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I was admiring the Nexus specs recently and noticed that with the resolution specs it had "colors" at 65k. To get perspective I checked some other new Android phones and they were all 65k colors. Then I checked the iphone 3gs and it was 16million colors.
This seems like an outrageous disparity.
It has peaked my interest so can anybody explain what "colors" means and how 65k differs from 16m? Also, what does it have to do with the resolution, in other words, the iphone and nexus both have similar resolution (although the nexus is capable of much higher) so why would the less capable one have so much more "colors"?
Basically when google made the nexus one, they made sure not to include all those whimpy weak colors such as peach and pink. Thats all i've got =(
http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/09/07/462187.aspx
I know, I know, Windows Mobile versus Android, etc...but definitely good material and I think it answers your question reasonably well.
ChillRays said:
Basically when google made the nexus one, they made sure not to include all those whimpy weak colors such as peach and pink. Thats all i've got =(
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I second that.
Now seriously it has to do with the color depth a device can display. I believe 65K colors means that the color of each pixel on your screen isdefined by 16 bits, or 65535 different levels of colors (2^16=65535) - or a 16bit color depth. 16M colors means your pixels have a 24 bit color depth (2^24=16777216, or each of the Red Green and Blue values of the color can go from 0 to 255) that is said to be the maximum that the human eye can discern.
Now, this said, in the golden age of computing, when PC were not powerful enough to handle 16M colors all together, I used a 16bit color depth on my win98 desktop in order to have a snappier computer without sacrificing any quality (I couldn't tell the difference between 65K and 16M color desktops).
So in conclusion, to me, the difference is more theoretical thans practical, and I agree that having 65k colors on a mobile device is enough, especially because the usage conditions are different from a PC (i.e. direct sunlight and generally speaking on the go) especially when performances are important over eye candy.
So let the iPhone folks play with their wimpy pea greens and peach pinks, and be happy with your functional no frills 65k color availability.
MaximReapage said:
http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/09/07/462187.aspx
I know, I know, Windows Mobile versus Android, etc...but definitely good material and I think it answers your question reasonably well.
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Mh, just skimmed through this, I'm sorry, didn't read it before posting my previous... It's got all the info and then some...
thanks for the replies. I definitely want the best of the best to be available on my device but i guess in this case it wont be a big deal.
But I have noticed that when i download a movie, it looks awesome on my computer but when i put it on my phone I can see tons of squares (pixels?) when theres moderate or greater motion, which really makes the picture look pretty crappy. This is a different issue no? And is it common to all devices because of relatively small screen size or do phones like, say, the HD2 not experience this?
That, has to do with the compression. The more you compress a movie the more you will see those "squares"...
In a way I don't get it because the resolution on this phone looks a gazillion times better than the whyphone
Where did you see 65k? The nexus one has 16million colours.
The iphone actually has 18bit while the nexus has a 24bit colour depth
This info was taken from some site:
The number of bits used on the iPhone to display a single pixel of color is 18 bits, with 6 bits used for each of the Red, Green, and Blue primary colors. 18 bits can provide a maximum of 262,144 colors (2^18).
The iphone uses dithering to then emulate 24bit.
The standard on PC displays is True Color, using 8 bits for each of the primary colors, for a total of 24 bits per pixel. 24 bits can provide a maximum of 16,777,216 colors (2^24).
behelit said:
Where did you see 65k? The nexus one has 16million colours.
The iphone actually has 18bit while the nexus has a 24bit colour depth
This info was taken from some site:
The number of bits used on the iPhone to display a single pixel of color is 18 bits, with 6 bits used for each of the Red, Green, and Blue primary colors. 18 bits can provide a maximum of 262,144 colors (2^18).
The iphone uses dithering to then emulate 24bit.
The standard on PC displays is True Color, using 8 bits for each of the primary colors, for a total of 24 bits per pixel. 24 bits can provide a maximum of 16,777,216 colors (2^24).
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As a new member I'm not allowed to post links but I know I saw it on phonescoop among others. I couldn't find colors specs on HTC or Google so reliability of the other sites I read 65k on is admittedly questionable.
AndroidPerson said:
As a new member I'm not allowed to post links but I know I saw it on phonescoop among others. I couldn't find colors specs on HTC or Google so reliability of the other sites I read 65k on is admittedly questionable.
