Develop Reference

Android : Screen Size

I'm working on android application and got in trouble of multiple screen support. I developed the app for 1080x1920 and when i tested the app on my friends Micromax Unite 2 with resolution of 480x800, it was something else. So i made two folders in the layout as:
layout-1080x1920
layout-480x800
thinking that the 480x800 device will pick up the layout-480x800 folder. But no it used the layout-1080x1920. So what should i do? So that the device having resolution of 480x800 works on layout-480x800

I suggest naming the folders as such:
layout-sw600dp
Where sw600dp means Screen Width 600dp. This layout folder will be used by devices with screen widths of 600dp or more (typically all 7-10 inch tablets, or just very dense screen). And when you are targeting for the phone use just the layout folder without any specified criteria. All phones not matching the sw600dp will use the default layout resources. Possibly also consider using
layout-sw600dp-port
if you need to use specific layouts for portrait orientation, likewise you can do
layout-sw600dp-land
if you wanted to specified layouts for landscape.
The link cricket_007 provided is where I learned this information
Note that 1080x1920 equates to about 540 x 960 dp in dp measurement, which is why I suggested to use the particular 600dp for width

giving the folder names pixel according to android screen support dev page. Even if you know all possible resolutions for every device, the android system takes those *xml files/drawables etc specified by their DPI, not PX. Those dpi resolutions still can change on runtime, such as, when your activity uses a tool bar (which is not part of your dpi resolution). Name your folders layout-xlarge, layout-large, layout-normal, layout-small for *xml layouts. I suggest to put 4 different xml files with same name in each of them and try it again for different devices.

Android images to scale properly in different screen sizes

I'm new to Android and I'd like to know why those images I put in hdpi, ldpi, mdpi, xhdpifolders are not actually responding to what I want.
In hdpi, I put images that are fit for big screens.
In ldpi, for small screens, in mdpi for normal screens and for xhdpi for tablets.
But I wonder why it's still not displaying the correct images for big screens. It looks like small images (that are fit for small screens) on the screen. I have named the images exactly the same. What is wrong with this?
I need your suggestion. Help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I think that you don't have the problem in the code, nor in the images, but in the devices you're using to try the different densities. If you are assuming that larger screens means higher densities, that is not always the case. Note that hdpi, ldpi, mdpi and xhdpi refer to density, not screen size.
For example, below you can find two screenshots of the same ImageView pointing to the same #drawable/a icon but deployed in two devices with different screen density. To make the point I have placed completely different icons (both with the same name a.png) in each density folder so that the difference can be easily appreciated:
2.7" - ldpi 3.7" - hdpi

What resolution of Drawables i should use for this display metrics?

I want to make my application to multiple screen support. so to achieve this i read the Android developers guildeline https://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html and i have created the different drawable and layout folders to put different size of images.
I tested the application in different devices and it looks fine in those devices, while i found that in one of 7" tablet the images are too small. to confirm this i created simple project and put same name of images in different folder and found that this device uses ldpi drawables and in generally the size of ldpi drawable used to be 36x36 and that causes the issue, if i increase this drawable size then it will not compatible with other low-density devices.
Here is the Dispaly Metrics of the device in which i am having a problem.
{density=0.75, width=800, height=444, scaledDensity=0.75, xdpi=160.0, ydpi=160.42105}
How to deal with this problem ? if anyone have this issue before then please give me some advice. any idea and help will be appreciated.
Thanks & Regards

You can get more control over this:
Specify multiple different images for different screen resolutions and densities. To do so read supporting multiple screens. If you need even more precision in image scaling and quality you can use the fundamental size of screen attribute which is sw<N>dp - you can specify the smallest width of the screen where your image should be used. This is a qualifier name for a resource folder.
Some values you might use here for common screen sizes:
320, for devices with screen configurations such as:
240x320 ldpi (QVGA handset)
320x480 mdpi (handset)
480x800 hdpi (high density handset)
480, for screens such as 480x800 mdpi (tablet/handset).
600, for screens such as 600x1024 mdpi (7" tablet).
720, for screens such as 720x1280 mdpi (10" tablet).
Just specify your device width and put your edited image that fits the best in corresponding sw<N>dp folder in your case sw<444>dp.
You should also have a look at other qualifiers that make Android choosing image at runtime (screen density, Available width, Available height, Screen size or Screen aspect). By combining these qualifiers and testing carefully you will be sure that the user has the best experience on each device.
Shortly, put your image under drawable-sw<444>dp folder. (444-smaller screen metric)

Do I need to design background for each device size?

