The issue is related to #304 - the action bar implementation can benefit from using AppCompat libraries (more specifically v7).
To use the appcomat libraries one should typically:

• Add a reference to the app compact library. Probably the best place to do that is in the NativeScript CLI. Note that some of the libraries(e.x. v7) are not just a jar file - but a project with resources.
• Modify the styles.xml files to change the app theme to derive from one of the AppComat themes(e.x. Theme.AppCompat.Light).
• Create an activity that derives form AppCompatActivity. This feature will be enabled trough the android-runtime in future.