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Post the links with spaces instead of periods after the www and before the com
64k = 64,000
16m = 16,000,000
If a phone has a display of 64K colors, then you will only notice 64,000 different kinds of colors; the rest or the 15,936,000 colors will be converted into a 'matching color'.
If you view that in a phone with 256K color display, same rule applies. Except this time, 256,000 colors will be unique while the rest will be 'matching colors' like different shades of blue can be changed to the nearest matching blue that the phone can suppport.
If a phone has 16M color display, then all the colors in the color spectrum can be viewed in it generating a very vibrant and clear picture.
But this is not the only judging criteria as pixel density plays a huge role. Two phone with 16M colors but resolutions of 480x800 and 320x480 will vary in display. The image in the latter phone will appear to be washed out as there are not sufficient pixels to reproduce the colors on to the screen.
This is a very old post but I thought of just sharing the info...
AndroidPerson said:
I was admiring the Nexus specs recently and noticed that with the resolution specs it had "colors" at 65k. To get perspective I checked some other new Android phones and they were all 65k colors. Then I checked the iphone 3gs and it was 16million colors.
This seems like an outrageous disparity.
It has peaked my interest so can anybody explain what "colors" means and how 65k differs from 16m? Also, what does it have to do with the resolution, in other words, the iphone and nexus both have similar resolution (although the nexus is capable of much higher) so why would the less capable one have so much more "colors"?
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whats the size for 3 home screens in launcher pro, thanks!
rsx19 said:
whats the size for 3 home screens in launcher pro, thanks!
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There is a setting in launcher pro that you can keep the wallpaper centered. Its in appearance settings > disable wallpaper scrolling. This way you can make a wallpaper for the res of a single screen
Im trying to make a wallpaper so its optimized for 3 screens
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Well take the screen resolution of the captivate 480x800 and then just triple width. Adjust as needed as you test. Pretty simple math.
sparker366 said:
Well take the screen resolution of the captivate 480x800 and then just triple width. Adjust as needed as you test. Pretty simple math.
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Its definitely not 3x the width, anyone else know.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Well just try something and then see the results and then adjust accordingly
it's be awesome if you could change the shape of the crop piece in the wallpaper picker
then you could have 3 different backgrounds.
I have found that an image of 960 x 800 pix is the best resolution for the wallpaper cropping tool no matter how many home screens l am using. my guess is you wil want to play with your image until it looks right at that resolution on three home screens.
Number of Screens Does Not Matter
It is my understanding that the number of screens you have has no effect on the resolution of the wallpaper.
The only thing that changes is the rate of scrolling. The more screens you have, the slower the scroll rate, fewer screens increases the scroll rate.
That said, there is no specific resolution for a 3 screen layout vs. any other number of screens.
The phone's (general) optimum resolution for wallpaper is about 960 x 800. So any photo or picture will fit best on the phone if you pre-configure it to that size.
Of course it's best to start with a photo that is larger than that and then either crop it down or resize it to the smaller 960 x 800 dimensions. Increasing the size of, or zooming, a smaller photo up to the optimum 960 x 800, will usually degrade the quality (and clarity) of it.
While 960 x 800 is considered optimum, you can put other sizes on the phone too...you'll just lose a small portion of it, or blank space will be added depending on how you use the wallpaper crop box.
ozone777 said:
It is my understanding that the number of screens you have has no effect on the resolution of the wallpaper.
The only thing that changes is the rate of scrolling. The more screens you have, the slower the scroll rate, fewer screens increases the scroll rate.
That said, there is no specific resolution for a 3 screen layout vs. any other number of screens.
The phone's (general) optimum resolution for wallpaper is about 960 x 800. So any photo or picture will fit best on the phone if you pre-configure it to that size.
Of course it's best to start with a photo that is larger than that and then either crop it down or resize it to the smaller 960 x 800 dimensions. Increasing the size of, or zooming, a smaller photo up to the optimum 960 x 800, will usually degrade the quality (and clarity) of it.
perfect answer, 960x800 here i come
While 960 x 800 is considered optimum, you can put other sizes on the phone too...you'll just lose a small portion of it, or blank space will be added depending on how you use the wallpaper crop box.
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perfect answer, 960x800 here i come
Editing the build.prop file to change the LCD Density from 163 to 250, to match the Samsung Galaxy Tab, makes the Nook color icons and graphics seem very cartoonish and blurry.
I'm wondering, do the images on the Samsung Galaxy Tab look blurry and unsharp also at it's default of 250 LCDD? If not, does it use a different set of images at a different resolution or something?
