Develop Reference

android app development multiple screen size [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Android Multiple Device Development
(5 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
We are developing an android application. Actually we are iPhone developers. One challenge we faced during the android development than iOS development is, the wide variety of devices the android application going to be used. From the link http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html we got some useful information.
1)
But we think that the testing effort we need to more than that of iOS in android based on the screen sizes. Can somebody suggest us to the method the do various sized device testing for android devices.
2)
Or at least we can inform our customer that we will test in such devices only. But our point is how can we say that, like device names like Samsung S2, Samsung Galaxy Note or Devices like 640X480 size, 320X240 size etc? Please advise us.
3)
Do we have any size specification for images for small, normal, large, xlarge and ldpi, mdpi, hdpi, xhdpi ?

Developing for multiscreen, First make sure that the AndroidManifest.xml specifies the correct target SDK. For android 2.2, the target SDK level is 8. For processing it requires at least SDK level 7 to run.
<user-sdk android:minSdkversion="7" android:targetSdkversion="8"></user-sdk>
Use this <user-sdk> element, so that the platform will consider that your android app is for 2.2, otherwise, it takes it as for Android 1.5.
The Display metrics values for "normal-hdpi" screen is
DisplayMetrics{density=1.5, width=854, height=480, scaledDensity=1.5, xdpi=240.0, ydpi=240.0}
For size classification use this configuration class
Configuration config = getResources().getConfiguration();
int size = config.screenLayout & config.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_MASK;
if (size == config.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_SMALL)
{
// use special layout for small screens
}
Hopefully this solution will be useful to you.

Preparing apps for the nexus 10

I am working on an android Audio Recording application, our app is currently designed to work on all android phones, the Nexus 7 and the Motorola Xoom tablets.
I was wondering if there are any guidelines or best practices to re-design/modify our app for Nexus 10. More specifically, any pointers on the below points would be really helpful:
UI guidelines to support the new 2560x1600 resolution
Android resource files related modifications (based on similar guidelines)
Any sample or open sources apps that have been modified to work on the nexus 10
Best practices creating and running a nexus 10 emulator since there is no such AVD device by default (screenshot below). Any thoughts on creating one, keeping the high resolution in mind.

As long as you have xhdpi assets, and layouts made for 10" tablets, you shouldn't have to do anything (except add a new xxhdpi launcher icon, as #Mattias mentioned).
To make a Nexus 10 AVD, navigate to Device Definitions:
Then, click New Device. Fill it out something like this:
Now it will be listed in the devices drop-down that you show above.

Regarding your second point, resources:
While the nexus 10 is a xhdpi device, it will use the launcher icon from xxhdpi "one bucket up" if available, so make sure to provide one as it will look much better/clearer/sharper. Reason is that there is room for a bigger icon on this device. Launcher icon size at xxhdpi is 144x144 pixels.
For reference see:
https://plus.google.com/118292708268361843293/posts/ePQya3KsTjW

The best way to emulate the Nexus 10 is to use AndroVM. I am currently running Android on it with the full Nexus 10 2560x1600 resolution and it fits onto my HD screen if I set AndroVM to use 320dpi.
Oh.. and it's VERY fast :-)
I personally use it over emulators and real hardware devices as it's extremely responsive and the deployment of the APK is lightning fast.
I do not contribute to the AndroVM project myself by the way, but it has speeded up my own development cycle considerably. In all development cycles, a developer waiting to see if their code tweaks work using an emulator or a hardware device adds considerable time overhead. I would thoroughly recommend using AndroVM regardless of screen size during normal code development.

what kind of mobile will be updated to Android 4.0.3 or 4.1 version?

I made an application under Android emulator provided worked perfectly on all types of dispositives (small, normal, large, xlarge) (-ldpi,-mdpi, -hdpi,-xhdpi). But the last few days I saw that in some phones with the latest versions of android (these phones consist with a lower bar like tablets) did not look properly.
So my question is: what kind of phones have or can upgrade to these versions of android? (small-HDPI, normal-HDPI, normal-xhdpi???)
Thank you!

