Running your QHD device in full HD mode can make a huge difference to your device’s performance
A lot of flagship devices now feature a QHD screen with a resolution of 1440 by 2560 pixels. As the name suggests, this is equivalent to four times HD and on a 5.1-inch screen (as seen on the Galaxy S6), it equates to around 577 pixels per inch. Even compared to full HD (1920 by 1080), QHD offers over 1.6 million additional pixels! While this is extremely impressive, the reality is that for many people there is actually no visible difference at this small screen size between the full HD and quad HD. Indeed, this is why many manufactures have opted to stick with full HD resolution screen for their flagships.
While the benefits of such high resolution display are arguably minimal, there are definite downsides. Driving such a high resolution display puts additional load on the system components, primarily the graphics processor and memory, which in turn can lead to reduced performance and battery life. particularly when gaming or using similarly intensive app, having to deal with so many additional pixels can have a real impact on the experience. Thankfully, if you are a user who is comfortable with some relatively basic hacking of your Android device, there are ways in which you can revert to a lower resolution.This can be done for the OS as a whole or for some devices on a per-app basis. If you use a FHD device already, you can drop to HD in the same way for similar benefits.
Steps:-
1. Root and back up
The resolution settings for your device are stored in a file located on the system partition of your Android device that is read-only by default. To edit the file, you have to root your device. Before doing so, ensure you have a way to return to stock as editing the file may prevent OTA updates from being applied.
2. Manually edit the build.prop
You can manually edit the /system/ build.prop file to change your device’s resolution. To switch from QHD to FHD, adjust the ro.sf.lcd_ density line to 480 and the width and height lines to 1080 and 1920 respectively. Be warned, change the build.prop with care!
3. Use a build.prop editor to be sure
If manually editing the build.prop file is too daunting – and be aware, an error in the file can easily cause your device to boot loop – there are a number of build.prop editors available on the Google Play store. Build Prop Editor (Free) by JRummy works well for a safer modification.
4. Resolution Changer Pro
Resolution Changer Pro, also free on the Play store, is an app that is dedicated to changing your display’s resolution. Remember when you make modifications that the width and height values are based on a portrait orientation for phones and landscape orientation for tablets.
5. Samsung’s Game Tuner
If you have a Samsung device and you only wish to modify your device resolution for gaming, then you are in luck! Samsung has recently released Game Tuner via the Play store to permit custom resolution and FPS settings on either a universal or a per-game basis.
6. TV or monitor connections
One situation where you might particularly want to customize the resolution of your device is if you are connecting to a monitor or television. Resolution Changer Pro (see step 4) enables you to choose an additional resolution to be applied when an external display is connected.
7. Density adjustments
After you have changed your resolution, it’s worth investigating the effects of just changing the density. A higher density shows more data on the screen, but be aware, not all apps will perform correctly at custom densities so trial and error may be needed!
8. Check screen resolution
After you have applied your updates and rebooted (changes don’t take effect immediately), everything will probably look the same! To be sure your changes have been applied, use an app such as Screen Resolution & Specs by K. Lee, free from the Play store.
9. Benchmark improvements
Another interesting step to take is to use benchmarking tools to see what level of performance improvement is being experienced. Since lowering the resolution will decrease the load on the graphics processor, GFXBench is a good tool to use to measure changes.
10. Make temporary changes
Although build.prop changes are only applied after boot, some tools use Android shell commands to apply changes with immediate effect, which is ideal for testing. NOMone Resolution Changer from the Play store is an ideal app for experimenting with densities.
