HD Screen Resolution - Scaling questions?! - Touch HD General

Hi Folks,
I know there are several threads here around apps that either don't scale or just die the death on the HD, and I'm watching the list closely...
But I just wanted to know generally what happens with the HD in terms of scaling? Does it attempt to scale QVGA and VGA apps to fit the screen, or does it run them 1:1, or does it vary by app?
Clearly there are several lower res apps that work fine on the device so I wondered how it was handled but I've not seen a explanation of scaling on the device and why its an issue for some apps and not others?
I'm torn between a Raphael and a Blackstone for my next handset - I'm almost at the point of convincing myself I can live without my Kaiser's keyboard...
But given the high number of random apps I've got clogging up my Kaiser, I'm worried that incompatibility with that huge screen might be the one reason to make me steer clear of the Touch HD....much as I like the idea of all that real estate.
Thanks for any info, and apologies if I've missed a thread that gives this info already.

No thoughts then!?
I have to say I think I'm swinging back towards the Raphael now just to err on the side of caution with presumably a higher number of compatible apps!
I'd have settled for a diamond but need more storage!

I guess there are lots of people who don't know the answer to your questions. I'm one of them.
However, it might help if you clarify which apps you're particularly interested in. The scaling/resizing seems to be application-specific, rather than something that the HD manages. A badly-written app might not scale or expand whereas an application that was written to take account of any reasonable screen resolution would look fine.
As an example even Total Commander, which must have been written months (if not years) ago, looks fine on my HD because it expands to fill the full screen. Yet TomTom is much more sensitive to the screen resolution and many versions refuse to start up at all. (That's not to imply that TomTom is badly written, BTW.)
There are only a handful of threads in these forums about apps that don't work, so I guess that most are fine. But it'd help if you were specific about which ones of yours would be deal-breakers if they didn't scale.

Thanks for the response, my list of apps is pretty random but among others I've collected over the last couple of years and use are:
- a few astronomy apps (Asto Navigator, Astromist, PocketStars)...
- SPB Mobile Shell/diary (presume they'll be fine?!)
- Games (Age of Empires, Orions)
- Slingplayer Mobile
- Memory Map (overland GPS navigation on OS maps)
- WebCamera Plus
- I've already read a lot of the SatNav woes here and elsewhere so I'm comfortable that will be resolved anyway!
Cheers for any further thoughts or experience!

You can bet your left nut that if current apps aren't compatible then they will be soon, with both the HD and the Xperia having this resolution and becoming more and more popular. Do the websites for those apps report any kind of compatibility issues with specific devices?
If you're desperate then an email to those apps' developers might yield some answers.

owenand said:
or does it vary by app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, thats the way it works.
Most applications run just fine, you have more place and this place is filled with content. Other applications won't run, because they are hardcoded on (Q)VGA resolutions. One solution is the WVGA fix, so you will loose a few pixels and "simulating" a VGA screen, another solution is to play with the configurations of the applications.
However I haven't found a program that doesn't run on my HD so far, and I have already installed a lot of them.

Thanks for the positive commentary - looked at WVGA fix and it seems very encouraging!
Do you know whether it has any significant impact on application performance or is it very skinny?
Also I note that SlingMedia have updated Slingplayer with 800x480 support so that's another tick on the list!

owenand said:
Do you know whether it has any significant impact on application performance or is it very skinny?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that its significant. Even iGO8 runs with the WVGA fix.

Related

SE_VGA/OzVGA on WM5/Universal?

