Referencing android.R resources - am I on the safe side?

Question

The question boils down to whether phone manufacturers are required to keep resources that are available in SDK intact. Say, will android.R.drawable.ic_menu_preferences be the same file on any phone?

Answer 1

Yes you can, at least all the phone available atm have the same sdk.

Answer 2

According to Google, that file will exist, but it may not be exactly the same file. Witness HTC's Sense interface (as in the Hero you mention).

If you want to be certain you get exactly the same file, you can copy that file from the Android source into your own project and reference it from there.