AppPack
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T-Mobile Top Picks brands the Android Market, magenta-style
T-Mobile's been keen on making its Android customers aware of particular apps since the launch of the myTouch 3G and the App Pack, but there's a problem -- App Pack is its own app, which is kinda unwieldy when you've already got the Market sitting there. That's where Top Picks appears to come into play, the carrier's next-gen effort to inject some of its opinions into its users' app selection process by integrating directly with the Market, much as Verizon has done on the Droid. Customers can expect to get updated with Top Picks "over the next couple of weeks," though it requires Android 1.6 -- we're guessing that means no CLIQ or Behold II love for the time being.
T-Mobile's AppPack and Sherpa for Android leak out
The myTouch 3G is all well and good, but seeing how the Magic on which it's based has already launched virtually everywhere else in the world, the phone itself isn't really the big news -- it's more the strong commitment T-Mobile seems to be making to Android apps with the value-add pack it's prepping. So far, shots and hands-on time with T-Mobile's so called AppPack have been hard to come by, but xda-developers has just happened to "come across" a build that's now available to anyone who wants to install it. Problem is, the AppPack doesn't currently include Sherpa -- the location-based entertainment app T-Mobile has really been pushing hard -- apparently due to some last-minute problems T-Mob's having, so for that, we turn to another corner of xda-developers for an installable APK. It's expected that the carrier will be making the AppPack available to G1 owners, but just in case they had a last minute change of heart... well, let's just say that's not a concern anymore, if you know what we mean.[Via HTC Source, thanks DW and Matt D.]Read - AppPackRead - Sherpa
T-Mobile pushing apps hard with myTouch 3G; Sherpa pictured, detailed
Though the myTouch 3G is really just an HTC Magic at its core, T-Mobile seems to be doing everything it can to gussy it up with as much crapware bloatware value-add software that it can. All kidding aside, this really isn't crapware -- the carrier is apparently quite serious about calling out best-in-class apps in the Android Market, going so far as to create a separate "app pack" application that'll drill down stuff it wants to highlight. T-Mobile tells us this might even include T-Mobile's own visual voicemail application, which is currently in development, but whether that's available at launch or not, nothing in the app pack won't be findable in the regular Android Market, so there's no reason to worry.The crown jewel in the myTouch 3G's arsenal will be Sherpa, an entertainment discovery app that learns your preferences in food, stores, and attractions over time based on your ratings and bubbles them to the top so they're easier for you to find. Naturally, it's location-based so that you can find things around you; it'll be interesting to see how well this works in practice, but at a glance, we're excited to give it a shot so that we can finally stop eating In-N-Out seven nights a week (not to say there's anything wrong with that).
