The Android platform still remains to be one of the best platforms to work on for any developer: Both skilled and new. All Android developers want their app to work seamlessly on mobile platforms. However, sometimes even the most skilled of developers will end up making costly mistakes that bring things crashing down, and quite literally. In this article, we will explore some of the most common mistakes made by developers:
- Cloning: Probably one of the biggest and most disastrous mistakes is making an Android app just like another app that is available on the iOS platform. iOS design principles cannot be blindly cloned and imitated on Android platforms. An exact replica of an iOS app will not attract downloads but will only create a very poor and not so authentic copy of an iOS app, that probably will not work well on an Android platform.
- Avoiding intents: ‘Intents’ allow the movement of data from one part of an app to another and also facilitates the movement of data between different apps. If this has not been used, it is bound to create certain problems. Intents will help a developer save a considerable amount of time on programming.
- Avoiding fragments: The use of fragments will help users using an app on both tablets as well as on phones. A fragment is nothing but a type of micro-activity, which could be easily embedded with various other fragments. Many fragments can come together for an activity. When a developer fails to include this aspect, things will be tough. Fragments must not be avoided or not used at any cost by the developer involved in the project.
- Underestimating the project: Sometimes, developers may not take what they are doing seriously. They underestimate the value of the project and think that mobile app development is not a big project. This means that the developer is not taking things seriously, hence there is no prior planning. On the other hand, app development is no cake walk and there is a lot of planning and strategy involved in the entire mobile app development process.
- Not using the main thread: The primary purpose of the main thread is to make sure the user interface is very responsive. If this is blocked, then the user experience will not be smooth. There are also chances that the app might not respond due to this. This is why developers should make sure they do not block the main thread at any cost.
The development tools for Android come free of cost in most cases and they can be used on all types of computers such as Linux, MAC and also on windows. The platform is used on a number of mobile devices and also in cars, television sets and, off late, even on smartwatches and fitness equipment. The platform is one of the most fast-growing across the world. Over the course of the last few years, there are many things that have improved, making Android development more advanced.