Industry Phone Statistics
Does anyone know any good sites I can look at to see Industry-wide statistics on what features different (Android) phones have?
For example, my team is having a conversations about supporting the physical button set on a typical Android phone. A typical Android phone has the Home Button, Back Button, Menu Button, and Search Button. However, not all phones are required to have those, and some don't have all of them. I would like to get my hands on some data that just explains what percentage of Android phones have each button so we can make an informed development/support decision.
I've been googling around with relatively little success, so I wanted to see if anyone here already knew of such a website.
Re: Industry Phone Statistics
This list has a nice comparison of Android devices: Comparison of Android devices - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Although it doesn't have any physical buttons listed... are you sure you're talking about physical buttons? Mine has those buttons, but they're a part of the touchscreen, not physical buttons.
Re: Industry Phone Statistics
If I recall correctly, the physical push button requirement was removed with Android 3 or 4 (not sure on the exact version). However, in place of these there are touchscreen icons, as Kevin mentioned.
Re: Industry Phone Statistics
Ok, but is it reasonable to assume the icons exist, or should we avoid that? If the icons are expected on 95%+ of devices, it seems reasonable (to me) to assume they exist. Our main concern is the Back Button and the Menu Button.
Re: Industry Phone Statistics
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aussiemcgr
Ok, but is it reasonable to assume the icons exist, or should we avoid that? If the icons are expected on 95%+ of devices, it seems reasonable (to me) to assume they exist. Our main concern is the Back Button and the Menu Button.
Yep, they're required: Android Compatibility | Android Open Source
On that page, go to the "Current CCD" link on the left, then check out section 7.2.3. Pretty interesting read.
Re: Industry Phone Statistics
This is a good read. It will be very helpful. I do have a question regarding 7.2.3, the last bullet point:
Quote:
Device implementation MUST present a Menu key to applications when target Sdk Version <= 10 and SHOULD NOT present a Menu key when the target Sdk Version > 10
Does that mean that applications with its target Sdk as 10 or more should not expect a menu button to be accessible?