Real VGA mode is something I really miss from my HX4700 and WM2003SE.
Does anyone know if the guys that made these apps are working on versions for WM5?
Any way to hack the OS directly in the mean time?
The universal is already VGA - why would you run real_vga on it?
I know the Universal as VGA. So is the HX4700.
I take it you've never seen SE_VGA real VGA mode on a VGA pocket PC device before then?
It stops the pixel doubling of images in IE and makes the scroll bars/task bar much smaller.
Some people hate it as they think it makes text etc. too small. Personally, I have 20:20 vision and love the extra destop real estate it gives.
se_vga rocks on the HX, most definately a must have on a VGA... I wouldn't bother with a VGA device without it, the extra money on the outlay is only really worth it if you get the extra space. Sure the standard VGA looks a little slicker, but se_vga makes use of the vga fully... I was hoping WM5 would support real VGA, I guess that answer is no then?
Correct.
WM5's VGA support is pretty much the same as WM2003SE's. Everything looks nice but is all the same size as it would be on a QVGA screen.
sadly I have never owned a VGA PPC device
I tried a program to make my QVGA device VGA but it did something funky to my device so I removed it. This was back in WM2003 days with an iPaq 3870.
Can anyone recommend a VGA enabler for the BA ?
AdmiralAK said:
Can anyone recommend a VGA enabler for the BA ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh, yeah.
It's called an HTC Universal upgrade. Just a simple upgrade to do.
rilot said:
AdmiralAK said:
Can anyone recommend a VGA enabler for the BA ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh, yeah.
It's called an HTC Universal upgrade. Just a simple upgrade to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly I need GSM850
Here's a thread on everything VGA.
Good link. Thanks.
I now understand why my icons aren't displaying. Looks like I need some files from a QVGA version of WM5.
rilot said:
I know the Universal as VGA. So is the HX4700.
I take it you've never seen SE_VGA real VGA mode on a VGA pocket PC device before then?
It stops the pixel doubling of images in IE and makes the scroll bars/task bar much smaller.
Some people hate it as they think it makes text etc. too small. Personally, I have 20:20 vision and love the extra destop real estate it gives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've installed this and took it away after a while. I would like to share my thoughts on product such as OzVGA.
Yes, the text is way way too small for me . I personally could not read them. The main application that I could use smaller icons and letters are internet pages. but I find that the default is already capable of displaying at a size that my eye would find too tiny. Therefore the need to make it even smaller is not there, for me.
Not only that, after installing it I had other problems including:
- My soft keyboard disappeared all together. Some other buttons within applications also have vanished. This is a serious problem. (don't know why and not techincal enough to solve the problem)
- Many icons disappeared.
- Some icons are bigger than the others
- Many applications now occupies only 1/4 of the screen, leaving 3/4 of blank space that could not be used for any other purpose whatsoever. For example, my co-pilot live vehicle navigation system now just sits in top left corner, making the screen look real ugly. Many other applications out there might be able to occupy the entire space but many won't. My music player is also another example that shrunk to 1/4 its nice original size leaving 3/4 unuseable blank space.
Although it is possible to revert to and from the original resolution, it requires soft resets. I like to have many applications open simultaneously. Internet, music, word, mail, msn chat, etc. I want some of them to use the real estate in a better way, but many I don't. It's unfortunate that I can't mix them (or perhaps there is a way that I don't know).
Would be nice if the above problems could be thoroughly thought through and resolved,
eaglesteve said:
I've installed this and took it away after a while. I would like to share my thoughts on product such as OzVGA.
Yes, the text is way way too small for me . I personally could not read them. The main application that I could use smaller icons and letters are internet pages. but I find that the default is already capable of displaying at a size that my eye would find too tiny. Therefore the need to make it even smaller is not there, for me.
Not only that, after installing it I had other problems including:
- My soft keyboard disappeared all together. Some other buttons within applications also have vanished. This is a serious problem. (don't know why and not techincal enough to solve the problem)
- Many icons disappeared.
- Some icons are bigger than the others
- Many applications now occupies only 1/4 of the screen, leaving 3/4 of blank space that could not be used for any other purpose whatsoever. For example, my co-pilot live vehicle navigation system now just sits in top left corner, making the screen look real ugly. Many other applications out there might be able to occupy the entire space but many won't. My music player is also another example that shrunk to 1/4 its nice original size leaving 3/4 unuseable blank space.
Although it is possible to revert to and from the original resolution, it requires soft resets. I like to have many applications open simultaneously. Internet, music, word, mail, msn chat, etc. I want some of them to use the real estate in a better way, but many I don't. It's unfortunate that I can't mix them (or perhaps there is a way that I don't know).
Would be nice if the above problems could be thoroughly thought through and resolved,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to give an update to this.
Instead of using ozVGA, which carries the above problem that I was not able to solve, I tried out another product called MvRTVGA. There seems to be quite a lot of improvement with the later product. No missing icons. Only a few minor annoyance due to bigger icons remaining. Almost all application (the only exception being my copilot pocket PC version 5) covers the entire screen rather than just 1/4 of it.
Overall, the balance of equation changes for me. The true VGA, without the problems that I initially experienced, does make the unit display a lot more attractive, and now I'm a convert.
What is Mvrtvga? Did a search on google and couldnt find anything
Thanks Matt

Re:Best software for WM5.0 to date...by far!!

