I have been happily running CM 7.0.3 (with the default ADW launcher) for a month now and it was only now I thought about tempering with the wallpapers (hah !). Anyways, whenever I load a 1200 x 1024 wallpaper, it really zooms out in portrait and appears with two black stripes in the Landscape mode. Have gone through all kinds of solutions but to no avail namely:
- Apps like "Wallpaper set and save", Flickie etc. - all of them suffer with the same issue
- Restarted 5-6 times
- Saved the 1200 x 1024 .png files in EMMC / My Files / Wallpaper but doesn't help since CM7.0.3 doesn't have a "Home Launcher" or Settings > Home > Set Wallpaper or a direct Homescreen "Wallpaper Chooser" app like my Samsung Galaxy Pro for example.
Will be grateful if anybody can help me out - am also surprised I did not find this exact problem mentioned in the forums at all - I can't be that unique !
Thanks,
Ranjan
You can't just long press the home screen > Wallpapers > Select wallpaper from " " ?
Worked on every Android device I have owned, including my Nook Color. Perfect wallpaper size would be 600x1024.
Nburnes said:
You can't just long press the home screen > Wallpapers > Select wallpaper from " " ?
Worked on every Android device I have owned, including my Nook Color. Perfect wallpaper size would be 600x1024.
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Click to collapse
No, CM7.0.3 doesn't give an option to "Select Wallpaper from"...Did you have a CM Nook color or stock-rooted one ? Wallpaper size I am sure of 1200x1024 works the best - have gone through multiple posts on this forum and others .
ronjan said:
No, CM7.0.3 doesn't give an option to "Select Wallpaper from"...Did you have a CM Nook color or stock-rooted one ? Wallpaper size I am sure of 1200x1024 works the best - have gone through multiple posts on this forum and others .
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Click to collapse
Running CM7 nightlies. Have been since they were first released. Been setting wallpapers the same way for months now, even on regular android devices. It does give that option when you are holding down your finger on a blank spot on the home screen. It has too.
ronjan said:
Anyways, whenever I load a 1200 x 1024 wallpaper, it really zooms out in portrait and appears with two black stripes in the Landscape mode.
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Click to collapse
That sounds like the behavior of the built-in gallery app. At some point when you set your wallpaper are you selecting Gallery? Or is Gallery the only picture viewer on your device?
QuickPic works a lot better for portrait mode, it lets you adjust the cropping. Iirc, it doesn't work well for landscape, because it puts in the black bars. Wallpaper Wizardrii is a little fiddly, but otherwise works well with both portrait and landscape.
This problem has been mentioned in the forums atleast once. I know because I asked it. lol No worries though its probably not tagged. Anyways like the poster above said Quick Pick does a much better job.
Nburnes said:
Running CM7 nightlies. Have been since they were first released. Been setting wallpapers the same way for months now, even on regular android devices. It does give that option when you are holding down your finger on a blank spot on the home screen. It has too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dunno why its missing on my device, it only gives me option to set "Cyanogenmod Wallpapers" / "Gallery" / "Live Wallpapers" - both Gallery and Cyanogenmod suffer from the issue I laid out above.
@akaCat, IFLATLINEI: Thanks for the help, doesnt help me though , want good landscape display. I think the issue is somehow the Wallpaper is not scrolling in portrait mode as well (it used to earlier), even though the option is enabled in the ADW launcher settings. Since it is not scrolling it is essentially showing a 1 portrait page image which it rotates in landscape and hence the black screen. I wish this could be resolved !!
Ok I'm going to bring this one back because the same is happining to me now. It worked before! Is there a definitive fix for this anywhere? I see a lot of pleas for help but no answer???????
I started using the free app in the market: Wallpaper Set & Save. Goes in at the correct aspect ratio and resolution (assuming your wallpaper file is correct ahead of time and saved in png format).
What pixel density does everybody use to have the nook look the best. Right now I'm set at 250 using LCD density ap. Everything is obviously bigger and mostly easier to use. Also I'm aware certain gameloft games require a certain pixel density, Just curious what everyone else is set at default of what. My wallpaper seems to be cutting off maybe 100px on the bottom but overall I think it looks good. Also not having an easy time cropping Hires pics to the NC. Using multi live wallpaper to do the trick atm
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
I go back and forth, but usually wind up back at 240 for CyanogenMod. On stock B&N firmware, I stay with the default changing it will screw up some of the display elements otherwise.
