The Android operating system is available in hundreds of custom configurations running on hundreds of different devices. To ensure that your Android app runs properly on every one of these platforms, you would have to acquire and update a lot of hardware. That's time-consuming And expensive. And judging by the frequency of patches that are rushed out after Android apps are released, no one does it. (See this interesting article on fragmentation in the Android application ecosystem.)
All of that may be about to change. An Australian firm called Apkudo has set up an app-testing lab for Android apps. They'll test your software on hundreds of hardware platforms and report on unexpected results.
Maybe the best thing about Apkudo's innovative service is the price. It's free.
Here's how it works. You upload your app to Apkudo's lab. The software is then loaded into 289 (at this writing) Android devices and comprehensively run through its paces. Cameras focus on the test hardware's screens, intelligently seeking error messages and inconsistent behavior. You get a report that shows your application's failure rate, a log of bugs found, and a list of which devices caused problems. You can go over the video logs, slowing them down to see where problems occurred.
With a deal this good, there's got to be a catch, right?
Well, sort of. Apkudo intends to offer more intensive, in-depth testing services in the future. These tests presumably won't be be free.
Maybe you'll sign up for Apkudo's premium services and maybe you won't. In the meantime, there seems little reason not to use the free service. It could save you lots of time and money.
Apkudo is slated to be announced at BZ Media's AnDevCon Android Developer Conference this month in San Francisco.
Web recommendation: In a recent post, I asserted that the first shots in a worldwide cyberwar have in fact been fired. I was talking about Stuxnet and Duqu, two trojans that have the security world spinning. Now we have learned that a French nuclear-power company, with installations in Japan and elsewhere, has been successfully infiltrated. We don't know everything about the break-in yet, but preliminary reports – like this one – are disturbing. J.D. say check it out.
J.D. Hildebrand has written hundreds of articles for dozens of publications and online communities dedicated to software development. He lacks the patience to work on jigsaw puzzles.
如今对于Android应用开发者来说有个巨大的挑战，那就是要面对多版本、产品规格分歧的困扰，并且这种趋势正在加强，一切都归结于开放性。因为在 Android 平台一款应用程序能在某款机器上跑，并不代表所有机型都相容。针对这个问题，有一些团队已经找到一条同时模拟多机型环境的捷径，Apkudo 就是一专门为开发者而设的多机型测试平台。
目前，Apkudo团队对外宣称这个平台服务是免费的，它可以帮助开发者找到应用程序在近300种不同Android 设备上运行的问题，预计将于下月6号正式推出，目前已有289款已上市的设备模拟环境资料，其中包括平板和手机在內的。
据了解，开发者只需上传 APK 到Apkudo 上，平台就会自动模拟每一款设备的运行情況。完整的测试时间不到一分钟，然后相关的错误和问题就会显示出来，同时更会提供在不同设备上应用运行的的录像，开发者可以通过录像回放去找到问题的症结点。
Apkudo：Android 分裂中产生的商机
Android 的发展非常迅猛，但是开放性带来的分裂问题始终突出。由于市场上的设备众多、版本纷杂，开发者需要针对各种设备反复测试，不胜其烦。
新的初创公司 Apkudo 看到了其中的商机，公司即将发布一个测试平台，以帮助 Android 开发者解决这个问题。
Apkudo 是从 NICTA（澳大利亚信息和交流技术研究中心）分离出来的，它的实验室里拥有目前发布的几乎所有 Android 手机和平板（289 个设备）。开发者将应用上传到 Apkudo 之后，实验室在每一种设备上运行该应用，在不到一分钟的时间里进行用户交互测试。摄像头拍摄交互过程，然后将视频与检测出来的 bug 一起反馈给开发者，报告中包括失败率、bug 日志以及什么设备出现了问题。
Apkudo 的 CEO Josh Matthews 说，开发者很难在所有设备上测试，许多时候通过 Android Market 的用户评论中发现兼容性问题。Apkudo 在硬件设备上花费 10 万美元，以确保照顾到所有设备，将开发者的问题减到最小。目前，Apkudo 已经测试了 1 万应用，发现 30% 的应用在测试中至少会出现一个问题。
Apkudo 的基本产品免费，但是会为深度测试收费。实验室能够满足大量的需求，每天能处理 8000 个应用。
Apkudo 目前仍不是一个完整的解决方案，但是给开发者解决了不少问题。当 Rovio 去年在 Android 上发布《愤怒的小鸟》的时候，花费了大量时间针对市场上各种设备进行了测试，但游戏发布后，仍然在一些手机上出现了问题。公司在 Twitter 上说，“Android 的主要挑战是不同设备的数量太多了。他们都不一样。测试无休无止。”
Apkudo 将与旧金山举行的 AnDevCon （Android 开发者大会，11 月 6 日-9 日）上正式发布自己的产品。
