How to find out whether android device has cellular radio module?

Question

How can I find out for sure that device really has gsm, cdma or other cellular network equipment (not just WiFi)? I don't want to check current connected network state, because device can be offline in the moment. And I don't want to check device id via ((TelephonyManager) act.getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE)).getDeviceId() because some devices would just give you polymorphic or dummy device ID.

Actualy, I need to check cell equipment exactly for skipping TelephonyManager.getDeviceId and performing Settings.Secure.ANDROID_ID check on those devices that don't have cellular radio. I have at least one tablet (Storage Options Scroll Excel 7") which returns different IMEIs every time you ask it, although it should return null as it has no cell radio (the same situation here: Android: getDeviceId() returns an IMEI, adb shell dumpsys iphonesubinfo returns Device ID=NULL). But I need to have reliable device id that is the same every time I ask.

I'd be glad to hear your thoughts!

Please reread the question. I need to filter dummy values that look like real beeing a fake — Tertium, Mar 23 '13 at 21:56

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 22 '13 at 22:09

1

If you're publishing in the store, and you want to limit your application only being visible to actual phones, you could add a <uses-feature> into your manifest that asks for android.hardware.telephony. Check out if that works for you from the documentation.

answered Mar 22 '13 at 22:09

jlindenbaum

1,891
18
28

4

And if you just want to find that out at runtime, rather than filtering on it, `PackageManager` and `hasSystemFeature("android.hardware.telephony")` will tell you if telephony is available in some form. – CommonsWare Mar 22 '13 at 22:21
@jlindenbaum I want to support all devices. commonsware, thanks I'll check it out – Tertium Mar 23 '13 at 21:59

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 26 '13 at 17:26

Just in case somebody needs complete solution for this: Reflection is used because some things may not exist on some firmware versions. MainContext - main activity context.

    static public int getSDKVersion()
{
    Class<?> build_versionClass = null;

    try
    {
        build_versionClass = android.os.Build.VERSION.class;
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
    }

    int retval = -1;
    try
    {
        retval = (Integer) build_versionClass.getField("SDK_INT").get(build_versionClass);
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
    }

    if (retval == -1)
        retval = 3; //default 1.5

    return retval;
}

static public boolean hasTelephony()
{
    TelephonyManager tm = (TelephonyManager) Hub.MainContext.getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
    if (tm == null)
        return false;

    //devices below are phones only
    if (Utils.getSDKVersion() < 5)
        return true;

    PackageManager pm = MainContext.getPackageManager();

    if (pm == null)
        return false;

    boolean retval = false;
    try
    {
        Class<?> [] parameters = new Class[1];
        parameters[0] = String.class;
        Method method = pm.getClass().getMethod("hasSystemFeature", parameters);
        Object [] parm = new Object[1];
        parm[0] = "android.hardware.telephony";
        Object retValue = method.invoke(pm, parm);
        if (retValue instanceof Boolean)
            retval = ((Boolean) retValue).booleanValue();
        else
            retval = false;
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        retval = false;
    }

    return retval;
}

Note: this only seems to work on devices that can make actual phone calls, but most 3g/4g tablets only have 3g/4g capabilities and can't make phone calls. — David Liu, May 10 '13 at 19:05
That's what I need to know. Because devices which haven't radio often have fake IMEI, and sometimes they give different imei each time you ask — Tertium, May 15 '13 at 10:26
Hello, I have been stuck on this issue for 4-5 days now, and still am confused. I asked [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34223393/will-this-app-show-up-in-the-play-store/34223885?noredirect=1#comment56192462_34223885) and the answer was exactly the same as yours. I am still unsure on what the code within the try does. Do you mind explaining? Thanks! — Ruchir Baronia, Dec 11 '15 at 13:21

How to find out whether android device has cellular radio module?

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