Hi, I need a recommendation for a good Android tablet and phone to be used for debugging (to be compatible with XE7 mobile add-on).

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Hi, I need a recommendation for a good Android tablet and phone to be used for debugging (to be compatible with XE7 mobile add-on).

Currently I use the Nexus 7 (1st generation) for development and I have the feeling, there is some room for improvement regarding deployment and debugging speed.
Regarding the phone: It doesn't have to be anything fancy as I will use this only for development and presentation.

Comments

  1. Dorin DuminicaMarch 16, 2015 at 4:07 AM

    I'm not up to date with android devices out there, however, from what I saw, Intel based devices perform noticeable better, so, my recommendation is to go with the device that has an Intel processor

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  2. Palle MeinertMarch 16, 2015 at 4:19 AM

    Dorin Duminica that is bad suggestion since Embarcadero only has an Arm compiler for Android. I am quite pleased with my Sony Experia Z2 Tablet, but have not used it for development though.

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  3. Eric GrangeMarch 16, 2015 at 4:20 AM

    Fred Ahrens  Nexus 4 or 5 should do the trick, and are not too expensive. Not sure about an ARM tablet.

    Dorin Duminica I can confirm the performance: my Intel-based tablet feels close to laptop performance, however this means an x86 processor, rather than ARM, so for debugging ARM Android, it is not so good. For fairness I'm not sure how much of the performance is CPU-specific, as it also features 2 GB RAM and a small SSD drive, rather than just flash.

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  4. Claudio PifferMarch 16, 2015 at 4:23 AM

    I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5". I use it every day with Delphi XE 7 without problems.

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  5. Dorin DuminicaMarch 16, 2015 at 5:10 AM

    Palle Meinert thank you, didn't knew about that, then again, I'm not using Delphi for mobile...

    Eric Grange I like to look at device reviews on youtube once in a while, while doing so, I recognized certain things, like in this case, not sure where the win is, could be the emmc storage, but my hunch tells me intel is doing a better job...

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  6. Fred AhrensMarch 16, 2015 at 5:34 AM

    So far it looks like Nexus 4/5 and Galaxy Tab S 10.5" are the "winners".

    Given that I already use the Nexus 7 (1st gen), is it worth to upgrade to the Galaxy Tab S?

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  7. Carlos LeiteMarch 16, 2015 at 6:34 AM

    I don't develop for Android yet but I'd like to suggest that, if you intend to sell your programs overseas, to test it also on some cheap chinese phones / tablets

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  8. Milan VydarenyMarch 16, 2015 at 7:26 AM

    The last I heard, if you're using the EMB compiler, you need a device with an ARM processor and NEON instruction set. You can check the device easily by downloading a free app called SysCheck that will give you lots of processor information.

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  9. Fred AhrensMarch 16, 2015 at 7:45 AM

    Milan Vydareny Is there any chance to get this information before I buy a device. I haven't seen the NEON instruction set in any device specification.

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  10. Steve van NiekerkMarch 16, 2015 at 8:03 AM

    Also using the Galaxy TAB S 10.5 without any problems on XE7.

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  11. Lars FosdalMarch 16, 2015 at 8:41 AM

    nVidia Shield is a good performer at reasonable price as well.

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  12. Milan VydarenyMarch 16, 2015 at 8:41 AM

    I asked one salesman to allow me to download and run the app on the store's demo device. He had to get permission from his manager, but it came quickly. We downloaded the app and quickly determined it had what I wanted. Most devices and manufacturer's websites don't seem to give much technical information, apparently because today's consumer is not savvy enough to ask or even care; just so they can send photos of the baby to Aunt Mildred or Cousin Seth. :-) If you have a friend with the device you're interested in, ask them to run the app for you on their device.

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  13. Fred AhrensMarch 16, 2015 at 8:46 AM

    Lars Fosdal Is it supported by XE7?

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  14. Milan VydarenyMarch 16, 2015 at 8:48 AM

    Screenshot of Syscheck at https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103113685381486591754/photos/all?cfem=1&pid=6126859816472726930&oid=110095051946115615517

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  15. Joe C. HechtMarch 16, 2015 at 8:50 AM

    You cannot go wrong with Nexus 4, 5, 7, and10. Anything else is a long term gamble. A very hard lesson learned on both Android, and RT development (where nothing short of a surface can bite).

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  16. Lars FosdalMarch 16, 2015 at 8:53 AM

    The Shield has a NVIDIA® Tegra® K1 2.2 GHz ARM Cortex A15 CPU. 
    I would find it strange if it wasn't supported.
    As far as I can tell, it is a 32-bit CPU with NEON support.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegra#Tegra_K1

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  17. David SchwartzMarch 16, 2015 at 1:14 PM

    My Nexus 7 (2nd gen) just upgraded itself to Lollipop (V5.0.2). It makes me wonder how to keep older versions of the platform around for testing purposes. Not every device will auto-update, nor will many devices even be capable of updating. How many Jellybean devices can even be updated to KitKat, let alone Lollipop? Seems a bit challenging.

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  18. Milan VydarenyMarch 16, 2015 at 1:36 PM

    Preventing auto-update for the Android system itself seems a bit dicey. The only thing I found was this SO http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3515410/stop-android-os-auto-update but there seems to be a caveat in that you need to root the system. I'd also be curious to see if there's an easier (and less draconian) way.

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  19. Eli MMarch 16, 2015 at 1:50 PM

    Benchmarks: http://www.androidbenchmark.net/passmark_chart.html

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  20. Tony DanbyMarch 17, 2015 at 6:14 AM

    I have used ZTE phones for debugging. You can pick them up second hand quite cheaply and they are stable, not great performers but then you need them to be slow so you know your app will work on the lowest common denominator

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  21. Fred AhrensMarch 22, 2015 at 3:14 AM

    It's finally a used Nexus 9 on the tablet side. Seems to be quite fast for debugging and also allows testing against possible HDPI issues.

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