I had built an Android app requiring a minimum Android SDK of 3 (Android version 1.5), in order to make sure that it would run on as many platforms as possible – and it does. It even runs on a Samsung Galaxy Tab, so I rejoiced. However, on the tablet, the app shows up very tiny, using the resolution it would have on a mobile phone.

Now on an iPad, I know that apps developed for the iPhone can be “zoomed 2x”, thus filling the iPad screen nicely. It would naturally be better to produce a HD version of the app, but at least zooming allows the original app to be readable. This doesn’t happen with Android. Google says it will add a zoom feature in Android 3.2, but since my tablet (and others) uses Android 3.1, it doesn’t solve my problem.

I did however find a way to stretch (not zoom) the app on a tablet. Apparently stretching is only possible from SDK version 7 onwards. Setting the minimum SDK level in your Android manifest to 7 will do the trick:

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="7" />

Now the app stretches on the tablet, at least using all screen real estate available. It’s not pretty, since the controls remain small. Apparently the way to go is creating a Processing app, as explained here.