So, Gingerbread has finally dropped below 50% of devices accessing Google Play. Ice Cream Sandwich has almost hit the 30%, and after six months, Jelly Bean (4.1 and 4.2) almost hit the 10%. Google's page listing these numbers is like a trainwreck in slowmotion.
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Member since:2006-07-14
IOS, I would say is in someways worse. The current version of Xcode no longer has support for the iphone 3G or the first couple of generations of ipod touches. You simply can't do it ( without an incredible amount of hackery). So you either set up two dev stations and never ever update one to the newest version of xcode to do point releases on an app compatible with old and new. If you want to support newer features as well, you'd have to fork your app and submit it as a different one.
At least with Android you can create a one off version for that one customer still rocking donut without too much difficulty or requiring another computer.
Member since:2010-02-08
You are fine, I am not. How do you provide good video streaming for Android? 3.x and higher have HLS support, so you can do adaptive streaming easily. Cool. But 2.x? Either Flash+OSMF (abysmal performance), RTSP (often blocked on 3G) or just mp4 over http - two last option are not adaptive (say hello to buffering and/or low quality). So yes, for me Android lack of updates is a big problem.
Member since:2008-06-19
"It doesn't matter if only a small percentage of users are on iOS 4, you still have to be backwards compatible. So you have the same problems on iOS. "
I disagree. If a user is on iOS 4 then they know they have an old phone and they know they are out of date. When a user is on Android 2.3 they may have bought the phone that day meaning they think they have the latest and greatest. They will then find they cannot update to the latest. To the developer, this means that on iOS you may be forgiven for not supporting the older versions but on Android you definitely won't be.
Member since:2005-07-06
With Apple there's fragmentation based on hardware, not much different. Apple actively promoted, pushed iPhone 3GS for a really long time - so that there are certainly people who bought it new fairly recently. Not even all the advertised OS functions work on it; plus there are demanding applications which won't run...
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Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.
Member since:
2010-10-29
I'm a developer and have developed for many (mobile) platforms, and I can tell you Android is my favorite to program for. The fragmentation problem is very much exaggerated, it's hardly worse than on iOS.
It doesn't matter if only a small percentage of users are on iOS 4, you still have to be backwards compatible. So you have the same problems on iOS.
Backwards compatibility for Android 1 was a pain in the ass though. But since Android 2 it's easy to handle. And everyone programs for Android 2.2 or higher anyway now.
So the way I see it:
- Android developers are fine with Android fragmentation.
- Average Android users are fine with Android fragmentation (don't even know what an OS is, don't care about updates).
- Advanced Android users that do care about updates can get a Nexus device.
It seems the only people whining about it are non-Android users/developers.