VGA Resolution - What it Means For Your Hardware

[Jason Dunn]

I've seen this question pop up several times, so I think it's important to tackle this in a front-page post. While we're all drooling over the VGA resolution screen shots and how great it looks, in order to take advantage of this your Pocket PC will need to have a VGA-compatible LCD screen, and as of right now the only shipping device that has one is the Toshiba e805. LCD screens aren't like CRT screens in that they can go to any resolution - LCD screens have a fixed resolution, and while they can go lower than their natural resolution, they can't go higher. For this reason, all of us with QVGA (320 x 240) screens will require new hardware in order to get that gorgeous VGA resolution.<br /><br />I know that may frustrate some of you, but remember that this is a hardware change, not a software one, so it's similar to having a different engine in your car - not something that can easily be changed. And although the VGA resolution looks amazing, your Pocket PC is just as useful today as it was yesterday, so don't go throwing it out the window just yet. ;-)

[jb]

My question is the reverse. I have the e805 and from the looks of the screenshots I have seem, it seems the upgrade will make my VGA screen look like a QVGA screen.

Maybe I am missing something from the screenshots and need to be enlightended. Please feel free to do so.

[mashtim]

These beautiful screen shots now have me leaning away from the MPX if the iPAQ 6000 has a high-res screen. I'd gladly give up a built-in keyboard to be able to view an unformatted web page without scrolling.
Besides, I'm one of those who use a BT headset 85% of the time for my phone calls, so form factor isn't such an issue.

[jneely]

My question is the reverse. I have the e805 and from the looks of the screenshots I have seem, it seems the upgrade will make my VGA screen look like a QVGA screen.

I know what you're saying... Instead of offering a larger display area, it would seem that the direction is to increase the dpi. Thus, the icons have gone from 32x32 to 64x64, the text is twice as large (in pixels), and all of the other UI widgets are scaled larger. The end-result: you don't really see more icons on screen at once, or more lines of text, etc... everything is just sharper and better defined. At least this seems to be the case in most of the interface elements. There are some exceptions: IE and Excel both seemed to show larger display areas instead of simply scaling everything up. It would be nice if this were something left to the user's preference. You get some small measure of control by picking the text size, but that seems to be it.

Am I missing something too?

[Rob Borek]

My question is the reverse. I have the e805 and from the looks of the screenshots I have seem, it seems the upgrade will make my VGA screen look like a QVGA screen.

I know what you're saying... Instead of offering a larger display area, it would seem that the direction is to increase the dpi. Thus, the icons have gone from 32x32 to 64x64, the text is twice as large (in pixels), and all of the other UI widgets are scaled larger. The end-result: you don't really see more icons on screen at once, or more lines of text, etc... everything is just sharper and better defined. At least this seems to be the case in most of the interface elements. There are some exceptions: IE and Excel both seemed to show larger display areas instead of simply scaling everything up. It would be nice if this were something left to the user's preference. You get some small measure of control by picking the text size, but that seems to be it.

Am I missing something too?

The programs have to be designed for the larger screen sizes - otherwise, you will see the regular programs up-shifted to the higher resolutions (ie a higher dpi).

[Kevin C. Tofel]

My question is the reverse. I have the e805 and from the looks of the screenshots I have seem, it seems the upgrade will make my VGA screen look like a QVGA screen.

Maybe I am missing something from the screenshots and need to be enlightended. Please feel free to do so.

I understand what you're saying, but I think you'll be in great shape. I have the e805 also and I've been using the VGA "hacks" to run all of my apps in full VGA mode. For apps that aren't currently supported in VGA, they run in the top quarter of the screen, i.e.: in QVGA mode. With the new WM2003 upgrade, they will run in full VGA or full screen mode which is STUNNING 8O . This will help with the current non-VGA supports apps, i.e.: password screen, calculator, Windows Media Player. These will now all be in full screen on the e805. If you can't wait for true VGA support, search the Toshiba forums for RexFix.....it's a free unsupported app that will let you run VGA on your e805 now (for the apps that support it, that is....currently apps like Word, Excel, Palm Digital Reader, Jawbreaker, etc.....)

Hope this helps a little....also: word is that Toshiba will be providing the WM upgrade free to Toshiba e805 users....so you have nothing to lose with the upgrade if that's the case. :clap:

KCT

[alex_kac]

My question is the reverse. I have the e805 and from the looks of the screenshots I have seem, it seems the upgrade will make my VGA screen look like a QVGA screen.

