Screenshot Quality

[Willygoodmlk]

Hello all,

I looked through the stickied topics and other forums via Google. I can't understand why my screenshot from my phone sent through messaging show up in such horrible quality. This is frustrating and seems low tech. We're talking screenshots basic text.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Most carriers will compress images sent through their SMS service. Some more than others. And in some places (somewhere with low-quality service or somewhere that has a lot of users per cell tower) things get compressed even more.

Screenshots from the G4 (and most other modern Android phones) are pretty big files, because the screen resolution is so high. It's possible that the file is getting compressed so much that it affects the image quality. I have the same problem when I use AT&T.

If you're using the "stock" messaging app on your phone, this might be the issue. If you're using a messenger app you downloaded from Google Play, there might be a setting that compresses images so that they send faster.

I get around it by using email or an IM program to send files. It sucks, but that's what I have to do. Hopefully someone has a better idea and can help you.

 

[Willygoodmlk]

Most carriers will compress images sent through their SMS service. Some more than others. And in some places (somewhere with low-quality service or somewhere that has a lot of users per cell tower) things get compressed even more.

Screenshots from the G4 (and most other modern Android phones) are pretty big files, because the screen resolution is so high. It's possible that the file is getting compressed so much that it affects the image quality. I have the same problem when I use AT&T.

If you're using the "stock" messaging app on your phone, this might be the issue. If you're using a messenger app you downloaded from Google Play, there might be a setting that compresses images so that they send faster.

I get around it by using email or an IM program to send files. It sucks, but that's what I have to do. Hopefully someone has a better idea and can help you.

Sheesh, that is very lacking when txt images screenshot on a phone have to be compressed that are file sizes of 481 kb. I do understand the resolution is high.

I have a Verizon provider in Columbus, Ohio. I tried Google Message, Messanger and Hangouts and none solved the issue.

The IM programs are good, but aren't an option when I can't get an entire group of people to download them.

Any other options? Is contacting Verizon a method? Thanks for the input.

All other forums I have searched through, off and on, over the weeks have no real solution. I mean a 481 KB file..

 

[Willygoodmlk]

And yet randomly, rarely, they are sent clear. Just sent a file over 800kb and it comes in clear to them and on my messaging screen. How in hell does this happen? How archaic is this? I'm laughing because I'm not sure what other variables I have to asses. All just sent on mobile network.

 

[ManiacJoe]

If you are sending large pictures or documents, you should probably be using email, not SMS. Alternatively, uploading the large object to a sharing service like Dropbox or GoogleDrive and sending the URL by SMS would be a good way to do it.

 

[jmheino2]

While I was preparing marketing material for my first Android app, Event Costs Splitter that was, I needed high resolution screen shots to be published on Google Play Store. The problem was that I didn't have SIM card on my test device where the app was running. In addition, testing needed to be done with different user account than used for software developing so I had to move screen shots from device to device without mobile phone network connection. In this particular case bluetooth file transfer worked out just fine, no problems with quality.

 

[DeadSeaGulls Custom Paint]

This is frustrating because I had zero problems with compression a month ago.
this is a new issue. and the compression is laughably small.
these screenshots aren't massive images. what gives?

 

[ManiacJoe]

On the LG G4, the screen shot is 1440x2560 pixels (3.6 MP at 2.6 MB in PNG file).

If your carrier cuts you off at 1 MB on an SMS message like ATT does, you need to do some serious reductions.
The trick is to not let the messaging app do the reductions.
Use a picture editor to first reduce the number of pixels, then apply some sharpening.
(Sharpening after resizing the image is the most commonly forgotten step, especially by the messaging apps.)

 

[Perryinjax]

Hello all,

I looked through the stickied topics and other forums via Google. I can't understand why my screenshot from my phone sent through messaging show up in such horrible quality. This is frustrating and seems low tech. We're talking screenshots basic text.

Any help is appreciated.

Despite the answers I've read here, the problem has nothing to do with file size. I have this same problem, it appeared suddenly after years of texting screenshots with no problem.
After reading this thread, I went and compared the file size of photos that went thru perfectly with the file size of screenshots that did not. The screenshots are MUCH smaller in size. So that has nothing to do with it. I don't know the solution, but it's not about the resolution or the size of the file and it's limited to screenshots only.

 

[Perryinjax]

Try using a second phone to take a photo of the first phones screen, then send that, because photos seem to go thru perfectly, even when much larger file size than screenshots.