21–30 of 91 posts
Could you guys get a simple histogram of the model data up? The 2d visualization is clever, but it does not tell me what I need to know: does the distribution have a long tail or not? It sort of looks like it does, but the visualization obscures the truth and prevents comparison with similar datasets.
yeah very true, we'll try and throw one up to show that a little more clearly
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…
Androids main competition allows developers to reach a similar sized user base which targeting a tiny fraction of devices. When it comes time to decide which platform to support or which to support first the answer becomes moot.
If that is "not ... even an actual problem" under the frame of reference you're talking about... all that tells us is that that frame of reference is probably bad. Which sounds about right given that neither is desktop linux a great consumer success story nor are linux distro's held hostage by a third party.
Imagine if you had to wait for Time Warner's permission to update linux, oh I think that would be bad...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 i…
And no, you don't need to test against all of those configurations. Did the linked product? No. They used the incendiary fragmentation line because it gets hit, but actually point to no specific problem with it (besides, bizarrely, pointing out that Google has added functionality to scale for screen sizes...which has been a fundamental part of the Android development suite since day 1).
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.
If people viewed this as an important problem worth solving, we'd see articles about how to do aspect-independent UIs, or apps that cleanly upgrade to gestures in Gingerbread+. Or cute workarounds for rendering bugs on the SGX vs. Mali vs. Tegra.
But we don't see any of that, because quite frankly most people don't care. Outside of stuff that directly faces hardware APIs, Android apps port quite well in the real world.
Contrast, for example, the web development world. There, platform compatibility issues have been a huge problem for years, spawned a bunch of frameworks to abstract the differences, and inspired sites like caniuse.com. The clear lack of these in the Android world is, I argue, an existence proof that "fragmentation" is a red herring.
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 o…
Absolutely. Also, fragmentation is more of an issue in Asia where there are literally hundreds of cheaper variations of the same phone with different Android versions, screen sizes, memory, etc.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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.
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…
- Release new versions faster? Nope. More fragmentation.
- Pressure MOs/OEMs to only ship latest versions? Nope. Just pisses them off and makes them more inclined to fork.
- Reduce flexiblilty (better abstraction layers for hardware) ala WP7? Nope. MOs/OEMs care most about flexibility which got them on Android to begin with. They'll just fork.
- Do something really innovative. Maybe, but it would have to be mind-blowingly-differentiated. Can't find any proof points of Google doing that in the past, so have to assume it won't happen in the future.
Android is alive and well. It is an extremely healthy ecosystem. But it is no longer Google's ecosystem. And it will continue to fragment no matter what Google tries.
FWIW, I wrote about this in depth earlier this year in a post titled "Fragmentation is not the End of Android" here:
http://ceklog.kindel.com/2012/01/14/fragmentation-is-not-the...
Could you guys get a simple histogram of the model data up? The 2d visualization is clever, but it does not tell me what I need to know: does the distribution have a long tail or not? It sort of looks like it does, but the visualization obscures the truth and prevents comparison with similar datasets.
yeah very true, we'll try and throw one up to show that a little more clearly
Even now, lot of carriers are pushing cheap phones with Android 2.2 or even 2.1 and while for better known devices this can be fixed with CyanogenMod, the state of Android versions is still bad.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 i…
The Android ecosystem is an incredible success. There is massive compatibility, with very few issues, across thousands of devices from weak to powerful, big and small. Maybe Google actually did something right? And no, you don't need to test against all of those configurations. Did the linked product? No . They used the incendiary fragmentation line because it gets hit, but actually point to no specific problem with…
And there is nothing magic about Android working on different devices i.e. it's not like ICS works on them. They just are running old versions of Android.