http://www.birdseyebirding.com/index.php/blog/104-year-of-the-android?utm_source=BirdsEye+Newsletter&utm_campaign=629c3fa11f-Newsletter_Jan_2013&utm_medium=email Interesting analysis of IOS vs Android

@trailman, I would def. agree with the different versions of Android than IPhone. Good article! LA

Yes, end year of android :d hehe

Great read, esp on a birdwatchers site! It's kinda like how there have always been MAC and WIN users. Not everyone wants or can afford the same thing. Glad we have a choice, it helps keep costs and companies in line. and this is exactly why plug-in screens for Android are so difficult to create: >>>What that means is that our development is harder because we need to build an app that will work on both new and old OSs. With iOS we pretty much just need to deal with 2 versions of the OS and 3 different screen sizes, and Apple makes that optional by allowing iPhone apps to run on the other form factors. When a new device or OS comes out, we get about 6 months advance notice. On Android, by contrast, the form factors and features are all over in terms of screen size, GPS capabilities, slide-out keyboards, etc and apps that display well on one might not work at all on another and change every day.

@ATRAIN53: exactly. The plugin's I've been working on would be a nightmare to transfer to Android for that very reason. Design is much harder when you don't know what you're designing for. That being said, Android holds such a big share of the market that we can't ignore it.

Great article from our feathered-friend! Thanks @Trailman. Very informative. One area of revenue for app developers which he doesn’t cover (because, from what I gather, he’s making apps just for the bird-watching community), is those developers who get paid for making apps for others. Those developers (i.e. some of us BT folks) need to be able to develop for Android too, regardless of the economics. A customer who asks you to make an app, particularly a free app (but not only), wants his/her app to be as widely available as possible. So, we need to be as Android-friendly as we are iOS - hence I just finished the BT Android tutorials and got myself a Samsung Tab for Christmas ;-)

I totally agree. We need to try to increase the number of plugins available on the Plugin Market for both Android and iOS. That will be a key goal for the next several months.

Very good Article, i'm an iOS user, iPhone 4s and iPad so testing on those devices is fine, but what would everyone recommend me to get for Android it's between the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7. Do i really need an Android phone, will a Nexus 7 tablet be sufficient to test my apps?

I have a Nexus 7, and it seems to interpret the code and images a bit differently than the phones I have. Even so, I would highly recommend it because the price is low and there is no service contract. It is a great stand in for my iPad too.

Thanks Susan, I think with having an iPad i have iOS covered, as i can still see iPhone apps on an iPad that are not iPad specific, if i changed my phone from iOS to a Nexus 4 i then can test correctly on both platforms.

I put my home phone number on to a Galaxy III. There are some amazing features on it....for example, it transcribes all of my voicemails. Sweet! Especially since it is my home phone number and I hate listening to the sales calls.