The official docs recommend using fragments for storing references during "configuration changes" (no, I don't think this means you need to repose your activity as a fragment, but to use a fragment as a storage medium (clarification needed)):
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/runtime-changes.html#RetainingAnObject
Retaining an Object During a Configuration Change
If restarting your activity requires that you recover large sets of data, re-establish a
network connection, or perform other intensive operations, then a full
restart due to a configuration change might be a slow user experience.
Also, it might not be possible for you to completely restore your
activity state with the Bundle that the system saves for you with the
onSaveInstanceState() callback—it is not designed to carry large
objects (such as bitmaps) and the data within it must be serialized
then deserialized, which can consume a lot of memory and make the
configuration change slow. In such a situation, you can alleviate the
burden of reinitializing your activity by retaining a Fragment when
your activity is restarted due to a configuration change. This
fragment can contain references to stateful objects that you want to
retain.
When the Android system shuts down your activity due to a
configuration change, the fragments of your activity that you have
marked to retain are not destroyed. You can add such fragments to your
activity to preserve stateful objects.
To retain stateful objects in a fragment during a runtime
configuration change:
Extend the Fragment class and declare references to your stateful
objects. Call setRetainInstance(boolean) when the fragment is created.
Add the fragment to your activity. Use FragmentManager to retrieve the
fragment when the activity is restarted. For example, define your
fragment as follows:
public class RetainedFragment extends Fragment {
// data object we want to retain
private MyDataObject data;
// this method is only called once for this fragment
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
// retain this fragment
setRetainInstance(true);
}
public void setData(MyDataObject data) {
this.data = data;
}
public MyDataObject getData() {
return data;
}
}
Caution: While you can store any object, you should never pass an
object that is tied to the Activity, such as a Drawable, an Adapter, a
View or any other object that's associated with a Context. If you do,
it will leak all the views and resources of the original activity
instance. (Leaking resources means that your application maintains a
hold on them and they cannot be garbage-collected, so lots of memory
can be lost.)