I've always found that your app development needs to be on the leading edge of adequacy(tm). If you need an app that will run on 2.3, build it there. If your app requires some of the capabilities on 3.0, you need to at least have that. Any app built for 2.3 will run on 4.0, but WILL NOT run the other way. The 'droid APIs are layered so that you can always be upwardly compatible, but you can not run an app on an earlier release, 'droid has checks for that. One of the biggest compatibility issues I've run into is the screen sizes vary so much between devices. There are facilities in 'droid to handle this, but you have to implement them. I have seen several 'droid apps that were designed to work fine on most small screen phones, but when you run it on a tablet... well it's not pretty. This can mostly be tested with the Eclipse emulator though. --- Wayne Johnson, | There are two kinds of people: Those 3943 Penn Ave. N. | who say to God, "Thy will be done," Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, (612) 522-7003 | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis >________________________________ > From: Yaron <tclug at freakzilla.com> >To: TCLUG <tclug-list at mn-linux.org> >Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 11:09 PM >Subject: Re: [tclug-list] WANTED: advice on buying an Android device > >The only reason I suggested a phone is for development. if you don't think >you'll need one then by all means, don't get one. > >I do think that by the time you feel you want ot move to Android 4.0, 4.1 >or 5.0 or whatever the next version is called might be out. You're >shooting at a moving target which is why I recommend starting at the TOP >of the queue rather than the bottom. > > >On Wed, 23 May 2012, Jason Hsu wrote: > >> Thanks for your suggestions. I have some answers and still some more questions. >> >> Please note that this will only be my first Android device, not my last. >> >> I'll go with Android 2.3. Most users are still on version 2.3.3 or earlier, and an app designed for Android 2.3 will work better on an Anroid 4.0 device than vice versa. By the time Android 4.0 takes over, tablets and smartphones should be cheaper and/or much better. >> >> I'm still not clear on why I should buy a smartphone instead of a tablet. I already have a dumbphone that I'm not even fully utilizing. >> >> My tentative plan is to buy an Android 2.3 tablet now and buy an Android 4.0 smartphone later on. I'm sure that by the time Android 4.0 takes over or I outgrow my dumbphone, smartphones will be cheaper and/or much better. >> >> What do you think? >> >> -- >> Jason Hsu <jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> > > >-Yaron > >-- >_______________________________________________ >TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >tclug-list at mn-linux.org >http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20120524/146bb8b4/attachment-0001.html>