On 3/06/2014 7:13 AM, Avi Miller wrote:
We are currently building new mobile applications for the community radio station at which I volunteer. In order to test the Android application, I need an Android device (obviously), so I’m looking for recommendations for a cheap device that will only really be used for development purposes. I’m not looking to replace my existing phone, so an Android tablet would be adequate.
The problem space is not so easy. First there is the /quality/ of the devices -- cheap usually means junk, but not always. The next problem is that if you get a branded device of any kind, then you have potential brand interference and also possibly lack of /real/ support for the latest Android version(s). And the next major consideration, perhaps you need to see the app under different generations of Android... 2.x is still sold on some cheap phones (or at least it was when fairly recently, but it's probably still true). Versions below 4.3 may have some security issues, getting the latest version of Android (to fix as many of the issues as possible) might be nice, but what do your users have? The big driver will be, what your end users are expected to use and then what their devices run and the capabilities, including Android version, screen size ... lots and lots of factors. Now, I'm not about to promote Apple, but on the whole, their iOS devices have much less variance -- older devices don't get all the updates, but "up to date" devices can run the latest and most common versions. I don't envy your task of finding a suitable device for your testing. But perhaps most of the variables don't apply in your case - that will make it easier. Cheers A.