Android Device Fragmentation

Android device fragmentation, what is it?

Device fragmentation:
There are many devices running the same operating system or platform. Then the problem arises there is to adept the applications of these devices with different screen size, colors, platform versions, keypads. Developer faces the problem in releasing; maintaining the applications for these varying devices and the main thing is that the application must be supported by all the devices. This problem is known as fragmentation.
“Fragmentation means the application only runs on one device and not on the others”.

Currently android is used by the biggest number of manufacturers with the highest number of handset models on sales at a given time. Just because of device fragmentation it has been possible for manufactures to roll out completely various devices based on same OS. As HTC releasing HTC Sensation, HTC Desire Z and the HTC Chacha in 1 year and now there are 1000’s of applications waiting to be downloaded.

Mobile application developers have to do lots of work with limited devices for testing and it is too difficult situation when users rate it poor and start uninstalling these applications.

Android has proved itself to be the most fragmentation ready platform to start with. The graphics user interface layout is defined in a series of XML files following in the footsteps of XUL, in this UI layouts are defined as per fragmentations and automatically picked up at run time according to screen resolution.

Now developer have to do a lot to make their applications run on every device, so there is more work for them. This android fragmentation is not so big deal and not so smaller one than any mobile platform. As it will increase “the number of devices” then it must be increased the applications for them and it converts to higher number of sales for these android devices.