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Google has released a new compatibility pack which helps developers combat fragmentation-related issues. The new released static library exposes the same Fragments API (as well as the new LoaderManager and a few other classes) so that applications compatible with Android 1.6 or later can use fragments to create tablet-compatible user interfaces.

For the guys who don’t know about fragmentation, it is the mechanism that make it easier for application to fit in any screen size of mobile running on android OS.

Googles fragmentation problems are a direct result of carriers delaying or blocking Google updates to their proprietary versions of Android. The open source OS is modified at virtually every carrier/manufacturer, so they become the gatekeepers of the update path. Google has already released Honeycomb to the masses, but only the Motorola Xoom have taken advantage of it, while Gingerbread (2.3) has only been officially shipped on the Nexus S. While everyone plays catch-up, developers are stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to develop for as many different platform as possible. According to many, this leads to lower quality applications, and will always lag behind tighter platforms like iOS.

Interested developers can grab Android Compatibility Pack via the SDK Updater.

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