Fragmentation on iOS vs. Android
Bryan Venable
Heath Borders
fragmentation is a very big issue. I can certainly see the problem if
you're trying to squeeze everything possible out of the device, as
there have been numerous hardware changes between the iPhone 3G and
the iPhone4. However, for apps that present a simple user interface
and hit a web service (what I've been doing for the past year), iOS
has a great deal less fragmentation. There are effectively 2
resolutions: iPad, and iPhone. Generally, the screen real-estate is
so different that you should design distinct workflows for each
device. Thus, for each user interface, you effectively have just one
screen resolution. I realize the iPhone4 has the retina display, but
that is really easy to manage. If you programmatically draw your
custom interfaces (which my app does), you get retina display support
for free. The iPhone has simple reusable controls for accessing
photos, sending email, etc, which makes user support easier.
I haven't done nearly as much Android development as I have iOS, but I
know Android has like 4 pixel densities, 3 different keyboard styles
(soft, slider, candybar), and number screen resolutions. Building a
UI with the same consistency that I can get on iOS has got to be
harder. However, the Android app philosophy seems to be that apps
should be emergent from activities, and not explicitly designed. So,
perhaps trying to guarantee a specific user experience just isn't the
Android way. I actually like that level of customization, but my
enterprise clients don't like the level of uncertainty.
-Heath Borders
heath....@gmail.com
Twitter: heathborders
http://heath-tech.blogspot.com
On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 3:07 PM, Bryan Venable <sp...@spif.com> wrote:
> http://mattmaroon.com/2010/11/18/fragmentation/
>
Josh Jeffryes
While I have only worked on web apps that (theoretically) work on any
phone, the layout issues are the same. Designing screens for iPhone/
iPad is much simpler than for Droid, since you're just dealing with 2
specs.
> Twitter: heathbordershttp://heath-tech.blogspot.com
>
> On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 3:07 PM, Bryan Venable <s...@spif.com> wrote:
> >http://mattmaroon.com/2010/11/18/fragmentation/
Heath Borders
Lol, maybe I was still suffering from grumpiness from my recent illness or something, but it wasn't supposed to be a rant.
On Dec 3, 2010 11:59 AM, "Josh Jeffryes" <jjef...@gmail.com> wrote:
That rant did seem a little biased against iOS.
While I have only worked on web apps that (theoretically) work on any
phone, the layout issues are the same. Designing screens for iPhone/
iPad is much simpler than for Droid, since you're just dealing with 2
specs.
On Dec 2, 11:43 pm, Heath Borders <heath.bord...@gmail.com> wrote:
> For non-performance-intensive...
> heath.bord...@gmail.com
> Twitter: heathbordershttp://heath-tech.blogspot.com
>
> On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 3:07 PM, Bryan Venable <s...@spif.com> wrote:
Bryce Penberthy
Heath Borders
It isn't easy to get old SDK versions for iOS, but google has old SDKs
from back to 1.5 available.
Again, my "rant" was from the perspective of someone building apps for
large enterprises that are basically native versions of existing
websites with mobile-specific features added. These apps are very
layout-centric and aren't making use of many features that are prone
to change between hardware, OS releases.
-Heath Borders
heath....@gmail.com
Twitter: heathborders
http://heath-tech.blogspot.com
Adam Horky
bending over backwards to support an outdated version of the OS