Has anyone noticed that homescreen images are shown in low resolution?

[Guest Toyota-F1.com]

As above, has anyone noticed that the homescreen is showed in low resolution? And is there actually a way to improve the image?

I'm using an Orange SPV C500, and had a homescreen that has a sort of gradient look (see attachment), and noticed that it looked quite... low resolution (colours don't fade/"glide"). For all this time (been using Smartphone since E200 (Jan 2004)), I thought the display can only show 65,536 and this is why the pictures aren't brilliant (because about 95% of the pictures look brilliant on the homescreen).

So I opened the picture using Multimedia Album on the phone and it looked fine! Nothing wrong at all which is how I figured out that the homescreen is low-resolution.

So... any way to change this?

[Guest geoffrey118]

Yeah I have the same question (even though I have a different device) - I still experience the same "problem"!! Does it have to do with the display being 65K not 256K? or not?

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

The software only allows for 65k colours, so you need to use images that only use this range otherwise you will see a gradient effect.

[Guest Toyota-F1.com]

The software only allows for 65k colours, so you need to use images that only use this range otherwise you will see a gradient effect.

True, but the image looks the same as it does on your computer screen right now, when viewed using the Multimedia Album - it's only when the image is used as a homescreen does the poor lines in the gradient appear. :? And I don't know why... I'm guessing that the makers have decided that memory needs to be saved for other things on the homescreen, so it should be low-resolution.

[Guest XxDrAg0nxX]

I have been experimenting with this for a long time, and i noticed that when u choose a picture to set it as a background image on the home screen, it is:

1) Cropped with a blank bar across

2) As you said a lower resolution the the actual image itself.

does anyone know a way to resolve these issues?

like a registry edit or something to prevent the lowering of resolution? and so that they dont crop it to compensate for the top bar?

[Guest Toyota-F1.com]

1) Cropped with a blank bar across

I don't get any blank bar? If you see the image above, it's 176x200 - the image sits superior (as opposed it inferior or behind) to the bottom tray (the soft key buttons), therefore the whole image is displayed, and at the top, the "G" and the battery meter are shown above the image - there is not bar at the top. In fact, I'll post an image already on my computer.

Snap1.bmp

[Guest XxDrAg0nxX]

You see, the thing is when i use the pictures and videos viewer, when i view a picture it seems totally clear on my screen.

When i Choose the option set as home screen, if the picture is too big, they will show an area where i can select which area i want to display.

Hence if i make my iconbar transparant, i will see this white bar across.

The picture also seems a little lower in resolution too, where some parts are blurry? not sure if this has anything to do with cropping, but if so, shouldnt the program crop the picture to the correct ratio already?

[Guest Toyota-F1.com]

I don'tnknow which program you're referring to - never heard of pictures and videos viewer and also, I am never ever given an option as to what part of a picture I would like to crop. Are we using the same device here?

[Guest XxDrAg0nxX]

I am using the Samsung i320N.

But i always thought all wm5 smartphones have the same built in programs.

[Guest El Guano]

I am using the Samsung i320N.

But i always thought all wm5 smartphones have the same built in programs.

I started playing with my WM5 phone's themes today, and I ran into the same problem under some weird circumstances:

If I use a bg image by loading it with a default theme, it shows up correctly regardless of the size/bit-depth of the image. However, if you manually select and load an image, say, /windows/WindowsMobile.jpg (which ships on my phone as a 320x320 image, for some reason), it'll be zoomed, aliased, and ends before reaching the bottom of the screen, making it look like there is a horizontal bar across the bottom. It may just be me, but I swear the phone is less responsive with such a zoomed image as well (the highlight lags as you try to navigate the home screen).

I took the jpg and resized it to 240x295 in Photoshop, copied it back into the smartphone, and viola, it now works fine.

Go figure...

[Guest vlapietra]

As above, has anyone noticed that the homescreen is showed in low resolution? And is there actually a way to improve the image?

I know I'm late to the party, but I just got my new smartphone and this was one of the first things I noticed (and was irritated by)! The good news is, I have a solution, the bad news is it's kind of cumbersome.

Don't set your wallpaper by using the picture viewer or by selecting it in Settings->Home Screen->Background.

When you do this the phone always does some manipulation of the image and reduces the quality.

Instead, modify your *.home.xml file and change the value of to point to your image. Then make sure your Settings->Home Screen->Background is set to default and you should see your image in it's full resolution. Of course, if it's bigger than 240x320 (or whatever your native resolution is) you won't see the whole image, so make sure it's the right size.

This is why the default Theme backgrounds always look so good, the phone doesn't muck with them.

Hope this helps.