Wallpaper Wizardrii is very good at taking care of tweaking wallpaper dimensions, cropping and such.
I use 160 and adw ex to make icons bigger. There's a few other settings to make things bigger without using dpi, since I believe that affects the availability of apps in the market.
I'm on CM9 1/14/2012 nightly @ 220 density using Button Savior for navigation...using Zeam for my launcher with 6 columns and 6-7 rows??? Everything seems big and legible for my tired eyes...
I am running CM7 7.1.0 stable and I change the build.prop to 220 and it is a perfect size for me. The only problem with that is every time I need to find and update apps in the market, I have to use es file explorer to change the build.prop back to 160. Not a huge deal but a pain none the less.
I posted a similar guide for my Galaxy SII, so I figured I would share the love here. Hopefully this helps out a few folks who want to better utilize the amazing screen on the GSIII. Please feel free to comment and make suggestions and please "thank" if you appreciate the post!
General Info for Beginners:
The Galaxy SIII comes with a gorgeous 4.8 inch, 1280 x 720 (albeit pentile) screen. As great as the screen looks, I couldn't help but feel that there is a lot of "wasted space" at the existing resolution. The best example of this fact is the app drawers default 4 x 5 layout. In my opinion, things look much better when the the icons are a bit smaller and more tightly grouped. For those that feel the same way, there is a simple build.prop edit you can do to "trick" you phone to thinking it is set to a higher resolution
How-To Change the Density Setting:
To accomplish this, all you have to do is change the build.prop setting for "ro.sf.lcd_density". There are multiple programs out there that makes this much easier but I have found the best results with "ROM Toolbox". Feel free to buy the full version to support the dev but if all you are looking to do is change the density setting, the lite version will do just fine.
1. download and install "ROM Toolbox" from the Google Play Store
2. go to the "Performance" tab
3. click "build.prop tweaks"
4. change the "LCD Density" slider to whatever DPI you like
5. reboot
As mentioned, there are multiple programs out there but based on my personal experiences, DO NOT USE "LCD DENSITY MODDER" from the play store. This app is known to cause soft-bricks/bootloops. However, I have been told that LCD Density Modder CAN still help with the Play Store app issue, but you will have to buy the pro version for that feature. Thanks uber_mike! (more on that later)
What Setting to Choose:
This is matter of personal opinion so try out different setups and see what you like best. Remember, the lower you set the number, the smaller your icons/text will appear but will also give you more screen real estate. I suggest starting from about 280 or so and working your way down and find something you like.
You may also notice that text and icons appear less sharp when messing with these settings. Keep in mind that because you are not truly changing your screen resolution, the translation will not be perfect. Personally, given the natural sharpness of AMOLED screens, I think most people while not be bothered by this or even notice.
"Phone Mode" vs "Tablet Mode"
As some posters have reported, going to 240 dpi or below will result in Android thinking your device is a tablet. I have been running 240 for a few days now and I'm loving it. In my opinion, may apps look a lot better in Tablet mode but if there are certain phone only apps you MUST have, please keep this in mind.
Potential Issues and Workarounds:
You will inevitably run into some compatibility issues so here are few final thoughts
Which ROM to use?
TouchWiz-based Roms: All roms based on stock Samsung TW for the GSIII were written with only the native resolution in mind. This means that certain apps and aspects of the OS will not scale well with a higher resolution::
- TouchWiz UX Launcher: If you are dead-set on using the default TW launcher, this mod may not be for you. The proportions will look way off and because you cannot edit things like margin or grid layout, it is not fixable. Aftermarket launchers like Apex handle the conversion much better (more on that later)
- The Phone Dialer: The dialer looks like small box that fills up only a portion of the screen. To resolve, you can use an aftermarket dialer app like "exDialer" from the Play Store
- TW E-mail App: The TW e-mail app (not gmail) also doesn't scale well. You can flash the AOSP version of e-mail as a workaround
- Stock Camera App: You will notice some of the border coloring and margins doesn't scale very well but the functionality is still perfect
- Notification Bar: I have noticed the little lines in the pull-down become off-center after you adjust the dpi. Again, a minor annoyance which doesn't effect functionality
- Twitter:*You may have profile pictures show up in 2 different sizes (Thanks Msilvame!)
