Reduce LCD Density Setting in Build.Prop For Higher Res Look

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Update: I installed Spare Parts, as mentioned by appelflap later in this thread, disabled compatibility mode, then followed the directions in this post, and I have a working status bar, good resolution, and in a better place in most cases.

Update: Check out appelflap's APK that makes this whole process a lot easier. Note that some users are reporting a black screen after using the file, so be prepared in case you have to use adb shell to put your original build.prop file in place. If you do not want to risk it, Notepad++ makes for an easy edit once you pull the file to your PC. If you have fallen prey to the black screen problem, lpsi2000 found a solution that uses an update.zip approach.


In the /system/build.prop file, I changed this line:

ro.sf.lcd_density=240

to this:

ro.sf.lcd_density=160

This is a setting that Google normally recommends if you have a larger screen (like Dell's Streak), but the side effect of using it on the 800x480 screen of the captivate is that everything is smaller.

With this, menus have smaller text (more options on screen), in-app buttons are smaller, and it just has the same feeling of being on a PC and moving from a low resolution LCD monitor to a high resolution LCD monitor.

There are a couple of glitches so far. It appears that some apps want to render in the previous resolution. For example, Skyfire and Root Explorer would not render in full screen, Android Market renders full screen but the search is in the old resolution, and the status bar is slightly garbled but still usable. Also, the dial pad is smaller (as you would expect showing a picture made for a low res display on a high res display) but the rest of the phone app is fine. The camera app fills the screen just like it did before.

With this setting, I really feel like I'm getting some use out of the high resolution display on this phone.

The apps that are rending in the low res mode of the original setting seem to be pulling their setting from somewhere else. Does anybody have an idea where that setting may be? After trying this, I can't imagine going back to what almost seems like an "accessibility mode".

I've only used LauncherPro with this setting, so no idea how the Samsung launcher looks. I attached screenshots of what some things look like. I can put some game screenshots in another post if anybody is interested. 3D games look sharper to me in this mode, but I have no scientific way of testing if it is because it is rendering in higher res or if my own excitement is clouding my vision.

Update: I suspect the missing setting is found in the /system.prop file. It has the ro.sf.lcd_density=240 setting. I tried changing it to 160, but it keeps going back to 240 after a reboot of the phone. Any ideas how to make this stick?

Warning:: TWLauncher does not play well with these changes. Make sure to have LauncherPro set up as your default launcher before trying this.

So you're pulling it off the cappy then editing putting back....do you need to change permissions?

The way that I pulled it out to edit on my PC was with this:

adb pull /system/build.prop

You will need root access in order to put the changed file back. What I did was

adb push build.prop /sdcard

I then used Root Explorer to copy the build.prop from /sdcard to /system. I didn't change any permissions other than just copying the file and rebooting.

Wow man that's pretty cool, it's got a few little glitches but nothing serious. One of the things I wish I could so though is make my Beautiful widgets clock go all the way across the top. I'm not sure if this is a placebo effect (I donno if that's possible since this should have nothing to do with it) but it seems like my soft buttons respond more often....I'm prolly nuts but it doesn't seem like I need to push....push...%$^&*^ PUSH.....and back to home.

I'm hoping someone will have a great idea on how to keep the /system.prop file from updating itself on boot. I'm thinking that if we can get the ro.sf.lcd_density=240 setting to stick to 160 after a reboot, that might fix the few instances where an app won't render full screen.

I've tried chmod 666 system.prop and chown root.root system.prop but it still gets returned to normal after rebooting.

Wow I'm excited to test this out. Couldn't we get someone to code this into the startup script theoretically?

Edit: Tried it out. Really really nice. If only we could get the rest of the apps to work the right way... right res.

One thing also that's cool is in launcherpro you can add more columns to the drawer so you can fit an insane amount of apps on screen.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

Also out of curiosity, have you tried any other DPI like 200? Our does it need to be either or to keep it proportional?

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

Lower resolution works as well. Here are some comparisons. 160, 240, 320. 200, since someone asked.

wow, this could REALLY be nice.. Just need to fix everything, but like others have said no HUGE things that cause it to be unusable, but I would love to see everything correct.