Inside the Google app for your Android smartphone or tablet you’ll find the ability to play music, open your Gmail app, turn up your device’s volume, turn on your device’s flashlight feature, turn off (or on) airplane mode, turn on (or off) Bluetooth, or dim your device’s screen. Google notes that while APK files can now be up to 100MB in size, devs should keep things like mobile data connectivity and data caps in mind.
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The 50MB limit happens to be a legacy of the Android Market – see how old that is, taking into consideration how the Android Market has since been renamed to the Play Store. If you are developing an application, and run into the minimum file size for APKs, you’ll be switched to making use of those Expansion Files. The change comes as developers continue to build richer apps and games, and need to include more along with them.
While connectivity is fairly ubiquitous for many Android owners, there are still times when Wi-Fi or mobile broadband coverage isn’t available or there some time of connection outage.
Developers can find out more here. Users on a slow connection are less likely to install an app or game that is going to take a long time to download. Users are often wary of downloading large files for fear of exceeding their limits. Longer wait times increase the risk they’ll give up.
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As a developer, are you excited about the new APK size limit?
