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Well the developers don't lose anything by targeting a lower API version - if they target 2.1 the app is more or less guaranteed to work on 2.3 due to forward c
by blinkingled 16y ago
Well the developers don't lose anything by targeting a lower API version - if they target 2.1 the app is more or less guaranteed to work on 2.3 due to forward compatibility.
- wmf 16y agoDevelopers who target old OSes lose the features that are available in the newer OSes (unless they do feature detection and a lot of extra testing). This is so obvious that I must not be understanding your comment.
- blinkingled 16y agoIt would be a problem if Android 2.x APIs were deficient in basic features like iOS 3.x were when it came to multitasking. That isn't the case. Android API additions are mostly tied to new hardware - NFC/Multiple Cameras/Tablets etc as opposed to pure software improvements like added multitasking. Not many developers need to target latest AOSP release - that's my point. Almost all apps can target 2.1 and benefit from under the hood improvements in 2.3 like faster VM. Few apps that rely on 2.3 specific features like NFC/SIP/Multiple cameras also rely on hardware features being available - so software features are a moot point there and then the problem is not unique to Android. iPhone 5 comes with new NFC and iOS 5 - developers have the same problem - they have to wait for enough people to upgrade to iPhone 5 and iOS5 and if they target iOS4 they lose the iOS 5 features. How many apps will be impacted - not many. Same thing.