iPad 2 in Production: Thinner, Lighter, Faster, No Retina Display

[absynth]

Retina screen is near certain not going to be there, but still the "similar" leaves the possibility for a slight resolution bump. I'm really hoping for a 960x1280 screen as the current resolution is inadequate for 720p and also most websites are made for 1280 these days.

It would also be exactly double the pixels of the iPhone 4 making a sort of dual screen app mode possible

so here's my optimist expectations:

wi-fi only entry model still around 500 euro / dollar with
1.2 GHz A9 processor (single-core) dual core will be too power hungry
512 MB RAM
32 GB storage
Facetime camera
faster GPU + slightly higher resolution 1280x960
slightly lighter, hopefully they will be able to hit 600 gr
liquid metal back

3G models will also feature a backside camera + SD card slot

 

[0815]

Im bummed about it not having a higher res display, but oh well. I can do with that, but that weak of a camera? idk why it cant have the iPhone 4's camera. Is the current iPad thicker than the iPhone 4? The next iPad doesn't need to be paper thin as the iPod touch. I'm still excited to see what it will be like.

Even the camera is the iPhone is still pretty weak - good for a cell phone, but still no replacement for my sub-compact camera. I think the iPad camera is good enough for face time (and Skype) - and for myself I don't see any other use for the camera in the iPad (sure not a replacement for my subcompact camera - too big for that) - other people might have use for a better camera in there - I don't care too much how good the iPad camera is.

 

[rickdollar]

the cost of LCD display manufacture is largely independent of resolution.

Are you sure about that?

 

[fruvos]

In other news ... bears defecate in woods. pope wears a funny hat.

I mean really ... the second generation of a tech product will be thinner, faster and lighter? Wow. Shocker.

Sign me up for one on launch day though. Been waiting to bite since the launch of the first gen.

 

[0815]

Retina screen is near certain not going to be there, but still the "similar" leaves the posibility for a slight resolution bump. I'm really hoping for a 960x1280 screen as the current resolution is inadequate for 720p and also most websites are made for 1280 these days.

I doubt there will be a 'slight' resolution upgrade. None of the existing apps would scale right. I think it is already horrible looking how the iPhone apps scale on the iPad. Only option would be a 'black border' around the app, but I would hate that too since everything would be smaller than (and I don't want the 7'' view for 'older' apps). So i think its 4x or nothing (and 4x won't happen)

 

[firewood]

The winning specs for me won't have anything to do with the display DPI or cameras or faster clock speeds.

The specs of interest are a dual-core app processor, and maybe an Open-CL compatible GPU. A noticeably lighter weight would also be a great bonus spec. Any of those 3 would make the new iPad an instant buy for me.

 

[ovrlrd]

Okay I'll give you "Clarity", but now be truthful.

You prefer reading books on your iPhone 4 over the iPad?

You prefer surfing the net on your iPhone 4 over the iPad?

You prefer viewing videos on your iPhone 4 over the iPad?

A simple yes or no will suffice.

No, no, and no.

It's not like those things are not enjoyable on my iPhone 4, but the size of the display is too limited for those.



iBooks - Prefer to be able to read an entire page at once instead of 1/4th of a page at a time.

Web browsing - Prefer to not have to zoom and scroll around, though the retina display helps and requires less zooming, it still means I scroll a lot more. Not to mention a lot of websites choose to put you on a special "mobile" version of the site rather than the real thing.

Videos - They might look sharp on the iPhone, but it's not even close to the kind of viewing experience you get out of the iPad.

 

[ehoui]

The winning specs for me won't have anything to do with the display DPI or cameras or faster clock speeds.

The specs of interest are a dual-core app processor, and maybe an Open-CL compatible GPU. A noticeably lighter weight would also be a great bonus spec. Any of those 3 would make the new iPad an instant buy for me.

Out of curiosity why is an OpenCL compatible processor of interest?

 

[ciTiger]

We all knew the retina was too good to be true... But this will be a deal breaker for many people if it is indeed the truth... Maybe even for me..

 

[dlundgren]

It's funny, but I don't remember hearing many complaints about the iPad screen before the iPhone 4 was released.

How come it's suddenly become so rubbish?

I remember the day iPhone 4 was confirmed, thinking that its impending release was why they rushed out the iPad. The instant people saw the iPhone 4's screen, the instant the iPad screen looked like crap in comparison.

 

[jonnysods]

Dang.

I'll be buying a cheap Rev A until they crank out those new higher rez screens...

 

[absynth]

I doubt there will be a 'slight' resolution upgrade. None of the existing apps would scale right. I think it is already horrible looking how the iPhone apps scale on the iPad. Only option would be a 'black border' around the app, but I would hate that too since everything would be smaller than (and I don't want the 7'' view for 'older' apps). So i think its 4x or nothing (and 4x won't happen)

They should have thought about that last year they could have gone for 720x1280 screen last year but chose not to. This year competition will be fierce, they cannot compete with such sub-par resolution with the xoom and others yet to come.

 

[newdeal]

...

the ipad doesn't need retina the display is great as it is. Also its pretty clear that WSJ is getting controlled leaks by now so I am sure Apple did this in order to stem dissappointment from the idiots who thought the ipad would get retina right now...next year it likely will but not now

 

[carmenodie]

Do you know now much those high end displays cost? I don't but they ain't cheap. And don't forget to take into consideration the certainty that there would be f***ed up screens. So just imagine the cost to Apple not just buying high res screen but also scraping them when they don't meet quality standards as per Apple.That is why the first generation cinema displays from back in the day cost so darn much. there was a high eff up rate and the cost was put onto the consumer.Besides, the screen on the current iPad is flipping awesome.