Re:Best software for WM5.0 to date...by far!!
Hi all. I cannot take credit for the best bit of software I have come across since purchasing my Jasjar. All credit most deservedly goes to sub69 for pointing me in the right direction. 8)
Read this thread to understand why:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=30412
Like most people on this forum, I joined xda-developers to solve my own problems whilst trying to help others solve theirs if I am able. I've been cursing left right and center for 3 weeks now about the performance of the Jasjar even though i still love the device. However one of my big complaints related to memory usage/leakage as I believed it affected the jasjars performance and through many trials and errors and lows, I almost sold it due to feeling I was not getting what I paid for. I felt that the jasjar was slow and underperformed.
I retract all former negative comments I made in relation to it being slow. Whilst looking for a simple application (with a small memory footprint) that would close all running apps without the rigmaroll of hunting down the 'settings' tab .I tried several different programs and all fell short in one way or another...till now (including Wisbar Advance 2.4.1..., Spb 3.0.1 and MagicButton (small footprint))!
Sub69 pointed me in the direction of GSPocketMagic and claimed it was the most stable program he had tried. Thought I'd give it a go too. Am I over the moon that I did.
This software does EXACTLY what it says it does.....well for me anyhow. :lol: Even better, it very much appears to have ironed out alot of my performance/speed issues with the jasjar! It has sped up browsing of the O/S and access to applications and gives me greater control of navigation in a simple manner. For me it has been Rock solid. I've only been testing it for about 5 hours+, but it hasn't slowed down once and has not dropped below 12MB of Program memory (I started with 27MB) & it maintains its speed whilst I upurposely ran 12 programs simulatneously (including video, music, photo slide show, word mobile, powerpoint, resco radio etc..)and then connected to wi-fi, surfed the net (faster I might add -not the loading of new web pages, but of cached ones) and posted on this forum. Almost Everything has improved by at least 30% or more (speed gain) and whilst I still get some jerking in high res 640x480 vid playback, it too seems more stable.
I don't understand how this has happened. All I had previously installed was TCPMP and Resco radio ! :?
Bearing in mind I had even overclocked my jasjar (no longer needed) with PocketHackMaster 2005, which, for me, did not yield results as favourable as this has.
The only logical conclusion I have been able to come up with is that GSPocketMagic has overridden some default settings/application that was somehow holding my Jasjar back! Overridden a bug in other words & this seems possible as it loads first after a soft reset, therefore taking precedence over anything else that may have usually performed some of its functions. Anyway that's just a theory.
For anyone like sub69 who have experienced relatively few problems with their universal, you might not notice any difference, but for anyone who is still suffering performance issues, I urge you to try this. You have nothing to loose & no of course I don't work for the company. I've just had to wait 3 weeks to start seeing the manifestation of the beast I believed the Jasjar was supposed to be. :lol:
Sorry about the long post people, but I've shared in alot of the misery many of you have been complaining about & at £700 it's about time we got some positive results.
thanks again to sub69. 8)
I can confirm that this programme is small and perfectly funcitonal for closing apps. If you're battling with PocketPlus for some reason, then this is definitely the way to go.
So do you have a URL where I can download it from?
Just have a look in the original thread he mentioned ;-) it´s
http://www.pocketpcfreewares.com/en/index.php?soft=1276
- SUperbowl
Joe you could have opened the topic that was suggested
http://www.pocketpcfreewares.com/en/index.php?soft=1276
good luck
Hi, is it possible to use it without replacing the current Today page and Start Menu?
Which CAB file do I install?
