Developing an Android smartphone app - on which devices would YOU suggest to check the app?!

Question

Dear stackies,

before publishing a new app on the market, on which devices would you suggest to check whether it runs fine or not? What are your experiences? How do you handle this?

Are there some empirical values, for example, do applications that run smoothly on a HTC Desire behave similar on all HTC devices? Are there some devices on which the app should definately be checked?

I like to picture myself releasing a high quality product instead of throwing some crap on the market. :) But I suppose I am not the only one who cannot buy like 5 or more devices just to ensure that the apps works fine on every kind of device. Well, at least not yet... ;)

Thanks for your help!

Best regards S.

Answer 1

The most problems in my app are freezes on droid... no other device reports freezes... just droid.

If you have access to different devices, very good. If not, test at least all possible screen sizes and densities with the emulator. Thats my advice.

Answer 2

I recommend testing on touchscreen and 5-way navigation in addition to varied densities. Testing screen orientations might be good, too, but I haven't figured out how to do that with an AVD.

Answer 3

I test with a droid, and although my app runs flawless I still get comments and 1 star ratings for crashes on other phones like X10, EVO, etc.

I too focus on quality and dont want to put a half tested app on the marketplace. I spent TONS of time on testing. In the end, it didnt work on some phones and there's really nothing I can do about it.

Answer 4

I would recommend getting phones that represent various tiers of hardware. Check for performance on low end devices like the droid (can't believe I'm already saying that after less than a year) to make sure that your app is not too demanding and will run smoothly. Also check on a high end device like the EVO to make sure it looks presentable on a fancy device with high def screens.

Another nice device for testing is Nexus One. It's middle of the road, has nice screen, decent hardware, and runs Froyo, without being the latest and greatest.