[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] elterible:
I have been messing around with the LCD density settings on a few ICS ROMs for a little while now and after a lot of trial and error, I thought i'd share my experiences. I did some digging and I didn't see a formal write-up on this for our phones so I thought I'd give this a shot. (if anyone feels this has common knowledge and unnecessary, please just let me know and i will delete. also, I never tried this back on GB)

General Info for Beginners:

As you may already know, the standard resolution for our screens is 800 x 480 pixels. This is far below that of HD or even qHD screens. What this means in terms of real world use is that icons and text appear very large. Given our devices have a large 4.5 inch screen, it is arguable that this is not taking full advantage of all the extra screen real estate. While you cannot change the native resolution of a screen, you can do a simple build.prop tweak that can "trick" your phone into thinking that the resolution is much higher via a few simple programs.

How-To Change the Density Setting:

There are multiple programs out there for this purpose but I have found the best results with "ROM Toolbox". Feel free to buy the full version to support the dev but if all you are looking to do is change the density setting, the lite version will do just fine.

1. download and install "ROM Toolbox" from the Google Play Store

2. go to the "Performance" tab

3. click "build.prop tweaks"

4. change the "LCD Density" slider to whatever DPI you like

5. reboot

As mentioned, there are multiple programs out there but from my experience, DO NOT USE "LCD DENSITY MODDER" from the play store. This seems to soft-brick our phones as well as other GSII variants based on other reviews I've read and there does not seem to be a resolution at this time. This caused issues for me on TW-based and AOSP ROMS. It's a shame too, it seems perfect for this task, especially considering it can install a hacked Play Store (more on that later)

To see a more detailed thread on LCD Density Modder, go here (thanks kobridge!): http://xdaforums.com/show....php?t=1570893

What Setting to Choose:

This is matter of personal opinion, but I personally like 190 dpi (stock setting is 240). Many people swear by using 160 dpi but personally the icons and text are too small for my poor eyesight. I suggest starting from about 200 or so and working your way down. Remember, the lower the number, the smaller your icons/text will appear but will also give you more screen real estate

You may also notice that text and icons appear less sharp when messing with these settings. Keep in mind that because you are not truly changing your screen resolution, the translation will not be perfect. Personally, given the natural sharpness of AMOLED screens, i think most people while not be bothered by this or even notice

Some users like elliwigy have reported FC issues when going below 190 DPI. If you want to go lower than this, I suggest you search for the thread that has a modded phone.apk that can help with this issue

Potential Issues and Workarounds:

You will inevitably run into some compatibility issues so here are few final thoughts

Which ROM to use?

TouchWiz-based Roms: All roms based on stock Samsung TW for the E4GT were written with only the native resolution in mind. This means that certain apps will not scale well with a higher resolution and two particular ones come to mind:

- The Phone Dialer: The dialer looks like small box that fills up only a portion of the screen. To resolve, use an aftermarket dialer app like "exDialer" from the play store (thanks tenazrael!)

- TW E-mail App: The TW e-mail app (not gmail) also doesn't scale well. Instead, delete and install the AOSP e-mail apk.

AOSP ROMs: CM9 and AOKP handle the conversion a bit better. You won't run into the dialer or e-mail issue like with TW ROMs but there are still some bugs.

- Certain pictures of contacts may show up as way too zoomed in, i.e. messaging notification pictures or the favorites tab (thanks locoboi187!)

- Other aspects of the OS may become hard to read when scaled down so much, i.e. lock screen add-on buttons (thanks phpracing!)

The Play Store Doesn't Show All Apps?

- This is the biggest pain in the a$$ when you mess with the lcd density settings. There is a bug in the play store that prevents you from seeing certain apps when you change the settings away from default.

I have seen a few "hacked" versions of the vending.apk out there that makes the play store think you are always set to 240 but for some reason, this only works for a little while.

Here are the steps to get the market working again:

1. Change LCD Density back to stock (240)

2. Reboot to take effect

3. Clear the data for the Google Play Store AND Google Services Framework

4. Open the Play Store app and you should see everything again

5. Change LCD density back to whatever you like.

6. Reboot

I know this is a bit cumbersome but it's the best solution for now. I haven't quite nailed down what triggers the market to "break" but hopefully you won't have to do this fix too often. In opinion, this annoyance is worth it.

To see a more detailed thread on this topic, go here (thanks kobridge!): http://xdaforums.com/show....php?t=1529227

Everything Looks Too "Stretched Out"?

- Having an aftermarket launcher will help with this tremendously. I personally use Apex Launcher and there are some settings you can change to make the proportions look better

1. Homescreen Settings: Change the Vertical and Horizontal margins to medium or large

2. Dock Settings: Same as above.

You may also want to mess with different grid configurations now that you have extra room but i prefer to leave mine at the default 4 x 4

And that's it. I hope this will help you out so that you won't have to go through all the trial and error I did. I promise you, after you do this, it will be impossible for you to go back to the stock resolution (everything looks HUGE)