Yes, there's an option to set the 'click' to open the "Start Menu" (the default is "Menu") You could then set "Tap & Hold" to close all tasks or maybe to open the GSPM++ Menu.
I use "GSPMagic.xscaleE.cab" for the english version.
Here you go. A bitmap to use instead of he built in WM2002 windows flag.
CJSnet said:
Which CAB file do I install?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GSPMagic.xscaleE.CAB for english on JJ
Sub69, nice start button, now the flawless look sets it off
sub69 said:
Here you go. A bitmap to use instead of he built in WM2002 wibdows flag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do I put this? The current program's bitmaps are all together in one file.
Are other people finding this program somehow magically overrides some settings or bugs?
Do I have to keep closing tasks to keep up good performance?
This is the only button you can change as far as I know. Put it anywhere, and on the Basic tab of the GSPM++ settings screem, choose Bitmap as the Image, and browse to the saved .bmp
I don't have to keep closing tasks, but mackaby may have a different opinion on this, as he was having more problems with the JasJar's performance in the first place?
CJSnet said:
sub69 said:
Here you go. A bitmap to use instead of he built in WM2002 wibdows flag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do I put this? The current program's bitmaps are all together in one file.
Are other people finding this program somehow magically overrides some settings or bugs?
Do I have to keep closing tasks to keep up good performance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put in anywhere you like, then go to the menu: start-option-setting. Change to Bitmap and point to your new start menu bitmap.
The less programs you keep in memory, the better the performance, so close your apps instead of building up in mem.
Ok Sub69, you where there just before me.......tnx for the nice bitmap!
WM 2005 was supposed to deal with this issue. But I find that the build in close button of WM 2005 does not close at all. Amazing MS didn't find a solution for this problem yet.
The great thing about GSPM is that it also closes the phone application, where Magic button cannot deal with this properly.
sub69 said:
I don't have to keep closing tasks, but mackaby may have a different opinion on this, as he was having more problems with the JasJar's performance in the first place?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite true, that was the case for me, but no more. It doesn't really matter wether I close down applications or not, my speed is always up, unless I run videos at the same time in windows media player and TCPMC (that was accidental by the way).
Like I said, it's worked for me, and I had performance issues. If you don't have any, maybe you you won't see any improvement in performance, but it is still a very useful and stable application.
Oh, don't get me wrong it definitely speeds things up a bit for me too. It's only when you mentioned it that I really noticed though. I've been installing and uninstalling so many different things it's hard to keep track of what might be making a difference!!
Anyway, it's the best task manager I've used on my JasJar, and the performance boost is a welcome bonus!
Two Soft keys issue is back!
Small problem, some of us have noticed that the 2 soft keys keep dissapearing and reappearing after soft-resets. I thought I had this sussed last night, but I was wrong. It's my only issue with this software but not enough to put me off it.
mig31 suggested we might contact the developers of the software, as they would more than likely be able to fix this quicker than we could. I second that.
Gotta work at the mo, but unless someone else is willing to get in touch with the developers of GSPocketMagic, I'll get around to it in the week and post the outcome of our communications. Otherwise, all's well with this app. :wink:
I just wish I cud understand why (and if) it speeds up the device, even if u dont close apps. I'm a bit dubious if it's actually doing anything otherwise, without some benchmarks :S
if anyone finds gs++'s source code, please pm me.
V
I noticed that the 2 bottom soft keys disappear when you click "Close all". May be there is a way to add this in the "Exlude task Close" somehow

