Develop Bugs

[Q] Spare Parts font size (CM7)

I ran some searches and didn't came up with anything specific. So the problem is that when you change the font size from spare parts (in my case to extra small as it seems to be the most usable for me) it doesn't stay at the selected size for good. Somehow it changes back to normal after a while. So has anyone came across the same issue and maybe found a solution to make it stick?
And as you can see from the thread headline that I'm running CM7, currently the latest nightly but the problem has persisted throughout the nightlies and RCs for as long as I can remember. This is really starting to be annoying as at least I find the default font to be way too big and makes the screen look like a lower res screen in a way.

C'moon! There's plenty of cm7 users out there and I can't be the only one who has or sees this issue?!

I was trying to increase fontsize on an X10 mini pro (it's got a very small screen), and since I couldn't get Spare Parts to do it, I used LCD Density Changer:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=765639
This makes changes across the whole system, modifying the value increases or decreases font sizes everywhere.
I actually bought it off the market, but there is a version available at the bottom of the first post here in the above link.
Not quite answering your question, but it may provide the result you're looking for.

paul c said:
I was trying to increase fontsize on an X10 mini pro (it's got a very small screen), and since I couldn't get Spare Parts to do it, I used LCD Density Changer:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=765639
This makes changes across the whole system, modifying the value increases or decreases font sizes everywhere.
I actually bought it off the market, but there is a version available at the bottom of the first post here in the above link.
Not quite answering your question, but it may provide the result you're looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeap I'm aware of that app. The problem with that is that it changes everything else too, not just the font size, or am I wrong here? The overall density is good imo and it's just the font size that needs to be smaller. I think the default size on cm7 is too large. Thanks anyway

same problem here
I am having the same problem, the weird thing is that it resets to normal without a cause...

i am also have this problem. it will change back to normal size after a while. i do not know the reason.

Has anyone started working on partial refresh driver yet?

My new Nook Touch is on its way (will arrive on Wednesday. YEAH!!~~) and I've been going through the forums these days.
From the video demos, it seems that the whole page refresh after rooting is pretty annoying. I wonder if anyone has already started to work on a driver for partial refreshing for the general android apps on N2E.
That'll be something definitely good to have.

DairyKnight said:
That'll be something definitely good to have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My understanding is that it's a call from the application, not a system driver (each of the B&N provided apps and tools does this, other android apps do not). In order to have this support, applications would have to provide it - which is highly unlikely considering there are no official unlocked android devices with pearl e-ink displays.
To be honest, you wouldn't want this in most apps anyways - you already don't get full flashes unless most of the display is updated, and because of that, complex apps have tons of ghosting artifacts, sometimes to the point of being unreadable until the next full flash. Delaying the full flash would only make that worse.
The only applicable apps would really be Aldiko and Moon+Reader so they behave more like the stock reader (if you want, I prefer less ghosting). Kindle would not only never get the feature for obvious reasons, but is also hampered by the fact that you can't disable the page transition or change the font, which looks pretty crappy on e-ink (I don't like it on LCD either, it's a horrible screen reading font with too many sub-pixel thin lines, that's why I decrypt my Kindle purchases anyways )

Although I've not got the device to investigate yet, I don't think it's a special sys-lib call by B&N. It's been reported some other apps occasionally do partial-refreshing, so I'd guess it's determined by the area of current activity which needs refreshing.
Doing heavy animation is obviously not what e-ink is meant to be. But for apps like RSS/News Readers, simple web browsers(like dillo), partial refreshing will be better.

Even if it were, you would still be in the same situation. Each app would have to explicitly redraw only the text most of the time, then do a full flash every few pages to clear ghosting. It also wouldn't work well with most browsers and RSS readers, since the page scrolls, which redraws enough to cause significant flashing and/or ghosting.
Take a look when you get the device, but in my opinion, even if you got something to work it wouldn't be worth it for web browsing and such. It only works for books because the text is usually displayed in the same place, so the ghosting isn't too distracting. I would rather just have some on-screen browser controls that made it easy to move around in steps instead of smooth scrolling so your navigation is more determinant - then the flashing would be less intrusive since you could actually tell what you are doing.

