String, Thank you for taking the time writing this up. Five stars. I just feel stupid every time I get on the soapbox just to rehash what should long have been addressed by Google/the Android team. I have no idea how to get this across. Diane, Romain and who else from the other side who have been holding out are forced to try rationalize impossible positions instead of getting some real support from their own team to get stuff fixed. I've worked in such an environment and you can take this only for so long until you go look for another job. This would be the worst possible outcome, but hey, this is how it goes sometimes. In the end, everybody loses, and, if it mattered, I'd ** totally put blame on management of the Android team ** for not putting resources on fixing the issues. It only gets worse the more they let this slip. JP
On Jan 19, 12:32 am, String <[email protected]> wrote: > On Jan 19, 12:50 am, Dianne Hackborn <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Specifically which problems are you having? > > Problem is, half the time we don't know. Users post 1* Market comments > saying "Force closes on Droid" or "Doesn't work on Samsung Moment", > and unless you have that specific handset to test on, you're SOL. You > "sanity check" on an emulator instance of the same resolution and OS > version, and nothing is obviously broken, so where do you go? > > The increasing array of hardware devices (with different OS versions, > screen sizes, and crappy vendor-specific UIs) simply exacerbates the > structural problems with the Market, where it's far too easy for users > to downrate apps, and with no meaningful way for the developer to > respond. Put another way, the current Market punishes devs for ANY > "flaw" in their app, real or perceived, and the diversity of the > device ecosystem is bound to generate such "flaws". > > I recognize that nobody (including Google) can force OS upgrades to > existing devices. That responsibility lies with manufacturers and > carriers, and all too often, they shirk it in favor of selling the > next handset of the week. Perhaps Google could apply some pressure, > perhaps not. At the least, please ensure that "Google Experience" > devices have sufficient RAM to enable future upgrades; I'm still > bitter about the G1's memory limit, which makes me feel like I'm being > punished for being an early adopter. > > What Google CAN do is improve the flippin' Market. It's routinely > mentioned as one of the weakest links in the Android chain; the > upgrade with 1.6 was a step in the right direction, but many more are > needed, benefiting both users and developers. Addressing some of the > many Market issues on b.android.com would stop so-called > "fragmentation" issues from being magnified the way they now are. > > Google can also slow the frenetic pace of new OS releases, to allow > both devs and handset vendors a chance to catch up. > > Finally, I'd really like to see Google sponsor some sort of hardware > support for devs. The recent Developer Labs were a good start; they > should be recurring events at the very least, ideally an ongoing > service where registered devs could stop by a Google office at any > time and test on hardware which they can't afford to buy themselves. > Some sort of loaner program or DeviceAnywhere-style service might also > be possible. > > What I'm NOT opposed to is the proliferation of Android devices in the > wild. I believe it's one of the ecosystem's real strengths: the > diversity and choice in hardware. I'd love to see a WIDER range > available, from cheap QVGA PMPs through 10" touchscreen tablets and e- > readers. There's a lot of untapped Android potential out there, and > every new class of device opens up a new market segment to buy my > apps. :^) Growth is good. > > String
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