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Comment by dshefchik | Hacker News Reader

"It can be tricky to take advantage of features in new Android versions (like ICS) while still supporting older versions (like 2.2)."

ummm...what was your argument again?

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Tricky, but not impossible. The same as you would have to learn the API's and general usage patterns of new features, you just have to learn how to use the compatibility package or third party libraries like ActionBarSherlock to take advantage of the most common new features.

That said, I don't fully agree with the OP's argument. Fragmentation is a very real pain in a lot of subtle unexpected areas (mostly UI related).

He means that if you put a little bit of thought into it and follow the SDK guidelines you can support over 90% of the devices out there.

And there are a few tools you can implement to have full backwards compatibility to 2.2, probably even 2.1.

It's not that hard to do at all. I have a lot more trouble supporting IE in web development than I do all the Android versions.

The argument seemed to be that this trickiness is minor. You disagree?

I think that he means that it is tricky. He doesn't hide this fact, but it is a know fact, and programmers should be award of it and its possible solutions.

Android dev provides some: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-have-y... And I found some more: http://blog.evendanan.net/2011/04/Backward-compatibility-in-...

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