Android mobile devices are the most important devices for game developers. Mobile technology has undergone a huge revolution during the last decade, from the black and white pixel phone to modern age smartphones. Currently, Android mobile devices are leading the market by a huge margin compared to its nearest competitor, the iPhone.

Initial Android gaming got its momentum after the release of Android version 1.6, followed by Android 2.3. Even today, there are many devices running on Android 2.3. That is why many of the popular cross-platform gaming engines support Android 2.3.

There was a time when Android used to run with a minimum requirement of 32 MB of RAM, 32 MB of disk space, and a 200 MHz processor as well. If we take a look at current device specifications, a drastic change can be noticed. Nowadays, Android mobile devices have 1 GB RAM, 1 GHz processor, and 4 GB disk space on an average. Most of the devices have multicore processing units. However, this rise...

Android tablets are very similar to Android mobile phones. The main specification difference between an Android phone and an Android tablet is the physical size and screen resolution. Generally, Android tablets work on lower PPI than a mobile. However, there is no hard-and-fast rule or any specific system to measure that.

The minimum requirement to run Android was a 200 MHz processor, 32 MB RAM, and 32 MB disk space. Android requires an ARMv5 or higher processor, although Android 4 requires ARMv7. Previously, starting age tablets had almost the minimum hardware system.

Tablets evolved from the concept of a tablet computer; they consist of a touchscreen display, camera, microphone, speaker, and a few physical buttons. Tablets are typically larger than phones or PDAs.

One of the minimum configured Android tablet is Coby Kyros MID7047, which is shown here (image source: http://www.evisionstore.com/catalogo/coby_mid7012-4g.jpg):

The following table shows its specifications...

After the success of Android mobiles and tablets, Android started expanding its territory towards other hardware platforms. Television became the next target, as the concept of smart TV was already in the market. Thus, a television set became interactive through Android. Google has released a few additional accessories for Android televisions to increase the user experience.

The first Android television device launched for consumers was the Nexus Player on November 3, 2014. The specification of this is as follows:

Here's what it looks like (image source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H1rp1fboU6g/VX2Huu6ClyI/AAAAAAAA3hA/5te4NZ65Tgg/s1600/nexus_player.jpg):

This was the first kind of Android television device, very similar to Google TV and comparable with Apple TV also.

Apart from Nexus Player, there are a few more Android-enabled STB devices:

A small piece of adapter connected to a television and a controller device to control the adapter, together are called a console set. Android is a cheap, low-budget operating system, which can be used on any mobile hardware platform with ease.

One of the first Android-based consoles is OUYA (image source: http://cdn2.pu.nl/media/misc/ouya_wall_ins.jpg):

These consoles are called microconsoles. A few years ago, the specification of such consoles was the following:

Now let's have a look at the modern age Android console specification:

In the smart era of technology, it was expected that every possible gadget would work smarter. Wristwatches were no exception. The type of watches changed from analog to digital, and now to purely computerized smartwatches. Being a very flexible open source operating system, Android is one of the most favorite option for smartwatches (image source: http://photos.appleinsidercdn.com/bigger-wimm-130830.jpg):

From the very early versions, Android watches were well capable of playing games, thus entering the game development domain. Advanced devices are as good as small computers. They consist of the Internet, sensors, cameras, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, speakers, card slots, and have many more features.

Like other computers, a smartwatch may collect information from internal or external sensors. It may control, or retrieve data from, other instruments or computers. It may support wireless technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS. However, it is possible that a "wristwatch...

As we discussed earlier, the main development target for any game developer on the Android platform are Android mobiles. We have also noticed the various technical specifications for Android mobiles. When a game developer targets this platform at its maximum possible scope, they must take a note of the device category.

Mostly, all Android devices support a common touch interface, a physical Home button, a physical Lock button, a Back button, and volume Up-Down keys for user interaction. Besides these, an accelerometer can be also a good medium for the user interface.

Gaming is mostly visual, so game developers should always look for the graphic performance of the device. There is a separate graphics processor in the latest Android mobiles, but the quality varies.

Visual excellence does not depend on GPU only—the display screen quality also matters a lot. Low PPI screens cannot deliver a high quality display. The first-generation Android G1 mobile had...

Android game development was mainly limited to smartphones before Android tablets came into the picture. It was much more fun to play a game on a tablet. Tablet gaming became popular over a short period of time because of the following reasons: