So in this case, how does a subscription based test service not help you? I'm not saying that a concrete one exists, but I think this kind of debugging service (or coop, essentially) would be a good tool. You include a time metric, do some tasks to help other developers', and they do some work of doing yours. One of the problems here is the heterogenous distribution of devices, but I don't think that's an inherent limitation.
I've thought about starting up one of these services for a while, but don't really have the resources to do so. (I think in my previous posts you thought I was advocating a pushbutton testing service: I wasn't. But the point still stands: if you want to test on greater devices, do it with a service and possibly humans in the loop. Big testing services should integrate this work cycle too, for when pushbutton tests don't work...) Kris On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 5:29 PM, Omer Gilad <omer.gi...@gmail.com> wrote: > What you wrote is the obvious part of what I do - test with beta users. I > agree that this is a must. > > The problem is, sometimes it's impossible to debug what you find. > When the issue is not a simple crash stack trace - but rather some behavior, > or display issue, you can't just keep ping-ponging versions with a user > without wasting whole days on that... You need the device in your hand. > And as an indie developer, it's practically impossible to get a hold of many > different devices. > > > On Sunday, July 28, 2013 12:47:30 PM UTC+3, Piren wrote: >> >> Wrote a lengthy response but my browser decided not to post it, so here's >> the short version: >> >> - That's a known problem with android development, it was obvious about a >> couple of months after it came out. when the premise of the system is to be >> open and as varied as possible, this kind of issues are a given. >> - Under your limitations, the best approach is to release the app only to >> a small subset of devices it was tested on and expand that subset as time >> goes on. Use an open beta group for devices you do not have access to. Even >> Netflix was released on only 5 devices. >> - iOS development might not have this issue (it has fragmentation, but it >> isn't the same as android's), but over all i believe android has a more >> developer friendly ecosystem... instead of being frustrated with this, >> you'll find more than enough other iOS specific issues that will frustrate >> you.. especially since you're used to how Android is. >> >> >> >> On Friday, July 26, 2013 1:39:14 AM UTC+3, Omer Gilad wrote: >>> >>> .I am wondering how developers here are dealing with the fact that there >>> are 1000's of devices out there, some of them running your applications in >>> very broken ways >>> .I keep running into these kind of issues again and again for the past 3 >>> years, and to be honest, I'm fed up with it >>> .I've decided to move to iOS development, and the only way to convince me >>> otherwise is to give me a decent, reliable way of dealing with fragmentation >>> >>> So what do you do when you develop a game, for example, and try to create >>> a high-quality user experience on Google Play? >>> Do you do your QA on 50 different devices? 100? 1000? >>> Or do you just shoot blindly and hope that it works, or wait for users to >>> send you bug reports? >>> >>> To make it clear, I'm not talking about "official" fragmentation. >>> I don't talk about different screen sizes, densities, features, OS >>> versions and so on. >>> I talk about the "unofficial" fragmentation. The fact that most devices, >>> even the popular ones from the big companies like Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG >>> and so on, contain tons of implementation bugs that prevent apps from >>> working correctly. >>> I'm talking about the fact that you can call a certain simple API, test >>> it on a stock Android ROM (like on Nexus 4), and then have your application >>> crash on some Samsung, that decided to break the implementation because of >>> some customization. >>> >>> How can people stand that? >>> How is it possible to write code, when the machine that executes it is >>> completely broken in unexpected ways? >>> >>> I'm really fed up with it. >>> About 50% of my Android development time is wasted on babysitting broken >>> devices. >>> I'm waiting for an official Google response about this, and what have you >>> been doing in all those years to fix that. >>> I've heard about things like "conformance tests" for devices and so on, >>> but the reality is far from acceptable in this area. >>> >>> ,Looking forward for helpful responses >>> Omer > > -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Android Developers" group. > To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Android Developers" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. 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