Thanks Dianne, As you suggested I had planned on asking the user to tell me who they are, after all I really only want a display name and perhaps vague location info, whatever they are prepared to divulge globally and associate with their scores.
The rub is in what unique identifier I can use that will allow the data to follow the user as they upgrade their device. IMEI changes as they move device and USIM is specific to a phone device. On my Galaxy S, there seems to be a Contact group that contains a single owner contact. If I could use something like that to pull owner email address as the identifier it would be great. But I suspect that contact group is non-standard / undocumented and would generally not be a wise option to use. Like Tom, I don't really want to pester the user for identifying data until the user has built up some collateral worth associating with. On Oct 13, 8:09 am, Dianne Hackborn <[email protected]> wrote: > There isn't really a user identity. Not even with a Google account -- the > user can have multiple Google accounts, and though today there is some > concept of a primary account for implementation reasons, that is not > necessarily their real primary account (just the first one they used), and > that concept shouldn't exist in the future. > > How about having the user tell you who they are? You don't need to make > this in the form of formally creating an account if you don't want... if > you need some stronger sense of identity (such as them knowing a private > password for that user identity), then it seems to be better for them to > tell you the information you want rather than the app to be taking their > identity out of somewhere else such as their Google accounts. > > On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 2:55 PM, William Ferguson <william.ferguson.au@ > > > > gmail.com> wrote: > > I'm looking for a way to determine user identity so I can globally > > track game scores off phone. > > > IMEI provides identity of the phone - not effective if phone is on- > > traded or upgraded by individual. > > USIM provides identity of phone carrier subscriber - assumes device is > > phone, and currently has a SIM card > > > I'd like to be able to provide continuity as a user upgrades to a new > > device. > > And I dislike being forced to create an account on each global scoring > > system, so I don't want to force that on my users. And my end user > > experience with OpenFeint leaves me disinclined to use it. > > > It doesn't need to be bullet proof. But it does need to be hassle free > > for my users. > > > Is there any other identifier on an Android device that I can use to > > link data more cleanly with the current owner? > > And how would I get hold of that identifier? > > I'm thinking something like the user's Google account .. or similar > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups "Android Developers" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]<android-developers%[email protected]> > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > > -- > Dianne Hackborn > Android framework engineer > [email protected] > > Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to > provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails. All such > questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and > answer them. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
