Apps Is android fragmentation really a problem?

[parnian80]

Hi everybody,

I was browsing through sites/blogs and I see that some of app developers see the fragmentation of Android devices as a drawback while some others see it as not only a major problem but also an opportunity.

For example, a developer said: "This is because I simply don't have the resources to go cross Android platform and then answer support queries as to why my App doesn't work on X"

and another says "Fragmentation is not really an issue, despite what you might hear."

Could you please tell me how you see that? Is this taking lots of time from you to develop for different devices or is it just exaggerated in media?

 

[jonbonazza]

If you follow the proper design practices, then fragmentation is not a huge issue.

 

[RubiconDude]

I guess you don't do much Android support. For a start you're assuming that all the GL ES drivers work (they don't), that all the sound drivers work (they dont) and that phones don't lie about their capabilities to Android Market (they do).

I could go on but you get the picture. We are comitted to Android and are working through as many of these problems as we can, but the support is a nightmare even when your dev seems to have gone ok.

Several times a day we get mails saying our game doesn't work on, for example, Droid X. So we go look at our "most installed phones" list and its right there as one of the most common. And it works on the Droid X in our office too. So what should I say to this poor guy, buy an iPhone?

You know how many "it don't work" complaints we get from our iOS users of the very same game in a month? None.

Android need to clean this up and fast, and I'm more than willing to help them if they ever reach out and try and do something. Until then, it's a lottery.

All these "Android r0x0rz, M$ and Apple sux0rz" fanboi posts slagging other firms off have clearly never been on the sharp end of this one.

Please don't mark me down as a droid hater either, I think it's potentially fantastic. The O/S is more open and the phones are genreally better and/or cheaper. But they have big problems too and nobody in the powerbase seems to give a shit.

 

[jonbonazza]

OpenGL ES is implemented natively. Of course it is going to cause issues with fragmentation, as there are many variables that go into running OpenGL commands on a device--drivers, specific implementation, native libraries, etc...

This is, however, no different than the desktop world. The ONLY reason fragmentation isn't an issue with iOS is because they only have one device.

iOS is the exception, not the norm. This is why I hate this whole fragmentation thing. It's been blown way out of proportion.

At any rate, I was assuming the OP was talking about app development, not game development, as there are not that many developers out there who know enough about game development to make a game at all, let alone for a resource lacking mobile platform. With that said, I was probably wrong to make this assumption.

I will agree, however, that a lot of the Android APIs are lacking in documentation, though the OpenGL wrapper API is probably lacking because OpenGL is already heavily documented all over the net, and it isn't really their software to document. Besides, if you are using OpenGL on Android, you probably already have much experience with OpenGL on other platforms as it isn't exactly the easiest thing to implement in android.

 

[RubiconDude]

It's very different to the desktop world. The people at the sharp end get their drivers working properly. On Android, one driver writer I spoke with gave me some BS about making sure the compiler is the same as that used by the O/S build, so even if they know of a bug AND how to fix it, they still can't install it. Bloody stupidity if you ask me.

I was showing my bias though, you sure don't need GL ES if you're doing non-game apps. Well, mostly.

And btw, iOS has about 8 devices. Mostly different screen sizes and mostly different supported native features. It's actually more diverse than Android in most aspects, it's just that Apple got their shit together.

 

[dweezle]

The Emperor has no clothes! To me, as a novice phone owner, Android will eventually self destroy unless it addresses the problems brought on by fragmentation. Maybe the work being done to address the problem isn't visible to us lowly owners, but it certainly looks to me like RubiconDude said it,

nobody in the powerbase seems to give a shit.

I read an article that seems to try to tackle one piece of the problem called, It's time Google starts paying for Android updates.

I could use some help understanding why that is not a good idea.

 

[jonbonazza]

Fragmentation is inevitable on any kind of programming, whether it be desktop, mobile, etc... I really don't understand why the issue of fragmentation is such an issue. If anything needs to be done, it would be slow the rate at which android versions are release, which luckily, they are already working on. Furthermore, according to one Google Exec (Forgt which one, the article is relatively old now), with the advent of ICS, Google is satisfied with the infrastructure now and will be working on mostly design elements.

 

[alostpacket]

First, gents, please keep the language clean.

Second, I agree there is definitely fragmentation at the hardware level. Drivers and low-level stuff can be problematic. As Jon said this is especially true with games. But I think the existence of some pretty well done games is good proof that this obstacle is far from insurmountable.

Also I think Google does make an attempt to abstract away hardware differences via the API . This is one of the main reasons to have an API .

If you look at the Bluetooth package, that's exactly its purpose.

 

[alostpacket]

(Sorry for the double post. But I switched to my computer from my phone).

Anyways, that's not to say things are all happy and unicorns, but I do think Google is making an effort in some areas. However they are also causing problems in others. For example the MediaStore isnt even used by the Google Music App anymore due to copyright pressure from the record labels. Also don't get me started on how bad ContactsContract is

What is a real myth is the idea that platform version causes major fragmentation.

That's just simply not true and frankly a bit silly. This is the one that's usually focused on by bad tech journalists who don't understand what the challenges are for developing on Android.

Another one they tend to misunderstand is things like screen sizes and other trivial hardware differences. These things are very well planned out and coding for them is just good standard practice. Any decent dev should know how to handle multiple screen sizes for example. Only when it comes to the hardware level, Open GL, drivers, etc is when this stuff becomes a problem.

That's my take on it anyways.