KDE Is Making Progress On Android Port

[yzsolt]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=KDE+Community

Wow, two applications? That's great! // sarcasm off

If you haven't been paying attention over the last few years, several KDE developers have been working on mobile-friendly versions of applications for a while now. The main goal of these is to support Plasma Active/Mobile, but if application developers can also support Android too, why shouldn't they?

Be realistic, how many application developer targets KDE besides the KDE developers themselves? Still don't understand: if the applications basically must be rewritten from scratch to support mobile (display, input, etc.), why would one choose the KDE frameworks instead of the Android or Qt SDK?
I'm not the one to judge what others do in their free time, but this whole thing seems so pointless... No real userbase, no real world developers using this, still lots of work is going into the porting.

[anda_skoa]

Still don't understand: if the applications basically must be rewritten from scratch to support mobile (display, input, etc.)

In a lot of cases the application core can be cleanly separated or is already, thus not rewriting from scratch necessary.
This depends on various factors, for example a lot on the age of the applications.

why would one choose the KDE frameworks instead of the Android or Qt SDK?

Your puzzlement is the result of a misunderstanding: this is not a choice of "or" but of "and".
KDE Frameworks is a set of libraries for Qt application developers, libraries which provide functionality that is not available in the libraries which are part of the Qt SDK.

There are many other such 3rd party libraries, some developed by companies, some by individuals, and some, like KDE Frameworks, by FOSS communities.

No real userbase

Android or Qt application?

no real world developers using this

"this" being Android or Qt?

Cheers,
_

[TheBlackCat]

Wow, two applications? That's great! // sarcasm off

Three, and several additional applications that already have mobile UIs that would be relatively easy to port. That is three applications already mostly usable on a set of libraries that are not yet considered ready for widespread usage.

Be realistic, how many application developer targets KDE besides the KDE developers themselves?

kdeapps.org has over 5000 applications. A bunch of a big-name projects, such as Digikam, Amarok, and Calligra, are independent projects. LXQt is starting to make use of KDE frameworks.

Still don't understand: if the applications basically must be rewritten from scratch to support mobile (display, input, etc.), why would one choose the KDE frameworks instead of the Android or Qt SDK?

First, any half-decent application developer will separate UI and logic. Second, the whole point of KDE Frameworks is to provide individual, modular libraries that provide additional functionality on top of Qt. So someone would choose the specific frameworks that provide functionality they need. Third, if they are already making a Plasma Mobile application, this will make porting to Android pretty easy.

[Ansla]

Three, and several additional applications that already have mobile UIs that would be relatively easy to port. That is three applications already mostly usable on a set of libraries that are not yet considered ready for widespread usage.

What's the third app? For me it also only shows 2 apps (KDE Connect and KAlgebra)

[TheBlackCat]

What's the third app? For me it also only shows 2 apps (KDE Connect and KAlgebra)

Marble is in beta right now.