Ok, so I sold my iPad 1 and pre-ordered an iPad 3 and it dawned on me, are apps going to look like garbage until they are updated? For example, will things look like you have an iphone app on an iPad 1? I am concerned in the long run some of my apps will never get upgraded and instead developers will again sell new apps specific to the iPad 3 and I'll get stuck buying all over again (just like I had to when I bought my iPad 1). Thoughts anyone?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad 3 upscaled apps look poor?
- Thread starter planktonamor
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That's not true. The only part of apps which will look just about the same as on the iPad 2 until they're updated, is images.
They will not look good compared to the optimized apps, but they will look better than they did on the first iPad. I'm sure developers will be quick to update their apps or their reviews will suffer. I only took a few months before most apps were optimized for the iPhone 4 retina display and I'm betting the process will be even faster with the iPad.
I'm not so sure they will look the same as the iPad 2 and original iPad.
When the iPhone got its retina screen, apps that weren't updated yet looked jaggy, and you could tell.
I'm assuming the same will be true for iPad. They definitely won't look any better just because of the retina display. They will need to be updated.
When the iPhone got its retina screen, apps that weren't updated yet looked jaggy, and you could tell.
I'm assuming the same will be true for iPad. They definitely won't look any better just because of the retina display. They will need to be updated.
They will look just as good as before maybe a touch better in terms of saturation.
The people thinking they will look worse must not fully understand what they are talking about.
The people thinking they will look worse must not fully understand what they are talking about.
Text in the apps will likely still look better on the new iPad. The graphics will be the same resolution as they are now, so they won't look any different. The only reason apps looked "jaggy" on the iPhone 4 was because they were compared to the retina ones. So the apps won't look worse, but they will appear to.
They'll look pretty much the same, because they'll just replace each pixel with a 2x2 block of pixels - which will be indistinguishable from the single pixel since that's the point of "retina."
I'm thinking they'll look like iPhone apps on an iPad...
no they won't, they'll look like iPhone 3GS apps on an iPhone 4.
any images in apps will look the same as they would on an iPad 2, whereas text and anything that uses Apple's APIs will look crisper.
everyone stop getting your knickers in a twist, anything not optimised for the retina display will still look just as good as it did on an iPad 1 or 2 until its updated to take full advantage of the Retina display, then they'll look even better!
Here, i made this for the confused people:
Last edited:
What? Looks are appearances.
Even if you are not comparing to retina-designed apps, you'll be able to see the difference.
And I guarantee if you took an app that was not updated with retina graphics and looked at it on an iPad 2 compared to a new iPad, you will find that they won't look the same.
Lukeyy19, nice graphic, but I know how this works, and I know from experience when the iPhone 4 first came out, how non-retina apps looked. They looked better on my iPhone 3G than they did on the iPhone 4 (until it was updated with high-res graphics of course). I had them both, and compared side by side. Because the screen is so sharp, the non-retina graphics will look jaggier and uglier than they do on "non-retina" displays.
Not trying to make it sound like the new iPad's display is going to suck... but until the apps are updated with the appropriate graphics, they will look quite ugly. And you will see it. Even if you compare it side by side with an iPad 2 or first gen iPad.
Last edited:
You'll notice the lower resolution images more because everything else is so crisp, but they still look just the same as on a previous display. It's fine though.
iPod touch 480×320 pixels at 163 PPI
iPad 1/2 1024x768 pixels at 132 PPI
iPad 3 (new iPad) 2048 × 1536 at 264 PPI
So it seems to me that the difference from the iPad 1/2 to the new iPad is close to what we went from the touch to the iPad 1/2. Apps look horrible being upscaled from the touch/iphone to the iPad 1/2 and now we are doing the same with the new ipad.
More than anything, I am concerned developers are going to charge for new versions of apps supporting the new display, or just not update. I probably have $300 invested in apps and don't want to re-invest again. I was ticked when 50% of my apps I had bought for my touch/iPhone had to be repurchased.
Uggh
iPad 1/2 1024x768 pixels at 132 PPI
iPad 3 (new iPad) 2048 × 1536 at 264 PPI
So it seems to me that the difference from the iPad 1/2 to the new iPad is close to what we went from the touch to the iPad 1/2. Apps look horrible being upscaled from the touch/iphone to the iPad 1/2 and now we are doing the same with the new ipad.
More than anything, I am concerned developers are going to charge for new versions of apps supporting the new display, or just not update. I probably have $300 invested in apps and don't want to re-invest again. I was ticked when 50% of my apps I had bought for my touch/iPhone had to be repurchased.
Uggh
I highly doubt you'll see very many developers (or any depending on the apps you use) releasing new versions of their apps. They will just support the new resolution like they did with the iPhone 4 after the 3GS. I wouldn't worry about this too much. You will see Retina support in most apps very soon.
New versions will likely include more than just updated images, but also more features and performance enhancements that take advantage of the new hardware.
One thing though, high-end games will get more expensive as the hardware capabilities of the iPad are now level with the PSP Vita and developers will be increasing their budgets in pushing out games that amaze.
Last generation games like Angry Birds and Flight Control are rather elementary while Blade Infinity and Sky Gamblers are produced by gaming studios devoting bit budgets to development. I wouldn't say the prices will spike up to PSP or Nintendo DS because quite frankly iOS developers earn their money back on volume.
but the screen is not going to be getting any bigger!!!!!!
FFS!!!
iPad 2 to the new iPad is like iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4, not like iPhone to iPad. What is so difficult to understand!
No, we are not.
iPod touch/iPhone apps on the iPad are blown up to 2x their intended size, without any pixel-doubling, so they look jagged.
Non-retina iPad apps on iPad 3 will be pixel-doubled, as Lukeyy19 demonstrated with his graphics. So they should look the same as they did on iPad 1/2.
Ok heres how it'll work.
Text will look perfectly fine.
If the developer is using native UI for the top navigation bar, that will look fine. The same applies to the bottom black bar, the icons on that bottom bar will have very, very slight pixeling if they aren't updated. Images will obviously not be of 'retina' quality however thats not to say they will look stretched, out of proportion or bad quality...just not as good as they could be.
I wouldn't worry about it - most apps will update, and even if they dont will still look great and be very usable. Sure, they will be ever so slightly less quality, but thats about it.
Text will look perfectly fine.
If the developer is using native UI for the top navigation bar, that will look fine. The same applies to the bottom black bar, the icons on that bottom bar will have very, very slight pixeling if they aren't updated. Images will obviously not be of 'retina' quality however thats not to say they will look stretched, out of proportion or bad quality...just not as good as they could be.
I wouldn't worry about it - most apps will update, and even if they dont will still look great and be very usable. Sure, they will be ever so slightly less quality, but thats about it.
I'm thinking they'll look like iPhone apps on an iPad...
Aren't iphone apps on the iPad scaled from 320x480?
What about Retina iPhone apps? Currently, they're not shown in their native resolution(I'm missing RetinaPad), just X2 low res.
I don't have many iPhone apps on my iPad, but the ones I do have(non-universal), look terrible.
I hope this will be a non-issue come Friday.
I don't have many iPhone apps on my iPad, but the ones I do have(non-universal), look terrible.
I hope this will be a non-issue come Friday.
Did you not even read Lukeyy19's posts? It has nothing to do with how an iPhone app looks on an iPad.
The screen will still be physically the same size. Each square pixel from the iPad1/2 is getting replaced by 4 square pixels which occupy the same physical size. An app designed at 1024x768 on the iPad 1/2 will still look the same on the new iPad.
