The device lab seems to be happy in its new home, and I'm hoping to add a device or two to the collection soon. While pondering which devices to add, I decided that I need a better overview of what was in the lab, and what categories (of size, shape, and flavour) I already had.
Open Device Lab.com has an API that holds information about Open Device Labs across the world, and that gave me the idea to knock together something for the devices themselves. I've created a JSON file of the devices in my lab. The data is purposefully a bit fluffy (For example, screen size is represented as t-shirt sizes: XS, S, M, and L.). I've done this because I like being reminded to keep a future friendly mindset. If I'm coding for a specific screen size (or operating system, or aspect ratio) then I'm doing it wrong. What's important is to design for the continuum of devices, and build something that will work as well as possible on as many platforms as possible.
Then I pulled the data together into a few tables, so that I could spot patterns and gaps in my set of devices. Based on this data, I'm interested in getting more lower-end devices: devices that don't use touch as an input method and aren't iOS or Android. Another Nokia and another Blackberry seem like good candidates, and are also very relevant to the local market.