No root and want to modify your DPI? You can!

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PizzaSauce

PizzaSauce

Senior Member
Sep 2, 2013
98
79
Twin Cities
Make use of that super saturated 2k panel!

1. Download the Android SDK
2. Extract it to a desired location
3. Navigate through the extraction to SDK > Platform Tools
4. SHIFT+RIGHT CLICK anywhere inside this folder and click "open command window here"
6. Make sure you have the correct drivers for your phone
5. Turn on USB Debugging and plug your phone into the computer
6. Tell your phone to trust the computer
7. In the command window, run the following command but replace *** with the desired DPI (I use 540)
  • Adb shell wm density ***
8. Reboot phone to have changes fully take effect.

D7JfjnZ.png
COgq5LO.png


mOLerXw.png
R6AZe3m.png
 
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kimdoocheol

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2012
814
98
will.bates94 said:
Isn't 640 DPI better than 540? What do you gain from changing it to less dots per inch? Bit of a n00b since I always left displays stock on phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It changes the dots per inch.

The benefit is you can fit way more stuff on the screen and force apps into tablet mode on a non tablet device.

E. G. Dpi is 640 and the dialer may display 5 contacts. You change the DPI to 540 and it may display 7-8 on the same screen. It is almost necessary with a phone this big unless you have bad eye site because the phone utilizes the screen real estate so badly in Stock dpis
 
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PizzaSauce

PizzaSauce

Senior Member
Sep 2, 2013
98
79
Twin Cities
will.bates94 said:
Isn't 640 DPI better than 540? What do you gain from changing it to less dots per inch? Bit of a n00b since I always left displays stock on phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

The setting determines what size the phone will make elements on the screen.
If the DPI setting is low like that, the device thinks it's a tablet and will scale things smaller for the bigger screen.
The device knows the screen's resolution. The device needs a setting to scale screen elements to a good size for the size of the screen.
So lower DPI effectively tricks the phone into thinking the screen is bigger than 5.7" and scales elements smaller for the bigger screen.
 
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will.bates94

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
174
13
Michigan
kimdoocheol said:
It changes the dots per inch.

The benefit is you can fit way more stuff on the screen and force apps into tablet mode on a non tablet device.

E. G. Dpi is 640 and the dialer may display 5 contacts. You change the DPI to 540 and it may display 7-8 on the same screen. It is almost necessary with a phone this big unless you have bad eye site because the phone utilizes the screen real estate so badly in Stock dpis
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I SEE what you are saying! I was thinking we were reducing the amount of dots or pixels that will be used in the display, overall changing the resolution! Thanks for clearing that up bruh.
@PizzaSauce thanks man, this cleared up a lot. Thank god you made this happen, first time with a note and it felt like I was on a Playskool phone from fisher price.
 
Last edited:
K

kimdoocheol

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2012
814
98
will.bates94 said:
I SEE what you are saying! I was thinking we were reducing the amount of dots or pixels that will be used in the display, overall changing the resolution! Thanks for clearing that up bruh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yeah, you got it. If root ever comes out definitely get xposed framework and app settings which allows individual dpi settings for apps. I'm guessing this workaround does it on everything, which is still really cool cause the only way I know to do it manually is by editing the build.prop. Similar to how you can add capacitive buttons
 
W

will.bates94

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
174
13
Michigan
Dialer app is missing logo and things seem odd. Can't add anymore apps to the screen, everything is just more smushed together. Running ART should I wipe cache via SDK?

Nothing is lined up either.
 
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PizzaSauce

PizzaSauce

Senior Member
Sep 2, 2013
98
79
Twin Cities
will.bates94 said:
Dialer app is missing logo and things seem odd. Can't add anymore apps to the screen, everything is just more smushed together. Running ART should I wipe cache via SDK?

Nothing is lined up either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I noticed the stock dialer thing too. Ended up using a different dialer app; ExDialer w/ Android L theme
I don't know about not being able to add apps, I use Nova launcher though.

