diff -r fb70ea8b7b2d Lib/platform.py
--- a/Lib/platform.py	Tue Apr 26 09:31:11 2016 +0300
+++ b/Lib/platform.py	Tue Apr 26 09:30:40 2016 +0200
@@ -646,6 +646,36 @@
     # If that also doesn't work return the default values
     return release, versioninfo, machine
 
+_android_ver = None
+
+def android_ver(release='', sdk=''):
+    """ Get android version information and return it as a tuple.
+
+        Entries which cannot be determined are set to the parameter values
+        which default to ''. All tuple entries are strings.
+    """
+
+    global _android_ver
+    if _android_ver is None:
+        properties = '/system/build.prop'
+        if os.path.isfile(properties):
+            import configparser
+            from itertools import chain
+            try:
+                with open(properties) as f:
+                    cfg = configparser.ConfigParser(strict=False,
+                                                    allow_no_value=True)
+                    cfg.read_file(chain(['[prop]'], f), f.name)
+                    if cfg.has_section('prop'):
+                        release = \
+                            cfg['prop'].get('ro.build.version.release', '')
+                        sdk = cfg['prop'].get('ro.build.version.sdk', '')
+            except (OSError, configparser.Error):
+                pass
+        _android_ver = (release, sdk)
+
+    return _android_ver
+
 def _java_getprop(name, default):
 
     from java.lang import System