Some additional feedback from other posters(thanks mhtruth!) but note that I personally do not have all of these issues
*status bar quick toggles DON'T scroll (stuck with just the 1st 5)
*status bar "remove all (X)" missing (swiping still works)
* in call speaker boost doesn't work...(only stops you from hearing not the person on the other end)
* some apps go into tablet mode (ex. HBO GO)
AOSP ROMs: CM9 and AOKP handle the conversion a bit better. You won't run into the dialer or e-mail issue like with TW ROMs but there are still some bugs. I realize there are not any AOSP Roms for the GSIII yet but this is based on my experiences from my GSII
Update: looks like we have CM9 Nightly's now!
Update 2: and now we have AOKP! Thank you devs! FYI, I've been running AOKP since last night and it's working great, not a single bug
- Certain pictures of contacts may appear too zoomed in, i.e. messaging notification pictures or the favorites tab
- Other aspects of the OS may become hard to read when scaled down so much, i.e. lock screen add-on buttons, notification pull down buttons
The Play Store Doesn't Show All Apps? - This is the biggest pain in the a$$ when you mess with the lcd density settings. There is a bug in the play store that prevents you from seeing certain apps when you change the lcd settings away from default.
I have seen a few "hacked" versions of the vending.apk out there that makes the play store think you are always set to a stock dpi but for some reason, this only works for a little while. LCD Density Modder Pro has a feature where it can install a "fixed" Play Store app that can help with this issue also, but there is also a workaround.
Here are the steps to get the market working again:
1. Change LCD Density back to stock (320)
2. Reboot to take effect
3. Clear the data for the Google Play Store AND Google Services Framework
4. Open the Play Store app and you should see everything again
5. Change LCD density back to whatever you like.
6. Reboot
I know this is a bit cumbersome but it's the best solution for now. I haven't quite nailed down what triggers the market to "break" but hopefully you won't have to do this fix too often. In opinion, this small annoyance is worth it.
Also, one thing I noticed when using Rom Toolbox is that after you set your dpi to a lower setting using the "build.prop tweaks" menu, if you go back and try to set it to the stock 320, it will max out at 280 or so. Not sure why this is the case but to do this manually, go to "build.prop editor" instead and change the "ro.sf.lcd_density" to 320.
I have been told that setting your dpi to 240 will also help with Play Store issues, since 240 is a stock resolution on other devices (GSII comes to mind). Feel free to try this out, but the size of icons and fonts may be a bit too small for some tastes (thanks DutchDogg54 and chakra!)
Everything Looks Too "Stretched Out"? - Having an aftermarket launcher will help with this tremendously, as the TW launcher does not scale well at all. I personally use Apex Launcher and there are some settings you can change to make the proportions look better
1. Homescreen Settings: Change the Vertical and Horizontal margins to medium or large
2. Dock Settings: Same as above.
You may also want to mess with different homescreen grid configurations now that you have extra room. I have bumped up mine to 5 x 5 and it looks great.
Bumping up the font size can also help even things out. At 260 dpi, I put mine to "normal", but at stock I used "tiny" (thanks falconator!)
List of all the ICS compatible launchers that will work for this mod:
- Apex Launcher (my fave)
- Nova Launcher
- Go Launcher
- Stock ICS Launcher / Trebuchet Launcher
- Atom Launcher (new!)
And that's it. I hope this will help you out so that you won't have to go through all the trial and error I did. I promise you, after you do this, it will be impossible for you to go back to the stock resolution (everything looks HUGE)
Update: I have added some of my and mhtruth's screenshots for those who are interested. I also added a screenshot of HBO GO in tablet mode
My setup:
- 240 dpi (Tablet Mode)
- Team Sonic Free GS3 Rom (R3)
- Apex Launcher with kovdev ICS Theme
- Homescreen: 6 x 5 grid, Horizontal Margin: Medium, Vertical Margin: Large
- Dock: Horizontal Margin: Large, Vertical Margin: Medium
- EX Dialer and Contacts (for better scalability)
- Font Size: "Normal"
- "Enhanced Email" App (need it for exchange access)
Feel free to show off your own homescreen screenshots! I will update OP and add yours too!
Changing my dpi on the Galaxy Note was almost a necessity, not sure its required on the S3, but then again its personal preference. I might try it just to see how it looks.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Thanks! I remember doing this on my Atrix, but I forgot how. I can't stand the large icons and such.
I tried this a few hours ago on my Verizon SGS3 and it would boot, but the screen went black after the "Galaxy SIII" text and wouldn't come back on making the device unusable. I did use LCD density modder though. I'll probably edit build.prop directly but the thought of having a broken play store doesn't thrill me.