Is there any way of improving the appearance of icons and graphics on the Nook Color at LCD Density of 250 so it doesn't look so blurred and un-sharp???
Does anyone have a suggested LCD Density that gets as close to 250 without things looking un-sharp and dull?
Thanks
I don’t like anything above 190.
Doesn't the galaxy tab use 240?
The graphics that don't look very good are raster so they wont scale to a larger size without looking worse. Don't know of anything that you can do.
Galaxy Tab can use whatever Samsung wants for their default hike of their "native", aka physical pixel density which is somewhere between 168 and 170 dpi. Their approach might include enhanced (for 240 dpi) rendering of icons and probably enhanced rendering of fonts. Both are dependent on how good the device's Open GL ES 2.0 works, especially how much hardware assitance in rendering is involved.
Our hardware might be not involved at all, especially being pre-A2.2 (or I'd rather say, pre-Android 2.3).
As NookColor stands today (even with Nookie Froyo), I can't recommend doing any DPI hikes (like to 180, or to 200, or even to 240 dpi) as unsupported at the present level of Open GL implementation. Some tweaks around 168...170 may prove more productive in gaining better readability though, see it in my blog fineoils.blogspot.com: a recent post, and throughout.
I hiked mine to 170 and didn't like the loss of sharpness. I don't know how people tolerate anything over 180.
I'm at 204... works well
Sent from my Nooted friend...
Also using 204, and it looks great. To each their own, I guess . . .
Sent from my NOOKcolor Android Tablet using XDA App
180 looks great to me. higher than that starts cutting off ui elements here and there. higher than 200, though, starts looking a bit wonky and the status bar turns into a cluttered mess.
180 here.. perfect and tack sharp for me
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using Tapatalk
I played around with my density levels after reading a post from a prominent participant here in the Nook section of XDA.
When the idea of the adjusting pixel definition first came we were all lowering our densities for sharper screens on our phones.
To raise it on the Nook to come close to the Galaxy Tab seemed counter intuitive and the amount of apps made for tabs size at the time was poor at best and still is. Yet so much is determined by software and hardware. So after fiddling with my density I settled with stock 160. I need that sharpness. My Samsung Vibrant's screen is so good. Picking up my phone after my tab was disapointing.
As a photographer I stare and gauge sharpness all day long, so I am probably guilty of over thinking it.
As stated previously, software limitations currently apply so maybe in the future going up in desity will yield great results. I think we have only begun to what this screen can do.
Given all that I surmise its a matter of taste and one more tool in our tool box as things evolve, and they are evolving fast and fun.
from my Android Nook Color tablet,
via the XDA app.
I read somewhere that although the LCD screen of the nookColor is 1024x600, the graphics chip is actually outputting at a much lower resolution and it is being scaled/interpolated to fit the 1024x600 screen. Is this why small text is hard to read and not as crisp as like on my EVO? This is especially noticable on widgets and icons like SwitchPro battery indicator. It's near impossible to read the battery percentage.
If this is something I can disable (font smoothing or something), I'd definitely do it.
I've never seen this problem on any of the nooks I've used?
Mine is crisp and clear.
really? it looks like microsoft ClearType is cranked way up. All the letters are fuzzy instead of crisp and clean edges like on a PC or an EVO. I've noticed it on every nook I've picked up.
This is the first complaint I've seen of fuzzy text. Did they have some kind of matte screen protector or something over the display?
I can't imagine a dedicated bookstore making a (supposedly) dedicated ereader without ensuring it had crisp text.
are you sure the app isnt upscaling, and designed for a small screen?
if they arent using vector images then they would blur in upscaling.
otherwise, i havent experienced anything at all like what you explain
Found where I read about the video output:
GPU Processor: PowerVR SGX530 Graphics Rendering: Open GLES1.1/2.0 Hardware Scaling: 854x480 scaled to 1024x600 Video Formats: .3GP, .MP4, .3G2 ** Video Codecs: H.263, H.264, MPEG-4, ON2 VP7 ** Image Formats: JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP ** (same GPU as Droid 2 and Droid X)
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from: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/nook-color-technical/3483-nookcolor-full-specifications.html
I agree about the text, depending on what you are reading I do see a fuzz around the letters.
Sometimes its poor pdf quality.
I also think the video quality is kind of washed out and not as sharp as it seems it should be.
