Amazon offers cloudy app test drives
Casting Android handsets as very thin clients
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Amazon is extending its cloud-based Test Drive to its on-device store, offering browsers a quick shot at an Android app, on their own phone, as a prelude to closing the sale.
The service doesn't require developers to do anything, it just pops up as an option in the application's details (assuming you are in the USA), allowing the user to run the application in Amazon's cloud to see if they like it before buying, downloading and installing locally.
No sign of Test Drive, or the Amazon store itself, on this side of the pond though
Applications running in the cloud can't access all local resources: the Amazon App Store sandbox will permit access to the touch screen and accelerometer but apps requiring access to GPS, camera, microphone or even multi-touch can't be run remotely, so buyers will just have to take the plunge and down-rate things they don't like.
Amazon promises to extend the sandbox over time, linking up to more local features, perhaps (over time) reducing the dependence on local processing and shifting mobile applications completely into Amazon's cloud.
The patchy connectivity inherent in mobility will postpone that for a while, but for giving a game a quick test-run the cloud works fine, and gives Amazon the chance to test out how a cloud-based future would work. ®
COMMENTS
I would be happy enough to just be able to use the Amazon appstore in the UK as is.
I don't trust Google really with my details but I do trust Amazon. (They are fair and reasonable and you can phone them up if you need to all though it is seldom required.)
If I could use prepaid cards with Google Play it might be a bit better but tbh I deliberately create a new Google account fairly often. (And I definitely don't want the same account on phone and tablet)
I am probably in the minority but I trust MS and even probably Apple more with my personal data / credit card details than Google.
(I like WP7 hate iOS and use Android so I think I am fairly unbiased). I think I will get a Lumina 710 soon.
It would be a nice new web standard
That renders the site on the server and sends the screen to your device. I think mobile Opera does this a bit, but they do all the rendering. If it was a plug-in for Apache with standard screen sizes, every web server (well - 70% ish)) could also start serving displays up to resource poor browsers who ask for it. Great way to push the same media-rich, interactive sites to everyone.
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