Dear All I’m going to work in android application I should design the interface. I read articles on http://developer.android.com/design/index.html but I still have some missing point.
Do I need to design back ground for each device size ?

Check for this Link for supporting multiple screen. This link will show you how to create the different layout for different screen size devices.
But even if you want to make a Unique layout for supporting multiple screen in orientation or portrait mode then,
For image, use 9 patch images.
Here is the link http://developer.android.com/tools/help/draw9patch.html
For width and height of any widgets, use wrap_content or match_parent or you can use android:layout_weight and android:weightSum
Avoid using the pixels i.e. px
Use dp
By this you can create the unique layout working for multiple screens, but that screen should be in orientation or portrait mode.
If you want to support for for both,then you have to createlayout-landfor landscape mode in the res folder.

Actually, you should. There are 4 main screen sizes in android those get layout xmls from res/layout-xlarge, res/layout-large, res/layout-normal and res/layout-small. At the same time, you should use different image resolutions for different screens those get images from drawable-hdpi, drawable-xhdpi, drawable-mdpi and drawable-ldpi.

It depends on the background type. If your background is an image with high resolution you should provide different images for different screen sizes if the whole background is an image.
You can also:
Make background from tiles (like icloud.com)
Specify a ninepatch image if your image is something like a frame where corners should remain the same and the body should be scaled (not very good if you have some picture)
Specify multiple different images for different screen resolutions and densities. To do so read supporting multiple screens. If you need even more precision in image scaling and quality you can use the fundamental size of screen attribute which is sw<N>dp - you can specify the smallest width of the screen where your image should be used. This is a qualifier name for a resource folder.
Some values you might use here for common screen sizes:
320, for devices with screen configurations such as:
240x320 ldpi (QVGA handset)
320x480 mdpi (handset)
480x800 hdpi (high density handset)
480, for screens such as 480x800 mdpi (tablet/handset).
600, for screens such as 600x1024 mdpi (7" tablet).
720, for screens such as 720x1280 mdpi (10" tablet).
You should also have a look at other qualifiers that make Android choosing image at runtime (screen density, Available width, Available height, Screen size or Screen aspect). By combining these qualifiers and testing carefully you will be sure that the user has the best experience on each device.

android tablet icon sizes

I have created four versions of my launcher icon for ldpi, mdpi, hdpi and xhdpi devices. They are of dimensions 36x36, 48x48, 72x72 and 96x96.
I'm wondering what will happen when using a large screen. Consdering large screens are rouglhy 7" + in size a ldpi, large screen will surely not want a 32x32 icon image, located in a drawable-ldpi folder.
I cannot find anything on the dev guide that indicates what icon sizes to assign to large and xlarge devices. Presumably I would put a larger copy of the icon in the drawable-large and drawable-xlarge folder. However, I do not know what sizes to use. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Google provide an online tool called Android Assest Studio which creates the launcher icons in the correct size for you. http://android-ui-utils.googlecode.com/hg/asset-studio/dist/icons-launcher.html

A 7-10" tablet doesn't need anything unusually large. You don't need anything bigger than a 96x96 launcher icon for this use case. There is a table in the Launcher Icons section of the design docs that shows which sizes correspond to which densities.
Have a look at the Declaring Tablet Layouts section of the design docs for more info on how to organize resources for 7-10" screens. (Note that the resource used will depend on the screen density, it is possible that a 7" tablet will have an mdpi screen.)