But I am still confused what happens if I use getApplicationContext() to display a Dialog.
You blow up.
But if I use SomeActivity.this context it works fine.
Correct. A Dialog
is owned by an Activity
. You cannot use an Application
, Service
, or other Context
to show a Dialog
. Note, though, that you can use any Context
to start a dialog-themed activity.
but not sure from which Android version this crashes
Android 1.0, as far as I know.