Android tablet will finally have apps optimised for its screen size

With some Android apps experiencing poor responsivity on Android Tablets from the beginning, Google is now encouraging app developers to optimise its apps for use on Android Tablet. This trend will undoubtedly improve the experience for existing and future Android tablet owners and compete against the iPad in terms of ease of use.

To kickstart the movement, Google will update over 20 of its first-party apps for large screens to set an example for other developers. The first 20 apps include Google Photos, Calendar, Chrome and YouTube which will incorporate elements from the desktop landscape interface. The company is also looking to release a Pixel tablet which should be released next year.

Current Situation

Android apps or APKs are designed to adapt to fit across multiple devices, without taking into account different hardware specifications such as cameras and screen size. With most apps designed to run primarily on Android phones, running these apps on an Android tablet will simply produce an enlarged version, wasting screen real estate and causing low resolution.

Users who acquire Android tablets for the purpose of productivity have been bottlenecked by apps which fail to take advantage of the larger display area, thereby giving Android Tablets a bad rep for having an awkward user interface. This makes it harder for Android tablets to replace a traditional computer.

How is it beneficial for Android Tablet users

Users hunting for a laptop replacement can turn to Android tablets rather than iPads – the latter is often associated with a better user interface. More apps will adopt a two-column view for a more organised content view.

Additional features such as multiple windows will make multitasking easier on a large screen device. This will also reduce the learning curve for new adopters of tablets given its similarity to the traditional desktop interface.