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Ask HN: Choosing 5 Android handsets for QA purposes: Which 5?

9 points by AVTizzle ↗ HN
Hey HN - if you were developing an Android app and had the opportunity to pick 5 Android handsets for QA purposes, which 5 would you choose?

I suppose you'd want to go with 5 Androids that represent some balance of covering as wide of a spectrum-representation as possible, while also representing the major families of Android (Galaxy S-series, Droid Razr?, etc...)

Thoughts? Which 5 do you go for?

4 comments

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higherpurpose
Nexus 5, Moto G, Galaxy S5 (I think these 3 are pretty mandatory), and the other two maybe a Sony and an LG (maybe even lower-end versions than the Moto G, especially resolution wise). If you want to target mainly the US market, I guess Sony isn't very popular there, so perhaps an HTC device instead.
GFischer
Maybe a phablet and a "mini", lower resolution device?

higherpurpose's point is very important, regarding which is your target market - it's VERY different to develop targeting the U.S. than, say, Latin America.

Edit: I see your company is focused on managing "street crews" for campaigns, I guess first world then :)

Apparently the best-sellers over there are:

- Samsung Galaxy S III (> 30 million sold)

- HTC One

- Motorola DROID

I second higherpurpose's recommendation of a Motorola Moto G (maybe instead of the DROID).

I'd choose a 320 x 480 pixel device like Galaxy Mini 2 for South America, and maybe a 240 x 320 device like Galaxy Pocket which is the default "free" phone over here.

Or, for the Indian market - I've heard they use a lot of local and Chinese brands over there, not necessarily lower specced but I've read about a lot of Mediatek-powered devices.

swanson
If you have an existing app, use the Google Play Dev Console to find the phones your existing users are using and consider buying the top 2-3.

These sites are also helpful: http://choosedevice.com/ http://www.handsetdetection.com/

My picks (with no context): Nexus 5 (straight from Google, use this as the gold standard), LG Optimus Fuel ($30 unlocked at Walmart, runs KitKat but has a tiny screen), Samsung Galaxy S4/5 (whichever is most popular), Samsung Galaxy S3 (still tons of those in the wild), and Kindle Fire 7" (covers tablet and FireOS).