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iPad 2 vs iPad 3...Screen Difference is Difficult to See...Read On
- Thread starter JoelBC
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I have both the new iPad and the iPad 2. I have been using the new iPad everyday since it was released and I picked up the iPad 2 the other day (mu Wife now uses it) and it was horrible looking. EVERYTHING looks rough from the text to the icons. Its the same if you go from an iPhone 4/4S back to a 3GS. The difference in screen quality is huge.
It seems to depend on your point of view; coming from normal pixel levels it is subtley better, but returning to lower pixel levels from the retina display can be a bit jarring until you get used to it once again.
I noticed warmer, brighter color at first impression (which is not a result of more pixels) and a feeling of the image being "fuller" (which may indeed be due to more pixels). A more scientific examination revealed less jaggies on small type, but I left my iPad 3 at work one day and was forced to read USA Today on my iPad 1, and I really did not feel like I was suffering without it.
But here is where you can really see a difference, which is to tilt the iPad to a severe angle. The iPad 1 or 2 suffers extreme chroma shift into purples and oranges, and the contrast ratio all but disappears as blacks and grays become almost as bright as the whites. On an iPad 3 there is no appreciable color shift, and the contrast ratio only goes up about 10%, or one or two gray scale levels for blacks.
Of course this might not matter, as most folks don't view the iPad at extreme angles. I use this method to line up shots in Virtual Pool HD, so I find it a vast improvement and something that benefits my workflow.
Its kind of like dating a 10 rather than a 9 1/2. 10 is better, but 9 1/2 is pretty fine as well.
I noticed warmer, brighter color at first impression (which is not a result of more pixels) and a feeling of the image being "fuller" (which may indeed be due to more pixels). A more scientific examination revealed less jaggies on small type, but I left my iPad 3 at work one day and was forced to read USA Today on my iPad 1, and I really did not feel like I was suffering without it.
But here is where you can really see a difference, which is to tilt the iPad to a severe angle. The iPad 1 or 2 suffers extreme chroma shift into purples and oranges, and the contrast ratio all but disappears as blacks and grays become almost as bright as the whites. On an iPad 3 there is no appreciable color shift, and the contrast ratio only goes up about 10%, or one or two gray scale levels for blacks.
Of course this might not matter, as most folks don't view the iPad at extreme angles. I use this method to line up shots in Virtual Pool HD, so I find it a vast improvement and something that benefits my workflow.
Its kind of like dating a 10 rather than a 9 1/2. 10 is better, but 9 1/2 is pretty fine as well.
A formula does indeed exist that says at what distance the human eye is unable to discern one pixel from the next. Apple uses that formula to decide at what distance a certain device should be held at to be considered a retina display. The name is made up marketing but the physics are real.
This is an exaggeration (obviously). Funny how in one year the iPad 2 went from having a "beautiful display" to being a screen window...
Exactly how I am thinking about it, people thought the screen was amazing when it came out, now people say it is all pixelated and looks really crappy.
Not at least one bit , I never thought iPad was beautiful text wise, I was always seeking something with a crisper screen. When it come to text I can see an enormous difference.
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If you can't see it then laser eye surgery is your answer.
That's technology. That's life. When something better comes up, it has or does something better than old technology. For iPads, it's the screen. When iPad 2 came out, it had the best screen then. iPad 3 came out with a better screen, making iPad 3's screen better now. When something better than the iPad 3's screen comes up iPad 3's screen will be considered bad and crappy, in comparison. Simple.
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Just curious. I have the iPad 1 and 3 (never owned the 2). There's a huge difference between the 1 and 3 in screen resolution. Now I always thought the 1 and 2 had the same displays, so this thread puzzles me.
No, I have pretty clearly doubted that the iPad2 will get another two years of iOS updates. That's why I wouldn't buy it. Not sure who you are ridiculing and why.
Even on iOS5, software support (Siri) is the defining difference between the iPhone 4 and 4S. iOS6 artificially widens that gap. I think we'll see more of that as hardware in all form factors has reached the level of being "good enough". Apple needs to cut people off and the non-Retina display of the iPad 2 will give them a good opportunity to do so. (Unless the 8" iPad rumors are true - then they might drag along the similarly-specced iPad 2.)
Also, I would be curious to see your Top 5 list then. #1 is Retina, #2 is the GPU - and then?
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I have never considered the iPad to have a "beautiful display" and I wouldn't consider it to be an exaggeration at all.
