Dev phone

[Monkey Pi]

People keep talking about the facet of the Nexus being a Dev phone. Can I get a little clarification? Are we talking about Dev in regards to phone interface (like writing your own Sense or Touchwiz or enhancements) or Dev in terms of working on App integration, or both?

One of the reasons I'm interested is that my company does interactive content on it's website that is currently Flash based. We know we will have to move towards App based development on the three major platforms (at least). Will having a dev phone help me in working towards Android App development?

 

[blackmannx#AC]

The term "dev phone" comes from the fact that the nexus is running pure android meaning no skins or other enhancements not present in the base os. We offered it as a way for developers to get a nice reference plattiform to make apps and services. The benefit is that anything coded that works on this device will more than likely work fine on most android devices. Some of the other traits is that the device bootloader is early unlocked and other access is enabled that most devices do not have present.

so yes.. it would be an extremely useful device to develop with..

 

[hyperdude]

Nexus phones run pure stock Android, with none of the OEM skins overlaid, so apps developed on them should be compatible with most if not all Android phones (as opposed to creating an app on, say, an Evo, with HTC Sense which changes the looks a bit and could throw off designs on other phones)

 

[shadrap]

There may be apps that do not work or need updating. It also means that there will be glitches but they should be quickly updated.

 

[thebrain73]

The only reason the Nexus line of phones is considered a developer phone is because they are the first phones to run the latest iteration of the Android OS. It can take months before any other phone is running Android 4.0 Developers who want to make sure the updates they have made to their current apps and apps built specifically for Android 4.0 will need a phone to test their apps on. The Galaxy Nexus will provide just such a platform for developers.

To answer your question, if you are developing an application for the Android OS, the Galaxy Nexus would be useful for testing purposes. The Android software development kit (SDK) is free and is much more useful for application development.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

The Android software development kit (SDK) is free and is much more useful for application development.

With the exception of dealing with phone specific characteristics, this is true. The SDK allows you to re-create devices of all shapes/sizes and operating systems. Really, just about any physical device is good for testing... in fact, as many physical devices as possible are useful for the following reasons:

1) you can test different screen sizes (also achievable through virtual devices)
2) check how your application responds to calls/texts (can mimic both in the virtual device)
3) how third party skins can affect your app
4) test various hardware and how it interacts with your app (i.e. Netflix vs Netflix HD system requirements). How many reviews have you seen "This app doesn't work on XYZ phone!!**!"
5) test how other applications can affect your application. Since the Virtual device doesn't have the market on it, you're are limited to included apps on the virtual device.

Other than that, most things necessary can be tested through the SDK/Virtual device. The nexus is a good device to test how your device responds to new OS when other devices won't receive the update for many months.