Choosing the right API Level for my android application

Question

I currently have a application targeted at android 2.3 (api level 10), but went thinking that probably people using android 2.1/2.2 or older won't even be able to see the application in the market.

So I thought that using api level 3 would be the best to use, but I don't know if this will maybe make certain elements in my app work less good, and probably buggier, since it actually uses old android code. Is there a good way to find out which API level I should use, and also, how do I convert my application to that level?

Answer 1

You can find a breakdown of the different versions of Android in use here. Currently, if you target 2.1 (API 7) you'll only miss out on about 3% of the market. Targeting 2.2 will miss just under 20%, or a fifth of the market.

As for converting your app, you can check what API level things are available for in the Android Reference. You'll note a checkbox and dropdown menu on the top right of the browsing area that allows you to filter by API level - that's one way to help converting. The other is to set the target and minimum SDK versions which will help Eclipse know what to complain about in your code. The easiest way to see if something needs conversion, however, is to emulate and test.

EDIT: The API level dropdown moved from the top right to the top left, over the list of APIs.

Answer 2

This graph may help you make up your mind.