Chrome on Android Displaying Everything With Dithering/Limited Colours

[Ls Jn]

I've filed many bug reports through in-app feedback about this issue which has never been fixed, yet on times has actually been made worse from build to build.

Chrome is the only viable browser on Android because it is the most natural feeling and has the most efficient memory use. Every app renders correctly except Chrome, what is so difficult about showing pixels properly? I am an experienced software developer, I would fix this myself if the source code wasn't so huge and complicated to build (I don't have familarity with the source or the time).

But surely this is affecting thousands/hundreds of thousands of devices similar to mine.

My phone is an Alcatel PIXI 4 4" running Android 6.0 (issue present on both factory preset version and Feb 2017 security patch version).

I should note this phone is pre-installed with a display calibration tool called MiraVision which may have something to do with it.

This is what I've been stuck with for a year and a half, every web page renders gradients and images with dithering/hatching/limited colours.

Apologies if this is not the correct forum to post in, but this issue should be seen by a developer familiar with the source.

[Tim Brown]

Do you have "Data Saver" enabled? It might affect the quality of the images you see.

--
--
Chromium Developers mailing list: chromi...@chromium.org
View archives, change email options, or unsubscribe:
http://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-dev
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Chromium-dev" group.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/chromium-dev/1fb00366-938b-4676-8d03-bbe0256b4205%40chromium.org.

[Ls Jn]

I did not have Data Saver enabled. Result is the same whether it's on or off. I'll also note that the top right menu stopped being animated on my phone starting with releases from a few months ago.

As mentioned, WebView (which I assume is the same engine) renders without the dithering issue. The only unfortunate thing about WebView is that scrolling does not work on my phone any more (it did up until a few months ago as well).

[Xianzhu Wang]

@ericrk, is this related to RGBA4444?

On Sat, Apr 7, 2018 at 1:15 PM Ls Jn <ls.jn.a...@gmail.com> wrote:

I did not have Data Saver enabled. Result is the same whether it's on or off. I'll also note that the top right menu stopped being animated on my phone starting with releases from a few months ago.

As mentioned, WebView (which I assume is the same engine) renders without the dithering issue. The only unfortunate thing about WebView is that scrolling does not work on my phone any more (it did up until a few months ago as well).

--

--
Chromium Developers mailing list: chromi...@chromium.org
View archives, change email options, or unsubscribe:
http://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-dev
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Chromium-dev" group.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/chromium-dev/9d51cc9b-cd69-4fb5-b488-0ed89f6a380e%40chromium.org.

[Ls Jn]

Is this being looked into at all?

I think it's somewhat important to the 'experience' as it could be affecting thousands/hundreds of thousands of lower-end devices.

As it doesn't affect WebView which is essentially the same engine, it shouldn't be too difficult to fix?

I think it's somewhat important as it could be affecting thousands/hundreds of thousands of lower-end devices.

[Eric Karl]

Thanks for reaching out,

This looks a lot like the low-bit-depth texture path that Chrome uses on low-memory devices. We're aware that it impacts visual quality, but it also saves a fair amount of memory, helping avoid out-of-memory issues. I don't think there's a great way to improve quality without other downsides.

We don't see this on WebView as technical limitations prevent us from using low-bit-depth textures. I think we actually would use this on WebView if it was possible.

We should only be turning this on on devices with less than 512MB of ram. It appears that your device is one of these, but if not, definitely let us know.

Sorry there isn't a better solution here.

[Torne (Richard Coles)]

Yeah, WebView on low memory devices runs out of memory and crashes apps rather often and images are a major contributor to this; if we could do this on WebView as well we'd definitely consider it. :)

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/chromium-dev/ef5c22e3-af01-4066-a796-172b6128fe00%40chromium.org.

[Ls Jn]

Hey guys,

Yes my device (Alcatel PIXI 4 "4 from 2016), has 512MB RAM. It's just annoying as though the device was cheap, it does have a nice look and feel to it.

I totally understand websites and web technologies tend to use more memory than even just a few years ago, but my previous iPhone 4 (iOS 7 512MB RAM) and iPad 2 (iOS 9 from 2015 512MB) have no WebKit issues and are still usable, though I need Android for the great app support.

By the way, should it also be affecting gradients and solid colours? 

To me, it seems like a Memory Efficiency toggle that covers this in Chrome Settings/flags would be nice.

I would really love to use Chrome because it is the fastest and most natural feeling browser on Android.

If not that's OK, but thanks for the information! I had no idea it was a memory efficiency thing.

[WoodpeckerTablet]

You need yo upgrade the RAM!

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to chromium-dev...@chromium.org.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/chromium-dev/ef5c22e3-af01-4066-a796-172b6128fe00%40chromium.org.

--

YouTube    : http://YouTube.com/woodpeckercab

Twitter      : http://twitter.com/thewoodpecker1

Instagram : http://instagram.com/_Thewoodpecker_

Website    : http://woodpeckercab.webs.com/