Android Version differs from expected API level

Question

I have found a pretty old device Huawei Ascend Y210. This mobile officially has Android 2.3.3 (API level 10). I found an online custom lollipop ROM for the specific mobile. The device has CWM as custom recovery. The zip file (the rom file) was installed successfully. The environment feels like android Lollipop should look like. Going to the mobile's settings > About phone > Android version, the version is 5.0.1 as expected. Using the command adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release the result is 5.0.1 indeed. However, I tried running adb shell getprop ro.build.version.sdk the result is 10 which is the API level of the stock android of the phone (Android 2.3.3). Apps made from API level 23 will fail to install as the API level is getting recognized as 10. Changing the apps' Minimum API level to 10 using APK Editor Studio, allows the app to get installed but it crashes once I try to open it.

Is that a bug? I mean can I somewhere change the API level of the device? Or is the ROM a scam and the android is never really getting updated to 5.0.1 and the ROM just changes the graphic interface? How is it even possible to trick the adb that the android version is 5.0.1 but keep the API level to 10?

P.S.: If someone has any ROM for Huawei Ascend Y210 with android 5.0.1 or higher handy, I would appreciate a download link.

Thanks in advance!

— Karampistis Dimitrios | Sources

Answer

As Izzy mentioned the issue here was that the owner of the ROM had modified the ro.build.version.sdk in the build.prop without actually provide any feature of the API level 23. I am not sure if Fidz's answer is correct since I could not find any resource online that claims the same thing (correct me if I am wrong), Google's official site claims nothing about the API level, it just mentions some thing about the Android Compatibility regardless of the API level and the hardware. I could not find any ROM for the device since it's pretty old and almost every support for the Huawei and Honor phones on custom ROMs and rooting is dead after Huawei disabling the ability to unlock the bootloader.

— Karampistis Dimitrios | Sources

Q & A

Making an app into a full screen widget (no source code)

Screen rotation lock won't work for landscape mode

stop google now mid-rant?

Widget to display Outlook calendar

Is it possible to use a keyboard and mouse on android to control a remote pc?

Questions about safety and reversibility of SD card partitioning.

Media silence during do not disturb

LG Watch Style USB Debugging - computer not recognizing presence of watch

Why can't Android phones record VoIP calls?

How to prevent Chrome from restoring last session?

Is there a way to post a photo on Facebook on Android without using the Facebook app?

What is an OS2SD ROM?

" - Package id platforms;android-23: error!

Phone sometimes can't detect any WIFI networks

How can I stop the Skype notifications from re-enabling?

How can I remove the "Install Google Play Games" prompt in apps?

why can't we format bootloader code

Android mount external sdcard obb to internal SD card succeed

are the apps being uninstalled during OS update?

What will happen if I flash a custom rom for GT-I9082 on a GT-I9060c/m/i?

Topics

2D Engines 3D Engines 9-Patch Action Bars Activities ADB Advertisements Analytics Animations ANR AOP API APK APT Architecture Audio Autocomplete Background Processing Backward Compatibility Badges Bar Codes Benchmarking Bitmaps Bluetooth Blur Effects Bread Crumbs BRMS Browser Extensions Build Systems Bundles Buttons Caching Camera Canvas Cards Carousels Changelog Checkboxes Cloud Storages Color Analysis Color Pickers Colors Comet/Push Compass Sensors Conferences Content Providers Continuous Integration Crash Reports Credit Cards Credits CSV Curl/Flip Data Binding Data Generators Data Structures Database Database Browsers Date & Debugging Decompilers Deep Links Dependency Injections Design Design Patterns Dex Dialogs Distributed Computing Distribution Platforms Download Managers Drawables Emoji Emulators EPUB Equalizers & Event Buses Exception Handling Face Recognition Feedback & File System File/Directory Fingerprint Floating Action Fonts Forms Fragments FRP FSM Functional Programming Gamepads Games Geocaching Gestures GIF Glow Pad Gradle Plugins Graphics Grid Views Highlighting HTML HTTP Mocking Icons IDE IDE Plugins Image Croppers Image Loaders Image Pickers Image Processing Image Views Instrumentation Intents Job Schedulers JSON Keyboard Kotlin Layouts Library Demos List View List Views Localization Location Lock Patterns Logcat Logging Mails Maps Markdown Mathematics Maven Plugins MBaaS Media Menus Messaging MIME Mobile Web Native Image Navigation NDK Networking NFC NoSQL Number Pickers OAuth Object Mocking OCR Engines OpenGL ORM Other Pickers Parallax List Parcelables Particle Systems Password Inputs PDF Permissions Physics Engines Platforms Plugin Frameworks Preferences Progress Indicators ProGuard Properties Protocol Buffer Pull To Purchases Push/Pull QR Codes Quick Return Radio Buttons Range Bars Ratings Recycler Views Resources REST Ripple Effects RSS Screenshots Scripting Scroll Views SDK Search Inputs Security Sensors Services Showcase Views Signatures Sliding Panels Snackbars SOAP Social Networks Spannable Spinners Splash Screens SSH Static Analysis Status Bars Styling SVG System Tags Task Managers TDD & Template Engines Testing Testing Tools Text Formatting Text Views Text Watchers Text-to Toasts Toolkits For Tools Tooltips Trainings TV Twitter Updaters USB User Stories Utils Validation Video View Adapters View Pagers Views Watch Face Wearable Data Wearables Weather Web Tools Web Views WebRTC WebSockets Wheel Widgets Wi-Fi Widgets Windows Wizards XML XMPP YAML ZIP Codes