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As a fan of Angry Birds I really wanted to play the new Angry Birds Rio game that Rovio released. Much to my dismay I learned that it was available exclusively through the new Amazon Appstore. Despite being annoyed by exclusivity deals and neither needing nor wanting another app store I decided to give it a go.

The first great challenge in this harrowing adventure was to actually locate the appstore itself. I’d heard it was available in the Android Market so I did a search. What did I find? Certainly no app store among the vaguely matching results. Next I checked Amazon.com. There was nothing there either, and search results were just as useless. I then brought up trusty old Google. A search led me to all sorts of rumors, blogs, forums, etc. and yet no place to install it. I then talked to a geeky buddy of mine who had the apk in a dropbox. The fact that I had to get it this way or that someone would have to put it in a dropbox was my first annoyance. So, they don’t quite have it as easily discoverable as they should, but whatever. So the journey continued.

The first thing seen when opening the new app was a login screen. I said “Hey, I’ve got an Amazon account. I’ll just plug it in here and be ready to go.” If only it were that simple. The first thing Amazon complained about was not having a shipping address. I thought this an odd thing for an app store to request and asked myself “Are they going to send these apps to me on a floppy disk or something? Why do they need my address?” Of course my address was already stored in the account because of some prior shipping, yet the app redirected me to a web page to “correct this issue.” Once I’d chosen my address it went back to the app and started the process over. This time it wanted a payment method (which I was pretty sure was also on file). I verified this and went back to the app.

Finally! I’m in! Gimme Angry Birds! This worked ok. I was able to find the app without even searching as it was on the front page. I installed it and was happily smashing open cages and knocking down monkeys (yes, there are monkeys). I went back to the appstore and looked around for a few apps. Since the “top free” category had different apps than the Android Market I installed a few and discovered a few new games. This works fairly well for the most part.

The only thing that annoyed me about the way you install apps with the Appstore is the process it goes through. You find an app you want, click “buy now.” You then are redirected to your “my apps” page where you watch it for 10-15 seconds or so while Amazon does its thing. Then you are greeted with an app install page so you can review the permissions and finally install. This pops up over whatever you are doing. It’s a minor annoyance that I can tolerate.

There is one major reason I will stick to the Android Market at least for all my paid apps. The Amazon Appstore allows for NO REFUNDS. That’s right, folks. If you buy a paid app whether intentionally or not, whether you love it or hate it, you’re stuck with it. You can’t get a refund, and it will forever haunt your “my apps” page. Amazon also made it super easy to buy apps. With one click purchasing once you touch the button to install it on the app’s discription page you have bought the app.

I will always encourage you to make your own choices and decide your own adventures, but the Amazon Appstore is not a place I will be returning to very often. I’ll keep it around in case they have something the Android Market does not, but that doesn’t seem to be a high number of apps. All in all it’s not a horrible place to get apps, but it could use some improvement especially in the discover-ability and set up areas.

Please share your thoughts via the comments below.