iPad Is this proof that the ipad 4 has a better screen then the ipad air

[kali256]

Before you flame me to death, i know that it is only one ipad air vs one ipad 4, so the sample size cannot lead to my post title, but it does show a lot of what you ipad air owners are talking about. I have an ipad 4 and will not upgrade until the next version. I figure on a tablet you stare at the screen the most, so it better be near perfect (I value screen presentation over weight)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWjmlSkN4uE

Have a look at this video and scrub to the 16:46 mark where he compares the ipad air and ipad 4...have a look at the screen, does the ipad air look yellow and the ipad 4 looks white (cool white perhaps)

Thoughts

Kevin

 

[ReanimationN]

That yellow tinge is exactly why I returned the Air I bought immediately.

 

[syd430]

I skipped to 16:46 and to me, it looks like the ipad 4 they have there has a horrible pink tinted display. I would much rather the "yellowish" display on the left which is much easier on my eyes. By the way, I highly doubt it would look yellow on it's own. It would just look white.

Also this is a classic case of panel lottery, you're right about not having a large enough sample size here. Trust me from years of going through many, many iPads - In this video it could just as easily been the other way around. I.e the Air could of had the cooler display and the 4 could of had the warmer display.

 

[cababah]

That's not enough proof to make a blanket statement. That's a dud ipad air. There are lots of ipad 4's out there with yellow tint too. From what I have seen, that is very a-typical for the ipad air. The majority of the airs have a much "cooler" display.

 

[zbarvian]

Anandtech ran the iPad Air through the gauntlet of display tests, and the 4 actually came out ahead in a number of them.

 

[mcdj]

There were warm iPad 4 screens. There were cool ones. But aside from one long thread about interlacing or something, I don't recall any major complaints about the iPad 4 screen.

My own experience with the 4 was very positive. In stark contrast to the iPad 3, my first and only iPad 4 was for all intents and purposes, perfect. The iPad 3, OTOH, required 5 or so exchanges/returns to get one that was still subpar but acceptable (more so out of screen lottery fatigue than actual satisfaction). Every one I saw suffered from uneven blotchy coloration.

I had assumed that after a perfect 4, and a problem free Mini, that the Air would be yet another more or less problem free screen. Boy was I wrong. Every single one I've seen in the flesh has nearly the identical screen anomaly...the dreaded yellow>blue/pink shift left to right. Well, at least they're consistent.

My take is this; the iPad 3, being the first Retina, had issues because it was uncharted territory. By the time the 4 came around, the issues were more or less resolved.

But the Air presents a new set of challenges. My understanding is they reduced the number of LEDs, or moved them to one side, or something. And squeezed the screen into an impossibly thin housing. This seems to have created a whole new problem, and while many will not care about or notice it, it seems to be as widespread, if not more so, than the iPad 3's problems.

I think the iPad 4's screen was more mature technology and therefore inherently better than the Air's screen.

Hopefully they'll get the kinks worked out. I spent 20 minutes on the phone today with an Apple corporate liaison discussing my observations about the Air's screen, and Apple says they're going so far as to "capture" my returned Airs from the refurb chain to have their engineers evaluate them. I call BS, because as far as I'm concerned, every Air has the same symptoms to some degree. If they truly want to see the issue, all they have to do is look at one, any one.

 

[Brittany246]

The iPad Air looks slightly yellow, and the iPad 4 looks slightly pink... I wouldn't say that's more white or better than the iPad Air.

 

[53kyle]

Not all screens are like this...

 

[bevsb2]

My first 3 iPad Airs had that yellow screen and were returned because they compared so unfavorably with the beautiful bright white screen on my iPad 4. My 4th Air has a good screen and is a keeper. In all honesty it isn't quite as good as the iPad 4, but the size and weight make it the preferred one.

 

[quietstormSD]

Crap, I will never get the 15 minutes back watching that video.

 

[filmbuff]

The Air in that video doesn't look bad to me at all. It just has a little bit warmer display. I have my laptop set to a warmer color on purpose and I wish my iPad 3 wasn't so whitish-blue.

This really isn't something that would be noticeable unless you had two ipads and often used them side by side on a white background.

 

[dantracht]

All I can say is, I am SO glad I didn't sell my iPad 4. I had planned on upgrading, but am going to hold off until 2014 now. Between the ram and the screen issues, no thanks. My 4 is a beast and I love it.

