Why would you choose Android API over Google APIs in the SDK on Eclipse?

Question

When you create an android project in Eclipse, you have to choose which platform to compile with. You can choose API 17 (Android 4.2) or Google APIs (API 17).

From m

Answer 1

Google APIs includes some extra things like Maps. It is optional, and some people don't want to download the extra stuff. The examples use the non-API version in case the person downloading the sample didnt download the Google APIs.

Answer 2

Some of the cheap android phones which aren't certified android phones (those that don't have Google Play) won't support apps compiled against the google api. So unless you need functionality provided by google api, just build against android api

Answer 3

When you run with Google APIs, your app is built to run on a device which has the Google services installed on it already (Maps, USB etc). If you absolutely require these services, you should build against Google APIs, but then your app will not run on device which aren't certified by Google (that is, don't have Google Play installed).

If you do want to run on device without Google Play, and your app does not require any of the Google Services to be 100% present, then you should compile against the normal Android APIs.

See this document for a bit more on what Google expects from certified devices.