I know what you're saying... Instead of offering a larger display area, it would seem that the direction is to increase the dpi. Thus, the icons have gone from 32x32 to 64x64, the text is twice as large (in pixels), and all of the other UI widgets are scaled larger. The end-result: you don't really see more icons on screen at once, or more lines of text, etc... everything is just sharper and better defined. At least this seems to be the case in most of the interface elements. There are some exceptions: IE and Excel both seemed to show larger display areas instead of simply scaling everything up. It would be nice if this were something left to the user's preference. You get some small measure of control by picking the text size, but that seems to be it.

Am I missing something too?

Yep, you are : Using the device. Trust me. After myself using a Tosh 805 in both WM 2003 and WM 2003 SE, I can say that the SE way is the correct way. Remember, the screen size is the same - and I doubt your stylus tapping is 4 times better just because the screen is 4 times the res. Trying to tap on interface elements (especially forms) at 96 DPI on a 192 DPI screen is cool for a demo, but a huge excercise in frustration in real use.

And you can make the text smaller in almost any app so that you can fit far more data on screen. For example on a QVGA screen a 12 pt text font is readable, while on VGA a 8 or 10 pt font is readable. So although the interface elements are the same size, the content can be crisper and more readable.

So trust me, in real use of the device, its abundantly clear why its done this way - plus you do get the prefs you need to scale fonts to the sizes you want.

[huangzhinong]

Alex, can you tell us which method below does Pictures use to display photos bigger than 480*640 in wm2003 se?

1. Shrink to 480*640 directly and display it.

2. Shrink to 240*320 and double pixelling and display it.

The reason I ask is the pictures in pdafrance.com looks almost identical in QVGA and VGA mode. I guess most of people do hope the PPC interface can be identical in QVGA and VGA, but font should be more crisper and pictures should show more pixels.

Thanks

[alex_kac]

Alex, can you tell us which method below does Pictures use to display photos bigger than 480*640 in wm2003 se?

1. Shrink to 480*640 directly and display it.

2. Shrink to 240*320 and double pixelling and display it.

The reason I ask is the pictures in pdafrance.com looks almost identical in QVGA and VGA mode. I guess most of people do hope the PPC interface can be identical in QVGA and VGA, but font should be more crisper and pictures should show more pixels.

Thanks

If its a MS app, it should be VGA enabled and therefore do #1. Remember, those screenshots are scaled also and so you just may not see the differences.

OK, tested....its a full resolution picture.

[huangzhinong]

Alex, thanks.

[lkawamot]

While I appreciate the higher resolution available in WM2003SE, I'm curious if our current devices (which do not support the higher resolution) could still get upgraded to take advantage of the Screen Rotation. PIE would nice in Landscape mode...

[medic119]

While I appreciate the higher resolution available in WM2003SE, I'm curious if our current devices (which do not support the higher resolution) could still get upgraded to take advantage of the Screen Rotation. PIE would nice in Landscape mode...

Yes, the current devices can all be upgraded, but you won't get the advantages of having the higher resolution. Everything will work just the same as any new WM2K3SE device, but only at 240x320.

So you will have rotation, but only to 320x240.

[jornadaholic]

does the asus a730 come with wm2003 se or does its software work like the toshiba e805

[Will T Smith]

We are looking at a 2 or 3 year period in which developers will ship multiple resources for their applications. MSDEV makes it easy. It's essentially the same thing as shipping in multiple languages.

What I'm VERY curious about is whether PocketPC 2003SE will support "Clie" VGA. I've already seen one spec for a PocketPC device running 320x480. If so, this will make an app developers life harder.

With LCD displays being the status quo, I doubt we'll see "generic" resolution (like we have on PCs) standard for quite some time. Microsoft still has to do it's "quartz" (Mac OSX) style windowing system on the desktop. At some point, I think we'll see that trickle down to handhelds whereby developers would specificy apps in terms of screen size (on ridiculously high screen resolution (XGA in 4 inches ;-)).

Until then, it will be a resource set for each resolution. Hopefully, Microsoft has put support in place for apps switching resolutions on the fly as the user demands.

So Alex. Since you've apparently been playing with 2003SE, do 240x320 apps automatically scale up to fill up the screen???? Is their a special "video mode" that changes the screen resolution when a lower res program comes to the foreground (filled in with cleartype I presume).

