[notauser]

This is the very misunderstanding that is being discussed.

Android's UI system does support tablets by 'upscaling'... but the API has been improved (with Fragments amongst other things) to provide flexibility to design one UI* that works well on any size of device.

I'm sure they felt it was necessary to do it that way because of the fact that you can get an Android device with just about any common screen resolution these days.

Sure, some people will be lazy, and won't bother to make their UI take advantage of all that space. But a lot of iPad apps (especially early ones) weren't exactly high quality either. But lazy developers are an issue on all platforms.

*One UI that might include components and layouts that only show up when viewing it on a phone, or a tablet, or a whatever.

[glhaynes]

Are there guidelines around this? If so, how many levels do they specify? I imagine a 4" screen is "small" and a 10" screen is "large", but what's a 5" or a 7"?