Caller photo size / quality for external screen

[Guest Meneldor]

Hi everyone!

I have a tiny problem which still disappoints me... I like that Windows Mobile includes photo contacts built-in support. When I take photos from the phone's camera in "photo contact" mode and assign it to a contact using camera tool itself, the size and quality of the photo is fine - seems like 128x128 pixels - and looks well on external screen. But when I try to assign some picture to a contact - either using built-in Pictures tool or Resco Photo Viewer - it comes out in very bad quality, seems much smaller for Resco's tool (64x64 pixels?) and very low quality for built-in Pictures tool. I've been crawling all over the Internet looking for a tweak that will let me modify the default size / quality setting, but failed. Does anybody know if there's a way to make Pictures or Resco Photo Viewer assign high quality 128x128 pictures to contacs? I'd like to see my wife's photo as beautiful as she is and not corrupted by some compression-driven artefacts.

Thanks in advance!

[Guest jbjorklund]

I've been having problems with this as well. I've tried setting every DPI I can think would work with every file size image and nothing seems to keep them from being really blurred on the external screen.

I'd love to get a look at the "grass wallpaper" that comes up during the boot sequence (since it seems to look fine) but I think it's buried in a DLL somewhere.

If anyone has a recommendation as to what file sizes work best with the external screen, I'd love to hear it.

[Guest Meneldor]

If anyone has a recommendation as to what file sizes work best with the external screen, I'd love to hear it.

I don't think it's a problem with file sizes though, it seems to me that both WM5 internal pictures viewer and Resco Photo Viewer only support 64x64 or even less image sizes for external displays and intentionally reduce image size while setting it as contact image :). The question is where are the default settings for any of these programs or where is the program that works fine with 128x128 screen?

[Guest jbjorklund]

it seems to me that both WM5 internal pictures viewer and Resco Photo Viewer only support 64x64 or even less

Yeah, but I'm familiar enough with Photoshop to create an image that would look fine in the external screen, I just can't figure out what size, shape, dpi, etc. to make it so that it appears clear on the screen. I've tried quite a few, but so far, no luck.

Can anyone say what magic combination is needed here to make the contacts on the external screen look less pixelated?

[Guest Meneldor]

Can anyone say what magic combination is needed here to make the contacts on the external screen look less pixelated?

You don't catch it :). There's no such magic combination. Programs you use to set an image as contact image *modify the image* themselves, so that the image fits well to their opinion, the problem is that they do not know that some phones have 128x128 external screens and make images smaller (say, 64x64), and that's why it is stretched onto external screen badly. The only thing to solve this issue is to find a way to tell these programs to resize images to 128x128 and not 64x64.

[Guest jbjorklund]

If I create a 128x128 image in Photoshop, then transfer it to the phone using ActiveSync. Then I assign it as a contact picture using the phone's "Assign to Contact...", what "program" am I using that is distorting the image?

If you are suggesting that the phone itself alters the image, then I would say there is nothing that can be done about it. But the fact that *some* pictures show up better than others (such as the grassy background used during boot) suggests to me that images can be assigned to that screen that would look crisp.

I can understand (possibly) if you use Outlook, or some other third party program, to assign the image to your contact, but this is an inherent "feature" of the phone that shouldn't be altering the images.

[Guest Meneldor]

If you are suggesting that the phone itself alters the image

Exactly.

then I would say there is nothing that can be done about it

Not really, there are always ways to do it differently, but I don't know how at the moment.

But the fact that *some* pictures show up better than others (such as the grassy background used during boot) suggests to me that images can be assigned to that screen that would look crisp.

Don't you think that boot screen image and contact image have nothing in common :)? Different programs are responsible for these images, different processes, etc, etc.

[Guest berish]

im having this problem as well, and am quite annoyed by it. depending on how i add the image, it either is stretched across the whole screen and looks really pixelated or gets shown really really small.

anyone have any work-arounds? maybe its a registry thing?

[Guest Meneldor]

im having this problem as well, and am quite annoyed by it. depending on how i add the image, it either is stretched across the whole screen and looks really pixelated or gets shown really really small.

anyone have any work-arounds? maybe its a registry thing?

Still I haven't found any solution for the issue... I believe there is no such, unfortunately.

[Guest mangokun]

Sorry if i should not post here, but my investigation might offer some help.

My device is a Touchscreen, WM6, HTC Touch.

Picture Quality in

QuickDial Screen      Method Used

 100%                    PocketCM>Person>Set Pictures...>w320_h240.PNG/BMP

 100%                    PocketCM>Person>Set Pictures...>w240_h320.PNG/BMP

  60%                     PocketCM>Person>Set Pictures...>w72_h75.PNG/BMP

(low res. = not enough pixel information)

  50%                     BuiltinWM6ContactList>Person>Edit>Change picture...>w240_h320.PNG/BMP

  10%                     BuiltinWM6ContactList>Person>Edit>Change picture...>w72_h75.PNG/BMP

Note: w320_h240.PNG, w320_h240.BMP, w72_h75.PNG, w72_h75.BMP are copies made from a photo, and transfered into external memory.

Thanks to PocketCM for solving this annoying quality problem.

Edited August 18, 2007 by mangokun