Purchasing an app

How to get the most out of Android’s growing app market,starting with your very first app download.

he expanding range of utilities, games and other fun stuff on the Play Store is making the platform extremely competitive in the world of smartphones, and is something you should get stuck into as soon as possible in order to get the most out of your Android handset. There are a couple of provisos before you begin, however. First and foremost, you will need to set up a Google Mail account in order to use the Play Store. Simply point your phone’s browser to http://mail.google.com and follow the simple set-up instructions, and you’re all set. Having your Android phone linked to a Gmail account will help you in all sorts of other ways, too – it even lets you back up your entire phone contacts book to your email account in case your phone is lost or stolen. The other thing to think about is exactly how safe and high quality the content on the Store is for you and your phone. Unlike Apple’s App Store, the Play Store is a relatively unmonitored environment, which means, while there is often a greater range of choice in what you can download – at very cheap prices – rogue applications will sometimes appear that won’t offer you much in the way of value, or may not even work with your unique handset. It’s best to check out reviews from other users first (shown on the download page for each application), or download a demo of the app if one is available. All this said, the Play Store is a burgeoning and vibrant shopping experience, so join us now as we demonstrate how to start buying apps that will make your smartphone even more fun to use.