I want to create android application for smartwatch with a cellular internet connection that send HTTP post to a server.
What android version support should i have?
I saw that android 5.1 support cellular network but in Wikipedia it written that only android 7.1.1 support cellular data.
Watches and Phones have thier own OS. Perhaps you found something built to look like a watch that is actually using the phone OS. i wouldnt doubt it as the wear playform is not given the same attention...
But at least in part the actual watch versioning is confusing.
it started out as Android Wear 1.x 2.x then reset to Wear OS 1.x which is now up to version 2.6, all while the latest version for Pie was again renamed to letter version, which is version H... Go figure.
Also if starting now at i wouldnt worry about the older Android Wear hardware, and not even sure if you could buy a new 'Android Wear' watch at this point, so any watch that advertises 'Wear OS by Google' will support Wear OS.
Also I might concider getting a watch with the physical USB connector so you can debugging on the device itself... otherwise you have to manage debugging over bluetooth which at least for me is not always stable on one pc, and have never gotten to work on another...
But such advise is rather particular to me...
Update: it strikes me that you might have been speaking about the target version of Android, which yes admitingly is yet another version to get familiar with developing with wearable android...
Usually it is seen as the target or compile versoin, and from what Im aware the SDK is compatible from version 7.x to the latest 9.0... but perhaps there are eirlier versions that work with the older Android Wear down to what you mention 5.x Im unsure.
Currently i target 8.0 but moving to 8.1 to get at updated libraries im interested in.
And then there are the API Levels to get familiar with...
Ya honestly it's really confusing...
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I am a bit new to mobile development. I have been using my GS7 to debug the app I am creating and I have an add-on that requires API level 25. My phone is currently running version 24. Is it possible to change the API level of the device?
You can do it by updating the operative system on your phone. The problem is most of the phone manufacturers cook the OS to highlight flagship features and to create a unique user experience (in my opinion, is a bad strategy which causes more problems than the added value). Since the OS is coocked there might not be an upgrade for your phone.
Here is a table with the API level and the name of the OS.
The most common solution for this is to use an emulator. If you are working in Mac there would be no trouble on using the default emulator, but in Windows or Linux Genymotion is recommended.
To be clear, there is no such a thing as changing the API level on your Android phone by code from an app. You have to update the OS.
Sometimes using target API code can be solved by other means, making your app compatible with older devices. Sometimes is simply using another class, other times there is a compatibility class, and worst case scenario is using an if statement where you check the OS version.
If you need to test a feature that requires api 25, then you should probably do it on the emulator.
It's gotten really good. I do most of my work on it.
https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator.html
I recently received an invite to use Inbox and it is using the new material design feature from 5.0. So this got me wondering if I can develop an app with the new SDK to enable BLE peripheral, but for a Jellybean or KitKat device. Does anyone know if this is possible?
Here is the list of updates: http://android-developers.blogspot.ca/2014/10/whats-new-in-android-50-lollipop.html
No.
There are support libraries released to help backport apps running on older versions of Android. Here's a list of all of the support libraries and what they allow you to do.
Perihiperal profile has only just been introduced, but hasn't made it's way in to the support libraries. My guess would be because it's rooted much further down in the OS and isn't something that an app can bring in. This suggests that it won't ever be possible (unless perhaps the user is running a custom ROM).
4.3+ already supports lots of Bluetooth LE features, it just doesn't support peripheral profiles. I have personally been waiting for this for a project of mine, so very excited that it's now available in Lollipop.
Hope that helps.
I am thinking about getting an used HTC Droid Incredible to develop Android apps, but I think it has Android 2.2 on it. Is the OS upgradable to the current Android version? If I am using the old Android OS 2.2 for testing of my apps, will the apps work on more current versions of android devices, such as Honeycomb?
Once you root the device you can put just about any os needed. Rooting this device is also extremely simple.
They definitely still allow it and its definitely an awesome handset. I currently have one rooted with Cyangenmod 7.0.3 so I have Android 2.3.3. It is extremely easy as Bill said. Also, I use mine to tether to my laptop and wii to stream netflix etc so at least Verizon hasn't killed free tethering yet. As long as you try to avoid using things that are listed as deprecated, you should be fine running on more up-to-date Androids. Also let me know if you need any help or whatever with getting the htc inc set up for developing, I love mine.
My boss recently gave me an HTC Wildfire phone for doing an Android version of one of our mobile apps, which is all fine and good, except that the app requires API level 8 (ie Android 2.2), and the phone itself only has Android 2.1 installed. After much googling, I discovered that this phone does support Android 2.2, and carriers will be rolling out updates over the air for this model phone "in the near future".
Since I'm not entirely certain what our lazy carrier's definition of "near future" is, it would be nice if I could download images for particular releases and install them on my phone. Coming from the world of the iPhone, it seems that this should be something rather necessary in order to successfully develop an Android app.
Yet, it doesn't seem that Google offers any Android OS updates themselves. Have I no choice but to wait for the carrier to release an update?
Edit: Thanks for the suggestions regarding the emulator, but I'm asking about testing on hardware only. I already have a working 2.2 emulator image, but I need to test on hardware now, since the emulator does a very poor job of things like video playback and audio processing.
There's a few ways you can test your application on Android 2.2:
1) You can use the Emulator provided by Google in the SDK. It is possible to create a virtual machine of any version of Android with various hardware options. However, the emulator does have some limitations such as not supporting certain hardware options (such as bluetooth) and it's also dreadfully slow to boot.
2) If you have to use an actual phone with 2.2, you can root your phone and flash a custom ROM. I'm not particularly familiar with how to root the Wildfire, or what custom ROMs are available for that specific phone, but Cyanogen Mod has pretty good ROM support for HTC phones, as well as an active forum with tutorials.
No, it's not possible to download images before OTA. You could check CyanogemMod from time to time - they're working on Wildfire support. Also you could use an emulator.
If you are wanting to bounce around with newer versions, I recommend the Nexus One as a dev phone if you can get your hands on one. Or, if you can deal with the constraints, start with a built-in AVD emulator with API 8 until your phone gets the OTA update.
The Motorola Droid is also getting/has 2.2 on it. At least in the States, in seems that most of the phones on Verizon already have it (non-scientific, just from talking to people I know). So if that phone is available, it may be a decent choice.
Recently android have launch 2.1 version, so i just want to ask, can phone running on 1.6 version are upgradable to 2.1 version.
There is no technical reason why not. It just depends if the ROM is made available for the phone.
If you are preparing an app for normal users, they depend on the phone producer - if he will give out new version they might install it, if not, they will stuck with the old version...
Here: http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html you can check, which version is most popular. If you want to reach many users, 1.6 should be your choice probably.
Depends on the phone manufacturer on how they want to push the updates to a particular device. for example HTC G1 device has not been updated to ver2.1 due to old hardware while HTC Hero was not updated above ver1.5 due to the incompatibilities of their Sense UI.