03-24-2004, 11:13 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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VGA Resolution - What it Means For Your Hardware
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.
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. ;-)
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03-24-2004, 11:20 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 31
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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.
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03-24-2004, 11:31 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 203
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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.
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03-24-2004, 11:40 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 53
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Quote:
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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.
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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?
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03-25-2004, 12:13 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 200
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by jneely
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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.
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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).
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03-25-2004, 12:14 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 366
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by 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.
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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
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03-25-2004, 12:27 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 486
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by jneely
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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.
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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.
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03-25-2004, 12:37 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 498
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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
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03-25-2004, 01:07 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 486
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by 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
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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.
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03-25-2004, 01:10 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 498
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Alex, thanks.
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Linear Mode
