Question

I need to know exactly how big the screen is on the device in real units of length so I can calculate the acceleration due to gravity in pixels per millisecond.

Is there a method somewhere in the Android API for this?

Answer 1

Use the following:

    DisplayMetrics dm = new DisplayMetrics();
    getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(dm);
    double x = Math.pow(mWidthPixels/dm.xdpi,2);
    double y = Math.pow(mHeightPixels/dm.ydpi,2);
    double screenInches = Math.sqrt(x+y);
    Log.d("debug","Screen inches : " + screenInches);

When mWidthPixels and mHeightPixels are taken from below code

private void setRealDeviceSizeInPixels()
{
    WindowManager windowManager = getWindowManager();
    Display display = windowManager.getDefaultDisplay();
    DisplayMetrics displayMetrics = new DisplayMetrics();
    display.getMetrics(displayMetrics);


    // since SDK_INT = 1;
    mWidthPixels = displayMetrics.widthPixels;
    mHeightPixels = displayMetrics.heightPixels;

    // includes window decorations (statusbar bar/menu bar)
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 14 && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 17)
    {
        try
        {
            mWidthPixels = (Integer) Display.class.getMethod("getRawWidth").invoke(display);
            mHeightPixels = (Integer) Display.class.getMethod("getRawHeight").invoke(display);
        }
        catch (Exception ignored)
        {
        }
    }

    // includes window decorations (statusbar bar/menu bar)
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 17)
    {
        try
        {
            Point realSize = new Point();
            Display.class.getMethod("getRealSize", Point.class).invoke(display, realSize);
            mWidthPixels = realSize.x;
            mHeightPixels = realSize.y;
        }
        catch (Exception ignored)
        {
        }
    }

See this post for reference:
Get screen dimensions in pixels