getting the screen density programmatically in android?

Question

How to get the screen density programmatically in android?

I mean: How to find the screen dpi of the current device?

Answer 1

This should help on your activity ...

void printSecreenInfo(){

    Display display = getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay();
    DisplayMetrics metrics = new DisplayMetrics();
    display.getMetrics(metrics);

    Log.i(TAG, "density :" +  metrics.density);

    // density interms of dpi
    Log.i(TAG, "D density :" +  metrics.densityDpi);

    // horizontal pixel resolution
    Log.i(TAG, "width pix :" +  metrics.widthPixels);

     // actual horizontal dpi
    Log.i(TAG, "xdpi :" +  metrics.xdpi);

    // actual vertical dpi
    Log.i(TAG, "ydpi :" +  metrics.ydpi);

}

OUTPUT :

I/test( 1044): density :1.0

I/test( 1044): D density :160

I/test( 1044): width pix :800

I/test( 1044): xdpi :160.0

I/test( 1044): ydpi :160.42105

Answer 2

Yet another answer:

/**
* @return "ldpi", "mdpi", "hdpi", "xhdpi", "xhdpi", "xxhdpi", "xxxhdpi", "tvdpi", or "unknown".
*/
public static String getDensityBucket(Resources resources) {
    switch (resources.getDisplayMetrics().densityDpi) {
        case DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_LOW:
            return "ldpi";
        case DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_MEDIUM:
            return "mdpi";
        case DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_HIGH:
            return "hdpi";
        case DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_XHIGH:
            return "xhdpi";
        case DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_XXHIGH:
            return "xxhdpi";
        case DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_XXXHIGH:
            return "xxxhdpi";
        case DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_TV:
            return "tvdpi";
        default:
            return "unknown";
    }
}

Answer 3

This also works:

 getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density;

This will give you:

0.75 - ldpi

1.0 - mdpi

1.5 - hdpi

2.0 - xhdpi

3.0 - xxhdpi

4.0 - xxxhdpi

ref: density

ref 2

Answer 4

Blundell's answer as a static helper method:

private static String getDensityName(Context context) {
    float density = context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density;
    if (density >= 4.0) {
        return "xxxhdpi";
    }
    if (density >= 3.0) {
        return "xxhdpi";
    }
    if (density >= 2.0) {
        return "xhdpi";
    }
    if (density >= 1.5) {
        return "hdpi";
    }
    if (density >= 1.0) {
        return "mdpi";
    }
    return "ldpi";
}

Answer 5

Actualy if you want to have the real display dpi the answer is somewhere in between if you query for display metrics:

DisplayMetrics dm = new DisplayMetrics();
getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(dm);
int dpiClassification = dm.densityDpi;
float xDpi = dm.xdpi;
float yDpi = dm.ydpi;

densityDpi * 160 will give you the values/suggestion which density you should use

0.75 - ldpi - 120 dpi
1.0 - mdpi - 160 dpi
1.5 - hdpi - 240 dpi
2.0 - xhdpi - 320 dpi
3.0 - xxhdpi - 480 dpi
4.0 - xxxhdpi - 640 dpi

as specified in previous posts

but dm.xdpi won't give you always the REAL dpi of given display: Example:

Device: Sony ericsson xperia mini pro (SK17i)
Density: 1.0 (e.g. suggests you use 160dpi resources)
xdpi: 193.5238
Real device ppi is arround 193ppi


Device: samsung GT-I8160 (Samsung ace 2)
Density 1.5 (e.g. suggests you use 240dpi resources)
xdpi 160.42105
Real device ppi is arround 246ppi

so maybe real dpi of the display should be Density*xdpi .. but i'm not sure if this is the correct way to do!

Answer 6

public static String getDensity(Context context) {
    String r;
    DisplayMetrics metrics = new DisplayMetrics();

    if (!(context instanceof Activity)) {
        r = "hdpi";
    } else {
        Activity activity = (Activity) context;
        activity.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(metrics);

        if (metrics.densityDpi <= DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_LOW) {
            r = "ldpi";
        } else if (metrics.densityDpi <= DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_MEDIUM) {
            r = "mdpi";
        } else {
            r = "hdpi";
        }
    }

    return r;
}