Anti-aliasing makes text look washed out and noticeably grey color on X4 Pro

[Ashraf-Bashir]

Device

X4 Pro

Affected Version

v1.5.1-RC4

EPUB Optimization

Yes, using the built-in web transfer EPUB optimizer

Cache State

All of the above

Describe the Bug

When anti-aliasing is enabled, text becomes noticeably washed out, and with reduced contrast compared to when anti-aliasing is disabled.

It's expected to lose a bit of contrast with anti-aliasing enabled, but this does not happen with the same intensity on the X3. The X4 Pro shows a much stronger contrast loss (text becomes noticeably grey not black), making the text look significantly more faded.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a book.
2. Enable anti-aliasing.
3. Compare the text rendering with/without anti-aliasing d

Expected Behavior

Anti-aliasing should smooth text edges without significantly reducing text contrast, change it's color to grey، or making the font appear faded.

Side note: it's the same color greying/fading that happens when anti-aliasing is disabled, but the page is having an image rendering, it seems that image rendering rendering is triggering an anti-aliasing refresh in it's page

File Provided

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Relevant Log Output/Screenshots

[davemessew]

#630 Might be related to this

[uxjulia]

The X3 has a higher PPI screen and no frontlight layer in front of the e-ink panel. The X4 Pro will never produce the same quality text as the X3. With that knowledge in mind, what font are you using? Have you tried a sturdier font that is generally thicker? Those tend to hold up better with AA.

On another note, I think you might have one of the 3rd X4 Pro display variants, so I can't tell what it is you're seeing vs. what I'm seeing on my device. There have been some SDK updates to handle that screen variant better so hopefully that'll fix the issue you're seeing with the AA

[Ashraf-Bashir]

Thanks, this is really helpful context! I’m using the updated version of Bitter.

What’s interesting is that it renders great with AA disabled: sharp, dark, and clean. With AA enabled, though, it’s not just the edges that are greyed. The entire font becomes noticeably greyish/lighter, which is the issue I’m seeing.

Your point about the third display variant is really interesting and could explain why our results differ. Hopefully the SDK updates improve how AA is handled on that panel. Thanks again for looking into this!

[davemessew]

The X3 has a higher PPI screen and no frontlight layer in front of the e-ink panel. The X4 Pro will never produce the same quality text as the X3. With that knowledge in mind, what font are you using? Have you tried a sturdier font that is generally thicker? Those tend to hold up better with AA.

On another note, I think you might have one of the 3rd X4 Pro display variants, so I can't tell what it is you're seeing vs. what I'm seeing on my device. There have been some SDK updates to handle that screen variant better so hopefully that'll fix the issue you're seeing with the AA

I do not have the Pro, I have the normal version.

[uxjulia]

The X3 has a higher PPI screen and no frontlight layer in front of the e-ink panel. The X4 Pro will never produce the same quality text as the X3. With that knowledge in mind, what font are you using? Have you tried a sturdier font that is generally thicker? Those tend to hold up better with AA.
On another note, I think you might have one of the 3rd X4 Pro display variants, so I can't tell what it is you're seeing vs. what I'm seeing on my device. There have been some SDK updates to handle that screen variant better so hopefully that'll fix the issue you're seeing with the AA

I do not have the Pro, I have the normal version.

My comment was to the issue's reporter