[Q] Phone vs Phablet vs Tablet layout

[da1k]

Hello,

Recently I bought Xperia Z Ultra to carry one device instead of two (Nexus 7 and Samsung S III Mini). Unfortunately I didn't know about different layouts and I didn't check before in which mode Z Ultra works. I though that application check resolution and shows its best. Now I know that it works in phone layout. I read also that after rooting I can switch to tablet layout. So my questions are:

1. Is it make a sense to root my Xperia and switch layout? If yes should I choose tablet or phablet layout? Is there any phablet layout for Z Ultra?

2. What's the difference between Phone, phablet and Tablet layout?

3. How many applications are written in double (triple) layouts?

4. Is it any difference in these layout for e.g. Angry Birds (all games), Amazon Kindle, Chrome, Flipboard, Google Maps, Pocket? Could anyone send me some pictures if there are differences? (I already sold Nexus 7 so I can't compare)

best regards,

 

[LordManhattan]

1. If you want to, sure. It's nice to have tablet layout.

2. You already know how the phone layout looks like. It's dense so the UI elements fit properly on small screens. Phablet layout is what you see on the Nexus 7 and newer tablets that run KitKat. Google removed the tablet system UI layout in KitKat, but apps still run like they've always done. So there are two official layouts. Phone (Nexus 5) and "Phablet" (Nexus 7). The Z Ultra actually runs a strange mix of that. Pocket runs in tablet mode out of the box on the Ultra.

3. I don't know what this means.

4. Games won't have a different layout. Chrome, Flipboard, Maps and Pocket will. Note that it's the devs responsibility to support tablet layout, so don't really expect every app out there to support it.

I could take some screenshots of some apps in tablet mode, but I'm currently running the GPe ROM (KitKat) and I'm running it at 400 DPI, i.e phone UI.

Sent from my C6806_GPe using Tapatalk

 

[da1k]

Thank you for so good answer. Thanks

 

[Leechoonhwee]

Unfortunately, Kikat does not support layouts anymore. Even if you lower the density to 100 it does not switch to tablet layout like it used to.

 

[LordManhattan]

Unfortunately, Kikat does not support layouts anymore. Even if you lower the density to 100 it does not switch to tablet layout like it used to.

Correct, but you will at one point get the "phablet" statusbar (split notification/quick settings) and the split Settings and other minor changes when you lower the DPI to a certain point (192 I think, but I don't really remember). But yeah, the old tablet UI is gone in KitKat.

Note that the 192 DPI detail above is something that I have only tested on AOSP ROMs and not on Sony ROMs, so I don't know if or how a stock ROM will react to a change like this.

Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk

 

[Leechoonhwee]

Correct, but you will at one point get the "phablet" statusbar (split notification/quick settings) and the split Settings and other minor changes when you lower the DPI to a certain point (192 I think, but I don't really remember). But yeah, the old tablet UI is gone in KitKat.

Note that the 192 DPI detail above is something that I have only tested on AOSP ROMs and not on Sony ROMs, so I don't know if or how a stock ROM will react to a change like this.

Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk

Doesn't work. I've tested few months ago.

Sent from my C6833_GPe using Tapatalk

 

[krugm0f0]

Deleted.