Is the Xoom gallery still have just 16 bit color depth?

[GrillMouster]

I'd appreciate it if somone with the Xoom would answer this question.

Back in Android 2.01 and earlier builds, the android gallery app had 24 bit color depth. Beginning with 2.1, they downgraded to 16 bit color. As a result, the gallery shows fewer colors and instead of smooth graduated tones you get distinct bands of color. Skies, bacgrounds, etc. look horrible. Here's a visual example of the difference:

What's puzzling is that while they downgraded the gallery app (which, more than any other app should make images look their best), yet the web browser still uses 24 bit color depth. This is the equivalent of the music app making your high quality music files sound like AM radio, while the same file sounds perfect as a ringtone.

All the third-party gallery apps in the market, except for Multi-Touch Gallery (Bread and Butter, or B&B), also use 16 bit color depth. B&B isn't a good soloution because it's buggy, and easily jumps to next and previous image when sliding around a zoomed-in image, and it's no longer maintained or supported by its developer.

Additionally, the default gallery down-sizes large image files. I have images that are only roughly 1700 x 2000 pixels that, when I zoom in 1:1 in the gallery look badly pixelated like a low-resolution image. The same file viewed in third-party gallery apps like JustPictures and QuickPic shows the detail when zoomed in.

I don't get why Apple can get this right with the iPhone and iPad, but Google gets it so wrong. They didn't fix these problems with Froyo and they didn't fix them with Gingerbread. As a photographer hoping to use my smartphone and, hopefully, a tablet as a mobile portfolio, that this is fixed in Honeycomb. Can someone confirm?

 

[mboksz]

Gallery is terrible

The quality of Gallery application is terrible - there is no comparison btw. my old iPad Photos application and Gallery that come with Xoom.
That is quite sad.
I am pretty sure it is still 16 bit deep, but on the xoom because of its larger screen it looks more like an 8 bit application.

 

[GrillMouster]

I've posted this question on other Android/Xoom forums, and the only response, other than the one above, that I've received is from a user on the official Motorola support forum that said "the Xoom uses 24 bits per pixel". I'm sure the Xoom is capable of using 24 bits, as the browser in previous versions uses 24 bits. However, it didn't answer the question about the gallery.

My local Best Buy didn't have any Xoom tablets on display, so I'll have to make a trip to the Verizon Wireless store to see for myself.

If it is only 16 bit, I may be jumping off of the Android bandwagon.

 

[mboksz]

I've got my xoom at Costco, but I will return it soon because there is no joy of using it.
Even the scrolling is kind of jerkey.
I think is the combination of hardware,os and the gallery app.
I have downloaded "justPictures" app from the market and the images look better than from gallery app, but still not as good as on my iPad


Sent from my HERO200 using DroidForums App

 

[jfran2]

I have no idea what the color depth on the Xoom is, but in my opinion, pictures look stellar on the Xoom! I think the answer will be to just go find one and look at it to see if it's good enough for you. This will be easy once they get the SD card support working. I use QuickPic for my pictures. They may look a little better than in Gallery, I don't really know, but I like the way QuickPic easily allows me to move pictures around. "Good enough" is the key. Other tablets may use more color saturation to make their pictures stand out more (a trick Fujifilm has used with their digital cameras for years). It makes for a great-looking image. Maybe not totally lifelike, but striking nonetheless. So do you want "striking" or do you want "lifelike?" Do you want to wait until this summer and knock yourself out looking at the dozens of tablets that will be available by then, and make sure you are buying the absolute BEST picture quality? Maybe I'm just old and tired, but "good enough" is good enough for me! FWIW

Sent from my Xoom using DroidForums App

 

[prime]

I have no idea what the color depth on the Xoom is, but in my opinion, pictures look stellar on the Xoom! I think the answer will be to just go find one and look at it to see if it's good enough for you. This will be easy once they get the SD card support working. I use QuickPic for my pictures. They may look a little better than in Gallery, I don't really know, but I like the way QuickPic easily allows me to move pictures around. "Good enough" is the key. Other tablets may use more color saturation to make their pictures stand out more (a trick Fujifilm has used with their digital cameras for years). It makes for a great-looking image. Maybe not totally lifelike, but striking nonetheless. So do you want "striking" or do you want "lifelike?" Do you want to wait until this summer and knock yourself out looking at the dozens of tablets that will be available by then, and make sure you are buying the absolute BEST picture quality? Maybe I'm just old and tired, but "good enough" is good enough for me! FWIW

Sent from my Xoom using DroidForums App

quickpic displays 24bit images....fast

 

[GrillMouster]

quickpic displays 24bit images....fast

I've noticed that some images that showed horrible banding in both the default gallery and in Just Pictures (both 16 bit) do not have banding in QuickPic. However, some images do show banding in QuickPic that don't show banding on my desktop computer. Perhaps those images actually require 32 bit depth (true color) capability.

I've recently heard that Gingerbread has 32 bit depth for all but the gallery (still 16 bit). I hope that Honeycomb has the same 32 bit depth and that they fixed the gallery.

 

[prime]

quickpic displays 24bit images....fast

I've noticed that some images that showed horrible banding in both the default gallery and in Just Pictures (both 16 bit) do not have banding in QuickPic. However, some images do show banding in QuickPic that don't show banding on my desktop computer. Perhaps those images actually require 32 bit depth (true color) capability.

I've recently heard that Gingerbread has 32 bit depth for all but the gallery (still 16 bit). I hope that Honeycomb has the same 32 bit depth and that they fixed the gallery.

The major difference between 32bit and 24bit is 24bit has no alpha channel.

Check this wikipedia link.

No large need for 32bit in the gallery, it would definitely slow it down.

 

[prime]

Large images use huge amounts of memory, even though a 1200x1024 JPEG may only be 300K...when displayed (in full color) it may be a 20+ Megabyte bitmap.

My guess, these images your seeing banding in QuickPic must be too large to display in full 24bit color (24bit provides the full color gamut, 32bit adds alpha) and the quality is lowered to 16bit for compatibility purposes.

 

[GrillMouster]

...My guess, these images your seeing banding in QuickPic must be too large...

I think you're right. I down-sized versions of the images and they appear without banding at all. I'm so happy that QuickPic uses 24 bit!