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Comment by w1ntermute | Hacker News Reader

> Part of the problem is that there isn't just one Android, there are many, and they all behave just slightly differently. Testing on Android is a nightmare because of this.

In my experience, this issue is overblown, especially with Android 4.0+. Unless you're developing a game, the hardware differences should not be a huge concern. The Facebook app certainly shouldn't have problems because of this.

> I wish Google would make some efforts at fixing this problem

Google has and can have no control over how Android is implemented or updated by various OEMs, particularly when carriers are dictating terms. And when Google tries to go around the carriers, like they did with the Nexus 4, they get crucified for the lack of LTE. Seems to me they're between a rock and a hard place. Hopefully their plan to launch a wireless carrier with Dish Network will pan out and things will get better.

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Testing a few hundred devices ranging in age from 1 to 4 years old on Android isn't great. Where it becomes a tough pill to swallow is when you compare it relatively to the iOS experience.

The number of devices are just a fraction, users update almost instantly and the older devices have a matching ratio for screen size. You also get the added bonus of nearly all apple products having a planned obsolescence of about two years.

Are you saying that you personally test on hundreds of devices, or just that you saw a photo of a huge table full of phones on a blog once and heard that someone somewhere does that? No one does that. It's a dumb argument, stop it.

Is testing on Android more expensive and occasionally more error prone than on iOS? Sure. But make the case sanely with real evidence, please. This is just flaming.

My previous company had dozens of devices to approximate the hundreds (we had our own pictures of tables littered with android phones). They faced ridiculous issues like HTTP not being properly supported. Don't delude yourself into thinking testing android devices is something that it is not. It is a mess. You cannot guarantee your application will work without testing on a device and the devices vary, greatly.

That is all beside the point. My salient issue was that despite testing android devices being a mess, people are proclaiming testing android to be a fucking disaster because they compare it to what testing iOS devices entails. Everything in life is relative. If iOS didn't exist, everyone would be saying testing mobile is a lot like testing web. I'm not saying iOS is better, if that is what ruffled your feathers. I am saying it is a closed platform, specifically for hardware. That makes the story much simpler. Anecdotally, I don't know a QA that has to test for iOS and android that doesn't wish android didn't exist.

We test on 47 different handsets, comprising four different Android versions. Do you want a list?

Our Android app lags in features and reliability to our iPhone app because our devs have to spend so much time dealing with the problems of the fragmented marketplace, so there is less time to innovate. This isn't flaming, it's fact.

This is what i'm wondering about. How will they deal with fragmentation besides going to the lowest common denominator?

> especially with Android 4.0+.

Is it partially because so many recent phones aren't able to update that the testing field narrows considerably?

> Android 4.0+

Not sure if you know this but most apps are games. So that's a bit funny to say "this isn't an issue unless your making a game".

And I'm also not sure what you work on, but testing on an Android is a nightmare. Most of the issues on apps for Android are (My XYZ phone the app doesn't work). Just go through and read them, that's mostly what the issue is.

> Google has and can have no control over how Android is implemented or updated by various OEMs

Yes it does, it's Google's OS it has complete control over what people do with it.

No, Android is open source. Google has no control over what people do with it. The only thing google can control is if their branding shows up on the phone.

Amazon for instance uses it without any of the google branding and the open source license means They don't have to consult with Google at all. So your final sentence is 100% false.

Games compose the biggest category of apps, but represent only 20%~ of total applications.

One fifth of all apps on the market is nothing to sneeze at.

> Not sure if you know this but most apps are games

This article is about the facebook app.

> Yes it does, it's Google's OS it has complete control over what people do with it.

Not really, AOSP is open source. Too much control would have brought forks, not now though which is why google is enforcing licensing for people who to use the Android market.

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