Axim and cleartype?

[PJE]

Hi,

Having ordered a 400MHz X5 I was wondering if I should be preparing myself for a disappointment when it turns up...

After seeing the very poor cleartype quality on the Viewsonic V35 and my current iPaq 3635 I was wondering if anyone had seen the Dell with cleartype enabled?

Does it have a proper protrait screen or a landscape screen used in portrait orientation like the Viewsonic and iPaq?

Regards,

PJE

[PJE]

Hi,

Having ordered a 400MHz X5 I was wondering if I should be preparing myself for a disappointment when it turns up...

After seeing the very poor cleartype quality on the Viewsonic V35 and my current iPaq 3635 I was wondering if anyone had seen the Dell with cleartype enabled?

Does it have a proper protrait screen or a landscape screen used in portrait orientation like the Viewsonic and iPaq?

Regards,

PJE

[shawnc]

You've seen the V35? I didn't realize they had started shipping these.

[Merlion]

PJE, have you updated your ROM to the latest version (2.20.02)? That fixed the ClearType problem with the 3600/3700 iPaqs. You could update to the lastest EUU 3.0 as well, but that doesn't do anything for the ClearType.

ClearType is just a software controlling the rendering of the 3 sub-pixels of each full color pixel to simulate a pixel each, thereby increasing the text resolution to 3 times the standard resolution. In other words, if the ROM (software) communicates the right format information to ClearType, ClearType will function properly, regardless of the orientation of the sub-pixels of the LCD.

At this point in time, I would expect all future PPCs to display ClearType properly. Not doing so would just be unforgiveable. I think Viewsonic & Dell would have the tiniest morsel of commonsense. I hope I'm not disappointed.

[PJE]

Originally Posted by Merlion

PJE, have you updated your ROM to the latest version (2.20.02)? That fixed the ClearType problem with the 3600/3700 iPaqs. You could update to the lastest EUU 3.0 as well, but that doesn't do anything for the ClearType.

I'm currently using 2.14, as I didn't want to cold boot my iPaq. I'll look at upgrading when my Dell arrives...

Originally Posted by Merlion

ClearType is just a software controlling the rendering of the 3 sub-pixels of each full color pixel to simulate a pixel each, thereby increasing the text resolution to 3 times the standard resolution. In other words, if the ROM (software) communicates the right format information to ClearType, ClearType will function properly, regardless of the orientation of the sub-pixels of the LCD.

The largest improvement in clarity with cleartype is when the 3x resolution 'improvement' is in the horizontal direction. if it is in the vertical direction the improvement is significantly reduced.

Originally Posted by Merlion

At this point in time, I would expect all future PPCs to display ClearType properly. Not doing so would just be unforgiveable. I think Viewsonic & Dell would have the tiniest morsel of commonsense. I hope I'm not disappointed.

I saw the Viewsonic at CompUSA, and the Cleartype was very poor. I couldn't access cleartype on the 3950?, but the Toshiba E740 (or was it a 330) seemed to implement Cleartype very well.


PJE

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by Merlion

PJE, have you updated your ROM to the latest version (2.20.02)? That fixed the ClearType problem with the 3600/3700 iPaqs. You could update to the lastest EUU 3.0 as well, but that doesn't do anything for the ClearType.

You'd think, right? Sadly, this is not the case. Compare a 2.20 ROM-based iPaq to the HTC Pocket PC PE. The HTC blows the iPaq clear out of the water. It isn't even remotely close. I think the vertical orientation is indeed the problem as PJE mentions.

All the 2.20 does is to thicken and realign the fonts slightly so you don't see the colors. ClearType is still "blurrier" than regular print. Not so on the PPC PE - ClearType actually looks sharper. In fact it's enabled on the HTC systemwide by default, and it really is stunning.

I'm hoping the 5450 (my planned next device) has better ClearType than my 3870... because the technology can work well.

--bdj

[Steven Cedrone]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyJ

Not so on the PPC PE - ClearType actually looks sharper. In fact it's enabled on the HTC systemwide by default, and it really is stunning.

I wish someone would do a comparison of vs. the Jornada 5XX. The Jornada had what I thought was the best screen, as far as ClearType was concerned...

Steve

[PJE]

The quality of cleartype text is highly influenced by screen sub-pixel orientation.

If you ignore their color a landscape LCD has 960 (320x3) x 240 'sub-pixels' whileas portrait LCD has 320 x 720 (240×3) 'sub-pixels' which gives the landscape LCD 240 pixels against 720 for the portrait display when used in the portrait orientation.

Now most text... the I is an extreme case are much taller than they are wide and may take 3 pixels horizonally and 8 pixels vertically. Obviously the resolution enhancement would be much more apparent on the 3 horizontal (9 sub pixels) rather than the 8 pixels.

Also on characters such as 'H' the sub horizontal sub-pixels allow the vertical lines to positioned with 3 times the precision, so it the spacing between the two uprights can be controlled much more accuratly. The actual position of the cross bar is FAR less critical to the appearance of the text.

(Needs fixed pitch font...)

A portrait RGB screen used in portrait mode a 'H' could be:

RGBRGBRGBRGBRGBRGB   RGBRGBRGBRGBRGBRGB
################## > ##################
###OOO######OOO### > ##OOOOO####OOOOO##
###OOO######OOO### > ###OOO######OOO###
###OOOOOOOOOOOO### > ###OOOOOOOOOOOO###
###OOO######OOO### > ###OOO######OOO###
###OOO######OOO### > ##OOOOO####OOOOO##
################## > ##################

Whereas a landscape screen used in portrait mode a 'H' could be:

R##### > #####
G##### > #####
B##### > #O#O#
R#O#O# > #O#O#
G#O#O# > #O#O#
B#O#O# > #O#O#
R#O#O# > #O#O#
G#O#O# > #O#O#
B#O#O# > #OOO#
R#OOO# > #OOO#
G#OOO# > #OOO#
B#OOO# > #O#O#
R#O#O# > #O#O#
G#O#O# > #O#O#
B#O#O# > #O#O#
R#O#O# > #O#O#
G#O#O# > #O#O#
B#O#O# > #####
R##### > #####
G##### > #####
B##### > #####

Not quite so impressive!!!

Anyway, sorry for boring everyone silly, I was just hoping my new pride and joy would implement Cleartype correctly - I guess I'll only find out on Christmas Day!

My 2c

PJE

[PJE]

Just thought of an easy way to check.

Anyone with an Axim...

Look closely at a white screen. Can you see horizontal or vertical red and green lines on it?

If you see horizontal lines then Cleartype is toast. A proper 'portrait' screen would have vertical lines.

My last 2c (for now).

PJE

[Roosterman]

PJE,

I didn't know what the big deal was about the cleartype you were going on about. So, I did a google and learned how to turn it on. This is amazing the difference on my screen 8) . Now that it is turned on, I am wondering also if I will be disappointed tomorrow when my gets delivered. Great, now there is something else to make my day go even slower tomorrow as I wait. Thanks for turning me on to cleartype.

[Dave Beauvais]

Microsoft has an interesting page about ClearType technology. A few images showing exactly what ClearType does and why it generally improves readability. The "What is ClearType" and "ClearType FAQ" are interesting reads.

--Dave