Android: check if Audio-Record-Focus is available?

Question

I use AudioRecord to record sound for further processing. It seems that only one AudioRecord at a time can have access to audio equipment. How can I check if audio equipment is available so that I can start recording? One possibility is to create an instance of AudioRecord, and then check its status using AudioRecord.getState (). This will return so that the AudioRecord-Instance is properly initialized. Is this the only way to do this? But there is another problem that you have to deal with when making audio recordings. What happens when another application wants to record? Is it possible to receive notifications if another application wants to record?

Thanks in advance! Tobias

PS: is it possible to check which sample rates are supported on an Android device?