Intel explains why QVGA slow on Axim x50v

[Colin Dunstan]

Intel has a technote explaining why Pocket PC games may run relatively slow on the VGA-enabled Axim x50v:

These types of applications are not natively capable of operating effectively in a VGA system, as they will only draw to a QVGA resolution display area. As such, a VGA-aware operating system (like Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC) “translates”, via software, graphics accesses from a QVGA-specific application into the display area of a VGA system.

This enables applications that are coded with an assumption of QVGA to operate effectively in a VGA system. However, the operating system “translation” to VGA adds significant processing overhead. As a result, any measurement tests that are specifically designed to QVGA will show abnormal results when run on a VGA system. This is explicitly due to the overhead in the operating system associated with turning those QVGA-based calls into VGA-aware calls.

At least there is an unofficial solution to this problem: use a tweaked GAPI driver (more info).