Tablet or Phone - Android

Question

As it has been mentioned before, you do not want to check whether the device is a tablet or a phone but you want to know about the features of the device,

Most of the time, the difference between a tablet and a phone is the screen size which is why you want to use different layout files. These files are stored in the res/layout-<qualifiers> directories. You can create an XML file in the directoy res/values-<same qualifiers> for each of your layouts and put an int/bool/string resource into it to distinguish between the layouts you use.

Example:

File res/values/screen.xml (assuming res/layout/ contains your layout files for handsets)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <string name="screen_type">phone</string>
</resources>

File res/values-sw600dp/screen.xml (assuming res/layout-sw600dp/ contains your layout files for small tablets like the Nexus 7)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <string name="screen_type">7-inch-tablet</string>
</resources>

File res/values-sw720dp/screen.xml (assuming res/layout-sw720dp/ contains your layout files for large tablets like the Nexus 10):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <string name="screen_type">10-inch-tablet</string>
</resources>

Now the screen type is accessible via the R.string.screen_type constant.

To detect whether or not the device is a tablet use the following code:

public boolean isTablet(Context context) {
    boolean xlarge = ((context.getResources().getConfiguration().screenLayout & Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_MASK) == Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_XLARGE);
    boolean large = ((context.getResources().getConfiguration().screenLayout & Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_MASK) == Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_LARGE);
    return (xlarge || large);
}

LARGE and XLARGE Screen Sizes are determined by the manufacturer based on the distance from the eye they are to be used at (thus the idea of a tablet).

More info : http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/thread/d6323d81f226f93f

This post helped me a lot,

Unfortunately I don't have the reputation necessary to evaluate all the answers that helped me.

I needed to identify if my device was a tablet or a phone, with that I would be able to implement the logic of the screen. And in my analysis the tablet must be more than 7 inches (Xlarge) starting at MDPI.

Here's the code below, which was created based on this post.

/**
 * Checks if the device is a tablet or a phone
 * 
 * @param activityContext
 *            The Activity Context.
 * @return Returns true if the device is a Tablet
 */
public static boolean isTabletDevice(Context activityContext) {
    // Verifies if the Generalized Size of the device is XLARGE to be
    // considered a Tablet
    boolean xlarge = ((activityContext.getResources().getConfiguration().screenLayout & 
                        Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_MASK) == 
                        Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_XLARGE);

    // If XLarge, checks if the Generalized Density is at least MDPI
    // (160dpi)
    if (xlarge) {
        DisplayMetrics metrics = new DisplayMetrics();
        Activity activity = (Activity) activityContext;
        activity.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(metrics);

        // MDPI=160, DEFAULT=160, DENSITY_HIGH=240, DENSITY_MEDIUM=160,
        // DENSITY_TV=213, DENSITY_XHIGH=320
        if (metrics.densityDpi == DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_DEFAULT
                || metrics.densityDpi == DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_HIGH
                || metrics.densityDpi == DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_MEDIUM
                || metrics.densityDpi == DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_TV
                || metrics.densityDpi == DisplayMetrics.DENSITY_XHIGH) {

            // Yes, this is a tablet!
            return true;
        }
    }

    // No, this is not a tablet!
    return false;
}

Why not calculate the size of the screen diagonal and use that to make the decision whether the device is a phone or tablet?

private boolean isTablet()
{
    Display display = getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay();
    DisplayMetrics displayMetrics = new DisplayMetrics();
    display.getMetrics(displayMetrics);

    int width = displayMetrics.widthPixels / displayMetrics.densityDpi;
    int height = displayMetrics.heightPixels / displayMetrics.densityDpi;

    double screenDiagonal = Math.sqrt( width * width + height * height );
    return (screenDiagonal >= 9.0 );
}

Of course one can argue whether the threshold should be 9 inches or less.

there is no difference. You should define what you think is the difference, and check for that. Is a galaxy tab a phone? or a tablet? and why?

You should define what specific features you are looking for, and code for that.

It seems you are looking for 'tilt'. I think this is the same as the accelerometer (is that a word?). You can just check if the device supports it, using:

public class Accel extends Activity implements SensorListener {
...
  SensorManager sensorMgr = (SensorManager) getSystemService(SENSOR_SERVICE);
  boolean accelSupported = sensorMgr.registerListener(this,
        SENSOR_ACCELEROMETER,
        SENSOR_DELAY_UI);
...
}

(from http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/2009/03/15/android-accelerometer/ . i have not tested it)