Award winning Djay app finally arrives on Google Play

The award winning “Djay” app from developer Algoriddim is not only winner of the Apple Design Award in 2011, but also happens to be one of Apple’s personal favorite apps. Apple literally likes this app so much that you can find it already installed on demo units of Apple devices, which is an honor that only elite apps have the privilege of having. Well luckily for Android users, Algoriddim has heard the call and officially released DJay on Google Play today.

Although it may seem to be a bit late coming to the party, the road to a Djay Android release has actually been years in the making. In 2011, Algoriddim began developing (not porting) Djay for Android when Ice Cream Sandwich was released. At that time, the development team saw the potential of Android, but didn’t think it was polished enough to release their product on.

CEO Karim Morsy stated that Android’s “Java, C++ etc mixture of different programming languages makes the whole process more complicated”, while “Apple has been developing its developer tools for years, so it’s a very clean and streamlined process”. This has often been the case through the years when it comes to Android development, as the number of devices, firmware, screen sizes, and various hardware components got developers off to a very slow start when it came to developing for Android. But according to Morsy, this is no longer the case.

As Android becomes more polished with every release,  and as tens of millions of Android devices are sold often just weeks after launch, developers are realizing that the Android platform is ready for the prime time. In addition to that is, naturally, the potential money to be made by diving deeper into Android development and dipping their beaks into Android’s hefty market share. Because of these factors, even more highly regarded developers like Algoriddim are now making Android a priority.

Android L was the tip of the iceberg that got Djay’s dev team declaring the “go team go” for an Android release, and from there the process of developing the app for Android’s much broader ecosystem began. As mentioned before, different hardware and screen sizes make the development process a complex one, which Algoriddim realized right from the start. “It’s quite easy to make a great Android app that’s a simple table viewer”, said Morsy, “but we’re basically processing 44,000 audio frames per second, per deck. So that’s 88,000 frames per second, plus all the stuff on the screen”. You don’t have to be a developer to realize the complexity of developing such an application.

It’s great to see developers like Algoriddim shifting more focus towards Android, and according to some reports I have read from those that have already purchased the app, the Android version is a whole lot more than a ported IOS version. Dj’s and music fans can now download the app directly from Google Play (for me it’s showing as Djay 2 for €2.99, meaning that it is apparently the newest version, also being sold on iTunes). Be sure to give us your feedback on what you think of it.