The Google Play store is the hub for apps,
books and movies. Here’s everything you possibly need to know about the
ultimate media store
Formerly known as the Android Market, the
recently rebranded Google Play store brought with it an entirely new looks and
image, but still maintained the same elements as before.
Google Play
On first instance, you may think that the
Google Play store is just for packing your Android device out with the latest
and greatest apps, but if you dig a little deeper you’ll soon find a host of
other things you can download to enhance your Android OS experience.
Apart from the vast selection of over
400,000 apps, there’s also a dedicated book section, entitled Play Books, where
users can find their favorite novels and download them on to their device.
Thanks to the update to this service, Play Books uses its own dedicated reading
service to help show you what you’re reading in the best possible quality. The
selection is vast, and most can be purchased for a fraction of the price you’d
expect to pay within a real life book shop. If a particular book takes your
fancy, you can share the details of it to a friend, or post a link to it
directly on to Facebook or Twitter. For avid readers there’s no need to worry
about your vast selection of books clogging up the memory on your device, as
every book you choose to download is stored in cloud storage. This gives you
access to them wherever you are without wasting your internal storage on them.
“Split into a variety of sections, all
aimed id the perfect app"
Google
Play Book App
The other section within the Google Play
store is the movie section, entitled Play Movies. Although a dedicated movie
section has been around for a while now, the collection of movies on offer has
rapidly grown only recently. Users can now choose to preview their favorite
movies, watch trailers and then rent or purchase the movie. Renting a movie
gives you full access to said movie for 24 hours, while purchasing it will keep
it on your phone until you decide to delete (only a small selection of movies
can be bought outright). The benefits of renting a movie from the Play Movies
section are that you can stream it directly on your device, with no download
and no fuss. Any app that you do purchase will be tied to your Google account,
meaning you’ll be able to access it across any device that you can access with
your Google account.
Fundamentally, the main reason we go on to
the Google Play store is to download apps, or in some cases, manage our own
apps. With the rebranding of the aforementioned Google Play store, users had
more power to control their apps, without having to laboriously go through
various settings menus. The My Apps section within the Store enables users to
check for updates on their currently installed apps, and also see what the
update will add to the current app, and notify you of any changes to the app’s
permissions. Through this section you can also navigate through various app
settings, and even get a refund on apps you’ve purchased up to 15 minutes
before. In most cases this will be a tablet or desktop computer, but you can
even set up your phone to stream the movie directly to the television in your
living room.
The
app section of the Google Play store is split in to a variety of sections; all
aimed at helping you find the perfect app.
The app section of the Google Play store is
split in to a variety of sections; all aimed at helping you find the perfect
app. As you’d expect, every app that’s uploaded is put in to a category. Not
only is this a great way of keeping different types of apps separate from each
other, it also allows your users to search for a certain category of apps. Even
before downloading an app, the Google Play store has a host of options for you to
check out. Each dedicated app page has a description of the app, as well as
details about how to contact the developer, and also a notification on whether
your device will be compatible with it. Paying for apps is a lot simpler with
the Google Play store, and you can switch between different payment methods
easily. After you’ve finished downloading the app, the app will then appear in
your My Apps section where you can take a closer look at its settings, and
receive a refund for it if you don’t like it within the first 15 minutes of
using it.
The Google Play store is also great at
notifying you of any sales that are currently happening within the store, and
it isn't too hard to find something with a big discount attached. Although some
may think that discounts only happen to certain apps, it’s fairly common to see
exclusive deals on many books and movies as well. If you’re having trouble
finding a movie, book or app that takes your fancy, then you can check out the
brilliant Trending and Editor’s Choice sections. Each section of the Google
Play store has a version of the Editor’s Choice section that can be found in
the Apps section. These are often new films that the Store wants to showcase,
or in some cases, blockbuster hits that have been highly rated. Within the Apps
section, you’ll also find a Trending section. This will list some of the most
downloaded apps of the past week or so, but the quality is often mixed.
One
of the more clever features of the Google Play store is the links that can be
made from it directly to your device
One of the more clever features of the
Google Play store is the links that can be made from it directly to your
device, especially when you access the Store from a desktop computer. If you
use the same Google account that’s on your Android device when you access the
Store on your computer, you'll be able to download apps from your computer
directly on to your phone. In the same instance, you can then access the My
Apps section of the Store while on your computer and uninstall any apps from
your device.
When you start really digging a little
deeper in to the rather plain fascia of the Google Play store, you’ll soon
uncover a host of new features you wouldn’t have noticed before. And with
Google pushing out incremental, but frequent updates to the Store, the best is
surely yet to come.
