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

Are we getting spoiled?

You know... I just checked the resolution of my four year old MacBook Pro to compare it to the iPad and with the size difference it's about the same effective resolution. To me, it looks fine. Of course, the iPhone4 looks amazing... did the iPhone 4 just spoil us and we need "amazing" now to be happy?
 
manu chao said:
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.
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it's neither more expensive compared to the resolution of the ipad nor is it a much higher density. It's just a different form factor that would have made the ipad better suited for web browsing and hi-def video.
 
I got "permission" to order an iPad. This close to release, I said I will hold off for the iPad 2.

Regardless of the same display, I will have the "newest" gizmo (for about a year).

Yeah, it may hurt if a new one comes out in 2012 with a super-high-res display...
 
Popeye206 said:
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.
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So glad to see someone else understanding how digital camera sensors really work. Actually you say the "size of the lens" when it is really the size of the sensor that is the most important, but both factor in. In any case at least you don't fall for the "megahype" that most people do. At the very best the camera in these devices might be able to compete with low end consumer cameras, which is still pretty impressive (the iPhone 4 is), but there is a serious lack of detail still.

The photos I take on my iPhone 4 I usually shrink down 50-75% of the output size just to hide some of the noise, and that is after I denoise it and fix the contrast. As long as they aren't at 100% source size it's hard to tell they were even taken from a phone. But I would never want to print one of these photos out. As for video, the rolling shutter effect is really difficult to work with, but if you can stabilize it a bit it isn't too bad. It is still better video than low end consumer cams though.

Either way, I don't know why anyone would ever be excited for cameras on any iDevice except for using FaceTime.
 
Ok, producing an iPad with a RETINA display would be so expensive right now that Apple would be forced to sell the device for a lot more than people expect to pay. A retina display would be nice, but it is not cheap enough at this time to put into the iPad 2. I would like to know if there are ANY screen changes. The addition of facetime alone, for me, is a great feature (even if we knew it would have it before any mention of the ipad was made.)
 
camomac said:
how hard is it to release this for t-mobile?
come on apple this is starting to get very old!
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Everyone talks about wanting the iPhone on T-mobile because of the lower cost of their plans. Does everyone who asks this w=question believe that T-mobile would be able to fork over $400 per phone to Apple and still maintain a lower plan price, while remaining profitable?
 
hifoo45 said:
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.
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Can you explain me why four smaller pixels taking up the same space as one larger pixel would look any different then the latter?
Of course, there are tiny gaps between the four smaller pixels but if you cannot see the gaps between the current iPad pixels, I doubt you would see them when are scaled down by a factor of two.
 
absynth said:
it's neither more expensive compared to the resolution of the ipad nor is it a much higher density.
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No, two displays with different resolutions cost exactly the same (see 15" MBP for example) and no the power of graphic processors is not what is limiting the maximum display resolution (in number of pixels). The fact that graphic cards come with a maximum supported resolution is certainly not related their computing power.
You are completely right.
 
What?

dal20402 said:
Not a surprise, but for me... no 2048x1536, no sale.

The existing iPad is no better at content consumption than my 13" MBP.

When the screen is sharp enough to make reading easier, I'll buy one.
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I have an iPad (love it) and a MacBook Air 13" (Love it even more) - but I use each for different reasons. I travel a TON and bring both - my iPad for media consumption and my MBA for work. Yeah - got an iphone 4 - and use that for different things too.

But it comes down to creation vs. consumption. I like the iPad for consumption - instant on - long battery - less expensive than the MBA - and SD content looks great (HD is better - but not worth the extra space it requires) - but need the MBA for creation (editing, technical design, iOS development).

Interesting point - I use to worry about power (a lot) - but with the iPad and MBA - I never worry about power - what I worry about is SPACE. Make the space problem go away and then I'll worry about screen resolution beyond today's spec.

If I could have only one - it would be the MBA - but with a 1T SSD and 8G RAM - now that's some dreaming...

Tommy W.
 
I'm curious - how many people who already own the first one plan to buy the second one?

A tablet seems like the kind of thing that could last a few years and im just wondering how many people plan to buy the second one (doesn't seem like it will have any earth shattering features).
 
I'm totally happy with my ipad, so i'll be sitting out this refresh. Going to upgrade my MBP instead.
 
iPad: Retina would put Apple's laptop displays to shame. I can see it now...

"Why does this 'iPad with a heavy keyboard' cost so much? Where's the Retina display?? **** it just gimme the iPad..."

... And that's how the MacBook & MBPro go extinct! ;)
 
Really hoping for a $399 launch. $500 is just a hair out of my range for an "extra" device. Everything else is just gravy.
 
thinner, faster, lighter, more mamory? hey, thats all i need! :) well maybe besides a sd-card slot so i can expand the memory later.
 
I can't believe people are still clinging to the unrealistic expectation of a 10" retina touch display just months after we got a 3.5" retina touch display.

Geez. Use some common sense.

If Apple manages to surprise us, hooray for them (and us). But the failure of this wild speculation to materialize is hardly reason to consider the iPad sub-standard.

Y'all better wait for iPad 4 because I heard it will be getting limitless cold fusion battery technology... :rolleyes:
 
that was quick...

Wow. This thread is not even 2 hours old and it already has 140+ responses. Now THAT'S amazing! :p

(I guess this means mid-March retail availability rumors are accurate then?)
 
Mattsasa said:
WOW Wall street journal... you are so cool.

State the obvious months after it has become obvious.
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To you it may be obvious, but around here everything has been about highly unrealistic expectations. I remember when a G5 processor in a Powerbook was a fairly realistic expectation. Some of these people around here would have said "quad core G5 in my Powerbook or no sale". :rolleyes:
 
OllyW said:
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? :)
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Indeed. I swear some of these people must be looking at their iPads from ~7" away. B a c k A w a y F r o m T h e S c r e e n I t ' s N o t A P h o n e

golgo1313 said:
do you think ipad 2 will keep the 4:3 ratio, or go 9:6 (iphone, ipod touch) or even 16:9 (cinema display)? i would like to see 9:6...
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They aren't going to screw devs over with a new aspect ratio. Especially one so close in proportion.

I'll be shocked if there's another tablet that comes out in 2011 with a res higher than 1280x960. If it does, you can bet it'll be in the Xoom price-range, not $499.
 
Really looking forward to comparing the new iPad to the Xoom which IMHO is the iPad killer with the best chance of success....
 
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