I don't agree. Beta is only really defined, in my opinion, in the context of the release cycle, and can mean very different things for different products. For example, we've seen "beta tests" of games lately that take place only weeks before the game ships, and on final or very close to final code -- but of course it's the server infrastructure they are testing, and the infrastructure itself is in beta. In Android, we have a beta that is far from code complete, but it's just as valid a use of "beta" in my opinion.
Wikipedia:
Quote:
Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the software project before formal testing.
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The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing (alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, used as the number 1). In this phase, developers generally test the software using white-box techniques. Additional validation is then performed using black-box or gray-box techniques, by another testing team.
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Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the software development phase following alpha. Software in the beta stage is also known as betaware.[3] Beta phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs.[4] Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, speed or performance issues, and may still cause crashes or data loss. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it.
That all seems fair enough to me, and in line with my understanding of the Android release process.
https://developer.android.com/preview/r ... notes.html has plenty of upfront disclaimers.
Quote:
This Beta release is designed for use in compatibility testing and early development only. Please be aware of these general notes about the release:
This release may contain various stability and performance issues on devices that may make it not suitable for daily use on phone or tablet.
System and app performance are known to be periodically slow and janky, and devices may become occasionally unresponsive.
Battery life may be regressed in this early release for screen-on and screen-off use cases.
Some apps may not function normally on Beta 1. This includes Google's apps as well as other apps.
This early build is not Compatibility Test Suite (CTS) approved.