Bitmap allocation, using BitmapFactory.Options.inBitmap throws IllegalArgumentException

Question 1

I tried your code with emulated Nexus 4.
I had default ic_launcher.png file which I copy and pasted it two times in drawable-mdpi (as I usually do). I renamed the two new files to match the names in your code (so that I have less changes to make there).
When I run the application I observed the same as you did.
After few different attempts I decided to copy the the new pngs to other drawable folders - so they were present into:

drawable-hdpi
drawable-mdpi
drawable-xhdpi
drawable-xxhdpi

I run the application and it is working!

I am not really sure why it really works, but obviously it has to be something with the correct screen resolution/density.

Question 2

It's a little weird that you create a new bitmap and then try to reuse it. Why not just let decodeResource create a new bitmap in the first place? I suspect your problem in #2 though is that once you've set the ImageView to use the bitmap, it's not able to reuse it anymore (because it's already in use). The IllegalArgumentException is mentioned in the docs:

If the decode operation cannot use this bitmap, the decode method will return null and will throw an IllegalArgumentException.

As far as a workaround, you might try to keep two bitmaps around and switch around which one the ImageView is pointing to, e.g.:

decode to bitmap 1, point ImageView to bitmap 1
decode to bitmap 2, point ImageView to bitmap 2
repeat from step 1

Question 3

You will need to set options.inMutable to true before #1 & #2 in your code. This may sound a little add, but these are little mines left over that you have stepped upon.

Hope this helps

Question 4

Why you are decoding bitmaps ? Just do:

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    final ImageView imageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.image_view);
    imageView.setImageResource(R.drawable.img1);

    imageView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            imageView.setImageResource(R.drawable.img2);
        }
    });
}

Are you sure that both your images have the same dimension ? According to documentation

If [inBitmap is] set, decode methods that take the Options object will attempt to reuse this bitmap when loading content. If the decode operation cannot use this bitmap, the decode method will return null and will throw an IllegalArgumentException. The current implementation necessitates that the reused bitmap be mutable, and the resulting reused bitmap will continue to remain mutable even when decoding a resource which would normally result in an immutable bitmap.

You should still always use the returned Bitmap of the decode method and not assume that reusing the bitmap worked, due to the constraints outlined above and failure situations that can occur. Checking whether the return value matches the value of the inBitmap set in the Options structure will indicate if the bitmap was reused, but in all cases you should use the Bitmap returned by the decoding function to ensure that you are using the bitmap that was used as the decode destination.

Usage with BitmapFactory

As of KITKAT, any mutable bitmap can be reused by BitmapFactory to decode any other bitmaps as long as the resulting byte count of the decoded bitmap is less than or equal to the allocated byte count of the reused bitmap. This can be because the intrinsic size is smaller, or its size post scaling (for density / sample size) is smaller.

Prior to KITKAT additional constraints apply: The image being decoded (whether as a resource or as a stream) must be in jpeg or png format. Only equal sized bitmaps are supported, with inSampleSize set to 1. Additionally, the configuration of the reused bitmap will override the setting of inPreferredConfig, if set.

EDIT:

If you have large resource bitmap, just load it in asynctask... More info HERE but it can be done much simplier.

Question 5

I'm not sure about the problem you met with Samsung S3 at #2. But the problem you met with Nexus 4 may be because you put two image in wrong dpi drawable folder. So when it try to decode the bitmap, it can't find the resources.

My phone has screen density is hdpi, at first I try to put two image in drawable-mdpi, and I face the problem with #1. So I changed it to drawable-hdpi, and it worked.

Question 6

Just put largeHeap="true" in application tag (AndroidManifest.xml)

Bitmap allocation, using BitmapFactory.Options.inBitmap throws IllegalArgumentException

Few notes:

Question:

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