Easiest Way to VGA

Can someone please explain the easiest way to get VGA resolution on my XDA Exec? Am I right in assuming that although the screen has a 640x480 resolution, they use pixel doubling to negate it and it actually runs at the same resolution as my Dell Axim X5 (320x240)?
Is there a simple registry hack that disables this, or do I have to botch around installing a hack and then trying to botch all my apps to run in the new resoluition? Does anyone know if TomTom5 works in VGA mode?
I'm sure this has been covered already, but some of the topics are 13+ pages and date back quite a bit, and the site is a tad slow to trawl through lots of postings and searching for VGA brings up hundreds of topics.
Thanks in advance for your helps folks.
This is the best thread - there is a ZIP file on page one that I dobwloaded and it contains all the instructions to get things working
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=32217
this is the post I didn't particularly want to have to trawl through, as it's 13 pages long and really slow to switch pages.
TheFair - as noted above, there is a zip containing instructions. You don't have to read all 13 pages, although it's useful background reading - we didn't write all 13 pages just for fun .
I had to do VGA again yesterday, for the first time in a long time, and it's very simple. Basically:
Unzip, copy files to windows, click ozvga, reset.
V
OK, thanks Vijay. Will I need to install your Bigphone application and replace other system apps once done? Also, any idea if TTN5 works in VGA mode? As my XDA is used primarily as a SatNav, I'll stick with QXGA if it's not going to work properly.
Thanks
thefair1973: VJBigPhone can be used to make the phone app usable again, (I don't use my Uni as a phone, so I don't use it ) Replacing system apps etc is optional, but obviously helpful if you use the apps effected.
No idea about TTN5, but it's basically one click to revert to QVGA, so I'd do a backup and just give it a go if I were you!
V
great, thanks very much for your help Vijay.
I use TTN5 and VGA. TTN appears to drive the screen directly, so you don't get any extra resolution, but it works fine
I use TTN5 and VGA. TTN appears to drive the screen directly, so you don't get any extra resolution, but it works fine
Is VGA in Universal already perfected? Which applications are still not showing right upon application of this hack?
Just finished reading the VGA thread. I have a headache now. One important question though, I am using the latest JASJAR ROM, would OZVGA work on this new ROM?
Yes, I did it yesterday with no probs.
V
vijay555 said:
Yes, I did it yesterday with no probs.
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Vijay! I just performed a hard reset, so I am ready to try something new. I downloaded the file compliled by Khashim I believe, I'll check if I got his name right. Which one did you use? Is it the file from Carnivor or Khashim? (Yes it is Khashim.)
I think originally I used Carnivor's, but frankly, I had an old set of files that had been sitting on my SD card for some time (I've posted the zip in that thread as well, towards the end).
However, I don't think there's a big difference. Use the one that sounds positive. It's easy to copy over new files if required. But you should only need to fiddle with it if you see problems in some of your apps. I don't use many apps, but I don't see any problems.
V
I tried. It does look wonderful for browsing using PIE. But I do agree that the font are too small. I also tried VJBigPhone and it did made the buttons larger, but the bottom part has a different color. Did I miss something about the skin?
Comm Manager has the same problem about the skin on the bottom part.
I love how ozVGA changes PIE, but weighing the benefits on other applications I use, I decided it is not for me at the moment. I hope someday someone can implement an application to run a specific application on VGA mode selectively and not implement it on the whole device. Thanks for the responses.
cktlcmd said:
I love how ozVGA changes PIE, but weighing the benefits on other applications I use, I decided it is not for me at the moment. I hope someday someone can implement an application to run a specific application on VGA mode selectively and not implement it on the whole device. Thanks for the responses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try tweaks 2k2 vga brute force
cktlcmd: there is a background fix for the phone on my webpage and in the VJBigPhone thread. I haven't looked at the comm manager fix yet.
Waiting for a more selective pixel doubling patch may take a while or be futile. I think it's possible but I've not had time to implement my own hack yet.
V
I've done the VGA hack & overall its a major improvement.
The size of toolbars & the fact that some fonts are too small is a nause, same as the programs that don't display properly. But its SOOO good to see so much text on the screen.
To be honest, if it doesn't really run at 640x480, is it not a case of false advertisment? Just a thought.
xyon: it is running at VGA (640x480), but just making everything sharper and emulating 320x240. I asked an Orange spokesman once and he said they were going for "quality over quantity". I suspect they just didn't know how bloody persistent haxxors could be
I prefer 640x480, but it does make day to day usage inconvenient. Perhaps all apps will eventually have native 640x480 support. But given how many years it took to go back to square screen support, I'm not very hopeful!
V

