Since Mango's preview event last month and the subsequent release of the Mango Development SDK, there has been a lot of confusion from developers as to how they are supposed to make apps that utilize the update's new features without having any real hardware to test it on. For a while any news on that subject has remained silent, but yesterday that was broken as Microsoft took to the AppHub developer site and released the following statement:
To update Joe’s tweet: We’re working on a plan. Just like last year, when we made developer phones available with the Windows Phone 7 OS, we plan to have developer phones this summer supporting new Mango features like the gyroscope. We don’t have any dates to share just yet, so stay tuned.
Yes it appears that Microsoft will be taking the harder approach and will be releasing developer phones with Mango instead of just sending out ROM updates to developers. There are a few reasons behind this that we can sympathize with Microsoft about. For one, having a dedicated device with the real sensors and updated CPU/GPU configuration would be as close as possible to testing an app on a real Mango device that will go to market, so developers will have a more accurate experience. The second reason is that if Microsoft had done a ROM update, it would most likely have been ripped for use by the community and we're positive Microsoft doesn't want to have another press nightmare like they did with NoDo.
However, Cliff Simpkins of Microsoft has apparently contradicted that claim and says they are hard at work on a ROM update for all developers to use. The following are excerpts from his post's comments section where he responded to curious developers and outlined some of the many areas they need to work out before an update can go through (courtesy of MobileTechWorld):
– the team is actively working to provide a way to restore the phone back to a baseline, but if a crash happens in mid-flash (while the device is being repartitioned and ROM is being updated), the device would likely require outside assistance. Hopefully, we’ll have more information on this in the near future.
[...]
Thanks folks, as I believe it’s been mentioned elsewhere, we are looking into this. The team fully realizes that there is no substitute for testing on real hardware, whether it’s to get a feel for how the app really performs, or if your using sensors (e.g., camera, Motion Sensor, etc.), or developing a game that may have issues in the emulator.
Challenges here include creating the tool that would allow for the updates as well as do the backup/restore to allow you to get back into a base state where your MO can support you again (either if you want to return to WP OS 7.0 or you want to upgrade to the official WP OS 7.1).
One of the chief issues is that the update brings your entire device up to a pre-release state; doing a hard reset brings the device back to a ‘clean’ state, but that ‘clean’ is a ‘clean’ pre-release; and if the update fails while the device is in mid-update, you don’t have a ‘clean’ state to return to, which would then need involvement from a human being, some tools, and an image file.
Also – as Derek mentioned, we will be working to make sure that developer evangelists have ‘Mango’ devices to allow you to get a feel for how your apps work on different ‘Mango’ devices.
In our opinion, Microsoft should be doing exactly what Apple does in this scenario: release a 'Gold Master' developer build of the new OS update for developers to download to their devices and test. Despite having a large and dedicated hacking community, iOS Gold Master builds aren't typically ripped for use and if they are most users are wise enough to avoid it and wait for the real release. Of course, Apple has really streamlined the update process for iOS devices so that users don't have to wait as long as people have for NoDo. Still, we can't help but think a ROM update is the right approach and that the community will take responsibility for its own actions in the event that the update is ripped. What do you think, dear readers?
Via: MobileTechWorld
Source: AppHub, Cliff Simpkins
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar