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Android Fragmentation Visualized

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Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#71

Post by fpgeek »

romeodelight wrote: post #27
btipling wrote: post #14

I love my Android phone and I love developing for it but I sort of think that sometimes we have a little bit of Stockholm syndrome when I hear another Android developer say "fragmentation is great!." It really isn't, especially not with the differences between 2.3 and 3+, but I like being able to put my own apps on my phone without paying $99 a year, so I like my phone quite a bit.

I think for Asian developers, specially in China, fragmentation is a HUGE problem. There are literally hundreds of variations of cheap Android phones out there with different screen sizes, OS versions, etc. We replace our phones regularly here in the US and have access to the latest phones from Samsung, etc. but that is not the case in most parts of Asia.

I don't think it is that simple. In Asia, which is ground zero for non-Google Android devices, fragmentation is certainly a problem, but the absence of fragmentation would have been far worse. Without fragmenting an open-source Android, manufacturers just wouldn't have been able to make and sell the cheap smartphones Asian developers are targeting.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#72

Post by fpgeek »

Steko wrote: post #68
saurik wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if 100% of users were at the mercy of carriers and handset makers, that just underscores that 'Google can't "do something about it"'; it doesn't even mean the platform is not "open", as you are mistaking open devices for open software: the platform is, in fact, so open that carriers and handset manufacturers are allowed to make arbitrary modifications and sell closed devices running the result.

Shorter saurik: "Android is so open it's closed!"

More-accurate version: "Android is as open as the BSD networking stack."

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#73

Post by fpgeek »

gravitronic wrote: post #32
luigi wrote: post #5

It seems to me that the best way to think of Android is to compare it to the world of Linux distros. (I believe Dan Benjamin of 5by5 pointed this out on one of his podcasts.) Yes, there's Linux, but there's no one Linux. There's Android, but there's no one Android. So while Android is technically an operating system, it's really an open platform on which to build mobile devices on top of. So the Android device I buy…

Spoken like someone who isn't an Android developer. Take your analogy to the next step. Someone opens an online store that sells binary-only copies of applications targeted to just "Linux".. you would call them crazy, no? That's what the Google Market is. Or the Amazon Market, samsung apps, nook store, ... I wrote a blog post to help you understand the pragmatic issues faced by an Android developer trying to write de…

On fragmentation, your blog post is exactly backwards.

You're calling out hardware fragmentation, but that's exactly the fragmentation the consumer wants - they see it in the store and pick it (via form factor, price, etc.). Beyond that, Android couldn't rein in hardware fragmentation without being something utterly unrecognizable. On Android dealing with hardware fragmentation is your job, just as it is in the desktop/laptop/netbook/... world.

Software fragmentation is the fragmentation consumers can't see and, generally speaking, don't want. And that's the fragmentation that is often preventable, as CyanogenMod's porting success demonstrates.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#74

Post by tdpeterson »

I love information like this, and I think the OpenSignalMaps opinion is healthy. Basically, it's cool to have an install base this diverse and dynamic. Maybe this is because I come from a traditional desktop dev background where diverse HW and SW environments were just part of the game.

I recently co-created an automated web-service that tests apps on real devices, and of the thousands of tests we've run, the majority of the failures and errors are more general software development issues. Errors caused by assumptions about the presence of other apps or network connectivity or the inability to handle certain transitions like screen orientation are much more common than device-specific problems like CPU type. It does happen, for sure, but not nearly as often, and free services like ours seek to mitigate these errors altogether.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#75

Post by peteretep »

fpgeek wrote: post #73
gravitronic wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoken like someone who isn't an Android developer. Take your analogy to the next step. Someone opens an online store that sells binary-only copies of applications targeted to just "Linux".. you would call them crazy, no? That's what the Google Market is. Or the Amazon Market, samsung apps, nook store, ... I wrote a blog post to help you understand the pragmatic issues faced by an Android developer trying to write de…

On fragmentation, your blog post is exactly backwards. You're calling out hardware fragmentation, but that's exactly the fragmentation the consumer wants - they see it in the store and pick it (via form factor, price, etc.). Beyond that, Android couldn't rein in hardware fragmentation without being something utterly unrecognizable. On Android dealing with hardware fragmentation is your job, just as it is in the deskt…

> [hardware fragmentation is] exactly the fragmentation the consumer wants

Based on what? This is far from clear to me.

Users have flocked to a device with Just One Form Factor (iPhone), and its biggest competitor - Galaxy SII - is almost identical in this regard.

