... or Why Google Play Store is messing things up!
Ok ... for a long time I vacillated between Android and iPad. I have both iPhone and Android phone .... I'm a techSlut ... I'll go with anyone ... at least where gadgets are concerned .. but a tablet is a hefty piece of investment and so I've been slow to jump ...
Anyway! recently I did .. I opted for the Sony Xperia Tablet Z and I love it ... I have it with me all the time ... I use it constantly, and I'm happy with it! I'm sure now that I'd be just as happy with an iPad, but hey I made the choice to go Android ...
... but Google Play Store is really messing me up ... you see I'm British , I speak English, I read English .. I LIKE English .. get the picture? .. well I'm registered on the UK Google Play Store, so where's the problem? you may ask! and this is it .. I live in Germany ... and Google are very clever people! they know better! So, when I try to access the Google Play Store, they KNOW that I really want German Books, German Apps and that German is my language, despite the fact I think otherwise! You see, my IP Address is German .. so NO! I can't get access to the UK store.... because these Google Boffins know better!
When I access the Books in Google Play, I get shown the German Books, I get shown the German Movies ... while the top level menus are in English, the content is German, I have to read the German Language to understand "New Releases" ... "Neuerscheinungen" in case you're wondering ...
With Apple, I have no such issues .. I can access my UK Account, see my UK Books, read UK Magazines .. listen to my UK music (actually, I can do that last part with Google too) ... of course! Please, No-one give me a German iTunes gift voucher because it can only be used with the German iTunes Store, but that's a rant for another day!
Please Google! Please! Please! Please! ... stop being so bloody clever! ... sometimes we Brits abroad (and I'm sure it's just as applicable to Germans abroad, French abroad, Americans abroad, etc, etc, etc) we just want to relax with our own things, read and listen to our own language ... If we register with the UK Store ... we want to buy from the UK store ... even when we're abroad!
This is the internet after all, isn't it meant to be a land without borders? I can buy a physical DVD on-line and have it shipped anywhere in the world. I can buy a book (for the most part) in the US or Canada and have it shipped to Germany ... but digital content, it seems, cannot be so easily handled (why?). If I go to Amazon UK Store ... they show me UK items ... if I go to Amazon DE store .. they show me German items ... simple really ... but for Google, who still for the most part control the Android platform and the Android Marketplace this is too complex and it is detracting from my enjoyment of my tablet
one more thing ... I found this quite amusing ... here I am using "Blogger", owned and run by Google I believe ... this page is in English, the editor is in English, my profile is set to English ... so I hit the Preview button, and what banner is displayed across the top? ... Yes! "Vorshau", and there's a message to the right which begins "Es tut uns lied..." ("We are sorry...") but I suppose I can use Google Translate to read it ... or maybe not! ...
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