DairyKnight said:
Although I've not got the device to investigate yet, I don't think it's a special sys-lib call by B&N. It's been reported some other apps occasionally do partial-refreshing, so I'd guess it's determined by the area of current activity which needs refreshing.
Doing heavy animation is obviously not what e-ink is meant to be. But for apps like RSS/News Readers, simple web browsers(like dillo), partial refreshing will be better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I see with the kernel there is controller that determines when to refresh and it appears to be configurable. Have a look at dmesg and you can see for yourself. My initial guess is that there arent any specials calls needed, just some intelligent drawing to the framebuffer.

[Q] Wallpaper size and selection

I've run across some issues setting wallpaper on my most recent ROM, and none of the information I've dug up seems to help much.
When I attempt to set my wallpaper to an image, I get a selection gallery, and the system wants to use only a portion of the image. My research on the forums indicated that my image size might be the issue, so I switched to an image of the indicated size (960*800). Unfortunately, I still get a crop window to select only a portion of this image. I installed Wallpaper Wizardii; it assigns my image to the wallpaper with no apparent changes or stretching, which sidesteps that portion of the issue but does not correct it.
However, the plot thickens: the ROM I'm using allows me to set a lock screen wallpaper, and that process runs me into the same issue (though the selection window is portrait instead of landscape, as one might expect for a 480*800 image). Wallpaper Wizardrii doesn't address lockscreen settings, so I can't use it to bypass the problem.
If the image sizes I have are correct, why is it prompting me to crop the image? If they're not, what are the proper image sizes? Am I doing something else wrong?

Since you reference your "rom" a few times, it may be good to mention which rom you're using.
Have you tried resizing the crop box? I'm able to use the entire image at a max resolution of 960x800. I just have to resize the crop box to encompass the whole image.
Using SRF 1.2

Gah. As it turns out, it seems the ROM is irrelevant. Trying to unpinch to resize the crop box doesn't work, but apparently just grabbing and dragging the corner will do so. Kudos to you for pointing out my ignorance of the simple solution.

trying to avoid starting a new thread for an issue that I suspect has been covered somewhere (but where I dont know..couldnt find this with a search)..and since this is about wallpaper size and selection..ill put it here!
I had problems with my phone..so I just followed these instructions to "bring it back from the brink"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1052813
I thought this was restoring it to a factory ROM...but before I had a wallpaper that would slide side to side as I moved through home screens...but now it just stays exactly the same. Is this a ROM issue or a setting that I have been unable to find?

slug420 said:
trying to avoid starting a new thread for an issue that I suspect has been covered somewhere (but where I dont know..couldnt find this with a search)..and since this is about wallpaper size and selection..ill put it here!
I had problems with my phone..so I just followed these instructions to "bring it back from the brink"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1052813
I thought this was restoring it to a factory ROM...but before I had a wallpaper that would slide side to side as I moved through home screens...but now it just stays exactly the same. Is this a ROM issue or a setting that I have been unable to find?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good job on finding a similar thread
First off what launcher are you running?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

slug420 said:
trying to avoid starting a new thread for an issue that I suspect has been covered somewhere (but where I dont know..couldnt find this with a search)..and since this is about wallpaper size and selection..ill put it here!
I had problems with my phone..so I just followed these instructions to "bring it back from the brink"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1052813
I thought this was restoring it to a factory ROM...but before I had a wallpaper that would slide side to side as I moved through home screens...but now it just stays exactly the same. Is this a ROM issue or a setting that I have been unable to find?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
El30 tw roms don't have this option anymore with the standard tw launcher... use a different launcher and it should work fine...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

thanks guys! I didnt know what a launcher was even but i saw ur post, googled it, installed a new launcher and ta-daa....sliding background and about 500 more optins i never knew i needed
---------- Post added at 03:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:08 AM ----------
thanks guys! I didnt know what a launcher was even but i saw ur post, googled it, installed a new launcher and ta-daa....sliding background and about 500 more optins i never knew i needed

Market Apps Become Incompatible Upon LCD Density Change

Title says it all. There are tons of threads about this, but no one seems to know heads from tails. Coming from the HTC HD2, (a true dev phone) I know the issue lies with Google. I wanted to open this up for folks to share their experiences/workarounds/etc with this issue.
For the record, I switched my density to 220, and I lost half of my apps on the Market. The issue is with the 3.x market, the "new market" as it has been dubbed.
Discuss.

