On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 11:48 AM, Stephen Lebed <[email protected]> wrote: > I have a couple of apps currently in the marketplace and they follow > the Android design guidelines as close as possible. One of the people > who purchased my app says he's using it on a device without a 'menu' > button. The device is a Eken M0002, a 7" tablet running Android 1.6 > > I know that tablets are not officially supported yet. My question is, > has anyone started dealing with this potential issue, and if so how?
For applications distributed via the Android Market, all devices the app is installed upon should have a MENU button, as that is required by the Compatibility Definition Document. Hence, the scenarios in which your app will not encounter a MENU button include: -- The device manufacturer has pirated the Android Market app -- The user is running a pirated Android Market app (e.g., included incorrectly in some modded ROM, like SlateDroid) -- The user is running a pirated version of your app -- You are distributing your app outside of the Android Market Of course, there's a big difference between the first three and the last one. Here are some options: -- Offer each option menu also as a context menu on some likely widget, or perhaps on the activity background -- Only do the context menu trick on devices known to lack a MENU button (use android.os.Build) -- Display the menu yourself on some overloaded key for such devices (e.g., Eken M001 has "MENU" printed on the up direction of its navigation ring/D-pad-ish-thingy), or based on some gesture using a gesture library, -- Ignore them, if you are distributing solely on the Android Market Tactically, for the Eken M002, the MENU button may be in the status bar. It is that way on the ARCHOS 5, plus on the Eken M001 running Slatedroid. -- Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy) http://commonsware.com | http://github.com/commonsguy http://commonsware.com/blog | http://twitter.com/commonsguy Android App Developer Books: http://commonsware.com/books -- 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
