Microsoft

Website images display poorly on T-Mobile HTC HD2

Hd2_opera_wavy2

Videos and photos look absolutely stunning on the T-Mobile HTC HD2's enormous 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen, but images in Opera Mobile and Internet Explorer? Not so much. For some reason, website images display rather poorly in these two preloaded mobile browsers, with straight edges often appearing jagged and/or wavy, regardless of the original image's source.

If you look at the first photo from my Fujitsu UH900 extended battery post shown above, you'll notice how wavy the silver and black lines look. Now look at the same photo from screenshots taken on my Nokia N900 (MicroB browser) and iPhone 3GS (Safari browser).

N900_screenshot_wavy

Click on the image above to view it in full size.

Iphone_screenshot_wavy

See how smooth those same lines are? Images look as they should in Android Browser too, but since there's no easy way to take screenshots on non-rooted Android devices, I couldn't include them here.

The HD2 isn't my first Windows Mobile device, but it is the first one that I can remember ever seeing this issue on. What's going on?

Here's a portrait-mode shot in Opera Mobile followed by two shots from Internet Explorer on the HD2, all exhibiting the same waviness.

Hd2_opera_wavy1

Hd2_ie_wavy2

Hd2_ie_wavy1

I've confirmed with three other T-Mobile HD2 owners that images look like this on their handsets in Opera Mobile and Internet Explorer, too. Website photos don't look like this in Skyfire on the HD2, so the problem seems specific to Opera and IE, which is very strange. Even stranger is that I don't see anyone else complaining about it! I can't remember if my previous unlocked HD2 was affected by this, so either it wasn't or I just blocked it out in my blind determination to get the T-Mobile version.

This looks like a rendering issue to me, as web images in Android Browser will sometimes look like this for a split second while the system re-renders the site after a change in zoom level. On the HD2, unfortunately, images look like this at all zoom levels, which certainly puts a damper on mobile web browsing on such a big screen.

Anyone know what the cause of this could be? Better yet, anyone know how to fix it?

Pocketables does not accept targeted advertising, phony guest posts, paid reviews, etc. Help us keep this way with support on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

Jenn K. Lee

Jenn K. Lee is the founder of Pocketables. She loves gadgets the way most women love shoes and purses. The pieces in her tech wardrobe that go with everything are currently the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Sony Tablet P, and Nexus 7, but there are still a couple of vintage UMPCs/MIDs in the back of her closet.

More posts by Jenn | Subscribe to Jenn's posts

Avatar of Jenn K. Lee