2004: The Year of VGA

Ed Hardy · 10-31-2003, 08:32 AM

I predict there will be a good number of handhelds introduced next year with 640-by-480 pixel screens, which will include both Pocket PC and Palm OS models. However, this won't be an unmixed blessing.

Read more at http://www.brighthand.com/article/20...he_Year_of_VGA

Ed Hardy · 10-31-2003, 08:42 AM

As I mentioned it in the article, I thought you might be interested in what Sharp's 2.6-inch VGA screen looks like.

kimmoj · 10-31-2003, 09:50 AM

Now that is small.

Unreadable, but highly cool... and I can see it being useful with an OS that resizes properly, ie just uses more pixels for text without making it small.

I don't think there is such a thing as too high a resolution, just bad design of the user interface (ie if it gets too small, the OS isn't properly resizable to make use of the high resolution).

Print media is much higher resolution than a screen but I don't see people complaining their newspapers have too high a resolution and are hard to read.

I agree though that it will be VGA across the board next year, most manufacturers who do high-end PPC's will put out a VGA model. I'd even go so far as to say that VGA is the first really exciting advancement of the Pocket PC platform since it first was named that, at Win CE 3.0. The rest have been gradual improvements and tweaks, IMHO.

ktdan1 · 10-31-2003, 10:03 AM

I gree this will be a really good time to for the PPC, It will be intersting to see what play\frame rate is maintianed at full 640x 480 video playback.

Also I see a buch of real cheap 320x240 PPC hiting E-bay soon.

Deslock · 10-31-2003, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ed
As I mentioned it in the article, I thought you might be interested in what Sharp's 2.6-inch VGA screen looks like.

Holy crap! That's 308 DPI!

VGA is definitely exciting, especially for viewing photos. However, I really don't see anything above 200 DPI as being useful for anything else until handheld processors advance to being able to keep up with hi-res video (and even then, 308 is really too much for video).

Additionally, proper implementation is key. So far, the only portrait/landscaping switching I've seen that's any good is the T3's. Hopefully PPC and future Palms will follow in its foot-steps.

Why are so sure Palm will go to 640x480? Sure, they could maintain backwards compatiblity by triple-pixelating (160x3=480), but what about apps written for 320x480? I mean, are most modern PalmOS apps written in a way to be able to scale with resolution?

Ed Hardy · 10-31-2003, 11:44 AM

I'm convinced there will be Palms with VGA screens for the same reason I'm convinced there will be Pocket PCs at this screen resolution: competitive pressure. Toshiba has thrown down the gauntlet and the other handheld makers have to respond or risk becoming obsolete.

Besides, I sincerely believe that handhelds with VGA screens will interest a wider audience than current ones do. (As long as they aren't ridiculously expensive.) There is the potential to grow the total market for handhelds. Companies are always interested in finding new customers, rather than just selling upgrades to current ones.

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Any 320 by 320 app can be pixel doubled to 640 by 640, which means it should run fine on a VGA screen with the virtual Graffiti area open. And there's a standard API for handling the virtual Graffiti area now. As long as the app follows the rules, it shouldn't have any problem with the virtual Graffiti area at the higher resolution.

Deslock · 10-31-2003, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ed
I'm convinced there will be Palms with VGA screens for the same reason I'm convinced there will be Pocket PCs at this screen resolution: competitive pressure.

But there are two differences: 1) VGA is an easy step from QVGA and 2) a VGA PPC has actually been announced.

Quote:

Originally posted by Ed
Any 320 by 320 app can be pixel doubled to 640 by 640, which means it should run fine on a VGA screen with the virtual Graffiti area open.

?!?! If you double-pixelate 320x320 on a VGA screen, 1/4 of the screen will be missing (VGA=640x480).

My prediction is that Palm will stick with HVGA unless Sony decides to go to VGA.

RSC · 10-31-2003, 01:42 PM

Am I the only one who thinks that's a pretty scary picture of Ed?

somas1 · 10-31-2003, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RSC
Am I the only one who thinks that's a pretty scary picture of Ed?

My thoughts exactly. If I saw Ed in a dark alley I would probably back away slowly

Ed Hardy · 10-31-2003, 02:13 PM

palmOne will release a VGA model if it wants to stay ahead of HP, who is its biggest competitor, not Sony.

Deslock, you're right, my math was off. Still, keep in mind, Palm OS 5 already supports VGA, we just don't know any of the details because none of the licensees are taking advantage of it. So it is possible.