Xperia Panels - Whats the use if you cant run them concurrently

Hi all Xperia owners,
As a owner of this hyped phone, it has comed to my greatest astonishment that the Panels cannot be "used" concurrently.
For example:
If I wished to activate the multimedia panel to listen to some MP3 while at the same time do FaceBook panel , there is no way this can happen.
Or, whats the point of just staring at the FM Radio panel when I could be viewing some photos in the photo album while having my favourite FM Station running in the background?
To further add salt to wound, Sony did not bother to put these programs to be executable from the native Windows/Program folder.
Am I missing a point here from Sony as in this multitasking windows environment, they have decided to make their Panel technology run serially? Or maybe i did miss out some important settings ?
I agree with your statement above, panels are not multitask-friendly. My guess is that it was an attempt from SE to make their winmo distro more stable, preventing these processes from overlapping each other and taking up memory. I've noticed that the video playback performance is better on the Sony media experience panel than coreplayer (go ahead flame me) although not as flexible. Something similar happens with the popular iPhone, if you've ever messed around with one you'll notice it's basically unitasking, one app at a time, the only apps you can multitask with are the ipod and phone, but rarely crashes.
Actually, I was thinking about this. I, like many people, thought that the panels would just sit there, with nine different apps running side by side. Obviously this isn't the case. Could it be that this is just the first stage in the panel interface, a kinda test run? What about the next Xperia? X2 or X5 or whatever it's gonna be. Maybe it'll deliver what most people expected from the panels...
I think you guys are missing the point of panels.
If that's the case, you don't need panels, you just need applications running concurrently.
zenkinz said:
I think you guys are missing the point of panels.
If that's the case, you don't need panels, you just need applications running concurrently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally have found the SE media panel to be the most useful of all. For everything else that I don't demand high system priorities for, just run them as regular apps concurrently.
zenkinz, in your opinion, what's the point of panels? Please read my post above about what I think they are for (stability and performance).
if they were there would be much much less ram and cpu juice left
the arm cpu's are not as powerfull as computer cpu's
so believe me if they were you would suffer
wrong thread... edited out.
Which in actuality proves my point that the Panels are nothing more than fancy graphics or multiple "todays" screen.
Any WinMo/Symbian device today without Panels can definitely do Media browsing and FM Radio/Music and MORE without the slightest sign of sluggishness while Xperia with its powerful processor and available RAM lacks multitasking due to its much talked about "Panels"?
Strip its Panels and a slightly longer (but not wider) display , Xperia does not even come close to the Touch Pro with TF3D, G-Sensor, better sound and built quality
cmloo said:
Which in actuality proves my point that the Panels are nothing more than fancy graphics or multiple "todays" screen.
Any WinMo/Symbian device today without Panels can definitely do Media browsing and FM Radio/Music and MORE without the slightest sign of sluggishness while Xperia with its powerful processor and available RAM lacks multitasking due to its much talked about "Panels"?
Strip its Panels and a slightly longer (but not wider) display , Xperia does not even come close to the Touch Pro with TF3D, G-Sensor, better sound and built quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Xperia was designed by HTC based on SE's standards. What I did with mine was flash it with one of the cooked roms in the roms section which gave me the TF3D and it's pretty fast. I also added the panels, but for the sole reason of the SE media experience panel which I like for playing smoother video. In the end, it's all software, and it doesn't lack multitasking, only among panels. The rest is all good old winmo.
yeah, panels are a disapointment, the should let do some multitasking or at least run panels as an application (facebook one for example).
anyways, I think we currently have a "beta" rom in our xperias, since it's from august/08... maybe next mont we get a big update... let's hope...
this, or just a cooked rom without problems
The thing about Panels is that they allow you to change the look and feel of your device. On one hand i have a simple Today screen, on another i have the detailed today screen... then i have an SPB screen... and now we have Touch HD's TF3D as a panel too! Soon... we'll have more panels, like a home screen that allows you to navigate with ease (navigation panel). The main point is that regardless of the panel of your choice, you have access to all the windows mobile software along-side it.
I think panels are a really powerful feature of the phone! And as far as multi-tasking is concerned... you can run media player or the more famous core player and write messages, etc. and work with your selected panel of choice without much lag. And this to me is very powerful. not taking into consideration the likes of iPhone, but going straight to Symbian... Symbian too is powerful, but i consider windows mobile to be further ahead. What you can do with symbian, you could do with a simple windows mobile phone without panels or TF3D or gadgets and so on...
In my opinion; Xperia delivers what it set out to do... a powerful experience. Sure there are lags at certain times... but overall it is the perfect windows mobile device!
Sure two panels don't run simultaneously... and it would be awesome if in a future update we do get something like that... but overall it works great!
