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I want nice things: reasonable image size limitations.

gxfx
I want to discuss the store image size limitations.
While I understand that the current limitations (Cover Images & Icons: 500x500px, max 300KB and Screen Images max 150KB) were perhaps justified 10-15years ago, today those feel wildly out of touch.
Today the store images are either tiny or blurry on mid-to-high -range smartphones, which i assume is the most common way to browse the store. 
I'd love to see Garmin upping those limits to at least something around 1024px 1.5mb for both types.
In the end this the most critical touchpoint between the product and a purchase and as a developer I'd like to make my apps shine and not be restricted by outdated limitations.

  • I had to learn the ins and outs of gif compression techniques to publish a 24 frame gif on the site. Its such a pain.

  • I also got the image too big error message a couple of times, but I don't think the problem is that big of a deal. It really isn't that hard to upload highly compressed gif or png. I even have "huge" animated helo image, but since only a small portion of it changes there's no need to repeat 95% of the image that is static. I agree it's a but of try and error, but as a user I think it's better this way than having to wait even longer for images to load.

  • in reply to $parentForumReply.Author.DisplayName

    Thank you for another copy&pasted mostly irrelevant AI response...

    I'm curious though, can you post here (if the forum doesn't let you then maybe upload somewhere and post the link) some examples of images that you would like to upload to the store and Garmin doesn't let you?

  • in reply to Rampo

    Please share any best practices. I am somewhat experiences with gif compression but the limites for the IQ store are just brutal, i'd love how you tackle it.

  • in reply to flocsy🤠

    How do you apply different compression strength per region?

    My critique is not just file size but also pixels. The images are tiny and compressed which means they just look washed out even on mid range phones. This is not about the actual assets for the watch faces but only for the store and i don't think loading times are still a huge bottleneck, especially since we are only talking about a few images per product page (not 4k video).

  • in reply to gxfx

    Don't use jpg. Can you share a screenshot of how your app's images look on a phone?

  • I use tinyPNG.com. It tinifies the PNG and JPG really well for me.

  • in reply to frinkr

    thanks  . my problem is not a technical in the sense that i don't know how to optimize pngs or gifs. My problem is that I have to do it and that the requirements are so aggressive that it is almost impossible to achieve a decent quality. 
    On top of that it's simply frustrating that the strategy, which asset type gets a certain budget seems arbitrary and not very well thought through.

    Made this small overview of what I mean. (Frustrating to not be able to put an image here...).

    drive.proton.me/.../MJYBW6MKXG

  • in reply to gxfx

    I agree with your questions, just one small thing to add: if you (though rather Garmin should do it) want to see the full picture, then don't forget Garmin Express and the website that can be (again) used to search and see app details on a desktop browser.

    But even taking all these into account surely if there need to be some compromises made, then the most used platform to look at the images should dictate the sizes, and my guess is that it's the average phone size and the Connect IQ app (but Garmin can look at their data, they don't need to guess, and if they don't have stats about the screen size, then they should probably start to collect data about that at least in the apps, but maybe also in the website