[General Paranoid Android Discussion] TKruzze:
The Google Play Services Question

This week Google released a major update to Google Play Services. At the I/O keynote in June, Google said they planned to update Google Play Services about every six weeks, so this update was pretty much expected as the last update was on July 29. What wasn't expected, by me at least, was how much it grew in size. The Universal dpi version (-030) went from 21MB to over 36MB, while the other versions grew from 6-9MB each. In addition, the PlayServices-Games Updater zip grew from 56 to over 84MB.

For those of you who don't read the OP, Google began making Google Play Services device specific beginning at about version 4.0. BaNkS GApps, for instance, used the -038 version, which is the proper version (480dpi) for the Nexus 5 (his GApps thread was actually IN the Nexus 5 forum). Since our goal is to provide a GApps package that works across multiple devices, we developed a Google Play Services installer that will install the PROPER version for YOUR device. While I know some will say, "...But it worked fine for me the other way", that's just not the way we want to do things here. Our core philosophy is that Google knows what they're doing and we'll follow their lead whenever possible.

As most of you know, the plan for the new Shell GApps was to include the Play Services Updater functionality in the GApps package. However, this would mean that every GApps package zip file would now end up growing by 70+MB. While this would likely be acceptable for the Stock or Full GApps packages, I would anticipate that our new "Minimalist" friends would be extremely unhappy to see the Pico or Nano GApps zip grow by 70+MB. Keep in mind, I'm just talking about the Zip file size. The installed size of the GApps package does not change and, in fact, would likely be smaller since older, lower density devices use a smaller Google Play Services.

The question then becomes "How do we handle Google Play Services with the new GApps?" Pico GApps, for instance, will grow from an installed size of 39.7MB to almost 55MB, if I continue to include the universal dpi version (-030). If I make the installer a multi-dpi installer, the zip would grow from 24 to 90+ MB. However the installed size would likely only be 43-48MB. Clearly, the smaller installed size would be preferable, however the vast majority of users will never understand that and will likely flood this thread with complaints.

So, what's the right thing to do? Create a larger zip so the installer installs the right version upon initial install, or continue to use the universal version where the user ends up with a larger non-optimal package installed on their device.

I'm leaning towards the idea of keeping the obnoxiously large universal dpi version in all the GApps packages except for Stock and Full. I would then continue to make a PlasyServices Updater available as a separate zip for those who prefer to have the proper version installed on their device. While this is clearly taking the "easy way out", it's still probably preferable to reading post after post of size complaints from those folks who never bother to read the OP. Thoughts?