Users have some choice, yes. Users /want/ that choice ... much less clear.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#76

Post by rimantas »

ajross wrote: post #46
jcromartie wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm not up to speed on Android. But, so, that only accounts for 3% of the users. It still means only %5 are on ICS, and the rest are basically on 2.3. So the process for developing a new iOS app today is: 1. Download latest SDK 2. Develop for iOS 5.1 For Android, it seems to necessarily be: 1. Download latest SDK 2. Develop for Android 2.3

Pretty much, yes. New features in ICS need to be viewed as optional and probed if you're going to use them. Though to be fair there really aren't that many you'd really want -- ICS focused more on the core apps and user experience than it did on extending the platform APIs. Also, my memory is that something like 20-30% of iOS users weren't on 5 yet. Is that wrong?

This graph is interesting: http://david-smith.org/blog/2012/05/11/ios-5-dot-1-1-upgrade...

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#77

Post by fpgeek »

peteretep wrote: post #75
fpgeek wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On fragmentation, your blog post is exactly backwards. You're calling out hardware fragmentation, but that's exactly the fragmentation the consumer wants - they see it in the store and pick it (via form factor, price, etc.). Beyond that, Android couldn't rein in hardware fragmentation without being something utterly unrecognizable. On Android dealing with hardware fragmentation is your job, just as it is in the deskt…

> [hardware fragmentation is] exactly the fragmentation the consumer wants Based on what? This is far from clear to me. Users have flocked to a device with Just One Form Factor (iPhone), and its biggest competitor - Galaxy SII - is almost identical in this regard. Users have some choice, yes. Users /want/ that choice ... much less clear.

I think there's plenty of evidence that users want the hardware choices they make:

1. Apple's strongest competitor, Samsung is probably the world record holder for number of different smartphone models / form factors sold simultaneously. Even with the Galaxy S II family as their top sellers, they aren't the bulk of its portfolio. While there are some experiments in there (like the Note was), I'm sure they're not setting that record just for the fun of it. If some people didn't want those choices, Samsung's smartphone strategy would not be viable.

2. The Galaxy S II isn't almost identical to the iPhone hardware. You can (and Apple and Samsung do) argue about the level of aesthetic similarity, but there are many hardware differences: size, screen, removable battery, microSD slot ... and all of these differences are things a customer can easily see in a store.

3. One of the dimensions that users obviously want choice is price - and that leads to hardware fragmentation all by itself (by using cheaper or more expensive components depending on the target price).

4. More than a few experienced iPhone users have specifically talked about switching from an iPhone to the Galaxy Note. They all talk about making the switch because of hardware differences.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#78

Post by einmus »

gjulianm wrote: post #11
luigi wrote: post #5

It seems to me that the best way to think of Android is to compare it to the world of Linux distros. (I believe Dan Benjamin of 5by5 pointed this out on one of his podcasts.) Yes, there's Linux, but there's no one Linux. There's Android, but there's no one Android. So while Android is technically an operating system, it's really an open platform on which to build mobile devices on top of. So the Android device I buy…

But there is a huge difference. First, that desktop OS are ready for differences in hardware. As a developer, you usually don't care about screen size, or processor, or memory. With Android, you have to. Some devices will not be capable to run your app, in some others your app will not even fit the screen... And, of course, because of different drivers, hardware and OS versions your app will not absolutely work on so…

I don't think so. Even desktop OSes are not ready for such vast differences of today's hardwares.

Desktop-PC usually have approximately 100dpi screens, so the OS and the app generally don't consider dpi differences. So, if you've ever got a high dpi screen for Windows, you'll see the icons are frigging small.

Whereas, on mobile platform, we have screens ranging from 80dpi to above 300dpi. Android take dpi differences into account in the first place, to make sure, a same icon have almost same size on different dpi screens. It's a start.

I much doubted Microsoft or Apple would deal better with 'retina' desktop-pc coming in. Real trouble have just begun...

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#80

Post by dagw »

ajross wrote: post #26
taligent wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See what you wrote though ? "As vendors .. start pushing new models". There seems to be this acceptance on the Android platform that in order to get the latest OS you basically have to buy a new phone. It's quite extraordinary.

I don't disagree at all; you're inferring an argument I didn't make. Nonetheless uptake of ICS is increasing, and the driver is that vendors are shipping new handsets.

But they're also shipping at least as many new handsets with 2.3. Sony, Samsung and Motorola have all released new handsets in 2012 running 2.3. Until vendors stop shipping 2.3 on their new phones fragmentation will simply be a fact of life for android developers.

If I where to make a prediction, I suspect we're set for a future where Android 2 is the OS of choice for low end smart phones and Android 4 is the OS for high end smart phones, and developers who want to target both the high and low end of the market will be required to support both Android 2 and Android 4 for years to come.

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