What's a good phone for testing Android apps?

[Bill Fleet]

Here's a question for Frank, Robi, and Chris:

I'm starting to gear up to learn mobile programming (starting with Android), and I have most of I need.

However, I will want a phone for testing once I have a few things to test. I also have a budget constraint, and am wondering how much phone I'll need. The latest greatest fastest is always appealing, but I worry that writing apps that target these phones will result in apps that won't run on older hardware. Especially since the vast majority of Android users out there are running on 'old' hardware.

So my question's really this: from a software standpoint, is there that much difference between the various platforms (phones) out there? (Other than specific hardware features, and considering a common base like 2.1 or 2.2, of course.)

Actually, that raises a separate question: how many people upgrade to the latest kernel when it comes available?

I'm currently considering the LG Optimus-V through Virgin. It seems solid, if not spectacular, and the plan is way cheap.

Cheers! -- Bill

[Pratik Goswami]

Hi Bill,

Bill Fleet wrote:However, I will want a phone for testing once I have a few things to test.

Android Dev Phones are available and they seems really good and carrier independent. I have used HTC Magic and LG Optimus for development testing, both of them having good user performance.

Bill Fleet wrote:from a software standpoint, is there that much difference between the various platforms (phones) out there? .

When any new SDK/OS released that time Google is releases platform highlights as well, from here you can identify major changes and new features.

Bill Fleet wrote:how many people upgrade to the latest kernel when it comes available?

You can monitor version distributions from here, Google is updating data every 14 days of time interval.

Thanks & Regards,
Pratik Goswami

[zoheb hassan]

LG Optimus-V is a great handset for testing out apps, it performs well however not exceptional

[Ulf Dittmer]

Once you've chosen a baseline version, and accounted for different hardware capabilities, the biggest issue is likely to be different screen sizes - which can be tested in the emulator.

Bill Fleet wrote:how many people upgrade to the latest kernel when it comes available?

People generally do update - if they can. They're at the mercy of the device manufacturer and their carrier - if one of them decides not to update, then you're stuck. See http://blogs.computerworld.com/16310/android_22_upgrade_list to get an idea of how that's working out.

Pratik Goswami wrote:You can monitor version distributions from here, Google is updating data every 14 days of time interval.

Note that these are access statistics of the Android Market, but that there are now more and more devices that do not have the Google Apps installed - which means they can't access the Android Market, and are thus not captured in those numbers. I agree it's a useful yardstick, though.