Why is Android only HVGA? - Hero, G2 Touch General

We're now starting to hear about more and more android phones and yet one thing has remained consistent with all of them, Half-VGA screens (480x320). Why is this not changing when we have several phones going as high as WVGA (800x480)? That just seems strange to me.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 (Rachel, as it's called) will have a WVGA (800x480) screen and will run Android.
Software-wise, Android is capable of any framebuffer resolution on any device (hardware and memory resources permitting). It's known to run in 1024x768 on desktop/laptop PC's, too.

HVGA is kinda the sweet spot now. It will make the phone that bit cheaper, let it run just that little bit more smooth, etc...
If you look at the 800x480 phones.. they are the more expensive WinMo phones. Android is ment to deliver more 'cheaper' smartphones.
The Sony Rachel is the weird one in the bunch, so I'm very curious how it works out

I've seen some talk that Cupcake only supported HVGA, which would make me think anything before that did too. Any people know android well and can answer this from a technical standpoint and not just educated guesses?

Poke_N_PDA said:
I've seen some talk that Cupcake only supported HVGA, which would make me think anything before that did too. Any people know android well and can answer this from a technical standpoint and not just educated guesses?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android itself supports basicly any resolution (though I think it has a minimum of 320x240 or something)....
... but there are some / a lot applications (some from the Market, some from Android itself) that expect 320x480 resolution and thus don't use the entire screen area (but work OK none the less).

and the capacative vs resistive screen thing, does that matter? or will Rachael be resistive?

by keeping the system resolution consistent among devices, Google are trying to make it easier for Android developers to develop programs, as one program would run on all android devices.
Think about windows mobile
windows mobile: many devices with lots of different hardware and API's, an app developed with vga in mind wouldnt work very good with with wvga (makes life harder for developers)
so, in theory I would say consistent and similar hardware would make developing applications easier, and one application would run across all android phones.

I suspect that higher resolutions on such a small screen are not particularly well suited unless you have using a stylus, and the Android UI is optimized for touch control.
Regards,
Dave

TylTru said:
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 (Rachel, as it's called) will have a WVGA (800x480) screen and will run Android.
Software-wise, Android is capable of any framebuffer resolution on any device (hardware and memory resources permitting). It's known to run in 1024x768 on desktop/laptop PC's, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if rachel is the "X2".....
then whats this?
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The resolution is perfect, as it helps developers to port their iphone apps to android, and develop games and apps for both platforms. thats perfect!

Related

what is the differency between QVGA and VGA ?

which one is the best ? VGA or QVGA ? what is the differency between them ?
google it,
vga=640x480
qvga=320x240 (quarter vga)
Which means 4 times as much image on the same screen size.
However, on PocketPCs, as the current crop are typically not made to use a 640x480 screen, they use "pixel doubling" to enlarge a 320x240 image into 640x480. This means that you actually get more detail, but still "320x240" of pixels.
This is why screenshots from the universal are a much better quality.
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VGA is better!
V
how do you do that?
can I get my screen looking like that without opening up security holes?
What kind of security holes are you talking about?
V
vijay555 said:
What kind of security holes are you talking about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he means registery .BTW I too like ur Today screen and I can afford to play with security holes.
who that screen looks good .. do you know if tomtom works in vga mode ?
vijay555 said:
Which means 4 times as much image on the same screen size.
However, on PocketPCs, as the current crop are typically not made to use a 640x480 screen, they use "pixel doubling" to enlarge a 320x240 image into 640x480. This means that you actually get more detail, but still "320x240" of pixels.
This is why screenshots from the universal are a much better quality.
VGA is better!
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So whats the secret to how you did this to your XDA. I'd really love to know what you did.
I used the VGA hack on the Universal, and then I wrote VJSihaya.
It was almost too easy. Not...
V
anychance you'll be releasing VJSihaya? cause I love the look of the OS like that.
vijay555 said:
I used the VGA hack on the Universal, and then I wrote VJSihaya.
It was almost too easy. Not...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can u tell me the way to get this thing work by ur way coz it is really nice .Plz......
VJSihaya is not for release yet. It's something I'm working on very long term, many things I would like to do with it yet.
Also, the windowed interface unfortunately only looks good at VGA, it's not effective at QVGA, so I'm not sure whether it'll need releasing at all until VGA screens become the norm... hurry up HTC!
V

Xperia or Samsung OMNIA?

