Apr 26, 2012

Will apps written for ARM Androids run on Androids with the new Intel Medfield architecture?

The new Lava XOLO X900 should be available soon. As far as I know every Android made up to know has utilized ARM processors. Fragmentation is a fact of Android life which I have never really found to be that big of a problem. But this is a lot bigger difference than a manufacturer just skinning vanilla Android or disabling features as requested by the carriers. Will the 400,000 or so apps out there that were developed for use on existing ARM devices work on the new Intel Medfield Androids?


The majority of the apps should. The ones that won't are the ones that use native libraries and didn't include x86 compiled copies of those libraries (probably not many that you actually use). That's how Intel came to that 90% compatibility rate figure.


Anything created that uses the official SDK shouldn't have an issue. That's the beauty of Dalvik.


I believe the existing GoogleTV devices out there run x86 Android. At least the Revue does. So don't worry, you'll still be able to play your Angry Birds Space.

I opted for an iPhone, so it's not an issue for me. If you get tired of the Android drama, you might want to grab one. Heh, heh. ;)


Intel itself said it was targeting a 90% compatibility rate with apps written for ARM Androids.  Or to put it another way, they were hoping at best that 1 out of every 10 apps won't work on their x86 phones.  At best...  


I haven't even seen one of these XOLO X900 phones "in the wild" yet, so I haven't had a chance to see how well they work.  The specs look good, I must say.  High mid-range if I had to quantify it.  I looked at a few benchmark test, and they compare very well to other phones, in some areas besting quality devices such as the Galaxy S II and HTC One S.  


extremetech.com did look into the app compatibility, and found that of the Top 40 "New Games" on Google Play, 36 of them worked on the X900.  That's probably about as good as you get with most devices.  I do suspect that older apps might have a lower rate of compatibility, but that is my speculation. 

Answer this