HandEra Calls 240 by 320 Resolution an 'Emerging Standard'

Works for what, providing a small color box with double the resolution? HandEra has shown that the current Palm OS can support portrait and landscape screens. Currently 240x320 screens are readily available in color and greyscale from many vendors instead of Sony's custom 320x320 stuff. HandEra's design also scales up more nicely to other resolutions (could probably do Sony's 320x320 with minor additions) and provides APIs for that including screen rotation. As far as I know their soft graffiti area API is somewhat separate from the QVGA support, so it should be possible to support HandEra's API for soft graffiti on things like the new Samsung phone/PDA. Sony's screen may be higher resolution, but HandEra's technology is more practical and interesting.

To achieve the 320x320 resolution on the Clie, Sony had to add a dedicated graphics accelerator. The accelerator takes care of the line doubling for backwards compatibility as well as giving a much needed speed boost to compensate for the hi-res overhead.

Handera took a cheaper, easier and more universal (in my opinion) approach. Applications must be written to use the hi-res features. Old apps will continue to run, but only part of the screen is used.

I'm a Clie owner, and I especially love the hi-res screen. Personally, I really don't like Handera's "awkward" resolution and virtual graffiti is really something that doesn't appeal to me. However I do see this technology winning out in the long run, since it's the easiest and more universal method to implement. Unless Sony bullies their tech into the market, of course.

i must be one of the few people who doesn't like the idea of virtual graffiti. something tells me it will be slower, more cumbersome, and not as responsive. increased resolution, however, is a must...i don't care what the standard is, as long as it will support older apps.

I just bought a Handera and I'm loving it. the VG is really nice. It's not slow at all. And the grafitti accuracy is tops. It didn't take long to get used to at all, and now I feel kinda cramped when I'm using my old IIIC. Just MHO.

Oh boy, the one desperate CLIE owner who can't accept why anyone might like some other handheld. Get over it, and get a life. The world has it figured out who you are. You bash HandEra exactly the same way every chance you get.

I didn't like the idea of virtual graffiti either, until I used it. HandEra did a very good job of making the graffiti area collapsable yet more accessible than the "pop up over" method in WinCE.

As for hacks, most hacks that use the screen and were written for the old resolution won't work, not as much because of the virtual graffiti but because of the different resolution. But they CAN be updated, like any other program. McPhling has already been updated, and was one of the developer contest winners. I've been using it on my 330 for a while now, and it works great!

Talk about Handera bias!

WinCE or Pocket PC already have 240x320 resolution. Why would Palm go with the same resolution when 320x320 would offer Palm the advantage of having the best resolution in the PDA business. I know people who were set to buy PocketPC until they saw 320x320 vs. 320x240.

Sony may have shown how their 320x320 works, but are notoriously bad at sharing their proprietary technology with others.

So 240x320 may well become the standard for everyone else, since Handera's willing to share, while Sony sits on its 320x320 screens and proclaims superiority.

"Standard," after all, refers to the minimums adhered to by the industry as a whole, not the top-of-the-line that may be available.

--rueyeet the semantic nitpicker

I drooled over the Clie 320x320 color when it came out. I really wanted one. Then I saw the QVGA of the Handera. It is very clear and sharp and provides a larger actual viewing area not just a higher resolution.

Viewable area has been the one area that the WinCE/PocketPC has always had an advantage in. This is the first step in erasing that difference.

Handera has to front of the line for innovation with the 330. The screen is superior to any Palm OS PDA out there. I think color is currently more gimick than necessity.

As more color apps and QVGA apps come out and the 66Mhz DragonBall is implemented I can easliy see a Handera with a QVGA Color screen that makes the PocketPC crowd say "WOW!"

> WinCE or Pocket PC already have 240x320 resolution.
> Why would Palm go with the same resolution when
> 320x320 would offer Palm the advantage of having the
> best resolution in the PDA business.

Because 240x320 is a standard size of screens like these. They are used in a lot of PDA's, and they're much cheaper than making your own custom screens.

All I can say is, please notice these rules on posting:

• Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments may be moderated/deleted.
• Want to talk about something other than this story? Try the Forums.

In general, all that gets removed is personal attacks on other users, totally off topic comments, and flamebait, which I define as comments posted for no reason other than to start an arguement that has been rehashed a million times before. We had an unofficial poll a while back on flamebait posts and I don't think anyone came out in support of them.

"I posted first" is always off topic.

For every complaint I get from someone that I deleted their flame, I get a compliment that these forums actually contain useful information. If all you want to do is carry out flame wars, there are plenty of other sites available.

---
News Editor

I'm not trying to start an argument, but isn't this discussion itself totally off topic?

I think the main title of this thread isn't very accurate. It isn't 240x320 that they're calling an emerging standard, it's their APIs. To support HandEra 330's screen completely, you need to support various resolutions. It's 240x320 with the virtual graffiti area closed, but 240x240 with it open. In landscape mode there's something like 320x160 with the virtual graffiti area open and 320x240 with it closed. Their APIs support all of that, and handling other resolutions seems possible if they wanted to do it that way.

When I saw this article earlier today I was skeptical. But the more I think about it, 240 x 320 may not be so crazy after all.

Look at these issues.

1) Most would agree a "soft" graffiti area is a desirable and likely future of Palm OS.

2) Pocket PC screens are 240 x 320

3) 320x320 is cool. But 320 x 320 with soft graffiti would be 320 x 480. That's probably too expensive.

The convergance of #1 and #2 make 240 x 320 actually something plausable. There would be economies of scale by matching the screen resolution of the Pocket PC screens.

It would, also, match the one thing that Pocket PC types point to as an advantage over Palm -- bigger screens.

So, as much as I think the current HandEra implementation is "cludgey" (Sony pixel doubling obviously is more elegant) - I do think that this might happen.

It all depends on what Palm thinks...

>> It all depends on what Palm thinks... <<

Actually, since Sony's agreement with Palm allows Palm to get all the OS extensions, etc. that Sony makes, while HandEra's agreement would require Palm to negotiate a license agreement from HandEra, it really depends on what Sony thinks. Why would Palm license something from HandEra they could get for free from Sony?

Palm may get get Sony's software OS extensions, but my understanding is that Sony's hi-res API is just all of Palm's calls with an "HR" stuck on the beginning of the functions and the old Palm API calls draw 2x2 pixels instead of a single pixel. Palm would still have to write new code to interface with whatever hardware they decide to use, since Sony's likely under no obligation to give them a good price on that. That's why I would expect 240x320 screens might be more appealing to some manufacturers, since they're more commonly available.

HandEra's API seems more flexible in that it mainly uses the existing Palm drawing/windowing APIs, but expects programmers to check and use what size the window/screen actually is. So it's not really fixed to 240x320 either, except that they provide functions to scale up legacy screens up to the new resolution. Probably more of a pain for some developers porting old apps, but more flexable in the long run.

A standard can still be optional. There's nothing preventing a color 240x320 screen from appearing. HandEra has shown a very high level of backward compatability. The only way to avoid any distortion is to just keep doubling the screen resolution, which is a horrible route to take. The Palm OS needs to move more in the direction of supporting varying resolutions, not just two square ones.