The Varieties of Android Experience
Last Friday we snapped the photograph in this post. We posted the image online and it spread virally to reach unanticipated global fame. Much was said about Animoca and about our excessive QA practices. Even more was said about Android and fragmentation. Today we would like to give you Animoca’s point of view on these issues.
A little background
After the photo generated some buzz on social networks, TechCrunch featured our image in a top-trending article titled This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like. The responses to that article ranged from enthusiastic agreement to the predictably vitriolic. Some opined that the writer, respected tech reporter Kim-Mai Cutler, was denigrating Android to exalt iOS (we disagree).
The TechCrunch article explained how Animoca chooses to perform QA of Android apps across as many devices as possible – it did not suggest you have to do the same, or even that our approach is necessarily the best. That said, keep reading to find out why this method works for us, and why Android fragmentation isn’t always a bad thing.
All the Myriad Androids
On a sunny Friday afternoon, we thought, why not do something unusual? So we sauntered over to our QA department and demanded to see their Android test devices. If you know anything about Google Android then you know the choice in this ecosystem is enormous (we wrote about this in a previous post).
Around here we affectionately refer to our QA department as “bucket o’droids” and we think you can probably figure out why. These guys and gals test our apps across so many devices it would make your head spin. Cuby (of Pretty Pet Salon fame) immediately saw the opportunity for some shameless self-promotion and ordered us to set up the conference room for a photoshoot. What a professional!
No doubt you have questions, so here are our answers:
- Yes, all of those devices are found in-house at Animoca – those are just the ones that would fit on our biggest table.
- Yes, the conference room does open directly on to a gorgeous green area complete with trees and a lawn.
- Yes, we really did allude to a classic work of science fiction.
Fridays are fun.
UPDATE: catch the follow-up discussion to this post in our latest magnum opus: The Varieties of Android Experience.
Google Play serves 15 billionth download – weeks ago!
Congratulations to Google Play for serving 15,000,000,000 downloads, a milestone that was achieved without fanfare a few weeks ago. That’s very impressive growth from the 11 billion downloads Google reported just this past January. Wonder what the count is this very moment: 16 billion? 17 billion?
Kudos to Google, here’s to you keeping on trucking!
Android tablets invade Animoca for charity
It’s Friday and the Animoca office is overrun by Android tablets – of the Ice Cream Sandwich variety!
Dozens of brand new tablet devices are stacked in our conference room while we put the finishing touches on a new and exciting pilot program we’ve been working on. The Android 4.x tablets are headed to a school where students with limited access to technology will be able to join their more privileged counterparts on the other side of the digital divide. This is an educational pilot organized and funded by Animoca and our partner Outblaze; we’re still finalizing all the details, so stay tuned for more news coming soon!
Hey TechCrunch: what Android decline?
The posts of the legendary MG Siegler on TechCrunch have soared fantastically over the mundane landscape of technology news & analysis, reaching adulatory heights rarely matched by other Web publications while providing an interesting and entertaining (if occasionally slightly skewed) read.
But now a TechCrunch post by a different writer (Matt Burns) alleging the rise of an “Apple monopoly” in smartphones and tablets has left readers confused on some points, and not because of adoration in the classic Sieglerian style. The article, titled The Decline Of Android Foretells The Rise Of A Total Apple Monopoly, makes some surprising claims – among, it must be noted, some fair points. The first questionable claim is in the title itself, where an Android decline is alleged. There are a few others.
On Android:
Android is faltering at the hands of the iPhone.
On the iPhone:
There isn’t a better universal smartphone on the market. This isn’t open for discussion and the numbers prove it. Smartphones are now outselling less expensive feature phones with the iPhone as the number one seller. That states above all else that consumers overwhelmingly prefer Apple’s take on mobile phones.
On consumers:
They want a phone that works and they’re choosing the iPhone.
On the competition between iOS and Android:
Android is the only hope to stand tall against Apple and it’s currently in a sad state…. Four years after Android launched, consumers overwhelming choosing the competitor within the last three months.
And so forth. We propose an explanation, firmly tongue-in-cheek: Morbus silicii vallis. It is a (fictional) condition found among some technology professionals in the Silicon Valley area, resulting from over-preoccupation with one’s immediate sphere of activity and leading to a geographical attentional deficit. [Offered with apologies to all medical professionals and students of Latin, plus everyone in Silicon Valley]
Hey, we did emphasize that it was tongue-in-cheek. On that note, we’d like to point out that the last part of the web address of the TechCrunch article is “apple-will-one-day-rule-the-world”. It may not be an entirely serious post but it does provide fodder for discussion. Read on for the full treatment.
Pet Cafe (Android)
My Car Salon (Android)