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This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

techcrunch.com

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Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#91

Post by DominikR »

ktothemc wrote: post #63
codeka wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firstly, it's not the headline I'm talking about. The whole tone of the article is "this is what developing for Android is like." Having to test on 400 devices is NOT what developing for Android is like, AT ALL. So you talk to many of the top developers. That's great, how about we hear from a selection of them? How many devices do most of them test on? Taking QA seriously is not the same thing as testing on hundreds…

Actually the developer of two of the top-grossing iOS apps of all of 2011 just sent me photos of their QA testing racks too. They have an overflowing safe that is no longer able to contain all of the Android devices they QA test with...

How many devices do the Instagram developers use? Since there's only one guy developing the Android version it's hard to imagine that he uses 400 devices. If he did, there would be no time for writing code.

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#93

Post by bookwormAT »

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…

Same with me. I'm working with cross platform technologies for 15 years now. Python,Java,Ruby,HTML and now Android.

I don't complain that I have to target different systems. I use this stuff because I want to target many different systems.

Take a closer look at all these devices in the article, and imagine for a moment that every single one of these would be as incompatible to one another as iOS is to Windows Phone.

That is: Imagine you had to write a complete new App for every single one of these devices. Android is a defragmentation tool.

Re: This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

#94

Post by bookwormAT »

jonasmaturana wrote: post #40
estel wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

1.) one with the minimum hardware you want to support (screen res, cpu, gpu).

2.) Min API level you want to support

3.) top spec phone with latest version (pref. a recent nexus)

That is for native platform apps, not Game ports.

From my experience, crucial to success is that you write your Apps according to the Android documentation, and not just "until they work on my device". Most "single device issues" happen because of this mistake.

Most of the issues developers have when they switch devices

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