iOS Best Phone for Android Development

[AxoNeuron]

Hey guys, I know there are some of you who also do android development. I feel like I have become very comfortable with iOS development. I know Swift and Objective-C very well and I feel that I have mastered most of Apple's important frameworks, as well as countless third party libraries and SDK's, I've learned Node.js and created a lot of great backends for my apps. These backends would work equally well for Android.

So now I would like to expand my horizons and get into Android development. I've been an iPhone guy since the very first iPhone in 2007, and I've never purchased an Android device.

I don't really know a whole lot about Android. So I would like to hear your opinions on what Android device I should get. I would say my price limit is about $250 since this will be a pure development device. I was thinking an Android phone would be best, but if you guys think a tablet would be just as good then that would be cool too!

 

[firewood]

For Android, shouldn't the question be which phones (plural) instead of which phone?

No one Android operating system version has a majority share of the market. So you will need at least 2 or 3 phones running 2 or 3 OS versions to cover a simple majority of potential customers (and may end having to test on dozens of models). So you could start with a cheap used 1 or 2 year old Android phone.

If developing just for yourself, perhaps get one of the ones Google sells directly (Nexus 5x or 6p?), as those are most likely to get OS updates in a timely manner, unlike Samsung's.

 

[1458279]

It's been a long while since I jumped into Android, but given the open system they have, hasn't someone come up with a solution to their "too many devices" problem yet?

Personally, I'd look at a tablet that can run maybe a few popular versions, then see if you can sub out the final testing, or release it in beta. It's sad that we have to buy so many devices just for testing when they tend to become old pretty quick.

I'd be surprised if someone said that no developer has come up with a good solution to this by now.

 

[AxoNeuron]

And now I remember why I have never ventured into Android development. Haha.

Sadly I cannot afford several phones, although I agree that would definitely be ideal.

Can you develop and test Android phone apps on an android tablet?

 

[1458279]

And now I remember why I have never ventured into Android development. Haha.

Sadly I cannot afford several phones, although I agree that would definitely be ideal.

Can you develop and test Android phone apps on an android tablet?

That's exactly what I was thinking since I don't think they have a version of the iPodTouch (not that the iPodTouch is the greatest test device anymore).

I think it's really going to depend on what the app does. The size issues were a big deal years ago, maybe they've come up with some kind of "auto layout" or size class by now.

It should really be an issue of running on a device that runs the OS, shouldn't it?

 

[AxoNeuron]

I'm thinking of just getting a refurbished Galaxy S5 and a refurbished Galaxy Tab S 8.4". This way I will have both an android tablet and phone and won't have to spend a ridiculous amount.

 

[eventailapp]

From my experience I would stick to Google's hardware. For example on a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2" the developer shell runs in a botched mode which is restricted (no run-as command), their GPU is blacklisted for WebGL and so on. You could probably root it but from I get is that Samsung and the Rom community are not exactly friends. On a Nexus I had zero problems.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Just use the Android simulator on your computer. I don't see a reason to waste money on an Android device when the people on that platform tend to spend dramatically less money than people who use iOS devices.

 

[AxoNeuron]

Just use the Android simulator on your computer. I don't see a reason to waste money on an Android device when the people on that platform tend to spend dramatically less money than people who use iOS devices.

The problem is that on my laptop the simulator is ridiculously slow. My desktop can handle it fine but I'd prefer just a real device.
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From my experience I would stick to Google's hardware. For example on a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2" the developer shell runs in a botched mode which is restricted (no run-as command), their GPU is blacklisted for WebGL and so on. You could probably root it but from I get is that Samsung and the Rom community are not exactly friends. On a Nexus I had zero problems.

Id get a Nexus device but they don't have microsd cards, which is ridiculous. If you're not gonna get an iPhone, might as well get a device with a microsd slot.

 

[Jamone]

I picked up a cheap LG G Pad F 7.0 tablet for Android development and it's worked pretty good so far.

 

[AxoNeuron]

Alright, I bought a galaxy tab s2 8.4". Great little tablet. I'll update this thread when I get around to running an app on it from Android Studio

 

[easheer]

My team does Android and iOS development for a major US healthcare provider and we have an arsenal of Android test devices and they still don't cover the issues that users encounter when using the app, due to so many hardware and OS variances. It's a rather frustrating platform to develop on. The issues always tend to be fairly minor, but it still highlights the nuances between each device and chosen OS implementation.

 

[AxoNeuron]

My team does Android and iOS development for a major US healthcare provider and we have an arsenal of Android test devices and they still don't cover the issues that users encounter when using the app, due to so many hardware and OS variances. It's a rather frustrating platform to develop on. The issues always tend to be fairly minor, but it still highlights the nuances between each device and chosen OS implementation.

What IDE does your team use primarily? Just Android Studio?

 

[easheer]

What IDE does your team use primarily? Just Android Studio?

No, we actually aren't coding native in Java or Objective C. We are using Xamarin, integrated within Visual Studio, which allows us to use C#, and only write code once, as opposed to maintaining native code on multiple platforms.

 

[arlomaclean4653]

For Android, shouldn't the question be which phones (plural) instead of which phone?

No one Android operating system version has a majority share of the market. So you will need at least 2 or 3 phones running 2 or 3 OS versions to cover a simple majority of potential customers (and may end having to test on dozens of models). So you could start with a cheap used 1 or 2 year old Android phone.

If developing just for yourself, perhaps get one of the ones Google sells directly (Nexus 5x or 6p?), as those are most likely to get OS updates in a timely manner, unlike Samsung's.

THANKS.

 

[Boris-VTR]

I use ionic framework or unity (mobile cardboard VR) for cross platform (have apps published in both stores) and must say that I get very litle issue on android phones. They scale perfectly on different sreen res and hardware. So from my experience is doable with single android phone. Cant remember that i ever had any issue with certain phones. But i got troubles with android os. With VR is essential that phone has gyroscope but android will still let you download and install app which would of course not work or e en worse....,will crash. On windows phone it would not let me install that kind of app on phone without gyroscope.

Of course I would always suggest to have and test on large fleet of android phones ( any big budget app developers should do that), but i think you can still produce wotking apps with just one or couple of android phones.

 

[AxoNeuron]

Personally I have been learning Java with Android Studio. The reason I don't want to learn some cross platform tool like Xamarin is pure and simple greed. I can charge my clients more if I develop the android and iOS versions separately

Just kidding, the real reason is that I just like Java and I've always wanted to learn more.

 

[lympero]

Personally I have been learning Java with Android Studio. The reason I don't want to learn some cross platform tool like Xamarin is pure and simple greed. I can charge my clients more if I develop the android and iOS versions separately

Just kidding, the real reason is that I just like Java and I've always wanted to learn more.

Haha I like the greed part I also don't like to use cross platform tools but some people say that I'm just wasting my time.