diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index bdf7a0170..b18f6adc2 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -35,6 +35,15 @@ android {
         abortOnError false
     }
 
+    compileOptions {
+        encoding = "UTF-8"
+
+        // Use Java 1.7, requires minSdk 8
+        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_7
+        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_7
+    }
+
+
     sourceSets {
         main {
             manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'