

Mac Dev Notes: iOS and Android Development Compared - xm
http://gigaom.com/apple/mac-dev-notes-ios-and-android-development-compared/

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andymoe
I have found the android simulator to be dog slow (takes 2-5 minutes to
install a project and boot) and basically unusable so add to the right hand
column of costs an unlocked android device right off the bat if you don't want
to pull all your hair out and would like to be at all productive.

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wallflower
To be fair, the android simulator once running performs OK for the crucial Run
to test-Modify-Run to test cycle. We rarely use 'Debug', usually use 'Run'.

We find that running on the hardware is not as necessary during feature
development - as it slows down the iterative cycle. Running on hardware is
critical, of course, for testing layouts, how the app handles incoming calls,
being killed etc.

As a plus, the emergency-break-is-on-like performance of the simulator is
pretty slow - in contrast to the iOS simulator which runs as fast as your
development machine will let it.

It encourages unit tests - as a way of avoiding the simulator.

./adb uninstall com.yourcompany.package is a good shortcut to remove an app

When we do release an APK, we usually use Dropbox to make it look more
professional when we send it out to client's beta testers (but nowhere as good
as <http://testflightapp.com> for iOS)

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andymoe
I still find the simulator way too slow to be useful but I guess I am just
spoiled by the Apple development tools. I agree that adb is really really
useful for uninstalling and for the all important test of your APK files right
before you submit to the market. It's also very useful for testing on older
android hardware that you might have difficulty installing to using the
eclipse plugin for whatever reason or can't get to connect to the market
place.

We are also using DropBox to distribute the APKs amongst the team for our own
testing purposes and that's been a really great workflow for sure.

