Your last paragraph is *exactly* what the CTS is all about, but obviously if you don't work for google you can't mandate what goes in and what does not :-).
I'm not recommending that these services are the solution to everyone's problems: but I do contend they get you farther than you would be otherwise. Games are particularly hard to test, since GPUs vary more widely across devices and aren't part of the most common pieces of the SDK. The fact of the matter is, there are always going to be hacked up ROMs running on the market: that's the design decision made by Android. The CTS helps get you farther to a holistic / cohesive platform, but in the end it's a numbers game: knowing which devices, API levels, user bases, countries, etc.. to care about is something the experienced developer has to have a handle on. Kris On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 9:05 PM, Omer Gilad <omer.gi...@gmail.com> wrote: > Yes, I've encountered those services. > > This is still not a solution. > It requires substantial money investment, and in a lot of cases it doesn't > give you the ability to debug on those devices. > > Personal example - I'm developing a game, and we've found (after a friend > checked it) that it has major display artifacts on Samsung Galaxy S4. > No logs or attempts to remotely resolve the issue helped - so we had to get > our hands on the device for a day. > It turned out that the device's GPU is buggy, and miscalculates some common > shader operations (like matrix multiplication). > There's no remote testing platform in the world that can assist you in > resolving issues like that. > > The issue is at the core, and must be solved at a design and attitude level > - devices like that SHOULD NOT be allowed to run Google Play apps (and of > course, they should be deprived of their certification), until the vendor > fixes those issues. > > > On Friday, July 26, 2013 3:27:49 AM UTC+3, Kristopher Micinski wrote: >> >> There are potential solutions, but in practice it's a constant battle. >> Certainly there are people that provide internet based test services >> that test your app on huge numbers of devices for a subscription based >> fee. >> >> Kris >> >> >> On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 8:12 PM, Omer Gilad <omer....@gmail.com> wrote: >> > I've found that even the biggest app developers like Skype, Gameloft, >> > etc. >> > have device issues, and they don't look in such a good shape. >> > Just scan the reviews of any super-popular Android app, and you can see >> > the >> > same disease... "This app doesn't even work, it sucks, and I PAID FOR >> > IT!" >> > (from some crappy device). >> > >> > Obviously, those bigger developers have the budget and capacity to own >> > 100's >> > or Android devices and run a big QA department. >> > What is an independent developer, or even a small startup supposed to >> > do? >> > >> > The "solution" that me and my partners decided on is to aggressively >> > filter >> > down any device that gives us bad ratings in Google Play (from the >> > developer >> > console). >> > That feels like taking painkillers when you have a broken leg. >> > >> > On Friday, July 26, 2013 2:47:49 AM UTC+3, Kristopher Micinski wrote: >> >> >> >> This is basically what the CTS enforcement is attempting to rectify: >> >> but it's obviously not a perfect solution. >> >> >> >> Many small developers just accept this as fact, and handle only the >> >> API. Bigger developers are forced to deal with the real problems, and >> >> then it's a matter of extensive knowledge, testing, metaprogramming, >> >> etc... >> >> >> >> Kris >> >> >> >> On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 6:39 PM, Omer Gilad <omer....@gmail.com> 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-d...@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. >> > To post to this group, send email to android-d...@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. > 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. 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.
