Database Users

QVGA programs to WVGA

My question is simple...
I have been using QVGA screen devices for a long time and I have invested a good ammount on softwares that display well on QVGA screens.
Now I'm thinking of doing an upgrade and I have pinpointed the HD as my next device, but since I have invested a lot money on softwares, I don't want to upgrade to a new phone and find all these softwares unusable on a WVGA screen.
Will the programs designed for QVGA display properly on a WVGA screen?
My common sense tells me that no, it won't but I have read that it will display without problems.
Any thoughts anyone?

where did you read that it will display with no problems?

Very few apps are made for WVGA and I cannot image that HTC lets this be a show stopper, since it will take years and years before WVGA is as standard as QVGA is.
The same goes for VGA though, which is also just catching on in mainstream, yet my VGA Diamond has no problems running anything whatsoever. Some QVGA apps just get blown up to fit the screen and run just like on a QVGA screen, yet I wonder how this would work when the aspect ratio is no longer 4:3 (as with QVGA, HVGA and VGA) but instead 16:9 (WVGA). Stretching is ugly so with apps that need to maintain the aspect ratio (anything other than apps that can resize infinitely like Operah, Windows Mobile etc) we would likely see black boxes on top of and below the app.

Copy pasted one of my own old posts from another topic, which had the same question but for VGA on the Raphael.
WM has a so-called compatibility mode. If an app is not specifically compiled to tell WM it knows about resolution and DPI settings, WM presents your device to the program as 240x320 QVGA. This way, most QVGA apps simply run on VGA. (And I can verify that at least on the Diamond, most apps just work). WM then simply scales the application to fill the screen. (One way to notice if this is happening with an app is that you can see the text is smooth and looks high-res, except on the menu bar at the bottom)
Actually that was quite a nice move of MS. However, there is a bug with compatibility mode and 320x320 devices (like the Treo800w) that prevents some apps from running. Luckily, the Raphael is not one of those devices.
However, of course, some apps do tell WM they know about resolution and DPI, but aren't made to support 480x640 devices like the Axim v51, Diamond and Raphael, those apps may look weird (though they don't seem to be numerous), but generally still work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I recall correctly, however, non-resolution/dpi-aware applications ran on odd resolutions like WVGA for the Touch HD are still represented as 320x240, and will be stretched to use the entire screen (in other words: fugly). I know this is the case for 320x320, and I think it would be a safe bet to assume the same for 480x800.
For applications that are resolution/dpi-aware, it all depends on how the developers did it. Black border at the bottom and top, correctly scaled, etc, it's all possible and completely up to how the developer handled this in their code.

Chainfire
Thanks for the answer.
That was very well explained.
What I read that it won't have problems was perhaps with the fact that WM will stretch the program to fit the screen, but it wasn't as well explained as your post.
So now I know that it's possible that half of my programs will be stretched on the screen and it will look crappy, the other half will have black borders around...

WVGA Themes
I just wonder if all the (beautiful) themes created for Diamond will be correctly displayed with the Touch HD ?
As I'm creating my own (for Diamond) and first one, I hope I can use it with the HD WVGA screen.
Thanx for informations.

WVGA has the same aspect ratio of the WQVGA
WVGA 480x800 (Touch HD, Sony XPERIA)
WQVGA 240x400 (Samsung Omnia)
Being an owner of a Samsung Omnia I found out that there are very few software that wont run on non a standard QVGA resolution.
Good thing about it is that most important and recently updated software do take into consideration the modern variable display sizes and aspect ratios.
This is a promising trend, software companies tend to release fixes/upgrades for their software for these new resolutions
So I wouldnt worry so much!
ydg said:
I just wonder if all the (beautiful) themes created for Diamond will be correctly displayed with the Touch HD ?
As I'm creating my own (for Diamond) and first one, I hope I can use it with the HD WVGA screen.
Thanx for informations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recently installed Manilla2d on the omnia, the themes have to be modified for the omnias resolution 240x400 images, backgrounds, icon possitions etc, therefore no theme for diamond will be directly usable with the touch hd, there will have to be modifications on them to work

mkMoSs said:
I recently installed Manilla2d on the omnia, the themes have to be modified for the omnias resolution 240x400 images, backgrounds, icon possitions etc, therefore no theme for diamond will be directly usable with the touch hd, there will have to be modifications on them to work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With this Forum and community and the other WVGA topphone Xperia, these forums will be soon filled with people working on these modifications....
I am not worried at all about this

You can try Force high resolution. You can find it at pocketpcfreeware.com.