I took some comparison photos to post here, and most of them ended up like this:
I had to play with the camera settings and defocus the lens a bit so that it wouldn't show up on the iPad 2 screen:
The difference is significant, and much more obvious in person.
I have never considered the iPad to have a "beautiful display" and I wouldn't consider it to be an exaggeration at all.
I took some comparison photos to post here, and most of them ended up like this:
I had to play with the camera settings and defocus the lens a bit so that it wouldn't show up on the iPad 2 screen:
The difference is significant, and much more obvious in person.
Wow it looks like your home button on your white iPad is off centre by a lot. Are you happy with it like that?
It's fine, it just looks that way because the iPad was flat on a table and there's a window to the lower-left of it, casting a shadow in the glass.
All someone has to do is post a thread claiming there is little to no difference between a current model and a previous model -- and those that own the current model get riled up enough to fill a muli-page thread.
Personally, I believe it's fairly apparent that there is a significant difference in screen quality between the two. I think that perhaps a few posters are having a little fun claiming otherwise.
. Anyway, if they truly believe there is no difference then the worst that happens is they get save a few hundred bucks getting an iPad 2.
I have never considered the iPad to have a "beautiful display" and I wouldn't consider it to be an exaggeration at all.
I took some comparison photos to post here, and most of them ended up like this:
I had to play with the camera settings and defocus the lens a bit so that it wouldn't show up on the iPad 2 screen:
The difference is significant, and much more obvious in person.
Because people view their iPad routinely through photographs...
Also, I was not talking about you, I was talking in general. It is funny to me how all of a sudden the iPad 2's display is now pure and utter garbage to many of the same people who called it "beautiful" when clamoring for one less than a year ago.
Also, I would be curious to see your Top 5 list then. #1 is Retina, #2 is the GPU - and then?
retinapad
4G LTE
5MP front camera & 1080p video
dictation (despite apps like Dragon, etc)
Siri*
the GPU upgrade doesn't make list because it doesn't translate to an real-world performance increase between the two models...its raison d'etre is solely to drive the higher resolution to maintain performance levels.
i don't know if i would have had a top 5 prior to the iOS6 announcement (i haven't read too much to find out if Siri is confirmed to not work for the ipad2)...personally, i would only have a top 3 list of [positive] differences between the ipad2 & ipad3 and that would have been the first three on the list.
You were comparing websites. Safari on ipad renders the page at ipad 2 resolution even on the ipad 3. Hence, no difference.
Look at an image, or app and you will see a HUGE difference in resolution and quality.
Look at an image, or app and you will see a HUGE difference in resolution and quality.
And in 2013, people will be knocking the pixelated and dull screen on the iPad 3.
Oh god no. Please tell me that's not true. Are you serious that Safari does not take advantage of the retina display for typeface rendering?
That's incorrect. I can plainly see a difference in resolution when looking at type.
I have truly terrible vision and I can tell the difference, and my partner is the opposite, perfect vision and often can't distinguish the two. My guess is that it's more about personality... are you an attention to fine detail person, do you recognise the typeface, weight, leading etc. of what you're reading, or are you just reading for the content? If you're a pretty visually aware, regardless of the quality of your vision, I think you'll notice quickly. An iPhone 4 next to a 3GS is an enormous difference, iPad and the retina MBP less so, but still significant.
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It's rubbish, don't fret.
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It's rubbish, don't fret.
The question is what the person is comparing. If you try to look really close and see what the difference is, you will have a hard time seeing it. If you look at pictures, look at text, and just decide what looks better, the new iPad is clearly better. You just can't say why. Like listening to the same music played by a good orchestra and a bad orchestra, where many people can hear that one is a lot better, but a lot fewer people could actually say what exactly the difference is.
I don't understand why it's so hard to grasp. When the iPad 2 came out, it had the best screen. It was beautiful. It still is compared to a lot of tablet screens. When the iPad 2 came out, we didn't have the iPad 3 screen to compare it to or rather any screen as good as the iPad 2. But now we do have something that is a lot better than the iPad 2 screen. So in all obviousness in comparison to iPad 3, the iPad 2's screen is at a loss.
It will happen to the iPad 3 when something with a better screen comes up. That's just how technology is. If it wasn't for advancements that are better than previous generation things, then what's the point? It'll always be like this.
In no way does this mean that the iPad 2 is crap and worthless or that one should not buy it. But in comparison to iPad 3, which is the topic of this thread, the iPad 3 screen is much better than the iPad 2 screen.
And then next year we'll all come back and fight about why the latest gen iPad screen is better than the current gen. Just how it works.