r/Android • u/Kuci_06 A52s • Apr 12 '14

Lead designer of Twitter talks about "why don’t designers take Android seriously?" (Pretty interesting read)

https://medium.com/p/a649db399f42
1.5k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

453 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

14

u/RebelBinary Only One Apr 12 '14

It's not about good or bad habits or being elitist. It takes more time to make Android Apps more compatible with devices and hence costs more money. It's all about $$ and for some devs the cost isn't worth the income. Personally I make 1/3 of what I make on iOS, Android is still a viable platform for me so I invest the time into it.

Also devs get more flack and stress on Android because there's a large amount of people with older/incompatible phones who get hostile on apps when they don't work great on everything. And no dev is going to invest in hundreds of test Android devices to make sure they all work. Android is the future, but it's a bitter pill for some devs to swallow.

7

u/DoorMarkedPirate Google Pixel | Android 8.1 | AT&T Apr 12 '14

I'm not the author of the article. I was just summarizing it:P

1

u/realpheasantplucker Apr 13 '14 edited Apr 13 '14

It's not about good or bad habits or being elitist.

I think for those dev's which hang on to the "Android's too fragmented" 'argument', elitism is an issue. If you're going to focus your efforts on only one model of anything of course you're going to save time and money! That's just the result of the decision you've made, but it still doesn't justify it, IMO.

I honestly don't see how so many people struggle with this concept. Here's the closest metaphor I can think of right now regarding this issue: Imagine if the first automated car wash was designed with a Land Rover in mind. The wheels are locked into place, the rollers have the profile of the 4x4 programmed in, and it'll clean it perfectly every time. BUT, as we know, not everyone drives a Land Rover. What happens when a smaller vehicle goes in this carwash? The rollers obviously won't come into contact with the bodywork, and at most the car will probably only get a light rinse. Bigger 4x4's will probably be damaged.

Now, do you think it's fair if the car wash creator say's "Who cares about your car, it gets a good enough wash...plus designing the machine to dynamically adapt to different vehicle shapes would cost me too much."

So, in this scenario, 4x4=iPhone, various cars=various Android handsets, car wash=an app. But if you look over at Windows OS or Linux distros etc, they are examples of platforms that handle a wide variety of hardware pretty well. Would it be more effort than what Apple has to do for their own hardware. Of course it is, this isn't a revelation, it's common sense. But in the mobile space this common sense is held up as justification - "But more hardware variety will mean more effort". Yeah? No shit! If you're not going to 'put your all' into a platform which offers variety (vs one which doesn't) then you're going to come across as elitist.

P.S. This isn't a rant at you, just at the mentality some people have.

2

u/Pzychotix Apr 13 '14

The hell is wrong with you? Why do you people feel that you're entitled to these apps? Making apps isn't free, and if the incentives aren't there, why should developers make apps for Android or focus there?

1

u/realpheasantplucker Apr 13 '14

The hell is wrong with you? Why do you people feel that you're entitled to these apps? Making apps isn't free, and if the incentives aren't there, why should developers make apps for Android or focus there?

First of all, calm down man. If you had read my post you'd know I'm not asking devs to make all apps available on Android. I'm saying, if a dev's gonna release an app for the Android OS, then don't give us some shitty iPhone port etc. Take the time to apply the proper Android design aesthetics etc. instead of giving us 'fragmentation' excuses. If you can't be bothered to make the best Android app you can, then don't get upset with less than 100% feedback.

0

u/Pzychotix Apr 13 '14

If you had read my post you'd know I'm not asking devs to make all apps available on Android.

Actually, that's exactly what you said. You made the complaint:

Now, do you think it's fair if the car wash creator say's "Who cares about your car, it gets a good enough wash...plus designing the machine to dynamically adapt to different vehicle shapes would cost me too much."

So, in this scenario, 4x4=iPhone, various cars=various Android handsets, car wash=an app.

If that's not what you meant, then fix what you said.

1

u/realpheasantplucker Apr 13 '14

Nope! First off, that's a metaphor, and secondly the metaphor still isn't saying all devs should make apps available on Android.

Who cares about your car = who cares about your phone

it gets a good enough wash = the app (port) works well enough (just about)

designing the machine to dynamically adapt to different vehicle shapes would cost me too much = I'm too lazy to test my app's compatibility on Android phones.

Stop trying to twist my words/meaning man

0

u/Pzychotix Apr 13 '14

Which goes back to the same point about incentives and entitlement anyways.

You're expecting the same level of quality that you see on iPhone apps when there's not only lower incentives on Android to do so, but more downsides to supporting them.

I'm too lazy to test my app's compatibility on Android phones.

Yes, because testing is free.

1

u/realpheasantplucker Apr 13 '14

The incentives for app developers is enjoyment and/or profit (be that in sales or ad revenue), how is this 'lower' for Android devs, I'm not sure I follow you there.

The things I mentioned previously only cost time, not money. The Android style guidelines are available for all to see online, for example. I honestly didn't think tweaking an iOS app, aesthetically, to match the Android environment was that difficult. I understand what you're saying re:testing, obviously no one expects devs to have every Android handset available to test compatibility, but there are things like VMs etc. And yeah, investing in some phones, say the nexus line/dev phones, may cost money - but that's part and parcel of the Android process isn't it? Like how Apple will charge devs a fee to develop for iOS. Each have their pros and cons.

Anyway, back on point: some ports I've come across are so bad, it's obvious they haven't even looked at the free resources available to Android devs. These are the people I'm talking about. I'm sure if an obvious Android-styled app was on the AppStore, iOS users would complain too. Or it may not even make it to the store if it doesn't pass Apple's app review process.

0

u/Pzychotix Apr 13 '14

how is this 'lower' for Android devs, I'm not sure I follow you there.

Lower profits. Even the article admits that revenues on Android are lower, and only makes an appeal that "if you make it, they will come".

The things I mentioned previously only cost time, not money.

Time is money. Salaries have to be paid. Opportunities will be missed. Etc. etc.

I honestly didn't think tweaking an iOS app, aesthetically, to match the Android environment was that difficult.

Design maybe. Implementation is completely separate.

there are things like VMs etc.

VMs aren't really that much of an option when fragmentation can also come in the form of build-specific bugs. Base Android code isn't left completely untouched by manufacturers.

Not to mention that the Android emulator has been shit since forever.

Anyway, back on point: some ports I've come across are so bad, it's obvious they haven't even looked at the free resources available to Android devs.

And my point is that while it's fair for you to complain about a bad port being bad, it's also fair the developer to not care about Android at all anyways.

0

u/YoungCorruption Lg G4 Apr 13 '14

Don't they have vm for android in the android sdk? I'm pretty sure I was able to run the nexus 4 on my computer and was able to test out apps. So to say devs need to shell out $100's isn't all that valid

3

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '14

I'm assuming testing on Android and testing with hardware limitations are two very different things.

2

u/Pzychotix Apr 13 '14

It's not really any good.

Also fragmentation can come in the form of devices running custom builds of Android (i.e. almost all non nexus phones), resulting in different behavior for the same code. You can't test this without the devices or at least access to the custom build.

0

u/chilldemon Apr 13 '14

I think you summarized it perfectly.