Exclude App from Android 2.1 on Android Market for Performance Reasons?

Question

I published a computationally intensive app for Android 2.1+ that has been very well received.

But there have been some negative reviews and comments pertaining to performance. These are from people who want to use the app, but can't because they say it's running way too slowly.

It works smoothly on my Sprint Evo 4G (Android 2.2). Moreover, from the many positive comments, I can see that many people do not have performance issues running this app on their devices.

Let's assume there are no programming issues and the code is maximally efficient. I am considering blocking the app from Android 2.1, and making it accessible only for 2.2 and above.

Have other people encountered this situation? Are there really some 2.1 phones out there that are very slow, say, using the speed of the Evo as a benchmark?

Answer 1

Are there really some 2.1 phones out there that are very slow, say, using the speed of the Evo as a benchmark?

Yes, absolutely. I can't play Angry Birds on my HTC Hero running 2.1 because of poor performance. The game plays fine on my wife's newer Evo.

My advice would be to see if you can buy an old used handset to test your apps on yourself. That way you'll be able to head off any negative reviews by targeting devices where you know your app performs well.