At 51Degrees.mobi we offer fast, accurate and up-to-date device detection solutions for creating great mobile web user experiences. To do this we maintain a database of 80,000,000+ headers to make sure we keep our 99.9% detection accuracy.  This means any new device that is released on the market must then be entered into our database.  It is important to us that our users know where we source our information from so that they can remain comfortable, knowing that our information is accurate.

The properties for each Hardware Device profile are manually populated by our professional team using multiple official and unofficial sources. As these properties are essential to optimising the mobiles performance with the web we do our best to get it right. We also try to develop strong relationships with manufacturers enabling us to create a database that is both accurate and up to date.

It came to our attention that there were conflicting specifications between an official Samsung website and other unofficial tech websites for a Samsung Galaxy S Duos phone Samsung were claiming the phone uses a 400x800 screen resolution, however other tech sites such as GSMArena stated the phone actually had a 480x800 resolution.

Unofficial tech sites can be great for up to the minute news on devices; however they do not always contain the correct information as they try to keep ahead of the curve and post data before it has been officially released. As 51Degrees.mobi wants to always contain accurate information we do not solely rely on one data source. We have noticed that some other device detection companies only use the information found on these unofficial tech websites, without double checking against the manufacturers website. This is normally performed by an automated program known as a “ screen scraper”.

Obviously a difference in data between the Samsung official website and the other unofficial sources had occurred and it became apparent that the majority of these sources stated that the width of the phone was 480 pixels.

To confirm the correct screen size, we acquired the Samsung GT-S7652(Galaxy S Duos) and checked the screen size ourselves. We also used an app named “Android System Info” by ElecticSheep to confirm that the screen pixel size of the phone is actually 480 x 800, thus showing that even the manufacturers get official information wrong occasionally.

At 51Degrees.mobi we aim to retrieve accurate information about every device that we use in our database. Our professional team use a combination of sources including: Official websites and technical documents, unofficial mobile news websites and physical devices to create the most comprehensive list of device properties available.

Thanks for reading,

Piran Watson – 51Degrees.mobi