Engineers are hardly knocking down doors for mobile design tools, but the still-emerging apps category has shown a consistent, albeit slightly hesitant, interest.

Yet while most of the early design tool apps have been for Apple iOS devices, there’s a sign that some major Android releases are just around the corner. Late last month, Autodesk put out a call for beta testers to help start troubleshooting a working version of its mobile Design Review program for Android devices. The app, which lets users read, write, and markup DWG files, was released in mid-2011 for the Apple iPhone and iPad. Its release gave engineers a tool to view and collaborate on 2D and 3D drawings wherever they are in the field, unencumbered from the constraints of a laptop.

Autodesk is seeking beta testers to help work out the kinks in its upcoming
Design Review mobile app for Android platforms.

Most of the vendors getting their feet wet with mobile design tool apps have come out with Apple iOS versions first, with promises of similar offerings for Android platforms over time. It’s not so much that there’s greater demand for mobile design tool apps on Apple platforms, rather it’s that it’s just so much easier to release for Apple first given that there are only two variants of iOS — for iPhones and iPads — versus the dozens of different permutations for Android.

Shanna Tellerman, Autodesk’s product line manager for cloud services and applications, confirmed for us the challenge of testing for Android, which in part explains Autodesk’s concerted effort to enlist its user base to help with the best test process. “The largest challenge with Android is the range of devices,” she told us:

When designing an app, you need to take into consideration the different hardware, including details like the difference in screen resolutions. Customers have the same expectations that iOS customers do — that the apps should work and should work well. In reality, Android apps are very hard to design to work well on every possible device. Specifically, for a design application like Design Review mobile, certain Android hardware is better equipped to handle the kinds of data our customers will be working with than others.

Tellerman says an Android version of Design Review mobile was the top requested feature among the Autodesk user community, which cemented the company’s decision to reach out to users to assist in the beta test process. She says the beta program will give Autodesk specific feedback on features in the Android version, but will also allow users to report on how well the app performs on their particular Android devices.

Tellerman declined to specify when the final version of Design Review mobile for Android would be released. She says her company plans to keep the iOS and Android mobile offerings comparable for the time being, but she didn’t rule out offering an app on one platform and not the other if Autodesk were able to take advantage of a specific capability on a specific platform.

In addition to this latest Android app, Autodesk also offers Android versions of AutoCAD WS, Inventor Publisher, SketchBook, and its Pixlr mobile apps.

Via DesignNews

Working closely with Autodesk, and 3D Systems, WB Engineering provides the best solutions for your design challenges, with an offering which includes everything from Autodesk training, to design process automation, ERP integration, and product development, to 3D Printing. Located in Miami, focused on the manufacturing and industrial markets, we are an engineering services company, combining talented people and business processes to provide Digital and Rapid Prototyping solutions (products and services). All of our efforts are focused on helping companies compress time to market, and decreasing design cost to add to our customers bottom line. Our approach to Digital Prototyping and Rapid Prototyping is scalable and cost effective, which can help your organization boost design efficiency while delivering more innovative design ideas