Developing DPI-Aware Applications

[Robert Levy]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnppcgen/html/dpiawareness_.asp' target='_blank'>http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnppcgen/html/dpiawareness_.asp</a><br /><br /></div>At PDC it was announced that future versions of Pocket PC and Smartphone would support higher resolution displays. In particular, Smartphone will be able to work with screens of 240x320 resolution (which is equivalent to today's Pocket PC displays). No, this does not mean that Smartphones will become the size of Pocket PCs - it means that the screens will simply be able to display more "dots per inch" (DPI). For users, this is awesome since you'll get sharper text and much more detailed graphics. For developers, this creates some new challenges and Microsoft has published a whitepaper describing what those are and how you will be able to handle them.<br /><br />"Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones will run at higher DPI resolutions in the future. Learn about the changes your applications will need to determine the DPI of the device and take advantage of high-DPI displays."<br /><br />It is important to note that this only applies if you <i>choose</i> to create DPI-aware applications or modify existing apps to be DPI-aware. If a developer decides not to do this, their apps will still look fine on higher resolution displays since (as mentioned at PDC) the OS will automatically scale all applications that are not DPI-aware.

[Mike Temporale]

Initially, I would expect the only applications that will take advantage of the higher resolution will be the picture viewers, video playback, etc. I don't see this being implemented on many applications until the devices have been available for at least 6 months.

Now, I wonder if this was a good idea for Microsoft to annouce that higher resolution devices will be coming at some point. I would think that it could possibly slow sales of devices. Some people would decide to wait for the nicer screens. After all, it's not like these things are cheap.

[possmann]

Finally - way cool, but I have to agree about your assessment of what it may do to current sales. I would think that we wouldn't see these hi-res devices until sometime in 2005 - my guess would be the later half of 2005.