rpereira said:
I personally have found the SE media panel to be the most useful of all. For everything else that I don't demand high system priorities for, just run them as regular apps concurrently.
zenkinz, in your opinion, what's the point of panels? Please read my post above about what I think they are for (stability and performance).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the point of panel is to offer different "theme" of Today screen based on your primary usage of your phone at that particular point in time.
It's always good to have quick access to your next appointment, or tasks, but really you probably only do that when you are in meeting, or while you are working. When you are at outside office hours, you probably be spending time listening to music, watching video, or just simply idling. You may get a new email notification, or have to reply an incoming sms, but after taking action for these sporadic events you will be back to the 'Today' screen that offers you the theme you are in..
That's why I came out with the idea of Car navigation panel, where I need not worry about fumbling with new email notification, or having to switch to media player to change albums, as I can always go back to 'Today' screen easily.
In anycase, that's just my view (or maybe how I like to think that way), because if it's meant to be a concurrent active desktops, you might be better off with just running the programs and using taskmanager to switch from process to process.
I'm very happy with the panels too
maybe the real questions is one of expectations
if people belived they were getting 9 pda's they could switch
between it would likely be an disappointment
but it's not likely to be the last with these pda phones
cmloo said:
Which in actuality proves my point that the Panels are nothing more than fancy graphics or multiple "todays" screen.
Any WinMo/Symbian device today without Panels can definitely do Media browsing and FM Radio/Music and MORE without the slightest sign of sluggishness while Xperia with its powerful processor and available RAM lacks multitasking due to its much talked about "Panels"?
Strip its Panels and a slightly longer (but not wider) display , Xperia does not even come close to the Touch Pro with TF3D, G-Sensor, better sound and built quality
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to each his/her own.
I find Touch Pro no better than my Xperia. TF3D is just a flashy interface that offers limited function. The tabs acts like a panel, but there's so limited you can do within the tab (e.g. music player, stock quote or photo browser, they are just plug-in rather than full blown application)
TP is also nowhere near (imho) to Xperia in terms of performance (Xperia is so much responsive and fast), design (curvy body versus brick design) and keyboard ergonomic (many would disagree, I go for overall experience over total number of keys)
Just my own opinion only
Rudegar said:
I'm very happy with the panels too
maybe the real questions is one of expectations
if people belived they were getting 9 pda's they could switch
between it would likely be an disappointment
but it's not likely to be the last with these pda phones
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agree, and also, it's one thing about providing 9 active panels with 1 glance (as some folks are frowing over lack of the capability), it's another being able to consume all the information offered by all the 9 panels at one go, not to mention the miniature fonts you have to handle ..
Makes sense. If i were depending on my navigator to show me the way while driving, it would really suck to get random notifications from other programs, so I think your panel idea will be quite useful.
I'm also sideing with the "Panels are good" guys.
I love the versatility that they give me, and am just patiently waiting to see what comes out of the Panel Development Competion, S.E. are supposed to be running.
I have had as many as 5 different UI's set up on different panels, as much to test them out, as to give me different screen "looks" when i felt like a change.
My latest way is to use different panels as "software themes". Like, I can set up a multimedia panel with all my video, and audio players shortcutted into it. A navigation panel, with all my sat nav style apps set up .
etc. etc.
It can only get better, in my opinion.
I do think 50% of people are missing the potential of Panels, tho.
i dont mind the panels too much. however what i am unhappy about is that sony ericsson advertised the panels as being active. therefore theoretically you could press the xpanel button and the 9 panels shown would update in realtime. currently the panels are little more than shortcuts to some fancy apps or homescreens
msalmank said:
The thing about Panels is that they allow you to change the look and feel of your device.
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Couldn't agree more and I am satisfied w/ the panel too.
One important fact many people forget about is WM as of right now has a max limit of 32 processes (including background that run your phone). Some tricks can be done to workaround this issue but there's still a limit and the OS will close some of the non active processes if you reach that. It doesn't matter how fast your CPU or how many ram you got.
I'm coming to believe that the applications runing on Panels are just on top of another layer instead of running straight on top of the OS.
iPhone and BB have no problem filling the "desktop" with icons that are no more that a call to the program. Functionally they are more efficient to reach any where that even Touchflo 3D
What's the purpose to have a whole panel to run a program. That's stupid. for exmaple FM radio or FaceBook.
The Panels are not more that an ill conceived idea, with some BS marketing ideology behind them. All they did was destroy one one best smartphones ever built.