Glad I'm not the only one who is bothered by this. I certainly never noticed it on my wife's iPad and the nook should be crisper considering the dpi. UNLESS we are actually seeing an 854x480 output interpolated to 1024x600 instead of native like other devices.
wy1d said:
Found where I read about the video output:
from: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/nook-color-technical/3483-nookcolor-full-specifications.html
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From what I've read this applies purely to video decoding. Anything the OS renders from apps to text does not have this problem. That being said mine is incredibly crisp.
For those who say theirs is crisp, what are you comparing to? For example, the text on the xda app on my EVO is much much easier to read than the xda app on the nook.
wy1d said:
For those who say theirs is crisp, what are you comparing to? For example, the text on the xda app on my EVO is much much easier to read than the xda app on the nook.
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AMOLED HTC Incredible with CM7.
I just made a close-up side-by-side comparison of it with the NC. The NC's text is actually smoother around the edges of the letters than the Inc's, while the interior of the letters looks more "solid" on the Inc, probably due to the physically larger pixel-grid on the NC's display. Note that this was from a viewing distance of about two inches.
To me, it's a wash. At a normal viewing distance, they appear about equal and both look great.
This isn't in any particular app, though. I have some of the same widgets and apps on my home screens, so I was comparing the widget text and icon labels.
wy1d said:
For those who say theirs is crisp, what are you comparing to? For example, the text on the xda app on my EVO is much much easier to read than the xda app on the nook.
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Not really comparing it to anything. My iPhone4 is more crisp but it has a much higher ppi. It's just good overall, I mean your evo probably has more ppi(idk the evo specs) so I doubt the text would appear as crisp to that. I mean the text isn't blurry at all so I guess I'd say it's just as good as a book and better than a newspaper
wy1d said:
For those who say theirs is crisp, what are you comparing to? For example, the text on the xda app on my EVO is much much easier to read than the xda app on the nook.
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That is not the nook's fault. What you are referring to is pixel density.
If you have a phone with a small screen at 840x480 versus a screen more than double the size only scaling a 1024x600, the pixel density ill be lower on that device.
Our pixel density on the nook is about 169
ipad is about 133
iphone 4 is over 300 which is why that screen looks so sharp
Anybody who says that the display is being generated at 854x480 and upscaled to 1024x600 is, well, wrong. First of all, 854x480 is not the same aspect ratio as 1024x600(the equivalent would be 820x480, which nothing renders in), so those claims are completely made up.
More conclusively, even a smidgen of playing about with any pixel-related app(Multitouch Visualizer shows distance between touches) will plainly show that the screen is, in fact, 1024x600. You can also look up the LCD panel type(see the teardown thread), or ask ANYBODY that is doing hardware dev on the thing.
"Blurriness" can result from poorly-coded apps doing a bad upscale on their graphics, or from you needing to buy glasses. But the device itself is 1024x600, and looks just fine to me.
What you have posted there are video upscaling stats. The nook hardware cannot process video above 852 pixels wide so upscales to 1024. With that said the nook color has been reviewed to have a higher pixel density than the iPad and I have never seen anything less than sharp text.
MattJ951 said:
From what I've read this applies purely to video decoding. Anything the OS renders from apps to text does not have this problem. That being said mine is incredibly crisp.
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I think this is correct, I looked at a list of 16x9 resolutions and this is what I see:
WVGA 854 × 480 ~16:9 1.783 410,880 total Pixels.
and
Used in many netbooks 1024 × 600 128:75 1.707 614,400 Total Pixels
I think the 848 (close to 854) by 480 is their attempt to render 16x9 or close to it for video. But that is just my guess.
Posted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_resolutions
Also, if you are not aware of it, there is a way to change font size when reading... I have never noticed any fuzzy text on the NC screen. Try a few different things and find your happy place.
migrax
I edited my build.prop and changed lcd density to 150. Everything looks much crisper. I snapped some macro photos of it before. Will post tomorrow.
I'm curious how launcher icons start to look at screen resolutions as high as the Sony Z (443PPI), the current android standards list extra high density screen icons at 320PPI (http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design_launcher.html) a long way off what we're now getting on the new crop of 5" 1080p phones.
Android supports XXHDPI too, which has a baseline density very close to the Xperia Z's 443 PPI.
Icons will mostly be upscaled. There are some apps that already have XXHDPI icons since the Nexus 10 uses those icons, but for others and for in-app graphics you'll probably just get XHDPI graphics upscaled. You won't notice the difference. The main quality increase of 443 PPI can be found in text rendering.