'Fragmentation is the biggest problem for Android'
Ustwo's Matt Miller see handset diversity as holding Google back
Matt Miller of ustwo has said that fragmentation is by far the biggest problem holding back Google's Android platform – saying that it makes developers work harder than they have to for Apple's iOS.
Speaking as part of a panel on how to be a successful mobile developer at the Evolve in London event, Miller made clear that standardisation has to be a key point on Google's agenda if it intends to attract the sort of success that Apple has with the App store.
"At the moment it's fragmentation," replied Miller, when asked what he saw as the biggest problem with Android.
"There are so many different devices for Android that you have to put so much more effort into doing it right – and if you're not going to do it right, don't bother doing it.
"Because of that fragmentation it makes it so much more of a hassle for us – it tires and drains you."
Ustwo is the studio behind mobile app MouthOff, which has sold over 100,000 copies on iPhone, whilst the Android version has only just reached 4000 sales - although Miller admitted to the Android version being marketed "less aggressively".
Also speaking on the panel were Hand Circus' Simon Oliver, Neonplay's Oli Christie and Matthew Wiggins of Wonderland Software. Wiggins was emphatic in his support of Miller's argument, calling the fragmentation a "complete nightmare" which Google must address.
One issues is that Google is insists on monolithic builds which could run on any device, yet, there are 4 different video chips present, which requires the developer to store textures/images in 4 different compressed texture formats. However, before 2.2 the user can install application to the handset's internal memory (and only a fraction of that can be used when installing), which could be as little as 25 megs even on a fairly high-end handset. And i wouldnt dare to utter a word about device specific bugs (not restoring GL context on power state changes, and such). These would a lot easier to handle if there would be an option to release device specific builds, but that is not a possibility.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Tom Keresztes on 10th December 2010 4:33pm
Posted:2 years ago