I need an advice. I am creating an android application that have multiple List Activities. Selection of item from on list, results in another list and on selecting item from second list, am image is display. All the data (for list as well as images) comes from web server. I have created services in PHP to feed data to android application. I want to optimize application as much as I can. My question is that what is better, get all the data at once from server or fetch only the relevant data when user select an item.
The plus point of first approach (that I can think of) is that user will have to wait only for the first time. After the data is loaded, application will run faster as there wont be any further calls to server. Negative point (that I can think of) is that application will consume more memory.
Which approach should I follow in order to make app more efficient and user friendly?
You should watch Reto Meier’s Google IO 2012 talk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwC1OlJo5VM.
In it he talks about mobile radios and explains why its better for battery life to fetch all your data at once. It’s a great talk and worth while.
Unless you have crazy amounts of data in your list views, memory shouldn’t be much of a problem.