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My Motorola Xoom: The Android Market

Aug 10, 2011

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This chapter is from the book 

My Motorola Xoom

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Downloading a Free App

If you find an app that you like and it’s free, you can immediately download it to your Xoom and begin using it.

From the app’s information page, tap the Download button.
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For both free and fee-based apps, you see a pop-up window letting you know what services the app requires to work.

Read the Service Requirements Carefully

Some apps only require an Internet connection (called Network Communication) and memory storage space. Other apps require things such as your GPS location, your Contacts database, and more. Always ask yourself, “Why does this game require access to my contacts or need to know where I am right now?” Sometimes the answer is that the company is collecting email addresses and wants to know your location for marketing purposes. It can bundle this information and sell it to marketers. But this isn’t always the case—some apps (such as GPS-related apps) simply need access to your location to function properly. It can be a bit difficult to determine the reasons an app needs access to certain information, but in general you need to be more suspicious with the free apps than with with fee-based apps. Ultimately, it’s your call whether to accept the requirements or not.
Tap the OK button to proceed with the download, or tap Cancel to opt out of the download.
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If you click OK, you see a message indicating that the installation has started.
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After the installation is complete, click the Open button to open the app and use it.
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Tap the Manage button.
Place a checkmark in the checkbox if you want to allow an app to perform automatic updates (optional). (See the “Automatic Updating” note for details on why you might not want certain apps to automatically update.)
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Tap the Open button to open the app and use it.
Tap the Uninstall button to remove the app from your Xoom.

Automatic Updating

Allowing an app to automatically download and install updates sounds like a nice feature, but be careful. By enabling this feature, you are basically allowing the web developer to make changes to the app, including giving it access to information, such as contacts and GPS location, without informing you. Your Xoom automatically notifies you when an app has an update, and updating manually is such an easy thing to do (I show you how to do it shortly) that I recommend against the automatic update feature.

It’s Not All Good: Free Doesn’t Always Mean Free

Just because an app doesn’t cost anything to download, it doesn’t mean that the app is truly free to use. Many apps (especially games) can be downloaded for free, but then have either a recurring monthly cost associated with them or offer what are called in-app purchases and unlocks. Examples of monthly costs include digital magazine subscriptions (where the app is simply a container to hold issues) or subscriptions to play games such as MMOGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Games), where hundreds or thousands of players are online and playing with or against you. Examples of in-app purchases and unlocks include special weapons in games that only those who pay have access to (and typically give that player an advantage) and features that are visible to the user, but are disabled until a fee is paid to unlock that ability. Read an app’s information page carefully to determine whether there are any actual fees required to use a “free” app.

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