I'm seriously interested if Microsoft decided to solve the "mini 240x320 app" problem or are they simply relying on developers to update all their applications.

[Fishie]

No half VGA(320by480 ot 480by320) support but it has support build in for 480by480devices in essence a square screen like the palms witouth the silkscreen area.
This is to acomodate for models with a build in keyboard so the devices dont become unwieldly long like the Ipaq 4130.


We are looking at a 2 or 3 year period in which developers will ship multiple resources for their applications. MSDEV makes it easy. It's essentially the same thing as shipping in multiple languages.

What I'm VERY curious about is whether PocketPC 2003SE will support "Clie" VGA. I've already seen one spec for a PocketPC device running 320x480. If so, this will make an app developers life harder.

With LCD displays being the status quo, I doubt we'll see "generic" resolution (like we have on PCs) standard for quite some time. Microsoft still has to do it's "quartz" (Mac OSX) style windowing system on the desktop. At some point, I think we'll see that trickle down to handhelds whereby developers would specificy apps in terms of screen size (on ridiculously high screen resolution (XGA in 4 inches ;-)).

Until then, it will be a resource set for each resolution. Hopefully, Microsoft has put support in place for apps switching resolutions on the fly as the user demands.

So Alex. Since you've apparently been playing with 2003SE, do 240x320 apps automatically scale up to fill up the screen???? Is their a special "video mode" that changes the screen resolution when a lower res program comes to the foreground (filled in with cleartype I presume).

I'm seriously interested if Microsoft decided to solve the "mini 240x320 app" problem or are they simply relying on developers to update all their applications.

[amin]

These beautiful screen shots now have me leaning away from the MPX if the iPAQ 6000 has a high-res screen. I'd gladly give up a built-in keyboard to be able to view an unformatted web page without scrolling.
Besides, I'm one of those who use a BT headset 85% of the time for my phone calls, so form factor isn't such an issue.
From the pics I've seen, the 6000 series is 320x240 like the other HP PPCs. Furthermore, it doesn't seem to me that VGA will let you view most unformatted web pages without scrolling. Less scrolling to be sure.

[Ed@Brighthand]

does the asus a730 come with wm2003 se or does its software work like the toshiba e805
The ASUS A730 will be a Second Edition device from its release, which is expected in May or June.

[mv]

While I appreciate the higher resolution available in WM2003SE, I'm curious if our current devices (which do not support the higher resolution) could still get upgraded to take advantage of the Screen Rotation. PIE would nice in Landscape mode...

Yes, the current devices can all be upgraded, but you won't get the advantages of having the higher resolution. Everything will work just the same as any new WM2K3SE device, but only at 240x320.

So you will have rotation, but only to 320x240.

Pretty cool anyway. :D

[tulrich]

I've seen this question pop up several times, so I think it's important to tackle this in a front-page post. While we're all drooling over the VGA resolution screen shots and how great it looks, in order to take advantage of this your Pocket PC will need to have a VGA-compatible LCD screen, and as of right now the only shipping device that has one is the Toshiba e805. LCD screens aren't like CRT screens in that they can go to any resolution - LCD screens have a fixed resolution, and while they can go lower than their natural resolution, they can't go higher. For this reason, all of us with QVGA (320 x 240) screens will require new hardware in order to get that gorgeous VGA resolution.

So here, then, is my question (born of ignorance)...how does a program like Nyditot Virtual Display, which claims to give users the ability to change screen resolution, work? Or am I trying to compare apples to oranges? I'm new to the PPC world (just got my iPaq 2215 a month ago after 4 years of being a Palm OS user), so I don't quite know the ins and outs yet.

[Jonathan1]

So here, then, is my question (born of ignorance)...how does a program like Nyditot Virtual Display, which claims to give users the ability to change screen resolution, work? Or am I trying to compare apples to oranges? I'm new to the PPC world (just got my iPaq 2215 a month ago after 4 years of being a Palm OS user), so I don't quite know the ins and outs yet.


Try playing with a laptop sometime. Best Buy, CompUSA, whatever. Jack up the resolution above whatever it defaults too. You end up either scrolling or the text and screen will look craptastic. Same deal if you decrease the res. Nyditot jacks up the software resolution but you are still stuck with the PPC's native resolution. New Pocket PC hardware will resolve this issue.

