Hello, I have designed some icons for my app. It took me ages. They are pngs at 512 x 512 px. I have selected for the icons to be scaled so they fit in whichever device. Now my problem is when I view them on my android virtual device they loose lots of quality and look pixaleted. I am worried that maybe by scaling them so much they are loosing quality? These icons have a nice texture, shadows etc. When I look at them in small in photoshop they look fine but on the virtual device looks rubbish. Now, should I worry about that or is this just happening because it is only a preview? If that should not happen can anybody suggest the best size that will fit any device so that it doesnt need to scale it so much if that makes any sense. haha. basically what is the best settings for best quality and sharpness. thanks in advance. iggy

Can you view them in an actual device, the screen resolution of the emulator can make a difference. Maybe you should produce them nearer to the correct sizes so they don't have to scale so much? Icons are something like: 36x36 ldpi 48x48 mdpi 72x72 hdpi 96x96 xhdpi and 512x512 for the Android Market icon

Hey, thank you very much. I will try that. By the way, I know that you can use and actual android device. How can I do that? It would be great to be able to test it on a proper device. iggy

You can export your project, to package it up as an apk, then just email it to your device - the email will have an install button in it, which is pretty cool! Make sure your device accepts 3rd party installs: Settings > Applications > Tick "unknown sources". Or you can set your device up as an emulator. On the device, select: Settings > Applications > Development > Tick all. Then plug your device into your pc with it's supplied usb cable, drop down the notification and select USB Tethering. When you fire up the Android Device Manager in Eclipse, it should detect your device. Unfortunately though, due to Android fragmentation, not all devices will work unless you do some messing around. I think the google dev site will have some info on specific models.

wow. You are the man. Thank you very much. I will try all of that! iggy

No I'm not. I just spent days and weeks banging my head repeatedly against a wall in the early days and don't want to see too many other people with mis-shapen heads. Some stuff must have lodged into place coz it's starting to get a bit easier!

Haha. Well, I have been working on the content of this app for ages. Now i am finally starting to put everything together. I guess I will be banging my head a few times from now on. I have just tried resizing a couple of my icons to see if it makes a difference and strangely it looks the same, so I am guessing it is the virtual device quality? I have more questions that you might be able to help with....I've got lots actually haha. I would like to change the font type on the menus and navigation bar for "times". do you know how in the code I can change this on both android and iphone? also, do you know if I could put and image on the navigation bar instead of a plain color? I want to do something funky but I dont know if I will be able to do everything I want. Many thanks for all your help. iggy

I haven't tried changing fonts, but I don't think it's too hard. You can add ttf font files to a 'raw' folder, or maybe even the assets folder, and call the font from there. If you go to stackoverflow.com and search for something like "custom fonts for android" there should be plenty of instructions. No idea for iphone. Regarding the icons, have you had a play around with the advanced properties in the admin panel? I think there are some size settings in there which might help. Experiment, experiment, experiment! Images in the nav bar are possible, I've done it in V1.4, you'll have to dig into eclipse and modify the xml file(s). Stackoverflow.com is your friend!

Ok, many thanks for everything. I am going to put my head down try and get that app up and running!

Hello, i have another question about these formats. Which ones are mobiles and which ones are tablets? ldpi mdpi hdpi xhdpi Thanks