I understand the dilema in choosing a proper API on my Android project (more func vs. device market share) but what are your suggestions for proper level on a simple map using Retrofit and Google Maps?
These days with the support libraries and all, it is not necessarily about offering more functionality, but more about how far you want to go to offer devices with API 23 the same as devices with API 15 for example.
Is it worth the extra 20 hours of development, just to add support for API 14 so you can reach 2% more users? It is all up to your needs and and wishes, how much time you have and how much time you want to spend.
Some times you will have no choice because your boss or his client makes the decision for you, but if the choice is yours alone, it all boils down you want you want and what is best in your situation.
Numbers used here are made up to illustrate the example.
I thinks this definitely depends on your requirements. Do you already know the Android Dashboard?
https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html
We recommend our customers API level 16, which targets > 90% of all devices currently. On the other hand, if its really just a simple app, why not support API level 9 as well, if it does not produce much more effort. A lot of new APIs are also backported via the Support-Libraries.
Maybe another question is, do you want to use some APIs which are only available for a specific API level? e.g. If you would like to target a arabic audience, it might be a good idea to start with API-Level 17, as it supports RTL-Layouts natively.
Related
I'm building my first android app and slightly confused when choosing the right API. I've noticed that some functions are available starting from API 21. But then, why in the world would anyone use API 21 or higher if it's only supported by 40.5% of android devices??? Only 4 out of 10 sounds ridiculous to me. Or, is there something I'm missing?
Thanks.
Well it actually depends on you as a developer to know your target audience, and choose the right API target. Nevertheless, all these new features and functionalities that you think are only available for new APIs all have support through the use of Android Support Library. You can still have access to all the newer APIs through support libraries officially provided by android.
Android Support Library
At the end of the day you would want to target as many devices as possible to get a wider audience for your app.
now google research on the android "O". so its very soon new android application development API coming but you are say that you create your first android application so you need to fist familiar with all api so for you batter is you use minimum 16 and maximum 23 or 24 what ever you chose.if you chose latest api's so that u have latest android studio version.
for you all name and api details
I'm working on a mobile app project that uses Google Places APIs and have some questions:
From my research in Google documentation, they allow FREE and UNLIMITED use of their Google Places API data when used by Android devices. Currently, my development team is accessing Google Places Web Services API for all API calls. For the Android devices, should I have them change to use Google Places API for Android in order to take advantage of this?
I read in Google's API policy that they may allow for caching of API data (with limitations - i.e. you must refresh every 30 days, etc) if you want to increase performance of your code and/or use in offline mode, etc. However, it says you must get their permission for caching from Google. I cannot find how or where to request this permission. Would be helpful if you can point me in the right direction with a form or a link or something.
Appreciate any help. Thanks.
it's been days since I started reading pages and pages on the internet in order to clean my mind on the question up here (for an assignment).
I have to write a school assignment about the differences between the location APIs on the Android platform and those ones introduced with the Google Play Services. So far so good, in a certain way.
My doubt regards what my teacher said (and well, it's the title of the assigment): "Analysis of Android 5 location APIs and comparison with older versions of the platform".
Android 5 came out during November 2014.
What I was thinking to write about was the introduction of FusedLocationProviderAPI and all its features but I can't find anywhere when these location APIs were added to Google Play Services. It seems they've been put out before the rollout of Android 5.
My question is, am I on the right way? In other case, what kind of new location based feature has been introduced with Android 5?
thanks
I was reading this tutorial http://www.androidhive.info/2015/02/android-location-api-using-google-play-services/ and I find it amazing that this one and many others never state what versions they support.
There must be a simple list which contains what libraries are for what api versions, not just Google Play library but for everything else, from reading file paths to camera api. An example would be just the camera api 2, which is for api version 21 and above. A nice list listing all of this would be very helpful!
It's extremely time consuming tracking down all of this information.
I would say that there is one - in packages documentation you can easily filter by API number.
Official Android APIs have their API number define on official Android documentation like #sebap123 said.
Google Play Services isn't part of Android itself. It's a complimentary add-on. Google Play Services runs on Android 2.3 or higher. All new GPS APIs included in GPS will run on all these devices that have GPS(Android 2.3 or higher). Unlike new Android APIs that only run on new version of Android.
I'm currently using Google maps API and directions API for getting routes, however there is a limitation upto 2500 requests per day. so while searching for a way, got confused after i came across this link..
Google Maps Mobile SDK for Business: Android
Can anyone please explain the difference between this sdk and google maps API..?
its basically a software development kit that makes use of the google maps api and helps you in development of apps that use those apis... if request limitation is an issue try other opensource apis like argcis or tomtom etc
In order to use the individual SDK such as map, you would require a key. That key is persistent, meaning once you have one, you can keep using that same key in your app manifest, regardless of how many copies of the same app you have.
However, there is a daily limit imposed on how much keys can be requested per day from google to prevent abuse. With that said, I don't think you would have a problem of requesting one. If it is given out for today, just wait till tomorrow and the limit would be refreshed.
As for the Enterprise version, you get more support over the normal version. The main differences is that you get the Business SDK as a static library rather than one using the Google Play Services. That is all.