Edit: Directly editing build.prop worked! I have it set to 260 dpi and it looks great. I also was able to use LCD density modder to fix the play store!
uber_mike said:
I tried this a few hours ago on my Verizon SGS3 and it would boot, but the screen went black after the "Galaxy SIII" text and wouldn't come back on making the device unusable. I did use LCD density modder though. I'll probably edit build.prop directly but the thought of having a broken play store doesn't thrill me.
Edit: Directly editing build.prop worked! I have it set to 260 dpi and it looks great. I also was able to use LCD density modder to fix the play store!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the input!
Did you use LCD Density Modder to edit build.prop AND fix the play store? Also, having never been able to use LCD Density Modder given the problems I had before, does the hacked Play Store come as the latest Jelly Bean version?
Nice writeup! I have practically the same setup but now I can just refer to this if I need to re-setup.
elterible said:
Thanks for the input!
Did you use LCD Density Modder to edit build.prop AND fix the play store? Also, having never been able to use LCD Density Modder given the problems I had before, does the hacked Play Store come as the latest Jelly Bean version?
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Click to collapse
I can't get my Play Store to function properly at 260, but I LOVE the look. Maybe mod the LCD density manually and use the Modder app to fix the Store? Im going to try that.
240 is a stock density for many devices, just use 240 and the play store works as normal.
so thanks for reminding me about this. I used to do this for my Vibrant. I remember I needed to grab the spare parts app though and turn on compatibility mode or something? Currently I'm having an issue with the space between my dock and page indicators as you can see..
rom toolbox set & lcd density set to 280. Saved and rebooted a few times already
elterible said:
Thanks for the input!
Did you use LCD Density Modder to edit build.prop AND fix the play store? Also, having never been able to use LCD Density Modder given the problems I had before, does the hacked Play Store come as the latest Jelly Bean version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, just for the play store fix. I used root browser to edit build.prop. The play store appears to be the regular ICS version, but I haven't seen the JB one so I'm not sure.
uber_mike said:
Nope, just for the play store fix. I used root browser to edit build.prop. It appears to be the regular ICS version, but I haven't seen the JB one so I'm not sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I will update OP with your findings
eff0rtless said:
so thanks for reminding me about this. I used to do this for my Vibrant. I remember I needed to grab the spare parts app though and turn on compatibility mode or something? Currently I'm having an issue with the space between my dock and page indicators as you can see..
rom toolbox set & lcd density set to 280. Saved and rebooted a few times already
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, using the default TouchWiz UX Launcher is not ideal for this mod. TW does not scale well and you cannot adjust things like "margin" or grid layout to maximize the new "resolution". If you MUST use TW, then this mod may not be right for you but this is easily remedied by an aftermarket launcher, as detailed in my post. Your options are:
- Apex Launcher (my personal favorite)
- Nova Launcher
- Go Launcher
- Atom Launcher
- Default ICS Launcher
I will update OP with some screenshots
I know on some devices changing the screen density will make your phone show as not compatible with certain apps in Google Play, so be aware.
toddbw said:
I know on some devices changing the screen density will make your phone show as not compatible with certain apps in Google Play, so be aware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is very annoying issue. I tried to address this as best as possible in the "Potential Issues and Workarounds" section.
elterible said:
Yeah, using the default TouchWiz UX Launcher is not ideal for this mod. TW does not scale well and you cannot adjust things like "margin" or grid layout to maximize the new "resolution". If you MUST use TW, then this mod may not be right for you but this is easily remedied by an aftermarket launcher, as detailed in my post. Your options are:
- Apex Launcher (my personal favorite)
- Nova Launcher
- Go Launcher
- Atom Launcher
- Default ICS Launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oooh yeaaaah. ur right. I forgot that tw is locked in at that stock size. I'll give those a try and see what I can get
Thanks, 320 was too big for me.
Great guide, I used to do this on my og evo. It would be nice if there was a standard setting between hdpi and xhdpi to avoid conflicts on the play store (213 ftw!) though.
Also don't forget you can change text size under display settings, which has a somewhat similar effect to setting dpi lower. I find that setting it to tiny or small tightens things up a bit, although it's not truly system wide.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
falconator said:
Great guide, I used to do this on my og evo. It would be nice if there was a standard setting between hdpi and xhdpi to avoid conflicts on the play store (213 ftw!) though.
