Set List Maker on iOS vs Android

arlo · October 02, 2014, 06:47:34 AM

Now that Set List Maker is available for both iOS and Android, it might be helpful to list some pros and cons of each platform. This is not the place to debate iOS vs Android in general, but for music apps and Set List Maker in particular there are some important differences. I'll list a few that I've seen, and you can add your experiences below.

Hardware performance: I've been developing with a Google Nexus 10, which is supposed to be one of the fastest and smoothest-running Android tablets available. It doesn't feel as fast and smooth as my iPad 3 when browsing the web or using other apps, but it seems comparable when running Set List Maker.

Screen aspect ratio: I think the 4:3 aspect ratio of Apple iPads is more practical than the 16:9 aspect ratio of most Android tablets. A letter-sized document displayed full-screen in portrait orientation will be about 10% larger on a 4:3 screen than a 16:9 screen of the same size (an A4 document will be about the same on both screens). The split view layout used for much of Set List Maker also works better on a squarer screen. Of course, Set List Maker's show view includes customizable screen layouts, so you could create a layout that makes good use of a 16:9 screen.

App feature support: The Android version is just getting started, but in the coming months it should gain nearly all the functionality of the iOS version. One feature that I don't plan to include is support for document formats other than PDFs. I'll update this post, and the website documentation, as I find other differences.

File management: A common complaint about the iOS version is that you can only add recordings through iTunes, and documents through iTunes or the Open In button. The Android app can link to any file on your device, so you can manage your files however you prefer. It still does not sync files across devices ... you'd need BandHelper to do that.

Sander · October 06, 2014, 02:13:00 AM

To be honest on my iPad 4 I regularly get hickups using Setlist Maker. Not very long and not very disturbing, but it's definitely not as "smooth" an experience as many other apps display. So I think this would be more of a coding issue.

Regarding screen ratio you make a good point. In Europe I believe most people use A4 however.

As for document support, I'm all on PDF myself, though I think people might expect or like to use JPGs. Is it much harder to code in Android?

File management - YAY!! This is where Android shines compared to iOS.

I have another specific question that you may or may not be able to answer;
Currently I use my Korg Kronos with Setlist Maker over the USB connection. The iPad acts as a host device and the Kronos is a class compliant midi and audio device over USB. I mainly use it to send program changes and SysEx to the Kronos when selecting songs. Sometimes I use a click from the iPad. Would this kind of thing also work with Android? I know Android low latency audio is abysmal, but does it support class compliant midi and/or audio devices? If not, is there any solution for sending midi and/or audio to/from the tablet?

I would love to be able to use my phone as backup for this! Or even as a main device, leaving my iPad for the GLD monitor mixing app!

arlo · October 06, 2014, 10:34:46 AM

MIDI over USB should work with the Android app. I don't know about audio, though, I haven't tested that.

Sander · October 06, 2014, 02:55:52 PM

Midi is more important for me than audio so that's relatively good news. Thanks! I will give it a try when it arrives!

Sander · October 20, 2014, 12:56:16 AM

I've bought the Android version and both expansions and straight away I'm running into trouble. I have already sent error reports to Arlo so I won't rehash everything here unless requested.

On my (admittedly very new) Note 4 it is not stable at all with the main database synced from my iPad. I get frequent and reproducible crashes and random strange behavior like songs missing from the show view. Adding a midi preset crashes the app every time even in the sample database. The Android version may need a little more time to mature. Really hoping for it though!

arlo · October 20, 2014, 09:44:40 AM

The goal of this thread is to compare the overall pros and cons of running the app on iOS vs Android. Since the Android version is only 2 weeks old, it's probably too soon to compare the overall stability of one platform versus the other based on specific bugs in the Android 1.0 or 1.0.1 versions.

But any time you find a reproducible crash, please send a message from Help > Request Tech Support so I can look into it.

Sander · October 20, 2014, 01:24:58 PM

Fair enough, I just felt it fair to warn Note 4 users specifically that at this point in time, it's unstable. Since the app is available for purchase and there is no demo version, that doesn't seem unreasonable.

I look forward to Android development though and will definitely keep sending problem reports. Hopefully less and less

arlo · October 20, 2014, 02:23:23 PM

Quote from: Sander on October 20, 2014, 01:24:58 PM
I just felt it fair to warn Note 4 users specifically that at this point in time, it's unstable. Since the app is available for purchase and there is no demo version, that doesn't seem unreasonable.

That's fine, but the Android announcement thread would be a better place to discuss issues specific to the Android version:

http://forum.arlomedia.com/index.php/topic,678.0.html

arlo · October 20, 2014, 05:05:20 PM

I just updated my comments about hardware performance above after realizing that I've been doing most of my testing in debug mode, which slows down the current app quite a bit. When I run Set List Maker in release mode, it seems just as fast as the iOS version. I'd be curious to hear your comparison of performance if you use both iOS and Android devices.

Sander · October 20, 2014, 10:59:19 PM

I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences. My Note 4 should be zippy with 3GB RAM and a quad core CPU. But because of the stability issues I can't really say at the moment. Scrolling the song list seems quick enough.

Sander · October 21, 2014, 02:14:08 AM

One difference I have found is that when using the default "dark theme" on Android, PDFs are automatically inverted so you get white lines on a dark background. While that is a nice option, I would personally prefer the look I get on my iPad - dark themed program with regular ink-on-paper looking PDFs.

I haven't found yet where to set it if it already is an option.
There was an update last night that fixed the most severe crashing bugs for me by the way.

arlo · October 21, 2014, 09:39:14 AM

Quote
One difference I have found is that when using the default "dark theme" on Android, PDFs are automatically inverted so you get white lines on a dark background. While that is a nice option, I would personally prefer the look I get on my iPad - dark themed program with regular ink-on-paper looking PDFs.

Inverting the PDF colors to match the app colors has always been a popular request for the iOS version, so I was happy to offer it in the Android version. I'm considering changing the iOS version to use the same PDF engine that the Android version has, to bring that functionality to the iOS version. But I'll put on my wish list the ability to not invert the colors.