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This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

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Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#31

Post by estel »

wtracy wrote: post #22
ImprovedSilence wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure either, but I think screen size/resolution/aspect ratio and different hardware "tools" (ie cameras with different resolutions, does it have one led or 2 for flash, etc) have potential to be problems. I'd like to hear more on this issue though.

Because all PCs have the same screen size, resolution, and aspect ratio? Please.

To a more limited extent, complications PC programs do have compatibility issues with obscure combinations of users' hardware, software and firmware.

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#32

Post by ktothemc »

cryptoz wrote: post #2

> You know how all Android developers complain about fragmentation? Yeah, this is what fragmentation looks like. This is some of the most insulting garbage out there. I'm an Android developer. I don't complain about fragmentation. Ever. Don't you dare lump me into a group of people you hear complaining loudly. I'm not one of them! I know it can be hard to get apps to work across all phones. The variety of available h…

Hey, I'm the author of the article and I don't really have an agenda in the Android/iOS platform debate. Both are necessary platforms to build on at this point.

Yat also wasn't really complaining about the state of affairs on Android at all. He's happy to QA test with 400 devices and he thinks it's why his company performs well relative to other game developers who don't do as comprehensive a job.

I just thought it was a hilarious photo about the lengths that one Android developer will go to make their apps work. :)

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#33

Post by cncool »

cryptoz wrote: post #2

> You know how all Android developers complain about fragmentation? Yeah, this is what fragmentation looks like. This is some of the most insulting garbage out there. I'm an Android developer. I don't complain about fragmentation. Ever. Don't you dare lump me into a group of people you hear complaining loudly. I'm not one of them! I know it can be hard to get apps to work across all phones. The variety of available h…

I don't know I you're being intellectually dishonest or are bad at reading comprehension, but the author said "many developers," not "all developers."

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#34

Post by jonasmaturana »

wtracy wrote: post #24
rokhayakebe wrote: post #4

Opportunity for a web-based emulator including all devices.

Or, say, a "cloud" solution that lets you remotely test on a variety of devices? Oh, look! http://www.perfectomobile.com/portal/cms/android.html http://testdroid.com/product/testdroid-cloud The solutions are already out there! Quit whining and get back to developing cool apps. :-)

Shameless plug:

Cloud service: https://www.lesspainful.com

Framework for testing Android apps using Cucumber: https://github.com/calabash/calabash-android/

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#35

Post by DominikR »

gregable wrote: post #13

I'm not an android developer, but I am curious. Why is it that testing on dozens/hundreds of platforms is considered essential for cell phones, but not for PCs? Is android just that much worse at abstracting hardware than traditional OS'es?

Since when do developers for PC applications reach 100% compatibility with any hardware/OS combination out there without testing on dozens of platforms? (The guy in the article with the 400 devices is trying to achieve 100% compatibility) We use about 6-7 different devices in our Android team and cover 95% of our target audience with that. (its a VoIP/messaging app with millions of customers)

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#36

Post by sureshv »

stesch wrote: post #25
yellowbkpk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why a web-based emulator? Just use the one that's included with the Android SDK. You can simulate any combination of memory, screen size, screen resolution, and various hardware characteristics. Sure it can be slow, but it's getting better and is actually emulating the system you're developing for.

Is the emulator in the SDK usable now? Last time I tried Android programming it was slow as hell. Unusable even for a simple Phonegap app.

It's still slow because it literally emulates the phone running on an ARM CPU rather than simulate ala the iPhone simulator which runs an x86 version of IOS.

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#38

Post by jonasmaturana »

estel wrote: post #30
jonasmaturana wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When they say "all Android developers" you can be pretty sure they mean "most Android developers". Working on several high profile apps here in Denmark I have felt the pain of not having enough real devices to test on. A bank just wont accept that you don't support one of the most common phone on the market because it has some problems with the camera. Another project ran into the BigInteger.modPow is not thread safe…

Isn't "not supporting one of the most common phones" a different order of magnitude from what they're discussing here? Hell yes that app should be supporting the Galaxy S2s and HTC Desires of this world, but the majority of those 400+ devices will probably be used by < 0.0001% of your users, particularly if the app is targeting a Western audience.

I totally agree that 400+ devices is pretty crazy.

By looking at device usage stats I would say that 20 devices will get you above 90% in one region but you have to use closer to 40 if you aim for 90% on the global market. (Of course it depends on your user base)

However, having 400 devices on the shelf for debugging when you get some strange error report might be very valuable. I would love to have a bucket of CDMA phones available since I can't just go buy one in the store. (I live in Denmark)

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#39

Post by wtracy »

estel wrote: post #31
wtracy wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because all PCs have the same screen size, resolution, and aspect ratio? Please.

To a more limited extent, complications PC programs do have compatibility issues with obscure combinations of users' hardware, software and firmware.

I'm going to go out on a limb with this claim: Developing Android apps that run across different phones really isn't any harder than developing Windows apps that run across different PCs.

The real issue, I'm convinced, is that a bunch of people with no previous development experience jumped in with the iPhone gold rush. Then these people decided to branch out to Android and are shocked and horrified when something works slightly differently on their customer's phone than when it does on their phone.

God forbid that these people should every try developing Javascript applications that have to support support IE. :-D

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#40

Post by jonasmaturana »

estel wrote: post #17
taligent wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just so you know. You are absolutely in the minority of Android developers. Most want their apps to work on ALL phones.

Sure, ideally you'd want your app to work on all phones. But just as developing for any other open platform, attempting to reach 100% compatibility with every device combination is both insane and unnecessary. A range of 5-10 devices is usually sufficient for the 99% of users that most apps will be happy to support.

Which criterias would you use for selecting representative 5-10 devices?
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