My 2012 Compatibility Lab

Around this time last year I posted a picture of my testing device setup. This included twelve iOS devices and an assortment of other platforms I’ve played around with.

With the arrival of my iPad mini this week my device collection for 2012 is now complete. It has grown quite remarkably compare to just 12 months ago. It now includes nineteen iOS devices.

This arrangement of devices lets me test my apps in pretty much any configuration I need. I have retina and non-retina for almost every OS version I support. There are a few gaps on the older side of things but I cover pretty much every modern configuration.

I must confess I don’t use every one of these devices for a typical release cycle. Many of them are just around because I needed them in the past and now keep them around “just in case”. The rapid adoption of iOS 6 enabled by over-the-air updates will likely reduce the need for quite this many devices going forward.

David Smith