Also don't forget you can change text size under display settings, which has a somewhat similar effect to setting dpi lower. I find that setting it to tiny or small tightens things up a bit, although it's not truly system wide.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried 240 and it works great, no play store issues. Thanks a bunch OP for mentioning the dialer/contacts app. Looks/works great!
Sent from Sprint's 3rd Blazed ICS Galaxy
Thanks for the input everyone. Again, I will update OP with notes
any apex launcher users getting app drawer lag? It's pretty noticeable to me =\
back in 2014 i started on a ui design i called symetiumos, i was able to find a team to make it into a launcher but i ended up getting scammed by them they simply left me with it in a very broken unusable state, i released the launcher on the playstore and despite it being broken the response has been overwhelming, so far it has nearly 5 stars and over 300 downloads, i am looking for someone that can help me finish the launcher and fix it's bugs
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.symetium.ui.launcher&hl=en
this is a full list of everything thats remaining some things can be skipped such as automatic appsorting or the modes system (modes system works by combining two identical settings screens into one, it's like backing up your settings on a random launcher, my launcher would have two settings screens one for portrait one for landscape it would use each depending on orientation it's like a launcher that has portrait and landscape settings for grid, but my launcher has it for the entire settings screen, so if you set the color layer to red in portrait and green in landscape then it will be green when you flip the phone, because the launcher changes to a new settings screen in landscape, it's like if you kept backups of multiple settings configs then have the launcher flip between them, each mode uses two settings screens identical ones only difference being what the user adjusts them to.
the main bugs are
1.full appdrawer needs to be replaced or repaired it lags, the icons in it are offcentered, the full appdrawer button needs to be 4 dots, it should be pullable down right now you need to press the x to close it you should be able to pull it down like any other appdrawer, if you set it to disabled then the button should not be visible any more.
2.the "system" category needs to be removed it lags and it shouldn't be there, the team added it based on a guess.
3.when scrolling through apps the dockmenu can close itself this is a bug
4.you should be able to scroll all around the dockmenu so when you get to the end category it scrolls back to the homescreen like you'd expect and vice versa meaning if you scrolling the other side you will enter the dockmenu from the last category rather than first, right now it blinks out rather than scrolling
5.homescreen appdock needs work right now it's pretty limited you can't set any icons or even what the current icons do, it also needs a button to enable or disable it
6.a menu needs to be made for customization of categories
7.homescreen needs the standard pinch menu to get to the launcher settings button, wallpaper button etc
8.launcher needs a general settings section with the following options
enable/disable navigationbar (this simply enables or disables the navigationbar in the current mode and orientation)
enable disable statusbar (this simply enables or disables the stock android statusbar in the current mode and orientation)
enable disable persistent statusbar (this makes it easy or difficult to reveal the statusbar, right now it's difficult and you can't do anything about it)
enable disable persistent navigationbar (this makes it easy or difficult to reveal the navigationbar, right now it's difficult and you can't do anything about it)
9.the launcher should not resize itself depending on dpi all sizes should be available on any device and any dpi, the launcher needs a "dockmenu size" option under dockmenu where the user can set any size that is available through different dpi's, size settings needs to work for the custom statusbar as well, the dock has many more size options through dpi changes rather than the size options in settings so add all these options in settings and prevent it from resizing itself depending on dpi
automatic dpi resizing can be ok if it chooses a setting from the settings menu, just like when windows chooses a resolution thats recommended) the user should be able to have any size they want on any device regardless of dpi, if automatic then it should simply choose a size thats available in the settings.
10.color layer bugs not filling properly and the dock glitching out sometimes where the home icon dissappears and the dot no longer works.
these are the most of whats broken.
full list of whats remaining is below, if anyone wants to help me finish my launcher please let me know.
http://textuploader.com/d4bol!
Brand new Nokia 5 updated to 8.1: icons on the desktop are on a 5x5 grid and quite small. Font overall is fine - this is just on the desktop. I know I could use another launcher but any way to fix this with the stock launcher?
Maybe you can clear the data of the Launcher...
But if you do this the layout of the apps gets delete.
You must go into the settings of your Nokia 5, than go to "apps & notifications", than "see all apps" and than you must select the option, that you can see system apps. There you search for "Launcher3" and clear it's data.
Maybe this will be working for you :fingers-crossed:
Thanks for the suggestion. I ended up going to the store where I got it and saw another model which looks the same so that's just how it is.. It's strange cause I've owned quite a few Android phones and this one's desktop icons are the smallest by far. Maybe something to do with the tall & narrow dimensions.