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I have heard of (not actually experienced as I do not have an Android phone) programs on the Android Market stating "You must have Android 2.0+ to run" or "Does

by ROFISH 16y ago

I have heard of (not actually experienced as I do not have an Android phone) programs on the Android Market stating "You must have Android 2.0+ to run" or "Does not work on XXXXXX device with 1.5, but we're working on support!" While most users don't care, developers do. Because Apple offers the upgrades free through iTunes ("New update! Click here!"), the number of upgraded iPhones 2Gs with 3.0 (opposed to the 1.0) nears 100%. Thus most developers can just build against the latest OS, get to use the new APIs, and be okay. However, I do admit the loss of the 2G upgrade changes things a bit, and I would like to see how Apple handles it. The easiest answer is that the App Store allows one to select devices that are incompatible with certain builds, however I would love to see a universal binary situation supporting the old OSs much like PPC/x86 or iPhone/iPad apps.

ergo98 16y ago
>I have heard of (not actually experienced as I do not have an Android phone) programs on the Android Market stating When you open the market on a device it is pre-filtered to apps that work on your handset with your features, in your region, etc. Users don't have to read through and sigh at disclaimers. Apps can even pre-filter by your screen size, whether you have a GPS, and so on. The situation with Android is very similar to the Windows landscape: Lots of apps work perfectly fine back to Windows XP or before. Yet occasionally an app demands something particular on the newer variants so it becomes, for instance, Windows Vista+. Same idea with Android. That's just life of a quickly evolving ecosystem, and they've managed it well. And remarkably many of the improvements have been ecosystem enhancements that benefit even apps target obsolete versions. The truth is that even today the platform API was so robust back on 1.6 (that was really the pivot point) that brand new apps still primarily target it.
rendezvouscp 16y ago
Xcode allows developers to build for multiple architectures (armv6 and armv7), and you can pick what features are required from the device for installation (for example, requiring a camera or microphone). At the OS-version level, you can build applications to take advantage of the latest OS, but also be compatible with earlier versions (that’s how the universal applications for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch work—their base SDK is 3.2, while their target is set to 3.1.3 or below). Additionally, it’s fairly easy to detect whether or not a certain API is available at runtime.
Tichy 16y ago
I've updated my iPod Touch once, and it wasn't free.
- teebes 16y ago
  Indeed, only iPhone upgrades are "Free", because they're subsidized. But the majority of people don't seem to get that just because you're not paying something at that particular point in time doesn't mean you didn't incur that cost over a stretch of time. It's also why people still think of iPhones as being worth $200 when in fact they are worth $600, and why they get so angry when they get hit with the early termination fee.
watty 16y ago
I haven't had any issues with downloading incompatible apps (even with 1.5). I recently started Android development and decided to target 1.5 and haven't hit any roadblocks. The only issue I've encountered is that 1.5 doesn't support separate graphic directories for different resolutions (and automatically scales).
- ergo98 16y ago
  This was by far the biggest change and improvement with 1.6, and it's why I target 1.6 and consider that the new baseline. From 1.6 all the way to 2.2, however, there is little that really makes or breaks an app.

by ROFISH 16y ago

ergo98 16y ago

>I have heard of (not actually experienced as I do not have an Android phone) programs on the Android Market stating When you open the market on a device it is pre-filtered to apps that work on your handset with your features, in your region, etc. Users don't have to read through and sigh at disclaimers. Apps can even pre-filter by your screen size, whether you have a GPS, and so on. The situation with Android is very similar to the Windows landscape: Lots of apps work perfectly fine back to Windows XP or before. Yet occasionally an app demands something particular on the newer variants so it becomes, for instance, Windows Vista+. Same idea with Android. That's just life of a quickly evolving ecosystem, and they've managed it well. And remarkably many of the improvements have been ecosystem enhancements that benefit even apps target obsolete versions. The truth is that even today the platform API was so robust back on 1.6 (that was really the pivot point) that brand new apps still primarily target it.

rendezvouscp 16y ago

Xcode allows developers to build for multiple architectures (armv6 and armv7), and you can pick what features are required from the device for installation (for example, requiring a camera or microphone). At the OS-version level, you can build applications to take advantage of the latest OS, but also be compatible with earlier versions (that’s how the universal applications for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch work—their base SDK is 3.2, while their target is set to 3.1.3 or below). Additionally, it’s fairly easy to detect whether or not a certain API is available at runtime.

Tichy 16y ago

I've updated my iPod Touch once, and it wasn't free.

teebes 16y ago
Indeed, only iPhone upgrades are "Free", because they're subsidized. But the majority of people don't seem to get that just because you're not paying something at that particular point in time doesn't mean you didn't incur that cost over a stretch of time. It's also why people still think of iPhones as being worth $200 when in fact they are worth $600, and why they get so angry when they get hit with the early termination fee.

watty 16y ago

I haven't had any issues with downloading incompatible apps (even with 1.5). I recently started Android development and decided to target 1.5 and haven't hit any roadblocks. The only issue I've encountered is that 1.5 doesn't support separate graphic directories for different resolutions (and automatically scales).

ergo98 16y ago
This was by far the biggest change and improvement with 1.6, and it's why I target 1.6 and consider that the new baseline. From 1.6 all the way to 2.2, however, there is little that really makes or breaks an app.