[Mark Johnson]

Does anyone know if the VGA screens will require the 2003SE devices to be larger than QVGA devices? I'd really like to dump my 1910 for a VGA equivalent, but I've promised myself never to replace one PDA with another that is not either lighter weight or smaller total volume (and perferably both). The Toshiba e805 is just HUGE compared to the iPaq 1910. What about the ASUS? Any rumors on a iPaq 1900 series with VGA?

[davea0511]

My question is the reverse. I have the e805 and from the looks of the screenshots I have seem, it seems the upgrade will make my VGA screen look like a QVGA screen.

I know what you're saying... Instead of offering a larger display area, it would seem that the direction is to increase the dpi. Thus, the icons have gone from 32x32 to 64x64, the text is twice as large (in pixels), and all of the other UI widgets are scaled larger. The end-result: you don't really see more icons on screen at once, or more lines of text, etc... everything is just sharper and better defined. At least this seems to be the case in most of the interface elements. There are some exceptions: IE and Excel both seemed to show larger display areas instead of simply scaling everything up. It would be nice if this were something left to the user's preference. You get some small measure of control by picking the text size, but that seems to be it.

Am I missing something too?

At a minimum it seems they should have allowed us to have smaller icons so we don't have to scroll to find the right icon. While it is true that it's hard to pick a tiny icon, they certainly could have made them 48x48 pixels instead of 64x64, and that would keep them large enough to easily pick, but small enough to keep us from having to scroll. Also, scroll-bars further waste valuable screen real-estate, not to mention that they are as big of a pain to pick as a tiny icon.

Maybe someone will write a tweak for this.

[Fishie]

Does anyone know if the VGA screens will require the 2003SE devices to be larger than QVGA devices? I'd really like to dump my 1910 for a VGA equivalent, but I've promised myself never to replace one PDA with another that is not either lighter weight or smaller total volume (and perferably both). The Toshiba e805 is just HUGE compared to the iPaq 1910. What about the ASUS? Any rumors on a iPaq 1900 series with VGA?

Urm no, the ASUS 730 is VGA and not much larger then an ipaq 4115

[scmok]

One important implication of having VGA reslution is that finally we can connect the PPC to a projector for presentation.

I figured that many notebook users carry it for PowerPoint presentation by connecting it to a projector. However, to do it for a PPC, you don't have much choice. I've brought a CF video output card for about US$200 but can't get a smooth update on the projector screen. And the set of acessories and cables are crumblesome.

Now if you can just plug your PPC to the project and start your presentation, it is actually better than having a notebook, or even a tablet PC. And even at US$600, the e805 is cheaper than about any notebook. In the past, I used to buy an extra heavyduty battery for my notebooks to push operating time to 5 hours, which can also be $aved.

[jneely]

While it is true that it's hard to pick a tiny icon, they certainly could have made them 48x48 pixels instead of 64x64, and that would keep them large enough to easily pick, but small enough to keep us from having to scroll.

Exactly my thoughts...
And why can't we find some way to fit more icons in the top bar too...

I agree that scaling the UI widgets larger is a good idea considering the small form factor, but doubling the size of everything only gains us additional clarity. I'd personally like more clarity AND more room to display UI elements. So maybe a compromise -- scale everything 50% larger instead of 100% larger. Large icons would be 48x48 (from 32x32), small icons would be 24x24 (from 16x16), text would be smaller but also more legible... the best of both worlds.

The new icons look great, but I just think we're wasting screen realestate now. A 640x480 screen should be able to display more than 12 icons (in system settings for example). If I can click on the tiny keys on the virtual keyboard, I can certainly discriminate between more than 12 icons on screen. And I don't need 12pt text on my PDA -- I use 8pt on my desktop and I have realestate to burn there.

I just wish the UI were more configurable... so we could all have settings we prefer.

[Janak Parekh]

One important implication of having VGA reslution is that finally we can connect the PPC to a projector for presentation.
Except that you've been able to do this before native VGA -- the CF card would have a VGA chip for the slides. What's nice about having VGA now is that you can now pull up PIE in full resolution instead of in a tiny window in the projector. :)

--janak

[MacBirdie]

PIE in VGA scales all pictures by 2 (in the emulator at least) - I hope there will be some sort of a hack to make PIE render for VGA resolution, not just quadruple the QVGA density.

Any news on that?