First and foremost when developing for mobile, our code needed to be smart, precise, and efficient. We cannot be sloppy, which tends to happen on the PC. There just isn’t the same kind of commuting power and we fell into that trap once when first porting Loc over to the iPad.
So after experimenting with both platforms we’ve got to say, as cool (and as free), as Android is, it is a nightmare to test on. There are just so many devices to have to test on which becomes a huge logistical and ultimately a financial hurtle. The major problem is that they come in every conceivable aspect ratio of the rainbow. (aspect ratio is 4/3 or 16/9 for those of you who don’t know. The aspect ratio is based on the physical construction of your monitor. Is it more square? or rectangular ?)
So what’s so hard about this? Well, between different resolutions of the same aspect ratio, we have to scale whatever graphics we make. But between aspect ratios we have to create all new art, if we attempt to scale it, it looks stretched.
iOS development is far easier in this respect, 1 set aspect ratio for all smaller iPhone & iPods and 1 set aspect ratio for iPads. Thank you apple, we appreciate having a standard.
But iOS development has its downsides. First we got to give them money, like they really need more… but at least its only $100 for a year for the company as a whole, which isn't too bad.
Becoming a developer and getting setup to even deploy to a device is a more than just a headache. As a company we needed to prove we existed, they needed to verify our paperwork, our incorporation, and they called on two occasions to walk Marguerite, step by step through the process.
But once setup, we were mostly set. Haven’t had too many issues thus far besides trying to accommodate the freakishly large retina display of the iPad 3, which we will be testing today.
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