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In order to support different screen sizes in an Android App, I have created different layout versions: sw320, sw480 sw600 sw720

But I notice that many mobile smartphones takes the version of sw320 while they do represent the page differently.

For example when running on the following devices: Nexus One and Samsung Galaxy s7 both takes (from some reason) the sw320, Why is that?

And would it be reasnable to add more layout versions to the code?

Manohar
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Yuval Levy
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1 Answers1

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Nexus One and Samsung Galaxy s7 both takes (from some reason) the sw320, Why is that?

The Nexus One was an hdpi device with a screen resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. Its shortest width is 480 pixels, which is 320dp.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 should be an xxxhdpi device, and its screen resolution is 2560 x 1440. Its shortest width is 1440 pixels, which is 360dp.

Hence, both devices fall within your -sw320dp bucket, given your other buckets.

And would it be reasnable to add more layout versions to the code?

IMHO, you should have fewer versions, not more. You should be using layouts that are more fluid and can adapt to small variations in screen size. Having different layout resources entirely should be reserved for cases where a major change in UI is called for (e.g., the classic master/detail pattern implementation, between phones and tablets).

CommonsWare
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  • Hi Thanks for your answer, From my search - Samsung Galaxy has 576 dpi - So it supposed to use the sw480 version, have a look here: http://dpi.lv/ – Yuval Levy Dec 27 '16 at 13:48
  • @YuvalLevy: The determination of resource set qualifiers is based upon how the device is configured by the manufacturer, not strictly by the screen density. There is no 576 dpi density from a resource standpoint. Samsung's most likely choices were `xxhdpi` (~480 dpi) and `xxxhdpi` (~640 dpi). According to [Google's device info site](https://material.io/devices/), the Galaxy S6 had the same screen characteristics as does the S7, and the S6 was an `xxxhdpi` device. – CommonsWare Dec 27 '16 at 13:51
  • thanks! it looks like it would be more comfortable to use ldpi mdpi hdpi xhdpi xxhdpi xxxhdpi instead ow the sw<...>dp – Yuval Levy Dec 27 '16 at 14:48
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    @YuvalLevy: Those are not really related. `ldpi` and kin are densities. You use those for `drawable` and `mipmap` resources, but not much else. `swNNNdp` are sizes (smallest widths). They happen to be measured in density-independent pixels, rather than hardware pixels, just as CSS pixels are density-independent pixels. – CommonsWare Dec 27 '16 at 14:50
  • @CommonsWare can i take my desired foldername based on sw in android for example, can i take `layout-sw325dp ` folder name ? or should we only use predefined folder names? – Manohar Dec 28 '16 at 06:36
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    @Redman: For `-swNNNdp`, the value of `NNN` can be whatever you want, so long as it is a positive integer. – CommonsWare Dec 28 '16 at 12:18
  • @CommonsWare Thanks ,i was not not sure if i can use those folder , now i know :) – Manohar Dec 28 '16 at 12:20