I have not developed any apps for android yet and I'm planning to take the plunge and give it a try. However, because of all the different flavors of android software and hardware can anyone recommend the cheapest and easiest device to use for building and testing apps that will produce the best results across all android devices? The only android device I currently have is an old HTC Droid Eris running an old version of android. Will this work or would I be wasting my time using this as a test device? Thanks.

Google Nexus 7 Arsus Tablet For a phone get a larger screen size perhaps by Virgin Mobile (no contract) Fred

The Google Nexus 7 Arsus Tablet is the $250 device that was just released correct? Would it be crazy to just use the Emulator to build an android app and never actually test on a real device? The other option would be to only buy the Nexus 7 for testing and not test on a phone. Any thoughts on this? I really don't want to have to buy multiple andrd devices since I already have two iPad's (original and New one) and my wife and I also have iPhones. I have developed multiple iOS apps with Buzztouch and it seems like they are much easier to develop because of the fairly standard screen resolutions across devices. Do you have any tips or tricks for handling the wide array of screen resolutions in the Android world?

***The Google Nexus 7 Arsus Tablet is the $250 device that was just released correct? Yes with 16 GB, the Google Nexus 7 has less memory 8 GB $200 ***Would it be crazy to just use the Emulator to build an android app and never actually test on a real device? Crazy ? No, Wise? Perhaps Yes for development, just test on a phone before you ship. The other option would be to only buy the Nexus 7 for testing and not test on a phone. Any thoughts on this? A good option, but phone capabilities is important. ***I really don't want to have to buy multiple andrd devices since I already have two iPad's (original and New one) and my wife and I also have iPhones. One tablet, one phone. ***I have developed multiple iOS apps with Buzztouch and it seems like they are much easier to develop because of the fairly standard screen resolutions across devices. I find Android easy, iOS developers struggle with Android, but I think its because they don't bother to learn Android and then wonder why things don't work. I venture going the other direction is difficult also. *** Do you have any tips or tricks for handling the wide array of screen resolutions in the Android world? I think it's much ado over nothing. Yesterday I saw a video where the speaker said, "Fragmentation is a non-issue. The web already handles multiple screen sizes with no difficulties." Certainly there's many devices that don't work with every app, but only a few devices represent most users.

Thanks Fred you are always very helpful. I think I will work with the emulator until I get comfortable with Android development and then possible acquire some hardware for testing. What screen resolutions do you recommend working with in the emulator?

The newest phones are 5.5" My older phone is 3.5" My tablet is 7" The control panel has two options: small & large http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html 320 x 480 should work for small. Usually the same image will work for large. But unless you enter the image name into the large box it won't display. Depending on what you're doing with the image. A bottom icon image won't scale nicely to a full screen image. But take a look at my "Study of Buttons" article, you'll find some interesting twists. Find it at www.MySkylla.com click on search and enter study. Fred

Just posted this in another thread...seems somewhat relevant here as well: "Developing for Android is an absolute nightmare. Here's a real world example. I've been working with another member in the forum on their app for Android. We got it all working (it was originally an iOS app that he then got the Android source for), and it looked good on my device, which is an HTC HD2, which has a resolution of 480 x 800. The app is a quiz app, and the only issue was that on some of the longer questions, the text got cut off. The guy I'm working with has an Asus ee Transformer tablet, which has a resolution of 1280x800. The quiz got totally stretched, and basically just didn't look good. There was still the issue of text getting cut off. I'm sure we could have tweaked the images a bit to make them better, but overall the effect was not good. So, the developer went and got a Huawei Ascend II, which has a screen resolution of 320 x 480. In this instance, the last answer of the quiz was below the bottom of the screen, and it could not be moved so the user could see it. Three different devices, three different results, none of them all that good. No doubt there are all sorts of code changes that could be made to accommodate the various devices (and probably Android features), but that is more work that most people are willing to put in. Android, in my experience so far, developing for both using standard buzztouch screens and no code modifications, is BY FAR the most quirky and problematic. Just my two cents from actual experience. Mark"

I just got a refurbished Samsung galaxy s II for $9.99 with a two year service contract. (ATT) It's a beautiful phone. Not as graceful as my iPhone, but has a huge screen with lots of pixels.