Smart App updates turned on by Google, saves data and time when updating Apps

By now you should all know that there is a new version of the Google Play Store rolling out across the globe. It takes time for every device to get the update via traditional means, but many of you have already picked up the APK and installed it on your own. At first the biggest story to come from the update was buried inside the apk. Offering up those screenshots of Google Gift Cards and the Wishlist. While very cool and very exciting news, neither feature is active yet.

There is however a feature in the Play Store that is active and it is called Smart App update. According to AndroidPolice, this new feature isn’t limited to the latest 3.8.15 Play Store build either, it should also be functioning on the last 3.7.15 build as well. It seems that it more server-side than device Play Store version side.

So what the heck is Smart App update and why should you even care.  The simplest way to explain it is with am example. I’ll uses AP’s because it very easy to understand. Take ezPDF Reader. The app weighs in at 6.34MBs. If that app happens to update, be it a huge change or just a small update with device support added, you have to download the entire 6.34MB of data and install it again. Well, that will no longer be the case. When an app releases an update the differences between the previous app and the new version (the Delta) is what you will now be downloading. This is important because in the case of ezPDF Reader, the delta is only 2.7 to 3.0 MBs. Cuts your data traffic down, cuts your download time down and gets you the update much faster.

Think about those higher end games or apps you might have. Say Inotia 4 for example. That sucker weighs in at 50.05 MB’s. It is a pretty huge game and even on Wi-Fi it takes a minute to download. If Com2uS puts out an update that might solve a few minor glitches or adds something, the amount of data needed to update the app could be only a megabytes instead of having to wait for 50MB’s to download all over again. Check out this great video showing it in action.

This is going to save valuable bandwidth on your carrier, you not needing to stress out of finding a Wi-Fi connection to make an update to a large app and easily save you time from waiting on a download and install of an update. Very nice Google, this is great.

Source AndroidPolice