Scale isn't particularly useful to what I'd like to do, as I want the initial view to be similar on all platforms no matter the screen size or resolution. Ergo, I want to define a zoom level like from a quadtile. Is there a way to do this?
Perhaps you are looking to set the viewpoint based on a bounding geometry? MapView Class | ArcGIS for Developers
We have a variety of different methods for setting viewpoint based on geometry, center, scale, etc