Is there anything worse than a technical glitch or screen freeze when you’re in the middle of completing a banking transaction or about to get your highest score? Now imagine if you are responsible for that particular situation. Android developers sure have it tough in this highly demanding and growing field of creative media and software.
And if you happen to be one, here is a list of the possible problems you might face at one point of time or another:
The Learning curve
Unlike other platforms, coding for Android requires the programmer to have a working knowledge of various languages like Java, XML, JSON, which in itself requires quite an amount of effort and dedication. Also, unlike coding for computers, the Android platform supports touch controls and gestures, which take the complexity to a whole new level even with the assistance of the available code libraries.
A Fragmented Market
It is difficult to create an app that would suit all the different screen sizes and work smoothly on all devices. In certain cases, it will be hard for the developer to find a particular phone even for testing purposes because it won’t be in sale anymore. But, there will still be users out there who use that model and the developer has to make sure that his/her app works on that model too.
Limited Access to the Latest Version
When creating an app, it is necessary to make sure that the app not only works on the latest version of Android but, also on the older versions. This is because very few manufacturers release the latest official Android update for their phones in a timely fashion. In some cases, updates are issued months, sometimes a year, after Google introduces the update in the market. Hence, it is necessary to cater to these users as well when creating the app.
The Revenue Disparity
As compared to iOS, Google focuses more on providing free apps to its Android users. Hence, as a developer, it is harder to earn higher revenue when developing an Android app. There have been certain instances where an app earned close to 10 times more revenue on iOS than on Android for the same number of downloads.
Manufacturers Manipulations
Android phone manufacturers at times have a variety of suppliers for their hardware components. Certain Samsung phones will have an issue with the camera, HTC phones might have an issue with the microphone, and only a few manufacturers support the call recording feature. To top this, various manufacturers modify the android source code and release their own custom ROMs with their handsets along with proprietary software, which might be in direct competition with what the developer is working on. It is difficult to successfully develop an Android app suitable for all Android phones with each manufacturer having a different issue or bug.
Watch out for Battery Life
One important aspect that most Android app developers tend to overlook is the battery consumption of the Android device. Developers get their programming skills by coding on computers which were connected to a main power supply. Hence, there is not much focus on the energy consumption of devices. In a recent study, it was discovered that maximum energy in Android apps was expended on network input/output functions. In free Android apps, 65-75% energy was spent on advertisement modules.
Now, the challenges may seem quite exhaustive but Android development is one of the most popular career paths for software developers across the world. Ideation, creativity, technical skill and aspects of consumer behaviour and research are all brought together when one is developing a high-grade Android app. And the high you get once you have created your very own aesthetic, user-friendly and smooth functioning app makes all the work you put in, worth it.
Now you know why Android is important and how you can be the kind of Android developer companies are looking for. If you are looking for someone to train you on Android, ZeoLearn offers Android Development courses that work under the supervision of experienced professionals within the niche.
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