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What features, components , optimisations etc. do developers miss out on if they are developing for older versions like gingerbread ?

Does the support library cover everything thats available on newer versions?

Im a newbie developer and I thank all for the responses.

vepzfe
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  • Really depends on what you are trying to achieve... – Srikanth Jan 17 '14 at 11:40
  • what im really trying to understand is what advantages do i gain in developing for newer versions..and whether its worth while losing out the users using lower versions – vepzfe Jan 17 '14 at 16:34

3 Answers3

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disadvantage and difficulties

1) features, components , optimisations will be missed.

2) lot of api deprecated

3) less devices with older versions means lesser users, everyone wants new

4) lesser ui components by means old fashioned ui which will not be a liking for user.

5) lesser feature in older vesrions and functinalities.

6) if you wants to develope something which is for new versions, difficulty will be there to implement in older versions

Jitesh Upadhyay
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These words are due to my actual experience with that problem.

You have to use the support library, so some objects are renamed. And also some methods.

Preferences are absolutely left out from the support library (so, you have to use a PreferenceActivity for older versions and a PreferenceFragment for newer ones).

Take in account that you'll be missing some new functionalities.

And the system interfaces vary a lot from OS to OS (so, you'd better provide your cutom theme to overcome big differences in the overall aspect).

And often you'll find yourself comparing the Build Version to that of your running OS to execute this or that method (or to use a new functionality or not).

It's kind of a pain, but it's worth, because you will have more potential users.

Phantômaxx
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  • how many more potential users do you really gain? are there many dedicated users using gingerbread or less? – vepzfe Jan 17 '14 at 15:43
  • I see that 2.2 Froyo is still used by the 1.7% of the total users. Not little. – Phantômaxx Jan 17 '14 at 15:48
  • is that only of your app?..or of android? and how many of those users are using your app on a regular basis? – vepzfe Jan 17 '14 at 16:37
  • Android users in the World – Phantômaxx Jan 17 '14 at 16:39
  • perhaps the best option would be to have 2 versions of the app for diff. versions of android – vepzfe Jan 17 '14 at 16:40
  • Worst practice: you'd duplicate projects, you'd have to apply all updates twice, ... I'd not recommend this. Don't be attracted by the dark side of the Force – Phantômaxx Jan 17 '14 at 16:43
  • would it be easier to develop for ICS 4.0 right away and eventually extend support to lower versions by using support libraries and 3rd part libraries? – vepzfe Jan 18 '14 at 08:32
  • NO. Maybe I wasn't clear. I see you're afraid of the need of writing everything in a double style. **It's not so**. When you use the support library's objects, these are an **addition** to older devices. you are using the same code for newer devices, but they will turn that code to their native objects. Look at the accepted answer [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10477997/difference-between-activity-and-fragmentactivity) for a better clarification – Phantômaxx Jan 18 '14 at 10:10
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From my past experience, there are quite a few.

You will experience lack of animation support in the past device. I fixed that by using library NineOldAndroid

You will experience laggy of map fragment on device prior Android V3(Sandwich) and broken screen. Still not sure how to solve it.

If you app has tabs, you may use ViewPageIndicator. You probably want to have swipe to go to next tab feature. But I run into problems with older device when one of my tabs views also have swipe gesture feature. So while new device can detect fast/slow swiping and supports both, I need to disable tab swiping feature for older device.

You will most likely use SherlockActionBar to have a universal action bar.

You will use all of your views with Support library, like Support v4 Fragment, FragmentActivity to support old device.

Ethan Fang
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