Hear ye, listen to ye, citizens of the particular mobile world: Pull upward a chair and obtain comfy for a moment. There's something we require to clean up.
It's this particular notion which has been pounded in to our noggins about the particular "Android tablet app" -- the idea that designers must be creating separate applications made specifically for Google android tablets along with those that will target phones.
We listen to about it in the large amount of places. Self-appointed business analysts often squawk regarding the dearth of "tablet apps" for Android. CEOs of competing companies occasionally spout hot air about the particular alleged number of "Android tablet apps" that are usually supposedly available. And after that there's the worst: the particular businesses that hear almost all that babble and really allow it to affect the method they approach Android application development. That's where the particular real danger lies.
With regard to the prime example, we want look no further compared to everyone's favorite Clippy custodian -- yup, trusty ol' Microsoft. As no doubt you've noticed, the Redmond rangers launched a series of brand new Office apps for Google android earlier this year -- first within a "preview" form within mid-January after which in the more official (though mostly unchanged) final packaging a couple of weeks ago.
In all the particular coverage of Microsoft's brand new products, one key point offers gone largely uncovered: The particular apps illustrate a total and foundational misunderstanding associated with how Android as the platform works. Which outcomes in a confusingly inconsistent and shamefully poor consumer experience.
Android is more associated with a continuum of products than any set associated with carefully defined form groups
The issue almost all comes down to that will misguided "Android tablet app" mentality: After having offered simply a stripped-down version associated with Office that worked just on Android phones given that 2013, Microsoft designed these types of new and improved applications to work only upon Android tablets. That indicates if you're using the phone, you're still trapped with the old Office with regard to Mobile app -- the separate download that's absolutely nothing like the full Term, Excel, or PowerPoint conditions now available for larger products.
See what's wrong right here? There's absolutely no cause Microsoft's original Office with regard to Mobile app should possess been restricted simply to cell phones -- and there's actually less reason for the new Office apps to become locked down to pills. Rather than inventing arbitrary limitations between device types, Ms must be creating a solitary consistent user experience that will works equally well upon any size Android gadget.
That's what Android because a platform is developed to handle. And which what actually is sensible through a user's perspective. Consider it: Android is more associated with a continuum of products than any set associated with carefully defined form groups. Why is it alright for Microsoft's new applications to operate on a 7-in. tablet however, not on the 6-in. phone? The line among the forms is progressively blurry, and maintaining that will imaginary boundary is helping no one -- which includes Microsoft -- well.
Ms is by no means the particular only offender in this particular domain -- Amazon, with regard to example, long restricted the Android app to become used only on phones plus now needlessly maintains individual (though similar) phone plus tablet apps -- yet that kind of ridiculous separation is very a lot the exception to the particular rule at this stage. Most Android apps a person encounter are designed in order to work on phones plus tablets alike, and the particular better ones adapt intelligently to become optimized for what ever size screen you're making use of.
Take a look at Google Play Newsstand, for example. Load the exact same app on the 5. 2-in. phone, a 7-in. pill, and a 9-in. pill, and you'll see the particular same basic interface enhanced differently for each device's size:
Search engines Play Newsstand on the smartphone (left), 7-in. pill (center), and 9-in. pill (right)
In Gmail, the particular changes between device types are more subtle -- a minimum of, in the family portrait orientation. Viewing an inbox on a larger display simply gives you on-screen access to an additional panel of options that will remains tucked away in the slide-out panel on cell phones.
Gmail upon a smartphone (left), 7-in. tablet (center), and 9-in. tablet (right)
When a person flip the devices in to landscape mode, more size-dependent elements appear:
Gmail on a mobile phone (top) and 7-in. pill (bottom)
Some apps, such as Pocket, stay with relatively easy layout optimizations in one display size to another:
Pocket on a mobile phone (left), 7-in. tablet (center), and 9-in. tablet (right)
Other apps, like OfficeSuite, make more significant modifications depending on the size of your screen:
OfficeSuite on a mobile phone (left) and 9-in. pill (right)
Even apps that will make no effort in order to optimize for various screen dimensions can easily scale in order to work on any kind of device. That might not always result within a completely ideal encounter across the entire range, but it's a minimum of serviceable:
Netflix on the smartphone (left), 7-in. pill (center), and 9-in. pill (right)
So even though the developer is too sluggish to fully optimize with regard to different forms, there's simply no valid reason for the company to prevent the app from being set up on all sizes associated with Android devices -- due to the fact on a broader degree, there is valid reason in order to think of "Android pill apps" and "Android cell phone apps" as being individual entities.
Ultimately, the "Android tablet app" exists just in the minds of misguided developers plus ignorant analysts. In fact, what we have are usually Android apps -- time period. They're all effective at operating on anything from little phones to large pills. If they're designed nicely, they'll adapt intelligently to become optimized for different display sizes. If not, they will simply scale up or even down but nevertheless remain flawlessly functional.
Of course, if their programmers don't understand Android -- a small minority that features some surprisingly big brands -- they'll be unnecessarily locked into one certain form or another.