Not sure about the ART thing, I'm on Dalvik myself
 
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bobbarker2

Senior Member
Aug 30, 2013
1,604
602
Google Pixel 7 Pro
Just a heads up, the stock samsung apps bug out when you change the DPI. They are still usuable but for instance the dialer and camera apps no longer use the entire screen.
 
PizzaSauce

PizzaSauce

Senior Member
Sep 2, 2013
98
79
Twin Cities
Dan1909 said:
Does this chance persist through reboots?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It will persist until you manually change it or do a factory reset

bobbarker2 said:
Just a heads up, the stock samsung apps bug out when you change the DPI. They are still usuable but for instance the dialer and camera apps no longer use the entire screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

If a lower DPI setting is more important than using stock apps, there's a lot of great replacements out there.
If not, you're better off waiting for root and Xposed
 
V

vdub2pt0

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2011
382
54
AWESOME!!! Everything looks so much better now. The camera and phone thing is a bit annoying, but worth it to have everything else look so good. Thank you
 
K

knldge

Member
Jul 8, 2007
21
4
Main reason for missing root on this phone. Thank you so much for sharing this information!
 
P

pinholepirate

Member
Sep 2, 2011
9
5
One of the four things I wanted root for

Thank you so much!
The dialer doesn't bother me in the least, but does any one know how to change the default camera (it is not in the default app settings) I found a great alternative, DSLR Camera, but I can't set it to be the default camera on the lock screen.
Thanks again!
 
B

bgymn2000

Senior Member
Jan 10, 2012
56
2
Thanks! The size of this phone is pretty useless without this. The stock apps look weird but still work fine.
 
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    PizzaSauce
    PizzaSauce
    Make use of that super saturated 2k panel!

    1. Download the Android SDK
    2. Extract it to a desired location
    3. Navigate through the extraction to SDK > Platform Tools
    4. SHIFT+RIGHT CLICK anywhere inside this folder and click "open command window here"
    6. Make sure you have the correct drivers for your phone
    5. Turn on USB Debugging and plug your phone into the computer
    6. Tell your phone to trust the computer
    7. In the command window, run the following command but replace *** with the desired DPI (I use 540)
    • Adb shell wm density ***
    8. Reboot phone to have changes fully take effect.

    D7JfjnZ.png
    COgq5LO.png


    mOLerXw.png
    R6AZe3m.png
    View
    4
    iridaki
    iridaki
    Thanks, added to the No-Root thread. :)

    A suggestion: you don't need to download and set up the whole Android SDK. You could use this tool that will install ADB, which is all you need.
    View
    3
    PizzaSauce
    PizzaSauce
    will.bates94 said:
    Isn't 640 DPI better than 540? What do you gain from changing it to less dots per inch? Bit of a n00b since I always left displays stock on phones.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    The setting determines what size the phone will make elements on the screen.
    If the DPI setting is low like that, the device thinks it's a tablet and will scale things smaller for the bigger screen.
    The device knows the screen's resolution. The device needs a setting to scale screen elements to a good size for the size of the screen.
    So lower DPI effectively tricks the phone into thinking the screen is bigger than 5.7" and scales elements smaller for the bigger screen.
    View
    2
    kentedman
    kentedman
    I also found this. "adb shell wm density reset" will reset back to default. "adb shell wm size" will display current resolution and "adb shell wm size 3200x1800" (or other values) will simulate other resolutions. I'm currently playing around with combinations of resolution and density to trigger tablet layout in programs without having the resolution so small. The "reset" command on either will reset back to default.
    View
    2
    K
    kimdoocheol
    will.bates94 said:
    Isn't 640 DPI better than 540? What do you gain from changing it to less dots per inch? Bit of a n00b since I always left displays stock on phones.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    It changes the dots per inch.

    The benefit is you can fit way more stuff on the screen and force apps into tablet mode on a non tablet device.

    E. G. Dpi is 640 and the dialer may display 5 contacts. You change the DPI to 540 and it may display 7-8 on the same screen. It is almost necessary with a phone this big unless you have bad eye site because the phone utilizes the screen real estate so badly in Stock dpis
    View

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