Question

Does anybody know the difference between hdpi and large-hdpi?
mdpi and large-mdpi?
large-mdpi and sw600dp?

http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html

Thanks.

Answer 1

From the API documentation:

http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html

… two devices that both report a screen size of normal
might have actual screen sizes and aspect ratios that are slightly
different when measured by hand. Similarly, two devices that report a
screen density of hdpi might have real pixel densities that are
slightly different. Android makes these differences abstract to
applications, so you can provide UI designed for the generalized sizes
and densities and let the system handle any final adjustments as
necessary.

Also note (same link):

Beginning with Android 3.2 (API level 13), these size groups are
deprecated in favor of a new technique for managing screen sizes based
on the available screen width

This is where “smallestWidth sw600dp” and friends come in:

http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html#DeclaringTabletLayouts

The main issue is “How can the Android API accomodate the wide range of devices with the minimum effort on the part of the developer?”

‘Hope that helps