Indeed, anything but 240 will do this. It's worthwhile to note the apps still work, you just have to switch to 240 mode to download/install them, then go back to whatever you had.
It is a pain though, especially because I've found many apps that won't install, yet work perfectly fine. So what's the point of blocking them?

Yeah, it's annoying, I heard 160 will work as well but anything between 160-240 won't.

Uninstall the market update the apps will download (use the green themed market)

Hmm works fine for me. I just downloaded and.installed a random app. I'm at 200

If I remember correctly, the 3 native densities that apk developers use to 'qualify' an app for multiple devices on the Market are 120?, 160, and 240....
Anything else 'might' work, but with those three, you should always be good.
(the '120' MIGHT actually be '140'... Can't remember for sure..)
<<bringing it since 2010>>

Can someone explain the pixel density functionality. I'm under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that pixel density is a function of the hardware (i.e. the screen). You're not saying there is software that can change the resolution displayed of the SGSII (say to qHD) are you?

AdamLeonard said:
Can someone explain the pixel density functionality. I'm under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that pixel density is a function of the hardware (i.e. the screen). You're not saying there is software that can change the resolution displayed of the SGSII (say to qHD) are you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you might be mixing up the physical, 'native resolution' of a display, (which can't be changed through software), and the 'density setting' of that resolution, which can be easily changed....
Here's a basic rundown:
* RESOLUTION =The total number of physical pixels on a screen. (from the manufacturer)
* DENSITY=the spread of those pixels across the physical width and height of the screen. (still related to the resolution, but also completely adjustable.)
It'd be like cramming 1 pound of feathers into a small paper bag versus cramming 5 pounds of feathers into the same sized bag. The bag doesn't change, but the "density" of the feathers in each bag is different.
Capiche?
***Edit: someone PLEASE chime in if I've explained this incorrectly.

mazook98 said:
I think you might be mixing up the physical, 'native resolution' of a display, (which can't be changed through software), and the 'density setting' of that resolution, which can be easily changed....
Here's a basic rundown:
* RESOLUTION =The total number of physical pixels on a screen. (from the manufacturer)
* DENSITY=the spread of those pixels across the physical width and height of the screen. (still related to the resolution, but also completely adjustable.)
It'd be like cramming 1 pound of feathers into a small paper bag versus cramming 5 pounds of feathers into the same sized bag. The bag doesn't change, but the "density" of the feathers in each bag is different.
Capiche?
***Edit: someone PLEASE chime in if I've explained this incorrectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a pretty good analogy actually.. good job..
Tapatalkin' it from my Epic Touch 3g

mazook98 said:
I think you might be mixing up the physical, 'native resolution' of a display, (which can't be changed through software), and the 'density setting' of that resolution, which can be easily changed....
Here's a basic rundown:
* RESOLUTION =The total number of physical pixels on a screen. (from the manufacturer)
* DENSITY=the spread of those pixels across the physical width and height of the screen. (still related to the resolution, but also completely adjustable.)
It'd be like cramming 1 pound of feathers into a small paper bag versus cramming 5 pounds of feathers into the same sized bag. The bag doesn't change, but the "density" of the feathers in each bag is different.
Capiche?
***Edit: someone PLEASE chime in if I've explained this incorrectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a good analogy, but the issue is app by app. Developers are limiting which devices can download their apps, based on LCD density. The issue is with the new market, and Google is not fixing the issue.

agentfazexx said:
That's a good analogy, but the issue is app by app. Developers are limiting which devices can download their apps, based on LCD density. The issue is with the new market, and Google is not fixing the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, do the previous "big 3" in native densities not hold true anymore?
Are 120, 160, and 240 not reliable settings for multiple-device apps?
I haven't checked in a while, because, unlike a few devices i've run before that were set, say, to 161, my phones now ARE set at 160 and 240, so I wouldn't be able to tell you about any variants that don't work @ other settings.
<<work in progress>>

mazook98 said:
So, do the previous "big 3" in native densities not hold true anymore?
Are 120, 160, and 240 not reliable settings for multiple-device apps?
I haven't checked in a while, because, unlike a few devices i've run before that were set, say, to 161, my phones now ARE set at 160 and 240, so I wouldn't be able to tell you about any variants that don't work @ other settings.
<<work in progress>>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
167, 220, none of those work. Half of my apps disappear. Last I heard, the limit for apps not disappearing off of "My Apps" was 219, but I just set it to 220 yesterday and it happened.

