[Q] Why Google Contacts doesn't support Hi Resolution pictures?

[emmarbee]

Hi,
This question had already been posted in 'Android Q&A' section few days back, but didn't get any reply. Hope someone can help me with this problem here.

The new ICS 'People' app allows us to use higher resolution images for contacts. And it looks great on big screens. So I spent a lot of time, updating the contacts with high resolution photos. Also I made sure that I 'Sync' ed the contacts after it is done. But now, after doing a factory reset, when I tried to sync back the contacts, it is loading only the low resolution photos of the new updated pictures and not the high resolution of those pics. I checked in GMAIL->Contacts and found they have the same low resolution ones.

Isn't there a way to sync high resolution pictures in Google Contacts?

 

[Lithoss]

I'd also be interested in this. Its the Google account that saves the pictures in a tiny resolution. It looks horrible when synced to ICS.

 

[neok44]

there are three ways to get high resolution pictures.

First, and the only real correct way, is to use Google+. downside is that unless your contacts are on G+ they won't get a high res picture.

Secondly, use haxsync to sync facebook with your phone.

third, manually set high res pictures for every single contact. But yes everytime you wipe your phone you'll have to redo this. However, on normal useage it seems to keep them. i know my phone has synced a few times yet i still have the high resolution pictures on my phone for 3 contacts that are not on G+ and i've rebooted or shut down the phone at least a dozen times, even flashed rom updates and they kept the pictures.

 

[gokpog]

This issue has been discussed here many times.
Short, every time you sync a google contact with a picture from google to your phone it will have the ugly 96*96 resolution. There is no way around it until the contacts team changes this restriction. They are aware of the issue but no word if or when a change is coming: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=49e2b1adea1aa11c&hl=en

 

[Lithoss]

So wouldn't syncing your Facebook pics also be temporary since it probably saves the pics locally?

Here's to hoping Google ups the resolution of Google contacts for those who have lots if contacts that aren't on Google+ and wipe their phones often...

 

[neok44]

So wouldn't syncing your Facebook pics also be temporary since it probably saves the pics locally?

Here's to hoping Google ups the resolution of Google contacts for those who have lots if contacts that aren't on Google+ and wipe their phones often...

no, if you use Google+ or Facebook Sync the pictures are high resolution. thats because it saves that picture to your phone in addition to the google contact picture, but uses the high res G+ or FB picture.

 

[emmarbee]

This issue has been discussed here many times.
Short, every time you sync a google contact with a picture from google to your phone it will have the ugly 96*96 resolution. There is no way around it until the contacts team changes this restriction. They are aware of the issue but no word if or when a change is coming: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=49e2b1adea1aa11c&hl=en

That's too bad! What the f does G+ has anything to do with contacts photo sync. If I want to have a high res photos of my granpa and granny, should I ask them to be on G+? (One can even imagine them being on FB, but G+????)
Also now, too many devices are going to get the 4.0 update and this issue's gonna look terrible!

 

[Evangelion01]

Even if you manually add pictures to each contact (which I did), the pictures still aren't very high resolution. ICS still resizes the images, leaving them much less sharp than the pictures I originally chose.

 

[emmarbee]

If we report these issues to GSMArena or other such websites, will they publish it? So that Google might consider it seriously... Like filling in a petition

 

[namelessrabbit]

I actually though about just this too.

It's apalling that Google doesn't listen to thousands of frustrated users, but hopefully they will listen to big and influential websites like GSMarena.
So we would need people with good contact to the authors of these pages.
Anybody around here knowing one or more authors?

 

[RogerPodacter]

Its already being fixed.

 

[chjade84]

Its already being fixed.

I would like to see a link or something to that.

It's not that I don't believe you but I've seen this problem reported for a loooong time and it's yet to be fixed. I can't say for sure since I'm not a dev for Google but this "fix" should take maybe a week max.

 

[emmarbee]

Its already being fixed.

for the past one year? They should've fixed it before releasing galaxy nexus. as of now haxsync is the only lifesaver. Not only for High Resolution picture, but also for Facebook sync

 

[blueseeker]

Is it fixed?

 

[JoeSyr]

Hah. Google forum thread:
http://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!category-topic/gmail/android/MIt6-tdZZPk

Android bugtracker:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3870

Google+ comment stream:
https://plus.google.com/109941711245243963357/posts/YBMTuysqm3B

Months of people shouting the same complaint and google employees chiming in with varying degrees of "working on it" and no progress.

Seems like for whatever reason, someone somewhere thinks it's better to say nothing than to tell people that it'll be a while. That or someone at google is just really bad at their job.

 

[adrynalyne]

for the past one year? They should've fixed it before releasing galaxy nexus. as of now haxsync is the only lifesaver. Not only for High Resolution picture, but also for Facebook sync

Facebook sync is Facebook's fault. The API is there, they are just lazy.

 

[songokuj5]

I'm very disappointed, this bug is very annoying.

 

[zapek666]

The bigger a company is, the slower they become. Instead of having one guy do the work and fix it, you need to pass through several layers of approval and people "management" which get in the way. Not only is the request lost several times in between but even if someone at the company wants to fix it, they're told to do something else or fear the risk of being fired.

This is why progress is often achieved by small groups or individuals.

 

[kookooktchoo]

If we report these issues to GSMArena or other such websites, will they publish it? So that Google might consider it seriously... Like filling in a petition

This really sounds like it could work. It's unfortunate but there's generally little incentive to change something unless a fuss is made. Look at what happened with Siri and the "best phone ever" question (Lumiagate). This stuff happens in politics all the time. Nothing gets changed until the press has a field day with it.

This is why progress is often achieved by small groups or individuals.

That's a good way of putting it. I wish this was fixed because I love seeing high-res pictures in my caller id. Unfortunately, none of my friends use Google+ and I don't use Facebook. Currently I just update the pictures of people who I've starred and, every now and then, I'll update the pictures of people I happen to have on my phone at the moment. I hope it gets fixed by the time JB is dropped.

 

[B4-Hunter]

Maybe it's cause of bandwitch or older phones that will use 96 x 96. That's why they are thinking how to get around this... Let's hope that they will soon fix this issue.