Celio Redfly Mobile screen/keyboard with Touch HD

I have been a Redfly user for a bit with my HTC S620 (aka Dash aka Excalibur) and was always dissappointed with the number of memory errors I got .... obviously pushing the Excalibur memory to its limits.
I bought the Touch HD mainly so I could have more raw computing power.
The good news is the beta drivers work and connect well albeit with a couple of bugs.
Remote Desktop is a dream giving a correctly oriented 800*480 desktop which is perfectly usable and was one of the main reasons for my upgrade. I cannot work out how to do this natively on the phone but with the Redfly it becomes like using a netbook!
Touchflo is a dog and I have been in touch with the Celio Support guys who are going to deliver a fix in a couple of weeks. Essentially turning off touchflo when the Redfly connects and turning it on again when it disconnects. This is good, in my opinion, because it's just how it worked with the Excalibur and sliding windows.
Opera 9.5 fails to load which is a dissappointment for me because a couple of sites I frequent use php and the native IE has no idea how to render the pages, it seems. Opera 9.5 does the job fine on the Touch HD directly but not through the Redfly. Support suggest a fix for that will come but no timescale as yet. Apparently Opera 8.65 works on the Redfly, though not sure how I can downgrade the browser....any ideas?
If anyone is interested in how these bugs pan out, then please add to the thread.
Best Regards
Mal

Do we have more information on this topic?
Do we have more information on this topic? I'm digging to find out as I'm very interested with the HD and if the Redfly could be the perfect companion for it.
So, the bugs at this moment:
1. Built-in/pre-install Opera does not work.
2. Video playback in the HD (Windows Media and/or other video software) will not show up in the Redfly.
3. TouchFlow 3D does not work, need to be disabled.

lie_ui said:
Do we have more information on this topic? I'm digging to find out as I'm very interested with the HD and if the Redfly could be the perfect companion for it.
So, the bugs at this moment:
1. Built-in/pre-install Opera does not work.
2. Video playback in the HD (Windows Media and/or other video software) will not show up in the Redfly.
3. TouchFlow 3D does not work, need to be disabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that's pretty much it, though I note Celio have released some more drivers which I'll be trying tonight. The previous beta drivers did not fix the problems I was having with the Touch HD.
They can be downloaded from http://www.celiocorp.com/install/beta/.
I think Celio are trying to fix problems 1 & 3 but I guess 2. is out of scope, in view of hte new device for video playback they just launched.
HTH
Mal

I tried the new "64" beta drivers yesterday and confirm:
Opera still does not work - didn't expect it to.
The automatic turning off and on of Touchflo works and improves the experience on the Redfly immeasurably.
There is some form of bug in many of the apps. It looks like, in my inexperienced view, that the screen is being constantly redrawn. This makes some apps unusable e.g. in mail, which looks a lot better on this version, I can reply to the original author ok, but if I want to add in another contact the add contact screen seems to keep redrawing and flickering making it impossible to add in another contact.
I noticed the same flickering in Remote Desktop but it was limited to the top menu bar as far as I could see.
On the regular Today page, the items on screen regularly "flash" like they are being refreshed constantly.
Another glitch I found when connecting to the Touch when in power save, passworded mode, the Redfly seems to take control with the keyboard, but not of the screen. So I was operating the device using the Redfly keyboard but the screen stayed on the Touch.
I'll feed this back to support and see what they recommend next.
HTH
Mal