Hi there people.
Which one do you people prefer?
I have a 16gb Omnia, but I love Xperia's 256mb RAM, Real Keyboard, Video @ 30fps VGA and the fact its built by HTC...
But happens that I love 5 megapixel camera
What whould you do in my place?
384mb RAM to be exact
Jabe said:
384mb RAM to be exact
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really?
I didnt know. Some of this is specific to video like in Diamond?
xperia, no doubt in mind (well, maybe price)
Honestly, I feel the Omnia is severely overrated... I don't think it even deserves a spot in conversation with the Touch Pro, Xperia, etc. Nice phone? Sure. Past that, I don't know... It seems like an iPhone with no capacitive screen and windows mobile. When you take your stylus around, does it go in your purse right next to your tampons and lip gloss?
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Black93300ZX said:
When you take your stylus around, does it go in your purse right next to your tampons and lip gloss?
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I have to agree with that, very girlish
but I dont use the stylus, I keep it in my wallet
and I dont think its overrated, great storage, great screen, great gps, great sound
but obviously you cant compare with HTC in build quality and style
The Omnia is actually a very good WinMo phone - probably the best out there at the moment. There is a reason why it seems to be going like hotcakes (I can't get one on Orange but would have no problems getting a Diamond).
Sure the lack of a stylus slot was a serious oversight (well outright dumb to be honest) but I have played around with this and a diamond and I would go with an Omnia everytime. Aesthetics are very subjective, but the phone has a large screen, is eminently pocketable, has a far better battery than the diamond, and isn't as laggy as the diamond. It has good build quality and feels good in the hand and importantly has very good performance and also a very good camera (with a flash )
With regards to this or an Xperia X1 - it comes down to what is more important - screen resolution and keyboard versus slightly bigger screen, massive storage without the need for an extra microSD card (although it does have an expansion slot) and a very good camera.
To be honest I would be happy with either - I need to play with an Xperia (lord knows when that will happen ) before making my final decision.
I seriously considered the Omnia, but I just can't get excited about a WQVGA screen. I went from a VGA screen (Axim xv50) to a QVGA when I decided I needed a converged phone/PDA, so I'm really, really eager to get back at least to the VGA resolution, and I'd love to get to WVGA. If the Omnia had the same screen as the X1 or the Touch HD, it would be very close to my ideal hardware.
(I'm confused about today's news about the Epix, though -- is Epix the new name for the Mirage, which was assumed to be AT&T's name for the Omnia, or are Epix and Mirage different products, so that there's still hope for Omnia appearing soon in AT&T's lineup?)

Confirmed X2 Pics....LAtest

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X2
Nice pics...
But going by SE track record and add to that the lag in release of WM 6.5, I dont think this device will hit the shelfs before end 2009
Hardware doesn't seem to have changed much - just the design. Hmmmm..... I actually think the X1 looks better....
EDIT - From the other post concerning X2:
'According to insider:
-8.1mpx auto focus, VGA @ 30fps (MP4 HQ)
-3.5ยด WVGA OLED (increased from 3.0 from X1)
-GPS, aGPS
-Accelerometer
-Faster processor
-512 RAM
-Custom Windows Mobile 6.5 (SE engineers customized Win6.5 which runs very. very speedy. in par with iphone and better in some cases)
-XPERIA Panels are modified with plenty of innovative features (PS3 remote play being one of them)
-Upgrading to Windows Mobile 7 is supported by Xperia panels'
But according to the above screenshot same processor???? Maybe I'm wrong but if the above is implemented then it should be good. design still looks crappy though IMHO....
Great info there. Thanks for sharing it.
By the looks of it... X1 is much better. But in terms of specs if what was stated is true then it'd be great, although I don't think many of us X1 owners now would feel the need to upgrade.
Looking at the keyboard's buttons... is that design supposed to give a better tactile feeling? hmm... I still prefer X1's current keyboard. Took some time to get used to it initially but heck... like it in the end.
Faster processor... well... with all those wonderful cooked roms we have here... guess the difference won't be that much compared to X1.
Oh well.. just my 0.02 opinion. Still love my X1...
With a little improvement from x1, i think almost all the x1 users will stick with their x1 because its not really what you call an upgrade this year.. But if they are saying that you can upgrade the OS to WM 7 we may think about it..
wats up with ur post saying 512mb ram and the phone saying 200(256mb) ram lol
In my opinion X2 really looks cheap. Its like poor sister of X1. I love design of X1.
Btw. check out the Panels button. There is no X anymore. And I would also miss softkeys.
gee...this is the 3rd thread about X2 on the first page already. How many more do we need? lol
mr_sheen said:
gee...this is the 3rd thread about X2 on the first page already. How many more do we need? lol
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Click to collapse
Indeed...

