they are working on a number of new features.  He emphasizes their commitment to the developer community.

For example, they are looking into how to share data (safely) between developers, which might be very helpful (we’ve all solved problems that we know that someone else has seen before!).

In addition, they plan to roll out “Ape” soon, as a more sophisticated testing system than Monkey.  It sounds like a different take on how to categorize devices, tests, and results than I have seen from other test vendors.  That could make it easier to group similar issues to resolve them.

Conclusion

I found that it took very little time to do some extra verification that my apps can pass basic tests on a variety of devices.  Given that I deploy my apps to a number of Android app stores all over the world, this kind of testing is important.  I don’t have access to a lot of these devices!

So, I suggest that you take a look at this lightweight testing tool, and keep an eye on Apkudo for future developer tools.

Android App Market News and Android Market Alternatives Report Update

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Android UpdatesThe world of Android app markets is always in motion – app stores closing, new ones opening, and changes to existing app stores. I rounded up a few recent changes to share with you here.

I also took the opportunity to update the Android Market Alternatives Report (part of the Advanced Package in the Android Income Series) with all of this information.

App Store Updates Continue reading →

Android Ad Network Review – AdColony

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AdColonyI primarily use banner ads in my Android apps.  They are typically unobtrusive and do not generate a lot of consumer backlash.  However, I continue to investigate other types of ads that might be able to engage users (and increase the money I can earn from my apps).  AdColony looked promising, but read on for a few reasons that it is not a good fit for my needs. Continue reading →