Android News
Sony launches Mash to discover Android apps; Sony customers ironically benefit less from it
June 24, 2010 | by Andrew Kameka
Android Apps, Sony Mobile
Android users tend to pay close attention to devices, but once you already have a phone, it becomes about the apps. Sony Ericsson has launched a new website in recognition of that reality, offering Android users a chance to discover and share recommendations for the best Android apps.
Sony created Mash-App.com to help X series users, but it opened the door to others as well. When someone visits the site, they see recent “Essentials” and the most popular apps. Then it breaks things down by popular tags and user-recommended packs called a “Mash.” Users can then scan a barcode to download from the Market. An on-device companion app is coming soon according to the Sony product blog.
This is all nice, but there’s one major problem with the site: people mash apps that are not accessible to X10 users. Twitter is only available to Android 2.1+ devices, meaning XPERIA users won’t be able to use it until this fall when the device is upgraded from Android 1.6. I’ve also spotted packs that include apps that lack QVGA compatibility, which is required for the X10 Mini/Mini Pro to access them in the Android Market.
I’m sure XPERIA users will probably be used to not being able to access certain apps by now, but it’s still strange to me that Sony made a site for highlighting apps, yet people who use their products are the ones least likely to benefit from it. Maybe things will improve once they can apply some filtering or the XPERIA line of Android phones is updated.
I don't agree. The site doesn't seem directly aimed at Sony users. Maybe it does from the phone itself i don't know because I don't own one. But after reading this post I have visited the site and signed up and It's actually very interesting. I can go through and easily create a "mash-up" or view other peoples. They have a direct feed of all the market apps in there and I can't think of a better way to do it. Their ericson line of phones are receiving an upgrade so this will be more useful to them but it's still a good place to check out what other people are using for apps on their devices. And reall there's only a logo in the top right that says sony ericson on it the rest of the page doesn't have any sign of being related to sony whatsoever. Any way thanks for pointing towards a great site. j.