New Windows Phone 7 developer beta enables hardware graphics scaler

July 13, 2010 | By Surur

Windows Phone 7 has a hardware scaler too. One of the Xbox 360’s secret weapons against the PS3 was its hardware scaler chip, which allowed the games console to create great-looking HD games despite having a weaker processor than the Cell in the PS3.

The latest beta of the Windows Phone 7 developer tools also enables support for this Windows Phone 7 feature, allowing developers to code high performance XNA games for resolutions as low as 240×240 and have it upscaled beautifully with no speed or battery penalty all the way up to 800×480 resolution.

Shawn Hargreaves notes:

800×480 is a lot of pixels!
Comparison: Xbox 1 games usually ran at 640×480, so the phone has 25% more pixels to fill
But the phone has a less powerful GPU than Xbox 1 did…
800×480 provides awesome visual crispness for browsing the web, reading email, and simple games with cheap shaders and not much overdraw
More complex games can trade resolution for framerate
Consider: 600×360 requires only 56% as many pixels to be rendered

Read more about enabling the feature at MSDN here.

8

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged developers, games, software, windows phone 7

KennyB123

WP7 is sounding better and better… keep up the good news Microsoft.
NuShrike

Nice, PR repackaging a feature that existed on the ATI Imageon since before the Kaiser as something new along with all the old tricks of reducing pressure (and increasing FPS) on the graphics pipeline by reducing renderbuffer size.

Max

What are you blabbering about? There are no mobile platforms with this capability.

Wishmaster

I wouldn't argue with NuShrike, he almost always know what he's talking about(although I argued with him on many occasions), so if he says that imageon includes hardware graphics scaler it does

Surur

You are forgetting that developers do not have access to the hardware, so any feature Microsoft exposes directly AND makes standard is very important. All developers can rely on this functionality on all their apps, which is hugely important for developers, unlike on Windows mobile.

hvakrg

Shouldn't they make it scale higher? This would be a great way to take the 800×480 apps and scale them to higher resolution to compete with the Iphone.

iFloss™

Microsoft is going to work on this. They can't stand riding back seat in anything.

And in respoonse to what you said about the iphone. I can almost bet we'll see a phone with true 720p resolution or near 1080p resolution. I could almost bet money that it'll come my march next year.

Once the Software competition is out of the way, when the four major contenders, i recognize 3 being Android, iOS, WPS7 (fourth would be BB), release their latest OS we'll see a hardware competition. Now I failed to mention Nokia because they're irrelevant in this part of the hemisphere no matter how much I'd love to sign them off as competition the truth is in the US they're not so popular on the smartphone front.

Once the processor competition is done, we'll see front facing camera competition, pixel density race, and RAM. The processor competition will then be resumed when the 1.5ghz chips are released which is early 2011, which I predict to be when we see the fabled Nexus Two which will definetly be making sweet love to apps due to its monstrous power.

This is awesome go microsoft. I'm excited for the end of the year/2011

arash

microsoft is not not going to support higher res and shouldn't to, human eyes are not capable of seeing more than 200dpi in normal situations so higher res is a waste of resource. just look at nokia who put 640*360 on 3.5 inch,because higher res on 3.5 inch is worthless and will drain the battery and make the cpu look weak.

Scan QR Codes, UPC, EAN, Code 39/128 or ITF barcodes on your Windows Phone 7 to find best prices online.

Enjoy slots? Blackjack? Video Poker? Play Crazy Casino FREE!

#1 FREE Solitaire on WP7

If your a fan of Pong then you will love this game. Heavenly Skies. Save the universe! Are you ready?

A rewarding mix of match 3 and tetris gameplay

Free, Live Tile support for Word Of The Day and so much more. Why NOT try it out?

Set up reminders with only two taps. Supports also text reminders and voice reminders.

Download the best puzzle game in WP7 Marketplace for FREE!

Are you a good Alchemist ? Use your brain to discover Atomic Energy, Chuck Norris, Angry Birds and 1400 more !

Fun puzzle game with over 150 levels!

Fully featured, beautifully designed WP7 YouTube app.

u.n.i MEGA PACK (FREE), the ultimate addictive top GAMES bundle for Windows Phone 7! 7+ and growing!

Highly addictive word game designed for adrenaline junkies. Practice locally, but then are you fast enough to compete online?

The smartest Google reader app.

Air Soccer Fever - Realtime Online Multiplayer casual soccer game for FREE

Beat the Story Mode. When your done Bring your skill online. Rank up by winning online matches. Have 1 on 1's with anyone! Global Online Multiplayer!

Newest devices leaks, online charts and ultimate performance benchmark for every Windows Phone.

Every day, get great app deals from Windows Phone developers pushed to you!

Quick Tiles, a fully featured live tile editor for Windows Phone.

Great sports app for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL. Pin scores/games to live tile on your home screen.

MobileFax gives you the opportunity to send fax pages from your mobile phone anytime, anywhere !

WP7 Exclusive version of Hanging with Friends

Fabulously fun, lovable, crazy! Bubble Pong Championship

A remake of the classic snake game. The snake wants to grow so don't wait and help her!

Promote your app on WMPoweruser.com