QVGA V/s VGA for GTA03 (was something about yummy CPU-GPU combos!)

[Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman)]

On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 09:09:55 +0200 "Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller" <hns at computer.org>
babbled:

> IMHO, reducing any Openmoko device to QVGA will be the end of the  
> Openmoko project. And I have business reasons to wish that OM  
> survives...

why would it be the end? the majority of phones in the non-japan world are
qvga. it'd be no worse than most things out there.

> There are plenty of QVGA designs out there and I even have an offer  
> and a sample of a Linux smartphone at half the price of the OM. It  
> works, has 90g, Quadband, and an integrated stylus. But QVGA. This  
> makes the difference.
> 
> I have shown a QVGA Acer n30 and the VGA Neo on FOSDEM and LinuxTag to  
> the public. Everybody considered the VGA as better although the Acer  
> is approx. 30% faster (because it has less rendering to do).

for us qvga would be give or take 3 times faster. thats a massie difference to
30%.

> So, where would be the uniqueness of OM devices? The average mass  
> market customer doesn't care about full openness.

the problem is - if you have a nice screen but the engine to power it is
underpowered, you will suffer from complaints of it just being slow then
instead.

> Please consider basic rules of marketing. And, consider purchasing a  
> Device Feature Roadmap from Strategy Analytics (they are really good)  
> and ask what the percentage prediction for VGA vs. QVGA is for 2009.  
> They are good in predictions because they look into the roadmaps of  
> the component manufacturers.
> 
> http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=NavigationHeader&a0=42

don't need them. just go to tokyo and look what's there on sale now. what's
there will be what the rest of the world gets to doing 2 years later.
834x480 at 3.2" is now the top of the line display. but again - you need/want the
graphics back end to fill that many pixels smoothly. right now we are pushing
that at best. :)

but even so - in the ultra-high-tech of japan's mobile phone telco's qvga is
still VERY COMMON. if we want to play the "my specs are better than your specs"
game right now, we will lose. we do not have the sourcing power of the
competing vendors. we often can't even get the better components at all, let
alone for a good price. we get what we can get. sure - we have a vga screen,
but really, how good is that if the rest of the device can't smoothly handle
the screen? it isn't just dpi. if all you measure a device on is dpi and pixel
count, you are being silly. how it looks matters even more. dpi helps there,
but so does compositing, translucency, smooth animation etc. in fact these
probably have a much greater "buy me" effect. by far more. i'll put money on
that bet actually (this is just speaking from having done eyecandy for over a
decade - on linux, and having seen what it can do to attract people). to make
things like compositing fast, smooth and nice, you must lower resolution to do
it, or increase graphics power grunt. so given that graphicws grunt is not
changing, cpu is not, the only 2 things that can change are screen resolution
or the "eyecandy" has to remain toned down. so does vga buy you more sales for
the average joe than a sexy bit of eyecandy at qvga? i'm leaning to qvga +
eyecandy myself.

> Tracking 30+ enabling technologies in the mobile devices market and  
> provides analytical views on the major issues likely to drive or  
> hinder diffusion of these technologies into the global wireless  
> devices markets. The WDS service was first to market with a quarterly  
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> 
> http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=ReportAbstractViewer&a0=3736
> http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=ReportAbstractViewer&a0=3899
> 
> Nikolaus
> 
> 
> 
> Am 05.06.2008 um 14:32 schrieb rakshat hooja:
> 
> >
> > quick question - would you prefer a qvga lcd (save a bit of cost)  
> > since we'e
> > going to need to software-drive all graphics - the fewer pixels you  
> > have to
> > fill, the better for speed. i'm really tossing up if the speed of  
> > qvga is worth
> > the loss of resolution. i'm just not sure.
> >
> >
> >
> > I have a Sharp 903 with qvga, 2.4 inch, Nokia N95 with qvga, 2.4  
> > inch and the Neo 1973 with VGA, 2.8 inch. By far the best screen for  
> > reading is the Sharp one. On closer examination you can see pixels  
> > which you dont on the Neo but the display just feels better, crisper  
> > and better on the eyes. When you view higher res photos the Neo  
> > display seems better but not by much. The N95 is also good when you  
> > look at it on its own and one has no problems reading anything but  
> > when kept next to the Neo 1973 and Sharp 903 one can tell the  
> > display is not in the same league. (the Sharp is also visible in the  
> > sun though I dont think its trans-reflective)
> >
> > The point I am trying to make is that the quality of LCM being used  
> > matters as much as qvga or vga. Qvga is sufficient for almost all  
> > needs on a mobile phone size device and would be great if it  
> > provides cost and speed improvements. But it has to be a really good  
> > quality QVGA.
> >
> > Personally I love the resolution and form factor of the PSP Slim LCM  
> > and would love to see something similar on GTA0X.
> >
> > Rakshat
> > _______________________________________________
> > Openmoko community mailing list
> > community at lists.openmoko.org
> > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
> 
> 


-- 
Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman) <raster at openmoko.org>