>So.. Palm engineers? Is the original poster correct.. is this a CPU problem
>or is it a problem with the new screen type for handling the color? The
>screen is "spongier" that it was before.. is there an OS fix in the works
>that might lessen these problems? Is this even the right forum for this
>question? :)
FWIW, I've detected no difference whatsoever on my unit (obtained through
dev hardware program) in anything to do with Graffiti, tapping pressure,
speed, etc. The one thing I've noticed is either my eyes are bad, my unit
is bad, or else the claim in the literature (and in several reviews I've
read) that the "standard" backlighting of 25% (did I make that up? I'm
quoting that number from memory) is sufficient are wildly out of whack.
My unit is set to essentially 100% before I find it pleasing. Obviously
this is subjective but I can't imagaine being satisfied at the "normal"
levels.
The thing we've found tricky, on a development level, is color choices.
In modifying our Athlete's Diary application, I wanted to color-code the
three tabs to use a dark-red to indicate the active tab and a paler red
to indicate the inactive tabs. On POSE, everything is great, but on an
actual unit, the differences (between the dark and light red) are visible
from some angles and completely disappear from other viewing angles, with
very slight changes in angle producing fairly major changes in color
differentiation. And this is a hardware-based phenomenon (of course),
which means that some other PalmOS licensee might offer a unit for sale
with different color characteristics. This means to me that either you
have to let the user select the color for every visual element in your
interface (NOT a pleasant thought), or you may need to tweak the app for
every new color screen that appears, or you simply have to drop back to
some kind of "lowest common denominator" (a.k.a. LCD). Of course,
determining that LCD when there is only one color device currently on the
market will be tricky to say they least.
How do other developers feel about these color issues?
Steve Patt
President, Stevens Creek Software
http://www.stevenscreek.com/palm
Best PQA ("ePQA"), PalmSource 99
Best Application ("PizzaScan"), Palm Developer's Conference 1998
First printing software for the Palm - September, 1997
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