Try getRealMetrics() instead:
DisplayMetrics metrics = new DisplayMetrics(); getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getRealMetrics(metrics);
This API was officially added to API 17, but in my limited testing it worked correctly even on 4.0 devices, so before that it could be a hidden API.
The official documentation is here , though there seem to be more reasons why the other API is not doing what you expect than text to be meant.
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