I have an iPhone 4 and iPad for developments on iOS. I need to get an Android phone-factor device for development and testing. Can anyone recommend the best and/or any warnings about ones that are problematic?
Our IT department is suggesting a Droid Incredible.
5 Answers
The "best" would probably be the device that is sold most, right? --> Search google for the most sold handsets. HTC Desire's probably among them.
most sold, no thats not a good way to find yourself a dev phone
your phone should at least have android 2.2 or higher, the phones of HTC are pretty good, i had an HTC myself when developing for Android. It was fine, alot better then the samsung ... could not even get it to work on a samsung.
Its best, especially for Android, not to pick a powerfull phone. Your experience will be better if you have, but if sum1 downloads the app on a less powerfull phone. The performance will drop drasticly, atleast thats what i assume it gonna do.
Here's my two cents:
Avoid any Android phones from AT&T. Up until recently they didn't allow unauthorized apps to be installed on their devices. They've changed this policy in May 2011 but I'm under the impression that most of the devices in the store are still "handcuffed" and that only the newest devices allow development builds.
I know that stinks because, if you're like me, you have a few iOS devices that are all from AT&T. Instead, I went to Verizon and I basically asked them for the most popular Android device that they sell. The logic of course is that I want to make sure that my apps work on the most popular device from the US's largest cel phone network.
I ended up picked up a Droid X and a Galaxy Tab. The Droid X is great to work with. The Galaxy Tab is not (I generally have to manually install the APK through the filesystem). The flipside, however, is that the apps look GREAT on the Galaxy Tab. So while not the best device for testing, it's great for client presentations, etc.
I haven't tried yet with my atrix but it's an awesome phone.
How about the official one Google? Nexus or the Nexus S? You can root these and do firmware upgrades.
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