The Ever-Evolving Android
Android 2.0: What It Means for Users and Developers
By Mark Murphy on Wed, 10/28/09 - 5:47pm.
Android 2.0 is a big win for Android users. Google Maps Navigation, better contact management, more camera features, Exchange integration, and the like are all boons for those owning Android 2.0 devices. Developers get the long-lost Bluetooth APIs, along with a contact sync framework, more CDMA APIs, and the like, adding new areas for apps and feature expansion for users owning Android 2.0 devices.
The key is who all has Android 2.0 devices.
The first to get Android 2.0 will be those buying devices that offer it in the near term, such as Droid being offered by Verizon in just a couple of weeks. Other devices will get updated in upcoming months. Some devices, like the T-Mobile G1, might not be upgradeable to Android 2.0 due to firmware size limitations.
In the abstract, none of this should be surprising. After all, pre-iPhone, the vast majority of smartphones never received any sort of OS update — they were appliances more than PCs. Even with iPhone, not everybody gets the upgrade (e.g., iPod Touch users who do not bother). Expecting everybody with an Android phone to be in lock-step on Android versions indefinitely was wishful thinking, just based on what came before.
That being said, there is going to be some confusion for a while among users and developers alike.
Developers will have to deal not only with multiple devices (and their multiple screen sizes, multiple pointing devices, etc.) but also with multiple Android releases. After all, for a while, 1.5, 1.6, and 2.0 will all significantly be in production use. Android has many facilities to help manage this, but there will still be a fair bit of learning and adapting that the Android ecosystem will need to do. Furthermore, developers will have to make some decisions vis a vis their apps: do they rely on Android 2.0 features and live with a smaller near-term user base, or do they aim to support a wider range of devices?
Users will be confused as fallout from the developer confusion. Apps that are published only for newer versions of Android will not show up or be installable for older Android devices. This will lead some users to wonder why their friends can get such-and-so app while they cannot. Particularly since Android versions are less obvious to users than, say, Windows versions, it is possible that this sort of confusion could become widespread. A smart Market can help here (e.g., don't hide apps the user cannot install — explain to the user why they cannot install it).
Android will evolve on a regular basis, and devices will run the gamut of Android versions, just as PCs run the gamut of Windows, OS X, and Linux versions. Developers and users alike will need to adjust their expectations to take into account these new Android versions...and Google and the device manufacturers will learn from today's crucible to find ways to do all of this better in the future, we hope.
- About Android Angle
- Mark Murphy is the founder of CommonsWare and the author of The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development. A three-time entrepreneur, his experience ranges from consulting on open source and collaborative development for the Fortune 500 to application development on just about anything smaller than a mainframe. A polished speaker, Murphy has delivered conference presentations and training sessions on a wide array of topics internationally. Outside of CommonsWare, Murphy has an avid interest in how the Internet will play a role in citizen involvement with politics and government.
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The ignorance of updating the G1
There is a pervasive ignorance regarding the G1's update possibilities. All that's needed for the G1 to get future upgrades is a SPL update that would adjust the partition schemes. I'm personally running the "danger" SPL, which gives the G1 the same partition sizes the mytouch and hero have. It would be easy for the providers to release an official SPL update to allow official 2.o updates to the G1.
No ignorance, just more knowledge
The core Android team has already indicated that repartitioning on the fly is not acceptable for production deployments, as it it too risky. There is little question the technique works, but even with 99% reliability, you are still talking tens of thousands of users whose phones would be fouled up, perhaps beyond repair. Now, perhaps they or HTC can devise techniques to perform this repartitioning with 99.99% reliability or whatever threshold the carriers will deem acceptable...but I would not count on it.
Multiple versions in the Market?
Do you think Google will allow multiple versions of the same program in the Market? For example I have a program that works on 1.5/1.6. Suppose I want to make the next version use 2.0 features and require a 2.0 phone. Also suppose there's a technical (or other) reason why I can't make a single app that works on both platforms. Now, if I publish the new version, it will displace the previous version and 1.5/1.6 owners will not see it, right?
I suppose I could release the new version under a different name, like "FooBar for Android 2.0". That would work but it would start from scratch on comments, ratings, and top selling position. And it might confuse users of 2.0 phones and web sites that list apps when they see multiple similarly-named apps. For example I already see about 5 versions of my ReTranslate program on those sites because I was playing around with the name. That's not good.
Any ideas?
They're trying to avoid it
"Do you think Google will allow multiple versions of the same program in the Market?"
They sure are trying not to. However, they are going to need to do something for NDK applications for supporting multiple chipsets, and I sincerely hope the answer isn't "bundle all possibilities into one APK".
He ya a generalised
He ya a generalised ignorance concerning the possibilities of update G1' s. All that is necessary for G1 to get bets at level intendeds is an update SPL which would be to adjust the regimes of partition. I use personally the "danger " SPL, which gives the size of a partition of G1 the mytouch and heroes have. It would be easy for the suppliers to liberate CIVIL SERVANT SPL update to allow updates 2.o official to G1.
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