Screen Orientation of Android

Question

Which is more appropriate to use in Screen Orientation. Declaring <activity android:screenOrientation="sensor" />

or

the long process of creating a new folder layout-land & a new layout? and why? I'm using the first one now and seems it has the same function as the latter. Thanks!

Answer 1

sensor just returns the orientaton of the device. It does not optimize the layout like using layout-land would.

From http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen

The orientation is determined by the device orientation sensor. The orientation of the display depends on how the user is holding the device; it changes when the user rotates the device. Some devices, though, will not rotate to all four possible orientations, by default. To allow all four orientations, use "fullSensor".

Answer 2

I think the two are different. When we use android:screenOrientation we're telling android what orientation we want to be displayed in. Having two layout's, one for portrait and another for landscape helps us in cases where we want to layout our views such that it takes advantage of the increased width. If you don't think if need this then just use a single layout. Android will use the same for both orientations.

If you want to prevent android from displaying your view in a particular orientation, etc you can use the former.