Mal Bridgeman said:
Remote Desktop is a dream giving a correctly oriented 800*480 desktop which is perfectly usable and was one of the main reasons for my upgrade. I cannot work out how to do this natively on the phone but with the Redfly it becomes like using a netbook!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me start by saying I LOVE MY REDFLY... got it when I was using an iMate JasJam and then moved to a HTC P3600i and it just works a treat...
Since then I have upgraded to the HTC Touch HD for more processing power...
I do not tend to use the TouchFlo offering on the Touch HD when I am working with it, preferring to turn it off and just use the regular windows format. With this in mind all works a treat except for the fact that because the Touch HD is a WVGA 480 X 800 pixel the screen ratio makes it look big and chunky. BTW - The Opera 9 fix that allows the Redfly to support the browser is great
In fact compared to what the P3600i use to deliver, the the screens look a bit "Lego" - big and chunky, but cute !
I have sent an email off to Celiocorp to see if they are looking at the resolution.
I sent them comparative screen shots of the screen ratio I use to get with the P3600i on the Redfly (2.8-inch QVGA 240 x 320 pixels screen) vs the Touch HD (3.8-inch wide, WVGA 480 X 800 pixel).
Have noticed that the phones in their Evolution program (beta) are as such;
Sony Experia - 3-inch WVGA 800 x 480 pixel
HTC Touch Diamond - 2.8-inch VGA 480 x 640 pixels
HTC Touch Pro - 2.8-inch VGA 480x640 pixels
Samsung Omnia - 3.2-inch NON-STANDARD 240 x 400 pixels
Samsung Portégé G810 - 2.8-inch QVGA 240x320 pixels
Now, while the demand is not great for WVGA they do have the Sony Experia operating on that platform, however they are still providing the RFP6_01040093.cab which is the same for the ones listed above - so I would imagine Xperia users on Redfly would have the same issue.
Considering the phones that are being released in the next six months;
Touch HD - 3.8-inch wide, WVGA 480 X 800 pixel
HTC Touch Diamond 2 - 3.2-inch wide, WVGA 480 X 800 pixel
HTC Touch Pro 2 - 3.6-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 480 X 800 WVGA resolution
Samsung's new T*Omnia - WVGA 800 x 480 pixels
Asus' P835 - WVGA 800 x 480 pixels
Samsung Anycall SPH-W6050: 3-inch wide 800 x 480 pixel
Acer M900 Tempo: 3.8-inch wide 800 x 480 pixel
I have written to them asking if they are going to release a beta that supports the WVGA format? And if so when do you expect it to be available.
I did ask if because the Redfly itself offers WVGA resolution at 800 x 480 pixels - is it because the resolutions are 1:1 that is causes the issue?
Will keep you upd to date with where this gets too....
Asp

Hi all,
Just a quick update.
I have not personally had a response back from Celiocorp but I did notice last night that they had a new beta release on the 19 March and that due to the significant changes between 01.04.00.147 (new release) and the last beta build (01.04.00.93) it is necessary to update both the phone and the REDFLY Firm ware to insure proper compatibility.
They list the main changes as:
[] A new compression mechanism has been implemented and it is found in a new tab in the REDFLY settings called Compression. This compression is turned off by default, but if you primarily connect via Bluetooth, we recommend turning this on. To do this, check the box that says Enable lossy compression. This will slightly reduce the image clarity on your REDFLY while significantly improving the performance speed of the data transferring between your phone and the REDFLY.
[] Several improvements for the Touch Pro, Diamond, and Fuze phones have been implemented which significantly improve the interaction with TouchFLO as well as the phone dialer. If you normally have TouchFLO turned off, the longer delay to load the screen has been eliminated and assorted issues with Font size changing on the phone have been corrected. NOTE: The larger-sized tool and menu bars however have not changed, and will most likely be released as they are now. We continue to work with HTC on this issue and perhaps a solution will become available in the future.
The Epix camera no longer hangs when launched (in a REDFLY session).
The Phone software version is RFP6_01040147.CAB and the Firmware required for the Redfly is RFF_01040147.CAB
As some feedback they upgrade does greatly improve the speed on the Redfly when connected to the Touch HD - so full points on this - but moving from the Lego experience is something I will still wait for. From the look of it they have not added any WVGA phones to their evaluation program...
Cheers
Asp

Hi, I did get my redfly from expansys 1 week ago.
I did install the newest software from Celio and it works fine with my Touch HD !
Only the keyboard should be a QWERTZ
Does anyone know if it is possible, to reprogram this keyboard to QWERTZ and " ä, ö, ü "
Thank you!