Ill say it again, uninstall the market update and download the app, the market will update itself again afterwards.

OK.. To be clearer: I've never had issues 'losing apps' or 'apps not working' at 160, or 240. Those densities are kind of embedded into how the Market works.
So, if you wanna try 167, or 208, or Pi, or whatever, I'd expect to 'lose some apps', or at least the ability to download them.
(BTW, I'm probably the biggest honk on the planet when it comes to how important screen density is when it comes to Android applications.)
<<work in progress>>

i really have no clue what is going on, but where do you go to change and see this "density" thing?
is it Touchwiz? cause im using launcher pro

DonutGrunt said:
i really have no clue what is going on, but where do you go to change and see this "density" thing?
is it Touchwiz? cause im using launcher pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/android-tablet-usage-tips-tricks/9444-lcd-density-explained.html
First link on Google after searching for lcd density.
Google's your friend.

Just changed to 160 and everything seems like it's still there. I'll report back in a couple hours with further info.

I also changed the dpi to 160, apps that didn't let me download (nvidia tetra zone, Facebook) let me install now, but now things look weird in the pull down bar. I prefer 200 dpi.

phatmanxxl said:
I also changed the dpi to 160, apps that didn't let me download (nvidia tetra zone, Facebook) let me install now, but now things look weird in the pull down bar. I prefer 200 dpi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah 160 is still working fine. I have the SGSII (as you can tell from my signature) and things look fine still. Using ADW launcher.

agentfazexx said:
Yeah 160 is still working fine. I have the SGSII (as you can tell from my signature) and things look fine still. Using ADW launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here.

[Q] Any way to improve text sharpness of web browsing?

I'm finding the standard text size on a lot of non-mobile websites very difficult to read. After comparing to my iphone its just not sharp at all. I have to enlarge it to get it readable, and the double-tap-to-zoom feature just sucks. Pinch to zoom is a non-option for one-handed use.
I've tried increasing the text scaling option, and this does the trick when raised to 150%, but then all of the larger text on mobile websites or similar are ridiculously large and unusable. I've also tried raising the minimum font size, and in the little image of the font sizes this does the trick since it makes the "tiny" and "small" sizes much larger but doesn't affect the larger ones, however, this doesn't seem to actually do anything in practice.
I've tried using other browsers (Dolphin HD), but though they work, they're buggy and they don't really fix the problem I'm having anyway.
Anyone have any suggestions for better browsing? As it stands right now, I really prefer iphone browsing (not flaming here) just because 1. text is really sharp, and 2. double-tap-to-zoom is awesome and works perfectly. I thought with the much larger display, the Galaxy Nexus would be perfect for mobile browsing, but I'm finding that I have to zoom in no matter what to see what I want, so I'm not sure the res is really helping me.
Edit - Here's a thread talking about the problem with double tap zoom:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1373398&highlight=tap+zoom
and
http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-nexus/141437-browser-autozoom-issue.html

Why do you feel double tap zoom sucks?

aznxk3vi17 said:
Why do you feel double tap zoom sucks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because it's very hit or miss as to whether it zooms on what it's supposed to. Even a pretty well defined block of text is often cut off after I use it. Plus, it doesn't work at ALL without auto-fit pages enabled, and that just makes webpages look like crap.

if you are just trying to actually READ what's there, the reflow works very well. Haven't had any issues with it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

You can also change the minimum font size in settings?

I just don't get this.
I got the nexus out and tested it on several websites, mobile and desktop versions. Everything displayed perfect, and was easy to read at an arms length away.
What really doesn't add up is the comparison to the iPhone. Both screen are high resolution with the Nexus having a better contrast ratio, and deeper blacks. Because they both are high resolution how would a screen almost half the size have larger font?
I'm not a big nexus guy or anything, it just doest add up to me, but I could be wrong.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda premium

