AndroidFragmentation.com – an open community project

Android Fragmentation .com The Open Android Device Knowledge Base

What is this all about?
Android is a great platform. But its growing fragmentation destroys value for developers, consumers and carriers.
This presentation introduces a community effort that enables developers to share knowledge about device specifics and address the problems before their apps hit the market
AndroidFragmentation.com
Open Source project android analyzer

Friendly Reminder
Fragmentation isn‘t evil, it‘s the natural result of an open market place and diverse demand.
No reason to get emotional about it (like many people do)!
No reason to blame anyone.
No reason to deny its existance.

The Problem Photo by Brantano Shoe City

The Problem Theory:

The Problem Theory: Practice:

The Problem
The Android platform is fragmented
Different Android OS versions
Different form factors
Different UIs (and other OEM specifics)
Different device categories (mobiles, tablets, cars…)
…

The Problem
Android apps don’t run on all devices
Higher development cost for developers
Possible reach goes down
Less “platform value” for end consumers
Less revenue for developers
Less selling points for carriers & OEMs
Higher customer care expenditures

Fragmentation Examples
… our developer spent ~1hr on implementing a progress animation in a home screen widget, and another ~4hrs porting it and making it consistent across Archos 5IT, Google Nexus One, HTC Hero and G1
Blinkendroid project: Works fine on all phones except the Motorola Milestone. Some UDP related problem.
DroidSpray: Problems with touch events on GL surface over camera view. Device specific re-ordering of views required …

Android platform API increments: basic APIs like Bluetooth added continuously to the platform
API behavior inconsistency: bug #4961 (File.getCanonicalPath throws exception) introduced in 2.x, but the same method works in previous versions
Screen size and resolution: apps should provide special layouts and drawables for different sizes/resolution combinations.

OEM specifics:
receiving multicast messages over WiFi is disabled in the Linux kernel for most HTC devices, but is enabled on Archos 5IT
Supported file types and formats: Droid can record raw .aac audio files, but most Android phones don’t support this file type, although they support the codec (based on specs)
Devices come with different themes, which always eat a pixel here and there

Issue 4739: 2.0 SDK breaks older contact apps. summary: 2.0 seems to require apps to set a newly defined field when adding a contact programmatically. thus, old apps that don't set it won't work properly
…
What‘s your favorite example?

Facts and Figures

Android OS Lifeline 2008 2009 2010 2011 October ‘08: Android OSS Project, v1.0 launch, G1 on sale February ’09: v1.1 April ‘09: v1.5 September ‘09: v1.6 October ‘09: v2.0 December ‘09: v2.0.1 January ‘10: v2.1 May ‘10: v2.2 Q4 ‘10: v3.0

Device Launches per OEM * Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Android_devices ** Source: http://pdadb.net Total: 194 Devices (as of July)

Device Distribution per OS Version * Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Android_devices ** Source: http://pdadb.net

Device Distribution per Screen Size * Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Android_devices ** Source: http://pdadb.net

Device Distribution per Resolution * Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Android_devices ** Source: http://pdadb.net

Device Types and Markets Mobile Phone TV Internet Tablet Telematics and Navigation Set-top Box

Highlights
Huge amount of devices launched: 194 models in 23 months
Active OS versions & APIs on the market: 6 (out of 8)
On average, new OS release announced every ~ 4 months
Over 8 screen resolutions on the market, excluding orientation and resolution families
At least 20 different screen sizes , that affect the DPI
Variety of vertical markets with own specifics

Bottom Line
Will fragmentation go away? No!
What can we do about it? Embrace it!
Let’s engage as a community and create a knowledge base about this problem!

Solution?

AndroidFragmentation.com
Free hub for fragmentation knowledge
Purpose: discuss, learn, compare, share
Contents:
Database with device- and firmware-specific information, APIs, hardware & software capabilities, etc. (coming soon)
News Feed & Forum
Device search and comparison (coming soon)
Database fed by a client app developed by the sister project Android Analyzer hosted on Google Code

AndroidFragmentation.com AF.com Device Capability DB Web Server Website Webservice Tools Analyzer

Enter AndroidFragmentation.com

Device Capability Database Preview

Android Analyzer App
Open source client-side project on Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/android-analyzer/
Collects data and sends to the server
Users can extend the report with their own findings
Will evolve as Android OS evolves
Will be published on the Market
!!! Everyone welcome to contribute !!!

Android Analyzer App

Android Analyzer: Plugins

Coming Soon
AndroidFragmentation.com Roadmap:
Q3/2010 : Forum, device database, reports, comparison, advanced search
Q4/2010 : UI enhancements, web-based data edit and comments
Idea: Ecplise plugin for auto validation of APIs used in your project
Idea: Open APIs for access to device capability database
Android Analyzer App Roadmap:
Q3/2010 : analyzer core, pluggable architecture, data collection based on available Android APIs, reporting to backend, user comments
Q4/2010 : enhanced user interface and reporting on the device, fine-grained data edit and comments
Q1/2011 : advanced capability detection, auto-testing (e.g. media formats), support for OEM-specific extensions

Your Feedback Needed!
PLEASE tell us what you think!
Send us your suggestions about how to improve the site and what services to offer!
Any feedback is very much appreciated!
Feedback can be sent through web site or to
email address feedback@androidfragmentation.com

www.prosyst.com [email_address] twitter.com/joritter Thanks Android Stammtisch Rheinland 15.09. Köln

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AndroidFragmentation.com – an open community project

by Joachim Ritter on May 26, 2010

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AndroidFragmentation.com – an open community project — Presentation Transcript