Yesterday, Samsung unveiled more details about the Galaxy Z Fold 2, which goes on sale in the U.S. starting September 18th but is available for pre-order right now. Our first impressions of the device are overwhelmingly positive, but at a price of $1,999, not everyone will be able to afford it. For developers interested in optimizing their apps for the foldable form factor, that can be problematic since it's always preferable to test apps on live hardware. Thankfully, Samsung has a solution to this problem in the Remote Test Lab.
Samsung published a short blog post on Wednesday with some general details on how to develop for the innovative foldable. The company reminds developers of the device’s Flex mode and App Continuity features. Flex mode is triggered when the foldable is partially folded, letting apps take advantage of the expanded usability afforded by the split UI. Planning for what happens to your app once the device enters Flex mode? Check out Jetpack's WindowManager library. App Continuity, on the other hand, refers to the ability of an app to seamlessly restore its state when the configuration is changed between folded and unfolded, or vice versa. Apps should save their UI state and support configuration changes gracefully so the current task continues seamlessly after a transition.
Now that the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is available in Samsung's Remote Test Lab, any developer can test their app's behavior with Flex mode and App Continuity, not just those who are lucky enough to spend $2,000. Samsung’s Remote Test Lab works by connecting Samsung smartphones to the cloud, which developers can control remotely. The system is helpful because it allows developers to test their apps on the latest hardware, even if they can’t physically access these devices. Developers can also remotely install APK files, make screen captures and recordings, and test automation scripts. Unfortunately, Remote Test Lab doesn’t support audio, additional peripherals, multi-touch, and camera. But despite its limitations, it goes a long way to making development more accessible.
Samsung previously added the Galaxy Note 20 to its Remote Test Lab, along with the Galaxy S20 series and Galaxy Z Flip earlier this year.