Android Fragmentation Visualized • Hacker News Board

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#11

Post by gjulianm » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:05 PM UTC

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 some phones because of some weird error. It's nowhere near Linux development.

I don't know if fragmentation is good or bad for the users, but for developers it's an infinite source of headaches. From my experience (I develop a Twitter client for WP7), even with a system with much less fragmentation than Android, every phone has unique features which can make your app crash for no reason, and you can only wait to be randomly corrected or get that specific model and debugging the app.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#12

Post by taligent » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:07 PM UTC

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…

The difference is Linux has its act together. Android doesn't.

Right now I can SSH into a vastly different array of hardware and update a roughly equivalent set of packages to get for example the latest rendering engine or security fixes. This is not possible at all on Android which is a joke. And I will never understand how people such as yourself can defend it.

Fragmentation is a huge issue for Android and it is only going to get worse unless Google does something about it.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#13

Post by juliano_q » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:08 PM UTC

jcromartie wrote: post #3

I did some research this morning, since I might be doing some Android work soon. As of May 1 2012, about 5% are on any version of the latest major release: Ice Cream Sandwich. About 3% are on the previous major version: Honeycomb. The rest, a whopping 92%, are still two or more major versions behind. By developing against the latest major version, you are going to reach 5% of Android users. Compare that to iOS, where…

Honeycomb was not the previous major version. It was a version released only for tablets. The previous major version for mobile/tablets was Gingerbread (2.3).

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#14

Post by btipling » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:10 PM UTC

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.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#15

Post by huggyface » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:13 PM UTC

nextparadigms wrote: post #2

So what can Google do to reduce the problem? Release only one major version of Android every year? Every 3 years like Windows? Release a private "beta" version for most manufacturers (not just one like now) so that they all have devices with the new OS on the official launch day? Develop better abstraction layers for hardware? Force manufacturers to use only a few resolutions like 480x320, 800x480 and 1280x720 (retin…

So what can Google do to reduce the problem?

What problem? The linked article could as easily have been called "The Diversity of Android". That title would have been more honest, if less likely to get linked.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#16

Post by ajross » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:15 PM UTC

jcromartie wrote: post #3

I did some research this morning, since I might be doing some Android work soon. As of May 1 2012, about 5% are on any version of the latest major release: Ice Cream Sandwich. About 3% are on the previous major version: Honeycomb. The rest, a whopping 92%, are still two or more major versions behind. By developing against the latest major version, you are going to reach 5% of Android users. Compare that to iOS, where…

You're mixing things up, so I'd suggest going back to do more research. Honeycomb was tablet-only, it was never released for handsets. That's like complaining that only 7% (or whatever) of iOS users can run iPad apps, it's meaningless.

ICS uptake, however, has been ploddingly slow. It's finally breaking through now as the vendors clear out their holiday inventory and start pushing new models.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#17

Post by sshrin » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:16 PM UTC

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…

One difference between different linux distros and android is that, in the former case, end users recognize that software written for another distro may not work on their specific OS. In the latter case, however, end users (especially ones that aren't technical) think that they have the same OS (when in reality they all own phones with different levels of API support / compatibility) and are upset when a specific app does not work as expected on their device.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#18

Post by klodolph » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:18 PM UTC

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…

So because it's a "natural consequence" it's not an actual problem? Sorry.

Distribution on Linux can be a similar nightmare. Try downloading a source package to find that it requires version 2.3 of LibExample, and you have version 2.2, but the developers didn't know they needed 2.3 and the configure script doesn't detect the discrepancy, so you get some cryptic compilation error halfway through. Binary distribution on Linux is possible, the Xonotic folks did it, but it's a lot of work. Android development is more forgiving since the API as a whole is versioned, but portable programming is still more work.

Diversity of hardware and software isn't an inherent boon, it's just something that brings its own benefits and drawbacks.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#19

Post by r00fus » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:19 PM UTC

huggyface wrote: post #15

nextparadigms wrote: post #2

So what can Google do to reduce the problem? Release only one major version of Android every year? Every 3 years like Windows? Release a private "beta" version for most manufacturers (not just one like now) so that they all have devices with the new OS on the official launch day? Develop better abstraction layers for hardware? Force manufacturers to use only a few resolutions like 480x320, 800x480 and 1280x720 (retin…

So what can Google do to reduce the problem? What problem? The linked article could as easily have been called "The Diversity of Android". That title would have been more honest, if less likely to get linked.

Diversity is all well and nice, but how do developers possibly test against all those configurations? If you don't test - how do you ensure that as low as possible a percentage won't return your app, and ding your ratings simply because their phone has issues with your software?

Google needs to do more work to make software development and testing easier - as an end customer I don't want the pain of having to guess if the software I buy is or is not going to work.

Re: Android Fragmentation Visualized

#20

Post by taligent » Tue, May 15, 2012, 8:21 PM UTC

ajross wrote: post #16

jcromartie wrote: post #3

I did some research this morning, since I might be doing some Android work soon. As of May 1 2012, about 5% are on any version of the latest major release: Ice Cream Sandwich. About 3% are on the previous major version: Honeycomb. The rest, a whopping 92%, are still two or more major versions behind. By developing against the latest major version, you are going to reach 5% of Android users. Compare that to iOS, where…

You're mixing things up, so I'd suggest going back to do more research. Honeycomb was tablet-only, it was never released for handsets. That's like complaining that only 7% (or whatever) of iOS users can run iPad apps, it's meaningless. ICS uptake, however, has been ploddingly slow. It's finally breaking through now as the vendors clear out their holiday inventory and start pushing new models.

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.