Is Cleartype so bad?

[Martin I Pettinger]

I have been browsing a few forums on the iPAQ other than PocketPCThoughts and there are a number of postings suggesting that Compaq got the screen wrong by 90 degrees and that the iPAQ is poor at displaying Cleartype.

Now my eyes aren't that great but i've installed Pocket Tweak on my iPAQ 3850 and enabled Cleartype for Pocket Internet Explorer and I think it looks much better than when Cleartype is disabled. I've also looked at Cleartype on a colleagues Jornada 540 - okay its running the 2000 OS but it didn't seem any different.

The Cleartype does look a little grey rather than black and when I read I seem to instinctively rotate the screen a touch which seems to improve the very slight blur. However overall I'm really pleased with the Cleartype. Do I need new glasses?

[Jason Dunn]

No, you're not alone - I think ClearType on the iPAQ is entirely acceptable. There are those people, however, who would disagree. I think some of them are the kind of people who are more upset over the CONCEPT of the improper screen orientation than the actual results. :roll:

[RickP in AZ]

ClearType on the iPAQ under PocketPC 2000 wasn't great but... ClearType under PocketPC 2002 was way worse. But I persevered and turned it on system wide and now am rather used to it. Unfortunately other machines display it wonderously better.

Allegedly the recent Compaq upgrade for the 38xx improved ClearType back to its original state (PPC2k) but I have not seen this update IRL so I cannot comment on it.

CT with the new 39xx is worlds better but still blurred when compared to the e740, the Jornada, the Casio, etc.

RickP in AZ

[masaki]

Here's how ClearType looks on my 3970.

Description: PIE view this thread. Text sized at (from left: Medium, Smaller, Smallest)

[Martin I Pettinger]

Very interesting screen dump from the "new" iPAQ. I'd like to see the screen dump from a Jornada or a Casio to compare.

Looking at the screen dump I must use large or medium fonts. Small is just too small.

I read somewhere that cleartype could be used on a desktop. What OS do you need - I am on NT4 - does Cleartype come with Windows 2000?

[Thinkingman]

Masaki, thanks for the pics on here, they are good and very useful for those who are arguing for or againt cleartype. Personally the medium is nice to see but the others are strain on the eyes. I also agree wanting to see it on other ppc's such as the jornada as was mentioned above Martin.

[Jason Dunn]

I read somewhere that cleartype could be used on a desktop. What OS do you need - I am on NT4 - does Cleartype come with Windows 2000?

No, it ships in Windows XP only. Works OK on CRTs, but really needs an LCD to shine.

[RickP in AZ]

Martin I Pettinger - ClearType for the desktop is a new functionality built into Windows XP. I have not heard of any way to use it in earlier versions of Windows, but I'm no expert.

masaki - The screen dumps are helpful but the difference is going to be more related to hardware issues, i.e. how the pixels are turned on and utilized. Screen dumps form Jornadas and Casio have little variation and still show the "rainbow" effect but when the screens themselves are viewed they are clearly differnt than the iPAQ.

ClearType is a very subjective thing as people's eyes react to it differently and screen variations have such a great influence. The dot pitch of the smaller 3.5" screens definitely play a role in their clarity. To me atleast, the 39xx has the best ClearType of any *iPAQ* but it is still behind most of the other PPCs. (Except the e310! Eeewwww! Maybe I was looking at a defect e310 but I wouldn't know as it was *so* bad that I have yet to look at another.)

RickP in AZ

[Gallivant]

It's present in earlier-OS versions of Microsoft Reader, but there's no way to get it in older OSs.

[Jeff Rutledge]

Very interesting screen dump from the "new" iPAQ. I'd like to see the screen dump from a Jornada or a Casio to compare.


I'd like to see a comparison of a 3800 to a 3900.