Why is NotificationCompat needed?

Question

Specifically, I think anything done with NotificationCompat can be done using the default API (level 8). What am I missing here? What does NotificationCompat introduce that

Answer 1

It allows you to use the NotificationCompat.Builder class, a compatibly version of Notification.Builder from API 11+. As its name suggests its an implementation of the builder pattern, which seems to be its main advantage over the pre Android 3.0 notifications.