Market vs. AppBrain

dyoung111

Member
Dec 30, 2010
20
0
Hi,

I recently installed AppBrain on my Kyros, and in some respects prefer it to the Google Market. Both sites have a ton of useful free apps, etc. What, if any, advantages (other than sheer volume of apps) does the market hold over AppBrain? The reason I ask is that there are some add ons to Market, such as Voice, Googles, etc. that I don't want.

Feedback appreciated.
 

pbrauer

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 24, 2010
3,649
561
Appbrain and Market are competitors, plain and simple. Yes, AppBrain uses the market, but it also augments it. When Google went through back in November and "pruned" titles, most of those remained available over on Appbrain. Also, there are other apps there than you can't get on the market, such as older versions of apps that run on previous versions of Android.

Organization is different as well, as are some of the marketing methods that are used by both services. Personally, I think that filtering is better at AppBrain. If you look at the numbers, something like 5% of the same Android apps are on 99% of the phones (Maps, G-Mail), then there are the second tier which is about 20% of apps like Pandora and ATK (on about 80% of all Android phones). After that the bottom just drops way out, with lots of apps that basically duplicate the functions of other apps. Appbrain filters a lot of this out, so if you are looking for a purpose-specific solution they have already looked at all the apps that do it and picked the "best."

Bottom line though, Google runs the Market so until something changes drastically that is always going to be the primary place to start for the latest versions.
 

tobyw01

Member
Sep 28, 2010
168
16
I've used appbrain and it only tries to install from the Market. What is the point if I can just go straight to the Market.

Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk
 

pbrauer

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 24, 2010
3,649
561
The point is that not every device can "go straight to the Market." Android OS alone is not enough to be given access, officially you need to have an "approved" device with an IMEI number assigned, which means Phone capability. They have been making changes to allow tablets without phone capability able to use market, but that still does not guarantee access.
 

tobyw01

Member
Sep 28, 2010
168
16
The problem I have is that appbrain doesn't let me install apps that it can't find in market. I think this because it is not available by my carrier.

Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk
 

dyoung111

Member
Dec 30, 2010
20
0
Thanks for the responses everyone. Would it be possible to "uninstall" the Market, thereby ridding myself of unwanted apps, and continue to acquire apps thru AppBrain?
 

pbrauer

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 24, 2010
3,649
561
not sure what you mean by unwanted apps from the market. they are only installed if you want them. If you are talking about removing preinstalled apps from your ROM, you do so at your own risk.
 

dyoung111

Member
Dec 30, 2010
20
0
I prefer Appbrain at this point- can i simply uninstall the google marlet from the settings/applications menu without causing any issues?
 
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