T.Brumm - that's great it is working a treat....
I have found that the current beta drivers (http://www.celiocorp.com/smartphone#betaphones) for the Touch HD still a little buggy particularly when you get an incoming call as both the RedFly and the HD hang...
I have just picked up a Dell Inspirion Mini 9 for now and am using it with the RedFly view so I can draft emails while flying for business - but I for now I have given up on the HD RedFly combo. The other thing I find frustrating (see my post above with the images) is the change in resolution. Because both devices are naturally 800 x 480 the text within mobile outlook is very chunky and the guys a few rows back can read what I am typing....
I wish it was working for me...I really love what it stands for...
Asp

Having spent a couple of months trying out the cooked roms I decided to give the RedFly another try. So I had to restore back to the original ROM, then updated to the latest official HTC ROM first, which took a little while to figure out.
I then installed the new 192 drivers and firmware and although it's a while since I used it with my "Dash", I am thinking there's not a great deal wrong with this ...sure I'd like it a bit faster, but functionally I think it's back as the device I wanted it to be.
HTH
Mal

What resolution

I would like to try program G-profile but I dont know which file I need to download...
QVGA, WGVGA, VGA, WVGA....?
Thanks
http://www.ageye.de/index.php?s=download#gprofile

If you have an HD2, you need WVGA (that would be the resolution of your screen)

WVGA (480x800)

Thanks...10 characters

Can someone explain VGA, WVGA etc please

HI,
When downloading cabs for the phone I see different versions. There's VGA/WVGA, and QVGA/WQVGA. I understand they are to do with resolution, and the W stands fro wide, but could someone put it into muppet terms exactly what it is please?
I've been informed that the HD2 is VGA/WVGA, but how do I find out what my device is for future reference?
Cheers

This will tell you everything you need (and then some!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution
The HD2 is a WVGA device
WVGA is 800x480 (wide vga)
VGA is 640x480 (er.. vga)
QVGA is 320x240 (quarter vga)
not sure about wqvga, but it's wide quarter vga. It'll be in the link above.
Happy reading
Edit:
The reason you'll see cabs that are vga/wvga or qvga/wqvga is because the width is actually height, in portrait mode. vga and wvga are the same width (480 pixels), so most apps will work for both resolutions. Similar with qvga and wqvga. The w one is just wider in landscape, therefore taller in portrait.

johncmolyneux said:
This will tell you everything you need (and then some!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution
The HD2 is a WVGA device
WVGA is 800x480 (wide vga)
VGA is 640x480 (er.. vga)
QVGA is 320x240 (quarter vga)
not sure about wqvga, but it's wide quarter vga. It'll be in the link above.
Happy reading
Edit:
The reason you'll see cabs that are vga/wvga or qvga/wqvga is because the width is actually height, in portrait mode. vga and wvga are the same width (480 pixels), so most apps will work for both resolutions. Similar with qvga and wqvga. The w one is just wider in landscape, therefore taller in portrait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks

snerkler said:
Many thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem mate

dpi settings 640x480

Hello,
I want to buy a WM6.1 device with a resolution 640x480 (with 192dpi).
I'm wondering if it's possible to use the Real VGA tool to switch from 192dpi to 128 dpi. (or does Real VGA only works on 320x320 devices like Samsung
i780.
Please help, thanks

dpi settings 640x480
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I want to buy a WM6.1 device with a resolution 640x480 (with 192dpi).
I'm wondering if it's possible to use the Real VGA tool to switch from 192dpi to 128 dpi. (or does Real VGA only works on 320x320 devices like Samsung
i780.
Please help, thanks