Android Developers Must Consider Various Screens

To date, in consumer-grade devices, Android can come in any screen size you want, so long as it is HVGA (320x480). That, my friends, is going to change, and soon:

• Archos has indicated they will have Android-enabled media tablets; their current devices have 800x480 screens

• There has been enough discussion about Android netbooks that someone, somewhere, is likely going to come out with one that enjoys wide distribution

• One can easily imagine somebody developing a QVGA (240x320) non-touch-screen device in more of a “feature phone” form factor, such as a flip phone, in a drive to create an inexpensive Android device

It is important for developers to start seriously thinking about what their apps will look like on different screen sizes, and not assume everything runs 320x480. Developers should already have a taste of this through building portrait and landscape renditions of their UI &,dash; multiple screen resolutions simply extends this existing pattern.

Android's SDK already supports multiple skins for the emulator, where the skin dictates the screen resolution of the resulting device. When you create your AVD in Android 1.5, you can tell Android to use a specific skin, thereby determining the resolution you can use to test out your application. Third-party skins will assist in this area, to try out other resolutions beyond the standard HVGA and QVGA.

Android also has plenty of assistance for resizable user interfaces, particularly when using containers like RelativeLayout. Your application may or may not need changes for small differences in screen size, if you have taken advantage of Android's sizing options.

For major shifts in screen size, though, you may need to consider revamping your application flow, such as using a netbook-sized screen to hold what on a phone might take two or three screens. Adding this sort of support is likely to be more difficult; on the other hand, having the best netbook support in your market segment will help you when trying to convince consumers (or OEMs) to go with your application.

Compared to developing the app in the first place, none of this is hard. It is extra work, part of the price we pay for the freedom that Android represents, where anyone can use it for any purpose, including using it with different screen sizes.

And, who knows? Maybe someday somebody will create a phone with a circular screen, and really confuse us...