Ipad3 - "Retina Display" Poll - 3 simple choices

[Piggie]

Seems to be a mix of views here at the moment, so a very simple poll might clearly filter together our current feelings on what we think will happen for the next iPad.

No point in making it over complicated, so just 3 simple selections to pick from.

Note: This is not what you want, but what you think will probably happen, given the tech at the time and price point of the next model in March 2012

1: Do you think iPad3 will have the same screen res as iPad 1 & 2 1024x768?

2: Do you think iPad3 will have double the current screen res of 2048x1536?

3: Do you think it might be some other screen res?

 

[rovex]

I definitely expect a much higher resolution retina like hopefully.

OLED is a year or 2 early i feel. Retina preferably first IMO.

 

[Piggie]

I definitely expect a much higher resolution retina like hopefully.

OLED is a year or 2 early i feel. Retina preferably first IMO.

Oh yes, I think it would be very over optimistic to expect AMOLED screens as big as the iPad yet.
I'm only talking about the screen resolution and if we are going to be going through all of 2012 and into the start of 2013 still on the same 1024x786 as the very 1st iPad.

 

[Piggie]

I'm sure most people have, but just in case you missed this tech news.

The links below may sway your feelings on this poll about what YOU think the iPad3 will offer screen wise.

Here's a little article about the screen Samsung just unveiled to the press:

http://www.complex.com/tech/2011/05...-lcd-tablet-display-with-2560x1600-resolution

And a little more speculation here:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Samsun...ion-tablet-panels-by-end-of-2011.53250.0.html

Finally one other opinion on this topic:
http://bannediphone.com/threads/ipa...-lcd-paves-way-for-ipad-retina-display.19931/

 

[rovex]

I'm sure most people have, but just in case you missed this tech news.
Here's a little article about the screen Samsung just unveiled to the press:

http://www.complex.com/tech/2011/05...-lcd-tablet-display-with-2560x1600-resolution

And a little more speculation here:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Samsun...ion-tablet-panels-by-end-of-2011.53250.0.html

Funny how others in a similar thread i made said the technology wasn't there to be able to fit this resolution in a tablet. Going to have to eat their words now.

 

[jonhcox]

This is so hard to speculate about, but it's fun. Given Samsung's announcement I think it is entirely possible that a high resolution display will appear in the next iPad. I wonder if it will be made by Samsung? As far as the lawsuit goes- you can bet that though they may be suing each other, it is still business as usual. A high-res display would be immensely popular in an already popular product. It would sell, and that is why I think it'll be there.

 

[dc2062]

I'm expecting a significant upgrade to display. If not I'll just wait for the iPad4 to upgrade. Not likely to abandon iPad for others though.

 

[poloponies]

Funny how others in a similar thread i made said the technology wasn't there to be able to fit this resolution in a tablet. Going to have to eat their words now.

It's not even in a tablet yet, it's a prototype. And the issue isn't whether they can do it but whether they can do it at the right price. It's not only about the display but the graphics processing and battery life also. They all have to be considered in evaluating whether a nascent technology is ready for mass production in a $499 device. 3 things apple doesn't want to do in 2012:

Raise the pricing structure.
Decrease battery life.
Increase weight.

Only when those issues can be reconciled with a high-res display (and we have no idea if these can even be built in the necessary volume yet) will we see a high-res display in the iPad.

 

[Piggie]

It's not even in a tablet yet, it's a prototype. And the issue isn't whether they can do it but whether they can do it at the right price. It's not only about the display but the graphics processing and battery life also. They all have to be considered in evaluating whether a nascent technology is ready for mass production in a $499 device. 3 things apple doesn't want to do in 2012:

Raise the pricing structure.
Decrease battery life.
Increase weight.

Only when those issues can be reconciled with a high-res display (and we have no idea if these can even be built in the necessary volume yet) will we see a high-res display in the iPad.

You are not considering one other possible option that's not been mentioned yet.
They could launch iPad3 in normal and a more expensive iPadHD or iPad Pro version. I'm not saying they will, but they could, if they wanted to offer the much higher res, but could not do it for the current price point.
They might think offering it as a more expensive option/upgrade would be better then not offering it at all.
Personally I doubt they would, but they could.

 

[rovex]

It's not even in a tablet yet, it's a prototype. And the issue isn't whether they can do it but whether they can do it at the right price. It's not only about the display but the graphics processing and battery life also. They all have to be considered in evaluating whether a nascent technology is ready for mass production in a $499 device. 3 things apple doesn't want to do in 2012:

Raise the pricing structure.
Decrease battery life.
Increase weight.

Only when those issues can be reconciled with a high-res display (and we have no idea if these can even be built in the necessary volume yet) will we see a high-res display in the iPad.

People insisting on battery but don't really know what they are talking about again. look at the IPhone 4 having retina and yet its battery life is the longest of all previous versions.

 

[gdeputy]

People insisting on battery but don't really know what they are talking about again. look at the IPhone 4 having retina and yet its battery life is the longest of all previous versions.

the iPad GPU will need to be SIGNIFICANTLY better to handle that kind of resolution.

I'm not saying it's impossible but it'll be a task to push pixels like that and stay smooth.

