CODEWITHSUNDEEP
android
Aniket Thakur
Aniket Thakur

Reputation: 68905

What are API levels in Android?

I am starting to learn android development. I downloaded adt-bundle-windows-x86 from the android site. Now when I open the SDK manager that comes with the bundle it enlists a number of API levels. My phone has ICS. But when I saw wiki for the same it seems we can have more than one API levels for a single code name.

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Which one is to be used? I want backward compatibility and also not miss on the new features that might have been introduced in ICS. what do these API levels mean and how do I decide which one to use?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 377

Answers (4)

ilovepjs
ilovepjs

Reputation: 622

Here is a link to the list of Platform Version - API Level - VERSION_CODE - Notes

This link shows data about the relative number of devices running a given version of the Android platform.

I recommend:

    minimum sdk version = Android 2.3.3 - Gingerbread - Api level 10
    target sdk version = Android 4.3 - JellyBean - Api level 18

NOTE the target sdk version most of the time should be the latest release which at current is JellyBean

Upvotes: 1

Prashant Patel
Prashant Patel

Reputation: 238

You should set api level as minimum as possible like 2.3.3 gingerbread. 35% of android devices still runs on Gingerbread. But as per your question it seems like you wanted to start development from 4.0.4 ICS. So set your min SDK 14. And as far as new graphical or library changes google provides support library for use.

One suggestion set max api level as high as possible. I mean 4.3 for now. hope this would help

Upvotes: 1

Stephan
Stephan

Reputation: 16719

I think this can help you a lot
click

Upvotes: 1

ssantos
ssantos

Reputation: 16526

Here you can find a list of api levels, code names and usage statistics.-

http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html

You should try making your application compatible with as much devices as possible, so I'd recommend to make sure that works fine at least on Android 2.3.3 - Gingearbread - Api level 10

Regarding new features, sadly, keeping in mind old devices sometimes means forgetting about some new cool features or apis which are included to make our lives much easier.

Upvotes: 1

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