I've been trying my hand at some Android development recently. I made an app and published it on the Android Market after paying the enrollment fee. It seems to be earning $25-$30 a month so it's already paid for the enrollment. But has it paid for the frustration? I don't know.
Supporting the same app on multiple platforms just sucks. It's the argument that's always brought up in discussions on PC vs. console gaming as the reason why "the PC as a platform is dying". Whether or not that's true (it isn't), the point has merit. Develop for an XBox or an iPhone and you know exactly what hardware and software will run your application. Develop for PC or Android and there's always some amount of praying involved.
I've been tearing my hair out, banging my head against the wall (or whatever other violent metaphor might fit) because the Android Gallery app, which is part of the system, behaves differently when called from my application on Samsung phones than on every other phone. I strongly suspect that the reason lies nestled somewhere deep inside the custom crap Samsung has layered on top of basic Android.
Samsung isn't alone, of course. Motorola does it and I know there are others. Because of Android's open nature these companies have tried to differentiate their products by adding and changing and tweaking. And the result is that on some phones my app just doesn't work. Rather, Android doesn't work, and the perception is that it's my fault.
And of course, I have no Samsung phone to test with. I have been unable to find an emulator for any Samsung phone. What to do? Currently the answer is "put a statement in the description telling Samsung owners not to bother". And that sucks.
An interesting link somewhat related to the topic: Osmos
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