One year later, 101 iPad wannabes

[Pressure]

Perhaps, but this is what I've been hearing about Android from the moaners. Yes it will run, but the screen res might be different or the buttons may be different or perhaps the camera may or may not be there. Or even one may run faster than another due to different CPU/GPU those type of remarks.

All Which you could also apply to the Mac and OSX really, and of course Windows. No one has really been saying apps won't run, but rather there are options that the programmer may have to allow for.

Perhaps I'm being optimistic, but I think this will all sort itself out before very long and am accepted spec won't be that far off.

That's why Apple have made guidelines for developing programs (and user interfaces) for Mac OS X.

The fragmentation you are seeing on desktop computers are purely down to different OS versions (e.g. 10.4 Tiger, 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow leopard).

This is for a lack of better words simply a non-issue.

 

[Piggie]

That's why Apple have made guidelines for developing programs (and user interfaces) for Mac OS X.

The fragmentation you are seeing on desktop computers are purely down to different OS versions (e.g. 10.4 Tiger, 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow leopard).

This is for a lack of better words simply a non-issue.

What about PC's ?

Do you feel the same there, that developers have major problems writing anything for them, as I could have a 1Ghz netbook, or a hex core 4Ghz with two Nvidea GTX580 and 16GB ram. and three 30" screens.

I know what you are saying, but most things in life come in different versions, houses, cars, cloths, computers, hifi, tv's and people tend to manage.

I don't think a few different specs of tablets, once they are all running the same honeycomb OS is really the doom and gloom some are predicting.

Heck, do I develop for an iPhone 4 or an iPhone1 ?

 

[Night Spring]

Heck, do I develop for an iPhone 4 or an iPhone1 ?

I don't know enough about Android devices to say whether fragmentation is really a big deal, or how the hardware variation among Android devices compare to hardware variation among PCs. I do know, however, that there are only four models of iPhones, compared to hundreds of models of Android. Bringing up the 4 different iphone models and saying, "See, iOS has fragmentation too!" seems rather silly, and perhaps a misdirecting of the discussion.

 

[Maagus]

Like writing for the mac then?

I want to write an app or a game under osx. But the user may have a MacBook air, a MacBook, a MacBook pro, one of the iMacs or a Power mac.

They'll have different specs and the users could have different trackpads or different types of mouse controllers, even different keyboards.

It's so confusing to write for.

Yet no one seems to complain do they?

You misunderstood me. Let's say I want to write a notetaking application for Android. I would like to use handwriting recognition. However only one Android tablet uses that and the manufacturer (Asus) has a ton of other types (thus it is not certain how and if he will support the model with the handwriting recognition, because it depends on the demand). Thus I will not write the app for it because I am not certain what is the Asus strategy (if I write the app it won't be fully usable on other Android tablets because it uses a specific feature). And because there will not be apps for the particular model, people won't buy it.

Now let's say that I want to write game using Unreal engine. I have to check, what Android tablets would run it (there are hundreds of types) to see if it would pay off. Then I would have to constantly update the model list on which this game runs (because it will not run on all of them).

Another example: I have an idea for ToDo app. But I don't want it to be only large cell phone app, no I want to utilize the larger screen (see for example Things for iPad vs. Things for iPhone). But there is a problem. Aspect ratio. Some tablets have 16:9, some have 4:3, all that with different resolutions. Aspect ratio is the key in designing good UI, you have to utilize it. If it have only 4:3 it requires different concept than 16:9 in order for the app to use the screen effectively.