Why are downloaded applications bigger than what it says on the Android Market???

the same reason that it is on pc. you download the installer file then install it, the install expands the file and makes it executable for use. the only difference is, you cant delete teh installer like you can on pc.

make sense?

 

I believe it also has to do with the fact that apps collect a lot of data as well. For example, web browsers like to cache data and it could add a lot to the apps total size.

I was checking out some of the app sizes a moment ago and my 5MB TouchPal keyboard is a staggering 10MB! A keyboard!

 

That's really a bad way to determine size then. Who cares what size the installer is when the limiting factor is storage space on the phone? Being able to move it to the relatively unlimited space of the sd card is new to froyo so they couldn't have been counting on that this whole time... Perhaps we should all suggest to the market that listed app sizes must be the actual installed size?

 

There would be no way for them to know what data you will have and how big their app would be on your phone, so they give .apk size as a standard.

 

Hopefully this indicates a learning process in terms of predictive text - does it get better, the more you use it?

It must store the additional data it gathers, I guess.

 

I suppose the dictionary would take up space, but 5MB seems like a little much.

The predictive text is pretty good. It displays way more words than other keyboards, so you have more options when typing, rather than just one or two.

My only gripe is that it doesn't add a space when you select a predicted word and continue typing. Other than that, it's very slick.

 

Touchpal was the best keyboard on windows mobile in my opinion. It was super fast and the ability to swipe on each key for alternate functions was awesome. It sucks that this one feels gimped in comparison. I do miss being able to resize the keyboard as well.

 

Not to stray too far off topic from the OP, but the feature I miss most was the "quick text", where you can program various sentences and have them quickly pasted into your chat application or email app. I'm sure they will make it just like the WM version in the future.