My Motorola Xoom: The Android Market
In this chapter:
- Exploring the Android Market
- Examining an App’s Information Page
- Downloading a Free App
- Downloading a Fee-Based App
- Updating an App
- Uninstalling an App
- Checking App Storage Use
- Resetting an App
- Downloading Non-Android Market Apps
Your Xoom comes standard with a dozen or more apps, such as Gallery, Camera, and Email. There are many apps that you’ll find yourself using daily and others that you might never use. There might be a task or function that you’d like to perform with your Xoom that the preloaded apps simply do not offer.
Fortunately, the Xoom does not limit you to just those preloaded apps. Thousands of apps are available for the Xoom, some free and some not-so-free, and all you have to do to get them is pay a visit to the Android Market, a “one-stop shop” for Android apps to run on your Xoom.
Exploring the Android Market
Knowing what type of app you want to install is helpful, but not necessary. The Android Market provides categories that can help you narrow your search and just browse what others are finding useful or fun.
- Tap to open the Apps folder.
- Tap the Market app to open it.
- Apps of interest scroll across the top of the screen; tap one to jump to that app’s information screen.
- Tap Featured Tablet Apps to view a list of the Top 48 apps that other Android users find useful, fun, and interesting. (Keep in mind that some apps might appear small in size when opened—this likely means the app was designed for a mobile phone and not the Xoom.)
- Tap Top Free Apps to view the thousands of free apps that are rated highly (more than four stars out of five), or have a high number of downloads (typically in the range of 50,000 or more).
- Tap a category to view apps of interest. Each category is also broken into sections, such as Featured, Top Free, and Best Selling.
- Tap the Search Market text field. This is useful if you know the name of an app or a keyword that might be associated with it.