 

[manu chao]

Retina screen is near certain not going to be there, but still the "similar" leaves the possibility for a slight resolution bump. I'm really hoping for a 960x1280 screen as the current resolution is inadequate for 720p and also most websites are made for 1280 these days.

And what would like to happen to all buttons, icons, etc. in all of your iPad apps? Let them get smaller or blurry? Pick one or wait for the developers to create new ones.

 

[shartypants]

The video conferencing would be cool. As far as the faster processor and graphics, not sure this is very useful, at least for games, since I imagine they have to work with the current iPad, unless they detect the newer device and enable better graphics as a result. My guess is that the faster cpu and graphics processor is to allow full screen video conferencing. (?)

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Ah well, looks like no iPad rev 2 for me. It was the rumours of a double resolution screen that got me interested. The resolution of the iPad is poor these days especially compared to the iPhone 4.

 

[Popeye206]

My take....

Faster... a good thing.
Lighter... a good thing.
Camera... a good thing.
More memory... a good thing.
Keep the battery life as good or better... a great thing.

Now I will admit, I've only played with the current iPad some and found it to be a good performing device. So the above should just make it better. The display I didn't really notice any issues while I was playing with it, but better resolution is always better.

As far as things I'm still hoping for is an SD card slot. That would be nice. It would also be great if the iPad2 could run untethered (i.e. not have to plug into a computer) and just update remotely.

A comment on the camera... no matter what you do with a phone or tablet camera and no matter what resolution it is, it's not going to be fantastic just due to the size of the lens. Small lenses just can't let enough light in to get a good pic. So the way I look at it, beyond the occasional "snap shot" or video conference, who cares about resolution on their tablet or their phone. However, I have found the video capabilities on the iPhone4 to be very nice for a phone. Megapixes on devices like this are mostly spec hype.

Looking forward to the real deal.

 

[absynth]

And what would like to happen to all buttons, icons, etc. in all of your iPad apps? Let them get smaller or blurry? Pick one or wait for the developers to create new ones.

slightly smaller of course. Android also handles multiple screen densities just fine, no need to get worked up about it really.

 

[0815]

They should have thought about that last year they could have gone for 720x1280 screen last year but chose not to. This year competition will be fierce, they cannot compete with such sub-par resolution with the xoom and others yet to come.

honestly I don't consider the current iPad display as sub-par. I read a lot of documents and ebooks on it, watch movies and play games - no complains from my side. Retina would be nice, but is totally over hyped (also Apples fault for hyping it on the iPhone4). Well, at least this is my opinion and based on my experience with the existing device (and not some hyped up specs)

 

[manu chao]

They should have thought about that last year they could have gone for 720x1280 screen last year but chose not to. This year competition will be fierce, they cannot compete with such sub-par resolution with the xoom and others yet to come.

Every display resolution comes with a display cost, memory (RAM and storage) requirements, power consumption, graphics performance.
What if with last years technology the sweet spot was at the iPad's current resolution but this year it is at 720x1280?
Then Android devices simply have the advantage of having had more time. Naturally they also had the disadvantage of having no native apps yet and much less mindshare than the iPad.

Being first has its advantages and disadvantages, so does being second.

 

[absynth]

honestly I don't consider the current iPad display as sub-par. I read a lot of documents and ebooks on it, watch movies and play games - no complains from my side. Retina would be nice, but is totally over hyped (also Apples fault for hyping it on the iPhone4). Well, at least this is my opinion and based on my experience with the existing device (and not some hyped up specs)

I'm not asking for retina. My current rusty ol' PB12 has the same 768x1024 resolution and it cant run 720p video unscaled, and also an increasing amount of websites use 1280 as a standard width nowadays. What's the use of the landscape view when you still have to browse horizontally? That truly sucks.

 

[manu chao]

slightly smaller of course. Android also handles multiple screen densities just fine, no need to get worked up about it really.

Yeah, the touch targets are always the same size, regardless of resolution on Android. And no, app developers have not had to develop icons with varying sizes for different handsets. Also, no aliasing ever occurs and apps on Android look as a great as on iOS.

 

[Westside guy]

If you can't handle the portability of an iPad, you should just give up on life.

Well, that's one of the most pathetic responses I've seen here in a while - and that's saying a lot. Congratulations!

 

[hifoo45]

I think a lot of people sure were impressed with the retina display of the iPhone 4 and hoped for the same to come to the iPad, but I have my doubts on it ever coming, at least in the next 5 years. There is a huge problem with increasing the resolution passed the 1024x768 resolution. iOS is designed to 'perfectly' scale and crop websites in safari. The internet is designed for 1024x768 so sites look great in the current iPad crop.

Just imagine an iPad at the rumored 2x retina resolution, every site on the web will have to double zoom to fit within the 10" crop of the screen, sure text will scale fine, but say hello to ugly ugly images EVERYWHERE. Until the internet embracing an higher resolution having a 10" at 2048x1536 screen will causse the need to scale images up 2x so we can actually read the contents of the site. I don't think apple plans on producing a device that causes every site on the web to turn into a pixelated mess.

These aren't computers where you have windows to resize and overlap eachother, you see one window at a time and no resizing of the browser. At the physical size of 10" you will not be able to read anything at 2x retina at the site's intended size. There is a threshold apple knows exists.