Question

Based on Android doc for supporting multiple screen sizes, it seems that Android 2.x supports QVGA as small screen size. In my app’s manifest file, I have

<supports-screens
        android:anyDensity="true"
        android:largeScreens="true"
        android:normalScreens="true"
        android:smallScreens="true" />

And

<uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="5"
        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

But recently, one customer contacted me saying that google play store says that his Samsung Galaxy Y is not compatible with my app. I looked up Galaxy Y and the only thing that makes it different from other models is that it has a small 3″ QVGA (240×320) display. It is running gingerbread.

So my questions is that is there any known issues with QVGA support for Android 2.x? I also googled around and saw in some apps’ release note, they specifically mentioned QVGA support which makes me think that it is not supported out of the box. Can someone confirm this? Thanks!

Answer 1

Yes, Android 2.x supports QVGA resolution displays. As a matter of fact, you can even run the latest version of Android on a QVGA display.

The jump from small to normal happens just around 3 inches and largely depends on the device manufacturer. In the case of the Galaxy Y, it’s very likely that it is in fact a small ldpi display (QVGA).

The Android developer documentation states that:

small screens are at least 426dp x 320dp

With a ldpi device, each dp equals 0.75 pixel – in other terms, small screens are at least 320 x 240 pixels. Only the small screens support QVGA resolution.