Phone + tablet - same account or different?

[cookie365]

Hi all

At the moment I have a Gingerbread phone. Tomorrow I'm getting an ICS tablet.

I currently use Appbrain to manage apps, and IMAP for about 3 email addresses.

What are the pros and cons of using the same google account on both devices?

For example, I expect I'll be using different apps on the tablet - if I do use the same account can I tell Appbrain which device(s) each app is intended for? I don't want to have to spend time filtering out the right updates.

Thanks

 

[Stuntman]

Not sure about AppBrain. I have both a GB phone and ICS tablet on the same account. Google Play seems to manage apps on both devices quite well. If you use the same account on your tablet, it can automatically install most apps you have on your phone to your tablet. If you plan to use the same apps or mostly the same apps, this can be a handy feature. I only use Gmail for my email and it handles it quite well on both devices. Not sure about any other email accounts.

Google Play does tell you which of your devices a particular app can be installed on. I don't use AppBrain, so I cannot say how it works. In GP, for every app, it says if it is compatible with none, all or some of your devices and you can see which devices it is compatible with. I don't use auto update, so I don't know if you can set it to auto update on one device, but not on the other. I always manually update apps on my devices.

 

[cookie365]

Thanks Stuntman. I'll start by using the same account and see how well that works.

 

[Stuntman]

Thanks Stuntman. I'll start by using the same account and see how well that works.

You're welcome. If you don't like it, you can always just do a reset and then use a different account. I would think that using the same account would make both your Android devices sync things better. If you really want to keep both devices separate and independent for whatever reason, then using a second account would make sense.

 

[GeoUSA]

I like the the concept of using the same account on multiple devices and the benefit of using paid apps on all of your devices. That benefit is one reason I've avoided ordering an iPad. This afternoon, I ordered the Nexus 7 tablet.

I did catch one feature of Android 4.1 during the presentation and the positive reaction from the developers in the audience: Jelly Bean supports purchases down to individual devices. This may mean the end of buy once, run on multiple devices though I suspect it will be up to the app's developer.

 

[cookie365]

Thanks GeoUSA.

I'm not too fussed if I have to buy some apps twice in order to use them on two devices. Really the main issue is whether Appbrain will prod me to install the same identical list of apps on each device, which I don't want.

I've noticed Appbrain supports multiple 'lists' of apps so I guess when I set up the tablet I'll somehow create a new list and lock the tablet to that list; presumably it's then just a case of adding the app to either or both lists depending on my preference.

Will report back in case others have the same question

 

[cookie365]

Typing this on my new archos g9

Used the same account - working as I hoped with eg Google reader feeds completely in sync.

And apprain created a new app list for the archos as I signed in and it allows two completely different sets of installed apps.

Now to figure out how to swap the ics keyboard for he HTC sense one

 

[sonyboyj]

U can just use ur account on the tab and redownload all apps u bought on the phone