Google launched a Web-based interface to the Android Market this week, offering Android users an easier way to find and install applications. The service integrates with the user's Google account and can be used to deploy software to a remote Android device over the Internet.

Google first disclosed its plans for an Android Market website last year at the Google I/O conference. It has become one of the key pieces in Google's effort to improve the Android Market experience and remedy the reportedly slow growth of commercial application purchases. Google also recently overhauled the Android Market application that ships on devices and has worked to support carrier-billing and in-app purchases.

The Android Market website prominently displays an assortment of "featured" applications and best-selling games. A sidebar on the left-hand side offers access to software categories. When you click one of the category links, you will see tabs that show the most popular paid and free applications for the category. It will typically show 12 applications at a time. If you select the "See more" link at the bottom, it will take you to a paginated list that you can continue clicking through to see additional software.

A search box near the top of the website allows users to input a query and see matching applications. It has basic autocompletion support, much like the standard Android Market application. When you input a query, the site will display a paginated list of results, with one application per row. Next to each application, you can see star icons indicating its rating. Prices will be displayed next to commercial applications.

The search feature supports some basic options. You can filter for free or paid applications and you can choose to sort the results by relevance or popularity. It's not as granular or sophisticated as the search tools offered by some third-party services, such as the popular AppBrain application index. AppBrain allows users to sort search results by relevance, age, all-time popularity, and popularity over the past week.

One of my favorite features of AppBrain is its index of Android software that is "hot" at the current time. It tracks short-term popularity trends and makes it easier to find interesting applications that might not otherwise bubble to the surface. Although the software in that list isn't always good, the list is generally more useful to me than the pile of tired and obligatory stuff that Google shovels out in its "featured" application selection.

When you view an application's profile page, you can see other software from the same developer, related applications, screenshots, a description, the rating, version requirements, the size, and a selection of reviews. You can click the User Reviews tab to see a more comprehensive review listing. Applications also have a "What's New" tab that shows the features that were introduced in the latest version.

One of the social features that Google has integrated into the Android Market website is a "Tweet" button that makes it easy for the user to share a link to the application on Twitter. When another user clicks the link on an Android device, it will show the application in the platform's native Android Market application rather than loading the website.

Remote installation

One of the most significant features of the site is the ability to install applications to a remote device through the Web interface. In order for this feature to work, you have to first log into the Android Market website using the same Google account that you have registered with your Android devices. After you have logged in, you can click the "My Market Account" link at the top of the page to access your account status.

When you view your Android Market account, the main tab will show you a list of applications that you have recently installed. This list doesn't appear to be complete.

You can click the "Settings" tab in your account to see a table of all the Android devices that are associated with your account. Due to occasional device reviews, I currently have five devices associated with my account, including some that have been deactivated and restored to factory settings. I don't think the old hardware can ever be disassociated from an account, but you can configure the website to hide specific devices.

I was initially a little worried that it might try to do some crazy automated syncing to install all of the applications I use onto all of the devices, but it fortunately doesn't work that way. It will leave your configuration intact and allow you to install applications on the devices individually. When you attempt to install something through the website, it will show a prompt asking you to specify the device on which you want the software deployed.

After you specify a device and confirm the installation request on the website, the program will immediately start downloading on the selected device. The installation process will be carried out automatically when the download completes. The whole process requires no user intervention on the device itself—you can install a program on the phone without ever removing it from your pocket. This aspect of the new Android Market user experience is pleasantly seamless.

The remote installation feature is very well executed, but it's unfortunately the full extent of the website's phone management functionality. You can't remotely uninstall an application and you can't really do batch operations. The website also doesn't provide an easy way to see what applications are on each device.

Work to be done

Although the new Android Market website is a big step in the right direction, its capabilities are still a bit limited. We'd like to see more comprehensive phone management functionality, more sophisticated search filtering, and better handling of multiple devices. It would also be nice to be able to get an RSS feed with information about updates for the applications that you have installed.

The website will certainly help Google make the market more manageable for end users, but the company still has a lot of work ahead. There are many other issues that remain unresolved—such as the general lack of good commercial software, an overabundance of garbage like live wallpapers and soundboards that clutter up search results, and applications with descriptions that subtly misrepresent their provenance and function. Ensuring that the Android Market remains a vibrant open ecosystem and balancing that against the need for a more hands-on approach to curation will pose challenges for the search giant.