Remember the iPhone's retina display is still a 960x480 or something resolution.. it's less than the iPad 2. Double the iPad 2's resolution and all the sudden the GPU is suffering quite a bit.

 

[Piggie]

the iPad GPU will need to be SIGNIFICANTLY better to handle that kind of resolution.

I'm not saying it's impossible but it'll be a task to push pixels like that and stay smooth.

Remember the iPhone's retina display is still a 960x480 or something resolution.. it's less than the iPad 2. Double the iPad 2's resolution and all the sudden the GPU is suffering quite a bit.

Remember one thing. When the iPad does it's full screen smooth scrolling, the whole machine pretty much freezes during the scroll.

I'm sure movies would be fine as they tend to scale easy
Scrolling would be fine as the whole GPU will be dedicated to the scroll until the screen stops moving.
Normal apps don't move much on screen so that's no problem.
My only thoughts would be how would it handle games. that's the killer issue.

 

[rovex]

the iPad GPU will need to be SIGNIFICANTLY better to handle that kind of resolution.

I'm not saying it's impossible but it'll be a task to push pixels like that and stay smooth.

Remember the iPhone's retina display is still a 960x480 or something resolution.. it's less than the iPad 2. Double the iPad 2's resolution and all the sudden the GPU is suffering quite a bit.

The iPad 1's single core GPU was running fine, and same with the iPad 2's dual core and with the likelihood we will be seeing quad core GPU in the iPad 3 I have faith that it will work fine.

 

[poloponies]

People insisting on battery but don't really know what they are talking about again. look at the IPhone 4 having retina and yet its battery life is the longest of all previous versions.

So only you know that the battery life isn't an issue?

You don't just scale up and call it a day. It may well be that battery tech advances to the point where by next year they can throw all the pieces together and not lose life from the current standard, but logic will tell you that if Apple did their damnedest to maximize battery life in the iPad 2 with current display technology then quadrupling the demand by switching to a higher-res display would reduce the battery life as we know it.

 

[Piggie]

So only you know that the battery life isn't an issue?

You don't just scale up and call it a day. It may well be that battery tech advances to the point where by next year they can throw all the pieces together and not lose life from the current standard, but logic will tell you that if Apple did their damnedest to maximize battery life in the iPad 2 with current display technology then quadrupling the demand by switching to a higher-res display would reduce the battery life as we know it.

I'm not sure how much of an impact a higher res screen would have.
I thought the biggest drain was the backlight, and the backlight is going to be exactly the same irrespective of the screen res. It's still got to light the whole panel even if it's 1 or 1 trillion pixels.

The extra fine circuitry in the panel I can't see being anything much more anyway. It's just the GPU that will be the thing that draws more power to shift more pixels I'd say. Not the physical screen unit itself.

The question is, with say 4 cores, finer tracks and perhaps some very custom circuitry specifically to drive a higher res, will the GPU eat the battery?

 

[rovex]

So only you know that the battery life isn't an issue?

You don't just scale up and call it a day. It may well be that battery tech advances to the point where by next year they can throw all the pieces together and not lose life from the current standard, but logic will tell you that if Apple did their damnedest to maximize battery life in the iPad 2 with current display technology then quadrupling the demand by switching to a higher-res display would reduce the battery life as we know it.

No, I know that you think it's a bigger issue than in reality.

Improvements in rechargeable batteries are happening progressively year after year. More efficient CPU's and GPU's are becoming more prevalent. I see no reason why The battery life can't be the same even with a retina like display in 2012.

 

[interwebs]

2048x1536 is four times the screen resolution. I think the two main barriers will be supply chain and computational power. I would more expect to see a display of this resolution after displays of such resolution have gone into major production capacity at the relevant factories, and on the backend we may have to wait for Cortex-A15MP. So, maybe 2013. Obviously I could be wrong, but I'm not holding my breath for a "retina" display by iPad 3. It's conceivable, but it also seems rather plausible to think it isn't in the cards.

 

[poloponies]

No, I know that you think it's a bigger issue than in reality.

Improvements in rechargeable batteries are happening progressively year after year. More efficient CPU's and GPU's are becoming more prevalent. I see no reason why The battery life can't be the same even with a retina like display in 2012.

Reality, unfortunately, is something we all have to live with. Barring the prototype that Samsung rolled out last month there's nothing in production that even fits the "retina" definition. They optimistically hope to get it in place later this year but that's just their guess. History certainly teaches us that everything tech gets more efficient/smaller/cheaper over time. But there are timetables to contend with. Nobody is saying it's not possible, just that it is unlikely to show up next year given the current state of things.

You're just saying "it should happen" and "no reason it can't." Well, my reasons are that there are just no strong indicators that it will be possible in a 8-9 month window.

 

[Piggie]

Just to say, Thanks to all those who have voted on this poll so far.
Interesting to see that the early lead of votes for a higher display on the next iPad seems now to be balancing out with those who think the screen will stay the same on the next model.

If you have not voted with your opinion yet, please do. It's interesting just to see what people here think is going to happen on the next model, especially as there are many iPad1 owners skipping iPad2 and waiting for next years model instead.