Drop support for Froyo?

[vreixo]

I was working with gradle files, checking Espresso and Robolectric, for better testing support. Doing this, I have noticed that we are not using latest PlayServices 4.+, but the problem to use them is that they have dropped support for Froyo, because the number of users is very reduced now.

http://android-developers.blogspot.com.es/2013/10/google-play-services-40.html

[barbeau]

@vreixo This has been intentional so far. But, Froyo numbers keep dwindling, at around 1.1% of Google Play accesses today:
http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html?utm_source=ausdroid.net

Do we need any Google Play Services features that are only in the newest versions? If so, we could drop Froyo support if needed.

[kasbah]

Not relying on Google Play services would be great. I don't have them installed currently and don't really want to. That's why I was looking for an open trip planner in the first place.

[barbeau]

@kasbah This issue was actually referencing the fact that Google Play Services is dropping support for Froyo (Android 2.2), and whether or not we should drop support for Froyo in the app as well.

I agree with you though that it would be nice to provide a version of OTP Android that doesn't rely on Google Play Services. I've added an issue for that here - #304.

[barbeau]

@vreixo Related to this - I'm ok dropping Froyo support in the next OTP Android release. It's down to .7% of all Android devices on Google Play.

[vreixo]

@barbeau I think that there's no special code for Froyo and not for Gingerbread right now in the app, so we can maintain the support until we need new features not compatible.

@kasbah to use Play Services was a compromise because of it's closed nature but it offers a very appealing and easy solution to display maps. Off course would be interesting to also offer a version without them.

[barbeau]

Froyo is down to 0.2% of Google Play users, and there are libraries I'd like to use (like android-maps-util) that require minSdkVersion of 9 or higher, or require newer version of Google Play Services. So, time to drop Froyo support.

[barbeau]

Fixed via 7d6799f.