What Android SDK should I use right now?

I'm a CS student and with my team we're going to realize an android application for our Software Engineering course. We're not Android developers and we using this opportunity to learn how to do it.

We know it's available the 3.0 version but that basically has tablets as target. Our target is smartphones, so the question is: should we stick 开发者_如何学运维with 2.3 or should we use 3.0 API.

I know the natural answer would be "2.3" but it's not really clear to us where "3.0" is going.

I would even go for 2.1 or 2.2 - 60% of the market uses 2.2, 20% 2.1 and 6% 2.3. 3.0 is atm only available for tablets - targeting this will limit your target market a lot, as no mobile handsets will have 3.0 any time soon.

See also this q&a: What version of Android should I develop for?

3.0 is the future, no doubt. But 3.0 is currently just available for some tablets. Almost all smartphones are currently using some 2.x version.

As you can see here, the version 2.1 and above are widely used. So I personally would target 2.1 and above.

Depends on your application's scope.

If you want to aim at as many people as possible, you should go for 2.1, or 2.2, if you don't use any specificity from the 2.3 SDK (NFC for example). It is important to know that, because only about 10% of Android phones are running 2.3 (and even less I think). More than 70% have 2.1 or superior, so if your target is mass distribution, 2.1 would be nice. (You can develop an app under 2.3 SDK aiming at lower version as well, just add it in the manifest)

Otherwise, if your application is tablet-aimed, use 3.0. Otherwise go for 2.3.