720p Video recording

hey guys, i was reading this and dont understand. is it possible to get 720p video recording with a driver update? take a look at this and look at the first two lines of the last paragraph:
http://pocketnow.com/thought/will-720p-hd-recording-make-it-to-htc-windows-mobile-2010
Now that would surely be a nice to have patch!
720p? They haven't even got the 240 to a decent quality yet and probably never will!
10076757 said:
is it possible to get 720p video recording with a driver update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.
lol... sorry to start a flame, but apparently op cannot read with understanding.
read this article again. slowly.
That first one on the link looks like little more than a HD2 with a keypad photoshopped on the bottom.
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@pagnell - that is a real HTC phone. Due for release sometime in the first half of 2010.
As per GTRoberts' post above...
http://www.coolsmartphone.com/news5295.html
I'm well aware of that. Hence the use of the words 'looks like'.
If the bravo can do 720P recording then in theory so should the HD2. I doubt its a hardware issue, more of a software issue. Whether its a fault of windows mobile, or the camera software im not sure.
Ive certainly tried all manor of things to get 720P recording on the HD2, but nothing has worked yet.
rovex said:
If the bravo can do 720P recording then in theory so should the HD2. I doubt its a hardware issue, more of a software issue. Whether its a fault of windows mobile, or the camera software im not sure.
Ive certainly tried all manor of things to get 720P recording on the HD2, but nothing has worked yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm betting that it's a WM6.x thing and it won't be enabled until WM7. Qualcomm seems to have it working on WM7 :
http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2009...-video-encoding-divx-decoding-on-the-htc-hd2/
There's a reason why all decent camera phones to date have run Symbian rather than Windows Mobile.
Shasarak said:
There's a reason why all decent camera phones to date have run Symbian rather than Windows Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Symbian phones are most often positioned as multimedia/consumer devices. Thus, the manufacturers put decent cameras into them (which also means thicker phones, e.g. the Satio is 17mm thick because you can't put that 12mpix camera + Xenon flash in a 11mm phone!). And they use all the multimedia features of the hardware.
WM devices are typically positioned as business devices. I'm sure they could develop the drivers to use the hardware, but they don't because they save costs on something that they consider unnecessary for a business device. WM itself should be able to use the hardware with the appropriate software.
The Snapdragon chipset should easily be able to play and record 720p video, but as long as we don't have the software, we can not use it.
Btw.: The thread is redundant: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=599489

Installing AW on a HP Veer

I got a Veer laying around doing nothing, but since its pretty small I was thinking about installing AW on it. There were a couple android builds for it an it ran wheel but the small screen made it a pain to use. The problem here is getting AW to work on it.
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It has a snapdragon S2 MSM7230 and 512MB of RAM which is not that far from the Gwatch, maybe I could use a build from that one?. Problem could be the screen which is 320 x 400 pixels, while all the other AW watches have a 1:1 ratio with resolutions of 280x280 or 320x320.
I don't expect the qwerty keyboard to work but I would like the mic and speaker so I can write messages and stuff. I think it had NFC but I don't know if that and cameras are supported by AW yet.
Anyone got a Veer too? you can pick one for next to nothing.
MGREX said:
I got a Veer laying around doing nothing, but since its pretty small I was thinking about installing AW on it. There were a couple android builds for it an it ran wheel but the small screen made it a pain to use. The problem here is getting AW to work on it.
It has a snapdragon S2 MSM7230 and 512MB of RAM which is not that far from the Gwatch, maybe I could use a build from that one?. Problem could be the screen which is 320 x 400 pixels, while all the other AW watches have a 1:1 ratio with resolutions of 280x280 or 320x320.
I don't expect the qwerty keyboard to work but I would like the mic and speaker so I can write messages and stuff. I think it had NFC but I don't know if that and cameras are supported by AW yet.
Anyone got a Veer too? you can pick one for next to nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd be interested on Android Wear on the HP Veer too!
I love my veer from the first sight and If there would be a whatsapp messenger, I would use it forever.
So please, let it happen!!!
http://forums.webosnation.com/hp-veer/328606-android-veer-rooted-play-store-etc.html
It appears work has been done to put Android on the Veer. Now, the real question is, how recent a build can we load? 4.4 full only asked for 512MB of RAM, apparently, so the possibility of running Wear is more than likely, given even now, most of the popular Wear watches still use 512 (with only the ones with a mobile radio asking for 768MB).
This is also noting some existing ROMs. There was Quattrimus CyanogenMod 9 which basically got ICS to work on a variety of low-end LG devices, with only 256MB of RAM. So if you can get a source of AW and just work with some of the drivers on the Veer, it should be possible to patch things up and get most everything working.
A few curiosities though...
Does AW require Bluetooth 4.0 LE? Would it be able to use the wi-fi for Cloud Sync? Would AW be able to run low energy enough for the Veer? Is the chipset efficient enough to do it?

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