Millions of big androids

This latest analysis on the population of mobile device technology got me thinking more about the typical sized screen you might encounter as a global web developer.

Canalys Q1 2014 Smartphones: 81% Android, 16% iOS, 3% Windows Phone http://t.co/ty3E1vSysn
— Kellyn Pot'Vin (@DBAKevlar) May 13, 2014

So it's looking at 2014 Quarter 1 shipment of nearly 280 million smartphones. 81% are now android, only 16% related to Apple - that next iPhone better be a seller!

The telling statement for me was regarding a third of those shipped:

Smartphones with 5″ and larger screens grew 369 percent, substantially faster than the overall market

I've been working on an APEX project for delivery on an Apple Air - building for a table sized interface has been fascinating. I can only imagine how different a functional APEX application for a 5" screen would need to be.

APEX 4.2 User Interface Detection

The User Interfaces that have been added to APEX 4.2 have a few properties to help define what URL should be resolved - hence whether you see a page designed for a mobile or desktop.

After testing these to determine behaviours as the values change, I find it would make an easier flow chart to follow.

User Interface Properties

If Auto Detect is off, it will render the default UI
If Auto Detect is on, and hardware matches UI, this will override default.

Should auto detect fail, or no default are specified when auto detect is off for both interfaces, APEX will display the following page.

Page seen when no default and auto detect is off

This page was also displayed when auto detect was on for both UIs on a Samsung tablet, so probably best to define at least on default.

Order of the list is defined by UI Sequence - which is the only display this property seems to affect - nothing within the builder.

This screenshot captures the default appearance, but you can override the stylesheet used by using the User Interface Detection CSS File URLs property, under application properties.

ADMIN 01 - User Interface Selection
Please select a user interface from the list below:

jQuery Mobile Smartphone
Desktop

Media queries are also accetable

[media="only screen and (max-device-width: 480px)"]/mycss/smartphone.css

So those with good CSS kung fu could really make that a page professional looking entry point, should your application require it. Of course, you could build your own page using the dictionary view  APEX_APPL_USER_INTERFACES, and make it look however you want declaratively.

And of course, the page that initially opens will be the relevant home page URL for the user interface used, and the relevant login page should authentication be required.

The exact mechanics behind the detection is not known - David Peake wasn't sure off the top if his head when I asked him about it in Melbourne. If anyone knows, I'd be interested.
What he did suggest, however, is that Tablets will be available as a User Interface option in a future APEX release. I predict perhaps SmartTVs will also be a future option.

Scott