I can’t believe after waiting for so long that there isn’t an Android Sketchup/Layout app out yet. Then today I infuriatingly saw a release for iOS. I can’t begin to fathom how I feel.
I guess, It’s unlikely they won’t do it for Android just to make you angry…
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Not surprising. Many developers choose iOS over Android for early releases for very good reasons. The APIs are easier to work with, there is far less fragmentation to deal with, and fewer bugs. And as a group, iOS users seem more likely to actually purchase apps. The iOS version is still a pre-release stage, though.
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For the record, the iPad app is in Beta, not released, and there is no LayOut app on iPad.
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@BluSleeper Its mainly due to the hardware of the iPad, especially the Pro being very very good and consistent. While ‘Android’ is a collection of 1000 different tablets of varying levels of performance and capability. Apple has only taken an even greater lead since deploying the M1 chip to its tablets.
And while it is possible to target certain Android tablets it is still very tricky, I say this as a former developer for Android and iOS devices.
This makes it very difficult to make apps such as these on Android. If you look at all the best design/drawing/3D apps, none of them are available on Android:
-Procreate
-Shapr 3D
-Nomad Sculpt
-Adobe Photoshop
-Adobe Illustrator
-Affinity Photo
-Affinity Designer
So I would not judge Trimble too harshly, its just a numbers game really.
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That’s the fragmentation part I was talking about.
Yes. Thank you for your input. While I understand the points you gave and I know them, it’s just that I’ve seen about 3 apps that have 3D functionality that approach Sketchup’s but are much younger. Granted these 3 apps are in iOS mostly with one being online and on Android. I just expected Sketchup to be one of the first if not the first to reach this threshold. Tablets / Phones are more than capable of handling it.
Yes in Beta. And yes no Layout but for sure that will be next. To be able to bring it around on your tablet/phone. Just wishing it was more mature by now and available on both major platforms.
Yes. Understood. Definitely what is important on Android is to define Memory, GPU and CPU much like minimum requirements on PC and to be able to scale things up or down depending on your hardware.
Thank you for naming these apps. Yes. I’ve used some of those and they aren’t available for Android except of Onshape. Kudos to them for trying.
I do agree with all your points and am aware of that to some degree. Well, I hope in the future it happens for Android still. Sad to say I’ve been using the Pro tablet for a while but recently switched back to Android due to it just being a more flexible and customizable system for me. If only Apple were more flexible software-wise then I would maintain using them. Windows / Android for me at the moment.
Some are. All current and future iOS and iPad devices definitely are, but the same cannot be said for all Android devices. I agree it makes sense to include everyone eventually, but I think it’s about targeting platforms where quality control and reception are going to be easiest.
there’s also no vesion for the Linux desktop OS, alternatively you may want use the SketchUp browser version instead… at least if the used browser is capable in doing this (OpenGL-wise).
I should disagree with you. I believe the reason is not the OS. It’s the revenue. Because there are great design/drawing/3d modeling apps developed for android as well as ios which is a proof for possibility and practicality of 2D/3D app development for android OS. examples for 2d app:
Concepts app,
One of the best drawing apps with a unique hybrid system offering both robust vector and pixel based drawing specifically for architects and interior designers. Even though they had the ios version released a couple of years before their android app, but their android version is now being updated rapidly to deliver the same level of tools with ios
the reason for the delay in android version(based on the developer website) was only money related not OS related.
Autodesk sketchbook is another good example of a fully functional design/drawing app for android
Example of a 3d design app is ”3d modeling app” that is very capable. However its very similar to MODO or other polygonal modelers rather than sketchup but again clearly proves that its not difficult to develop a 2d/3d design/drawing app for android despite the veriety of android tablets.
The reason is simply money. Apps on ios are m8ch more likely to sell than android. Right now, the annual revenue of app store is almost twice the playstore.
I hope Trimble put some effort in developing the same for android base devices soon.
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I have used all those you mentioned, but none of them come close to what is available on iOS, especially the new version of Procreate that has 3D painting capability.
It is true about the revenue however, its much harder to monotise on Android (tablet). But I did not mean its because of the OS, but the actual hardware itself that is lacking.
If you look at the iPad Pro(8-16GB RAM) vs The Samsing Flagship(6-8GB RAM) in somehting like Geekbench its a huge margin. The M1 also has a very high perfomance lead on almost all other mobile tablet CPU’s.
Just to add on what you said according to the tab s8 ultra latest leaks it will be using Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform. And according to benchmark scores this shows the difference between the 1 year old m1 processor and the upcoming tab s8 ultra.
M1 is quick - absolutely no arguements. Although, despite synthetic tests, Tab S8 Ultra looks to be a very decent tablet.
That’s because Sketchup is brand new and Android hasn’t been around very long. And by the way, we aren’t really in 2023.
I just want a viewer, let alone a full fledged app.
There is a viewer, I have it on my phone…
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Yes, thank you. I just found one but it was not available from the Google Play store. I’m always suspicious of software that you have to download and install using the APK files. It did mention that my OS was too new for the version I wanted to download. My tablets are 4 years old but I keep them updated with latest version. I’m just about to try it out.
SketchUp Viewer - on Google Play Store:
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