Problems with Market

[JayDogBigDaddy]

Hello I am very new to the Android world. I received a Generic 8 in tablet with android 2.2 for my birthday last weekend. When I go to the market - as I scroll through the apps there are hundreds of apps that are in Chinese or Mandarin and only a few in English. This tablet came directly from Hong Kong and I was wondering if there is a regional setting or something I could change because I have been checking the blogs and forums and no one else seems to be having this problem. I have contacted the retail vendor and they said they would have to contact the distributor and that could take a long time. I want to start installing apps but I cannot find hardly any in English.

Please help..

 

[feverhost]

JayDogBigDaddy: Are you sure it's the official Google Marketplace? Quite a lot of times vendors put their own market, or other lesser known markets on tablets. Do you know the manufacturer of your tablet? That might help to see if you can get the official marketplace. If you cannot I recommend that you use these popular alternatives:

The SlideMe Market
SlideMe is an alternative market that has been around since 2007. It hosts 1,000’s of apps, that are able to be download via their own app that you can download through their website, or by directly downloading and installing their own APK (which I’ll explain at the end of this article). This is a unique market as it not only has popular apps, it also focuses on lesser known, and independent developers. Therefore you get access the biggest and badest apps, plus access to very good lesser known apps.

GetJar
GetJar has proclaimed itself the “Second largest app website” on the Internet just behind Apple’s App Store. That is because GetJar doesn’t just host Android apps, but apps for the Blackberry, WindowsOS, iPhone, and Symbian platforms. It’s very easy to just filter down just Android apps by typing in Droid2 under the search. Due to GetJar being so populuar it was one of the first places that you could download AngryBird from even before it was released on Google’s Marketplace. There is a good mix of free and paid apps and games on GetJar.

1Mobile Market
This is a 100% app driven market just like Google’s Market. Their website is only setup so you can download it app. Once the app is installed you will have access to 1,000’s of free and paid games/apps at your finger tips. This is a very easy and quick app to navigate and download from.

AndAppStore
Not one of the best markets on the Internet, but it does come installed on a lot of Chinese tablets. They host roughly 500, most free apps, and some very basic games. I only include this market, as it does come pre-installed on quite a lot of tablets.

AndroLib
AndroLib has been around about 2 ½ years, and claims to have over 103,000 games and apps for Android. The best thing to do is visit their website, register, and then you get access to all of the apps and games that they host. You are also able to use a QR Code Scanner app to download games from your camera to your tablet.

AndroidTapp
At first this was strictly an Android Review Website, but it has expanded to hosting android apps. They bost over 100,000 apps and games that you can search their website for specific ones. AndroidTapp will allow you to download the apps via their website through QR Code, Google Marketplace, AppBrain, and AndroLib’s application.

 

[JayDogBigDaddy]

Thank you for your reply feverhost. I do not know if it is the actual Google Marketplace..I'm guessing not. It is very staunchy and buggy..I unfortunately am so new to this I don't know how to setup the actual Google marketplace on my tablet. The only time I tried to download an app not from the app market on the tablet - it said to follow the link so that I could download the app and when I clicked on the link - it said "you do not have permission to access this app". I am so used to Windows that I feel like a very inadequate noob...