Theoretically, nothing stops a manufacturer from making an ldpi device capable of running ICS or JB. However, in practice, most devices with ldpi and even mdpi to some extent do not have good enough processors in both CPU and GPU departments to be able to run the newer version of Android.
Till date, the lowest I've seen an ICS device go screenwise is a normal-mdpi display. However, I do not know the details of every device in existence, and there could be lower devices as well.
You should design your app keeping in mind all device configs, at most excluding only ldpi and small displays.

which android tablet i should buy for my development [closed]

This question is unlikely to help any future visitors; it is only relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet. For help making this question more broadly applicable, visit the help center.
Closed 10 years ago.
which android tablet i should buy for my development?
Do the android OS version matter when doing development for android tablet.
I want that my app covers most used android versions. I took a look at Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, it has android 3.1 version. So can i upgrade it to android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

Well, if you can find one with Ice Cream Sandwich, that's going to cover the most bases in terms of current versions of Android. You may want to take a look at XDA Developers or Cyanogenmod Forums to see if the tablet you are considering is well covered by the modding community as well. I suggest this because if the manufacturer of your new tablet decides it doesn't want to upgrade to Jelly Bean, or whatever, in the future, the modding community may be your best best.
So those are my two points - try to find an ICS based device, so you don't need to upgrade right away - and so that you can test your app on live hardware for the newest SDK version; and try to make sure the device you are buying is pretty well covered by the modding community.
I can caution you to avoid Toshiba's tablets, as they have abysmal customer support and do not talk about their planned updates for their devices for months on end. I've not heard great things about the ICS update for Asus Transformers either, even though their Honeycomb is incredible. To be honest, I love ICS alpha 2 on my HP Touchpad.

I would get the Samsung Galaxy 10" tablet. This is the most common size of tablets so you can expect your applications to look good on most tablets. If you go with an 8.9 inch or 7 inch tablet your applications may not scale perfectly to the 10 inch tablets. You can always create more layouts to fit each dimension, but I usually try and target the 10 inch tablets first since they are most popular.

"I want that my app covers most used android versions"
Android 2.3 has the biggest portion of devices in the wild. You can see a break down of the version distribution here:
http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html
If you're going to target newer releases (and use things like fragments or loaders), you might want to consider using the Compatibility Library to ensure you cover 2.3 and older.
I'd probably +1 for Galaxy 10" tablet - They seem pretty popular, and good modding scene support. I have Xoom upgraded with ICS, and it works pretty well for development. Better then the emulator, that's for sure ;)

Is it OK to develop on a mid range android phone?

I want to begin development for mobile and android seems like a good choice (with iphone requiring a mac and WP7 not being that popular).
I have a question regarding the testing platform, I'm pretty low on cash and have been wondering if using a mid range phone would hinder my development? I have the ability to buy either a LG Optimus One, a Motorola Milestone or a Nexus One, all representing different segments of the market and each one costing more than the previous.
two concerns I had were screen resolution and CPU power, how much does these two variables matter to development?

Well:
Resolution - there are 3 main groups:
ldpi - Low Density - devices with screens 240 x 320,
mdpi - Medium Density - 320 x 480,
hdpi - High Density - 480 x 800, or 480 x 854.
Of course the bigger screen == the more expensive phone.
2 . CPU power - all currently available CPUs (besides a few low-end phones) will propably serve you well (of course, it depends on what do you really want to do)
I, as a developer, would like to add here a third element - which API level (version of Android) are you targeting? Nowadays, 2.1 - 2.3 rocks, and 3+ if the device is a tablet.
Keep in mind, that if you buy a great phone, you may develop application which will be running quite fast on it, but it will not on other low-end devices. Btw, you can always check if all elements will properly layout on the lower screen using built-in emulator(s). So, in my opinion, there is good to have mid-end phone, just to check sth(s).
PS : Nexus one - AFAIK this phone is a debug version (means you can do a little more than with a standard retail phone :) ).

If you can buy a Nexus One that will serve perfectly. Obviously it doesn't cover every form factor but its BETTER than a midrange phone.
If you come across issues on a specfic device you can always use a cloud debugging service like:
http://www.perfectomobile.com/ (they used to have 2 hours free when you register)
You can emulate the different screen sizes
CPU power depends completely on what you are coding, but most the time you should be ok.
Me Personally I've got:
a Nexus One running 2.3
a HTC G1 running 1.6 (flip out keyboard formfactor)
I also use perfecto for issues with the SonyErricson X10mini (ldpi)
I emulate Honeycomb 3.0 on the PC (altho hoping to buy a XOOM soon).

Putting on my MBA hat: From a product development perspective it's probably a good idea to make sure your product runs on the widest product segment of whatever platform you're developing for. If that happens to be a mid-range product, your development efforts are probably aimed at the largest market segment and potential customers might be more likely to own/purchase this device. Even better if there's a common platform across all segments. You should probably perform some sort of market analysis to prove this out.