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"Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

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Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#2

Post by gte910h »

Agreed. (I run a product development shop mostly working on mobile projects these days).

As a former embedded Linux developer, I really really want android to knock the socks off of the world. But its not.

Problems:

Its carrier based OS update model causes hideous OS Version fragmentation.

Eclipse is so painful to use many people just avoid it and use the command line tools.

You have to write Java.

There are a dozen deal breaking quirks between basic control behaviors on the different systems.

--

All this with the fact there are HUGE economic issues with 85% of the world being unable to charge for apps in the Android store, flooding the market with free apps, makes the Android platform a bit of a question mark.

With Windows 7 Phone going with a Centralized OS Version release as Apple is doing, I think we're going to recommend it as a secondary platform over the free Android.

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#3

Post by JunkDNA »

I seem to read really mixed reports about the Android fragmentation problem. For every report like Joe's, I see others that say developing for Android is fine. I can't get a good read on where the actual truth is.

I work in a group that does research on mobile healthcare applications. We're not a software company, so we can't afford to have a whole pile of devices here for testing. With the iOS platform, at least I can be confident things work if I can test on my iPhone and our iPod touch test units. That said, Android is going to eventually be too big to ignore sometime soon. I'd be curious what other devs around here have experienced. Maybe we should be using PhoneGap to avoid those sorts of problems?

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#4

Post by listic »

gte910h wrote: post #2

Agreed. (I run a product development shop mostly working on mobile projects these days). As a former embedded Linux developer, I really really want android to knock the socks off of the world. But its not. Problems: Its carrier based OS update model causes hideous OS Version fragmentation. Eclipse is so painful to use many people just avoid it and use the command line tools. You have to write Java. There are a dozen…

Is there any indication that Google might change the Android release model when faced with competition? Maybe in 3.0 or 4.0? If they maintain their development speed, they may release Android 4.0 in about the same time with competitors' next major release.

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#6

Post by gte910h »

listic wrote: post #4
gte910h wrote: post #2

Agreed. (I run a product development shop mostly working on mobile projects these days). As a former embedded Linux developer, I really really want android to knock the socks off of the world. But its not. Problems: Its carrier based OS update model causes hideous OS Version fragmentation. Eclipse is so painful to use many people just avoid it and use the command line tools. You have to write Java. There are a dozen…

Is there any indication that Google might change the Android release model when faced with competition? Maybe in 3.0 or 4.0? If they maintain their development speed, they may release Android 4.0 in about the same time with competitors' next major release.

I don't think they can due to licencing issues, although they could offer an optional service which would GREATLY help.

Re: "Android Tools Are Horrendous, OS Is Hideous," FB iPhone Dev Joe Hewitt Tweets

#9

Post by andreyf »

Basically, it looks like there's no pleasing this guy.

I think some people are just wired this way. As much as I love most technologies I use, I could rattle off a dozen flaws in any one I use extensively. Of course, it's a waste of time to simply complain, but twitter is a great way to immediately release that tension without wasting too much time.

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