HTC community? Yes but not for all

Hello to all!!
It has been a while since I possess telephones under Windows mobile and also, since I navigate it fabulous forum!
When I discovered this forum, I was really very satisfied to have purchased my first one HTC because I had the impression to be a member of a big family!!!!
I thank all the active persons and all the developers on this forum which allowed me to return my phone different from the others and to pull the best!!!
But today, I have to say that I am a little disappointed … I have purchase since a few months a HTC HD Mini because this phone is in my opinion, the best compromise between power, technology, size and still under Windows mobile 6.5.
The HD2 pleased me a lot, but too big for my use … Thus this small phone was really the one that I waited!
Why am I disappointed? Simply because the screen of this phone has a HVGA resolution screen (320x480) and because this one is not current. Everything the magnificent developments which are realized today continues to support the resolution QVGA / WQVGA / VGA / WVGA but not the HVGA.
I find it very it's a pity. Today, I have the impression to be thrown rejected by this HTC community simply because I possess a telephone which is slightly different from the others. And nevertheless, as I said it higher, it is a HTC, he possesses characteristics to envy nothing to the others and he turns under Windows mobiles 6.5. His only defect (if we can say that it is a defect) is the resolution of its screen.
Sirs developers, you who often put your efforts in the service of the others by carrying your applications in various resolutions, could think to us? We who are not competent to develop but who we who support you and we who as want you to pull the maximum of their Windows mobile phone???
Thanks to all by advance !!
Sorry for my English…. It is a resverso translation
You just speak right out of my heart!!!
Devs, please think of us!
In my perspective, I think the hardest part of creating a program, is that he run according to the expected result. The hardest part is to encode the program algorithm.
Then, adapt the same program at different screen sizes is much less difficult! Especially when that program is already adapted to a resolution of 240x320 (QVGA) and a resolution of 480x640 (VGA). From there, I think adapting this program to the resolution of 320x480 (HVGA) is no longer a question of difficulty, but just a question of willingness.
Please gentlemen developers and programmers, think of us when you create your great applications!
Maybe it is true that we are not likely to have a HD Mini, but the fact remains that it's a great phone, branded HTC and running Windows Mobile 6.5.
I do not want to offend anyone, I just want to share my sentiment.
Kind regards, JBS68
Sorry for my English…. It is a google translation
please think of us!
TT_TT
Helle to all !!
Just a small message to promote the subject!
Unless a moderator wants to stick it?
Yes, it can be done, but it can be an awful lot of extra work. If you are going to try and develop an application that will run on as many different platforms as possible, this will have to be done at design time before you have written a single line of code. Trying to retro fit this to an app you have already created, can almost involve a complete rewrite.
Firstly, if you do not have such a device to hand, on which to test the program, you will have to get Visual Studio to create a device with the correct screen size for the emulator to run. HVGA is not one of the stock emulator images. Having created it, when you start it up under the emulator, even Windows Mobile gets a bit confused, see the attached image HVGA. It tries to centre the WM 5.0 stock wallpaper in the screen area, leaving the pale blue gap visible at the top and bottom.
Running the 6.5.3 images as 320x480 makes them virtually unusable, as the Titanium user interface completely screws up; see the second image HVGA65. The 6.5.3 Windows icon 'Start' button does nothing when pressed, you are completely stuck, because you cannot get control panel to run in order to turn the Titanium stuff off.
At least you can test programs against WinMo 5.0 on 320x480.
In the list of applications in my signature below, 5x5 will run perfectly on a HVGA device. Originally, users of Samsung Omnias (240x400) just got a blank screen. The program was originally hard coded to deal with standard QVGA screens in landscape or portrait. Ooooops! Large parts of the program had to be rewritten. It is now designed to dynamically scale the grid to 90% of the shortest side of the client area, and centre itself accordingly. It will now run on any sized screen, even those that have not been released yet! It was a lot of work to make it do this.
Sudoku player will work, but it does not resize, it just positions itself in the middle of the screen. To get this to scale to full size as per 5x5 would involve an enormous amount of work. The drawing would have to be made dynamic as would the font(s) used by the program. It currently gets away with just using the system font, yes let's hear it, lazy programming. It only just fits on a square 240x240 screen.
Siglog is just an app that fills text areas with data; its main purpose is to display and log data; the UI is not that important. It is not optimised for any screen layout, and will just appear in the top left 240x320 area of the screen.
At some stage I might improve Sudoku Player and Siglog so that they have totally dynamic displays, but I have to ask myself, is it really going to be worth all the effort involved?
stephj said:
Yes, it can be done, but it can be an awful lot of extra work. If you are going to try and develop an application that will run on as many different platforms as possible, this will have to be done at design time before you have wriiten a single line of code. Trying to retro fit this to an app you have already created, can almost involve a complete rewrite.
..........................
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To begin, thank you for taking the time to read and answer my thread !
I must say that I too am a bit of development. Of course, not at the level of what you do, but I trained alone and I develop professional visual basic macros (especially for Excel)...
On the first point, I completely agree with you, if the resolution was not taken into account at the begin, it is often difficult to integrate in the future without having to write everything.
For the second point, I did not that you need an emulator for other resolutions, and looking at the pictures, I understand that it is not easy to exploit these emulators!
Now, I'm not asking that all applications be re written to make them work on my phone, but when you develop new applications, consider this resolution (if possible!)
I see that there are applications that are developed with the interface SENSE. And although those can easily be adapted (I think).
Another example, when an application interface is based on a skin with areas for displaying datas (example, with a XML file format) could also adapt more easily.
In conclusion, thank you for taking the time to reply to this topic and thank you for trying to take into account this resolution in your developments.
Of course, you may also make use, it is my pleasure to test your beta applications and to return you feed-back about them !
For the latter point, it depends: do you want a maximum of community HTC uses your applications? So the answer is yes ....
Anyway, thank you for everything, cordially, JBS68

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