Tencent Rolls Out Incremental App Updates For its Android Store

China’s biggest web company, Tencent (HKG:0700), is giving the nation’s Android users even less of a reason to use the official Google Play store for downloading apps. Its own recently revamped third-party app store, the Tencent App Gem, now supports incremental updates for apps, saving you downloading time (and maybe 3G data) when updating your catalog of apps.

The incremental updates – also called “smart updates” – mean that when a new version of an app hits the store, you just need to get the new aspects, not re-download the entire app. As seen in the screenshot on the right, it means you’d only need to get 3.5MB rather than the full 23MB for the entire Amazing Alex game. Not all Android apps support these incremental updates, but where they do it’ll save a lot of time. Tencent’s own QQ HD instant messenger app, for example, is shrunk down to just 3.34MB for its latest update, which is down from the full 10.9MB.

Google switched on support for such smart updates in August this year in the Google Play store. But, as regular readers will be aware, a great many Chinese Android users prefer to opt out of much of the Google ecosystem – including Play. Plus, Google Play’s app selection is limited by regulations (eg: no Skype app), and doesn’t support paid apps. That’s why there are lots of alternative Android app stores in the country, from major web companies like Tencent and Baidu, as well as from numerous startups like AppChina and Wandoujia.

Get the Tencent App Gem, with versions for phone or tablet, from its homepage.

[Source: 36kr – article in Chinese]