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iPad mini Are some Mini screens sharper than others?
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LOL
You guys want to compare something that is completely subjective? It's not like you are centralizing a bunch of these and rigorously testing them. You are asking the same bunch of people half of whom can't even tell the difference between retina screens and not to give their subjective opinion of how sharp their individual screen is.
Good luck.
+1
There are minor differences in contrast between displays that could impact perceived text quality (to a small extent), but sharpness is not going to differ among displays. All iPad Minis have the same 1024x768 resolution. All use the same number of pixels in each character of text and in every line and image.
In most cases, the differences people see between devices are going to be differences in brightness, which is easily adjustable through settings. Th brightness setting can and does impact perceived sharpness in certain lighting environments. Individuals with vision problems also tend to benefit from higher brightness settings.
Comparing 2 Minis
I have the new iPad with Retina and I just bought a Mini for my grandma to replace her Kindle Fire. I was so impressed with how clear and good looking the display was contrary to what I had heard and how light and easy to handle it was that I decided to get one for myself. Within minutes of turning it on I was really disappointed with the screen quality. The colors seem washed out and the text is visibly grainy to the point that notifications on the lock screen are almost hard to read. I thought I was being dramatic or exaggerating, but when I got the chance to compare the two side by side (both black 16 gigabyte wifi models bought from Wal-Mart), the screen on one Mini was noticeably more vibrant and crisp than the other. A second Mini turned up with an equally poor screen. Maybe she just got a particularly good one? I'm a little disappointed and confused about the striking difference in the screens. I hate to sound whiny, but knowing that there is at least one Mini with a good screen makes me wonder why the two I have been through are so noticeably worse?
I have the new iPad with Retina and I just bought a Mini for my grandma to replace her Kindle Fire. I was so impressed with how clear and good looking the display was contrary to what I had heard and how light and easy to handle it was that I decided to get one for myself. Within minutes of turning it on I was really disappointed with the screen quality. The colors seem washed out and the text is visibly grainy to the point that notifications on the lock screen are almost hard to read. I thought I was being dramatic or exaggerating, but when I got the chance to compare the two side by side (both black 16 gigabyte wifi models bought from Wal-Mart), the screen on one Mini was noticeably more vibrant and crisp than the other. A second Mini turned up with an equally poor screen. Maybe she just got a particularly good one? I'm a little disappointed and confused about the striking difference in the screens. I hate to sound whiny, but knowing that there is at least one Mini with a good screen makes me wonder why the two I have been through are so noticeably worse?
I wonder if an ipad mini using a retina display, will be much sharper than lets say a 3rd generation ipad.
What's your vision like? I only ask because I have 20/20 and the mini looks really blurry and has the screen door effect your talking about everytime I look at one. I can only think its because the text is smaller so and they have less pixels to form words so it will look blurry or not as crisp if you have good vision. Or maybe your vision is not as good and can have the same effect. Either way get it exchanged. Seriously, if you're going through this much to post about it then give yourself peace of mind and get it swapped. I've been through the same story countless times with apple products and didnt feel better until I exchanged the product.
Sorry, this was the best I could do. Both iPads were set to max brightness for this. One of the shots of The Economist app cover was taken with my iPhone, the other with my regular (crappy) camera. Between shots I swapped the position of the iPads to make sure the angle wasn't causing something strange to happen. Hopefully you can sort of see what I'm talking about in that her iPad seems to produce deeper blacks and more vibrant reds. In the last photo you can also see that my iPad decided that the chart should be grey and the banner a light blue while hers showed the chart with a blue background and a more noticeable blue for the banner running across the top. To get any of this to show up in a photo was very difficult, so I'm sure it seems that I'm making something out of nothing, but in person it is immediately obvious. Something else I noticed was that while hers has a slightly bluish tint to it overall and is not nearly as bright as mine when set to maximum brightness.
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So, it is pretty much assured that packing the same amount of pixels into a smaller screen will net you a higher pixel density.
It will basically give you the same pixel density as the iPhone 4/4S/5 of 324 PPI with a 7.9" screen, compared to the PPI of 264 of the iPad 3 or the current iPad Mini with a PPI of 162.
I had a mini that had a definite flicker to the display. It kinda "shimmered" as I moved my eye around the screen. Looked like it was interlacing. I took it back and had it replaced.