kangxi said:
if you are just trying to actually READ what's there, the reflow works very well. Haven't had any issues with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make no mistake - there IS no "reflow"...yet. Gingerbread reflows just fine, but ICS has yet to implement this feature (at least as of my official build). what they have is a feature called auto-fit pages. Basically this just puts all of the text into a column of sorts, and does NOT dynamically render the text correctly no matter what zoom state you're in. It's very much inferior to actual reflow, which I'm dying for.
Dakota0206 said:
I just don't get this.
I got the nexus out and tested it on several websites, mobile and desktop versions. Everything displayed perfect, and was easy to read at an arms length away.
What really doesn't add up is the comparison to the iPhone. Both screen are high resolution with the Nexus having a better contrast ratio, and deeper blacks. Because they both are high resolution how would a screen almost half the size have larger font?
I'm not a big nexus guy or anything, it just doest add up to me, but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look, I'm not hating, as I have and love my Galaxy Nexus, and I use it WAY more than my iphone (which I'm considering selling), but have you actually used the iphone 4S? (or 4 for that matter) The screen is amazing, and just as much so as the HD AMOLED in the GN... maybe more so, except the pitiful size. True, the contrast isn't "near infinite" like an AMOLED screen, but this is somewhat an academic number for bragging rights. After all, a very dark screen of infinitesimally above zero would have a much (infinitely, in fact) lower contrast than infinite. Regardless, it's about more than specs, and the text on the iphone is insanely sharp. I would have thought with the PPI on the GN being what it is (nearly parity with the iphone), it would be the same, but it's definitely not. I don't know if its the pentile, or what, but I'm just calling it like I see it.
Regardless, does any of this actually answer the question? Not to be an ass, but why would you come into my [Q] thread just to say - essentially - "this problem doesn't exist"?

Neon01 said:
I'm finding the standard text size on a lot of non-mobile websites very difficult to read. After comparing to my iphone its just not sharp at all. I have to enlarge it to get it readable, and the double-tap-to-zoom feature just sucks. Pinch to zoom is a non-option for one-handed use.
(...)
Anyone have any suggestions for better browsing? As it stands right now, I really prefer iphone browsing (not flaming here) just because 1. text is really sharp, and 2. double-tap-to-zoom is awesome and works perfectly. I thought with the much larger display, the Galaxy Nexus would be perfect for mobile browsing, but I'm finding that I have to zoom in no matter what to see what I want, so I'm not sure the res is really helping me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are generally right that text/paragraph formatting looks ugly in ICS browser (and actually I made comparison a few weeks ago to show exactly this: http://imgur.com/B6Lx6) though it also has its advantages.
For instance go to hardocp.com and open some article on both iPhone and your GNex - the page will be barely readable on iPhone and will be just fine on GNex, thanks to that "ugly" column formatting thing.
Honestly I learned to live with that; it's just ugly on page overview, doesn't matter at all when you are actually reading the content.
Though, you also brought up another problem which is annoying the hell out of me: on many pages double tap shows bad paragraph/place. I double tap a text in some column, and it zooms & scrolls to a completely different piece of the page, forcing me to scroll back manually to the content I was interested in. Very annoying. I hope they will fix that bug soon. It's still not fixed in 4.0.3, as I tested it already.

macfre said:
You are generally right that text/paragraph formatting looks ugly in ICS browser (and actually I made comparison a few weeks ago to show exactly this: http://imgur.com/B6Lx6) though it also has its advantages.
For instance go to hardocp.com and open some article on both iPhone and your GNex - the page will be barely readable on iPhone and will be just fine on GNex, thanks to that "ugly" column formatting thing.
Honestly I learned to live with that; it's just ugly on page overview, doesn't matter at all when you are actually reading the content.
Though, you also brought up another problem which is annoying the hell out of me: on many pages double tap shows bad paragraph/place. I double tap a text in some column, and it zooms & scrolls to a completely different piece of the page, forcing me to scroll back manually to the content I was interested in. Very annoying. I hope they will fix that bug soon. It's still not fixed in 4.0.3, as I tested it already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem seems to be that for whatever reason they have decided (or its bugged) reflow the text as the page loads Instead of doing it dynamically on double tap ala pre ICS. Which makes the overview mode look like crap.
Considering ICS was supposed to be a giant leap forward in everything for Android including UI, and by doing this they have made web pages look ugly.
One of the best things about Android is the dynamic text reflow and i hope they bring it back or get rid of the bug that's stopping it from happening. I can't believe they would have sat round in a meeting and actively thought this would be a better solution.