 

[atlatnesiti]

Not all screens are like this...

You're right of course. All three Airs that I've owned, had beautiful, uniform paper white screens, but they also had terrible light leak/bleeding.
Returned my third exchange one for refund.
Just like Dantracht, I'm mega glad I didn't sell my iPad 4 - it's perfect.
Will wait till next year and see what happens...

 

[master-ceo]

The iPad 4 is the best iPad ever Made! Especially with iOS6.
Plus I like the uniform bezel on the old iPad(s). If your going to slim down the bezel don't just do 2 sides. Remove that old home button and make it official.

Ok ok sorry. BOT, the iPad 4 screen is superb!

----------

all i can say is, i am so glad i didn't sell my ipad 4. I had planned on upgrading, but am going to hold off until 2014 now. Between the ram and the screen issues, no thanks. My 4 is a beast and i love it.

+100000g

 

[snerkler]

I agree the Air has the dreaded apple yellow tinge. This could well improve on the Air in the video over time as I know from past devices the bonding glue takes a while to dry clear.

Failing that I'd have taken it back, but it wouldn't put me off buying one. Duff screens aren't as common as forums make out and apple make it easy enough to exchange, although having said that I myself had to take an iPad 3 back for this reason lol.

 

[stylinexpat]

I also noticed a bit of yellowish on the iPad Air screen when I looked at some iPad Air models at the Apple Store in Hong Kong.

Today I spent some time looking at the 13" MBP and 15" MBP with Retina screens and I found the one on the 13" to be noticeably better on the 13" model than the 15" model.

 

[saber45]

i agree the air has the dreaded apple yellow tinge. This could well improve on the air in the video over time as i know from past devices the bonding glue takes a while to dry clear.

Failing that i'd have taken it back, but it wouldn't put me off buying one. Duff screens aren't as common as forums make out and apple make it easy enough to exchange, although having said that i myself had to take an ipad 3 back for this reason lol.

The bloody screen is not bonded together, stop telling people that it is.

 

[akdj]

Anandtech ran the iPad Air through the gauntlet of display tests, and the 4 actually came out ahead in a number of them.

BS---Here's the link
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7460/apple-ipad-air-review/5
....and his opening statement

"In building the iPad Air Apple shrunk all elements of the tablet’s design, including the thickness of the display. We’re still dealing with a 9.7-inch 4:3 2048 x 1536 IPS LCD panel with true RGB stripe rather than some weird subpixel structure. Viewing angles are still great, and overall the display remains the best you can get at this size."

Followed by a picture of the pixel's via a macro shot, then

"The iPad Air continues Apple’s recent history of shipping color calibrated displays. Color accuracy on my iPad Air review sample is better than on any previous iPad I’ve ever tested, in fact it’s more accurate than any other tablet I’ve ever tested. The numbers are easily backed up by images that show a vibrant and, more importantly, accurate display."

The Air is #1 of ALL tablets tested in
White Point average
Saturation
GreTag MacBeth measurements

And #2 only to the iPad 4 by .01 or 1/100th of a point in Gamut average (2.4109 vs 2.4207)

The Air also measures better than the '4' in Gray Scale and White point (Brightness average).
Black level, the '4' has a .09 point average 'better' than the Air, and an insignificant 100 point contrast ratio measurement. So---again, there was actually One test the iPad 4 bettered the Air's display by any decent or measurable/objective test. And most likely the least important with the rest of the measurements taken in to account.

There were warm iPad 4 screens. There were cool ones. But aside from one long thread about interlacing or something, I don't recall any major complaints about the iPad 4 screen.

My own experience with the 4 was very positive. In stark contrast to the iPad 3, my first and only iPad 4 was for all intents and purposes, perfect. The iPad 3, OTOH, required 5 or so exchanges/returns to get one that was still subpar but acceptable (more so out of screen lottery fatigue than actual satisfaction). Every one I saw suffered from uneven blotchy coloration.

I had assumed that after a perfect 4, and a problem free Mini, that the Air would be yet another more or less problem free screen. Boy was I wrong. Every single one I've seen in the flesh has nearly the identical screen anomaly...the dreaded yellow>blue/pink shift left to right. Well, at least they're consistent.

My take is this; the iPad 3, being the first Retina, had issues because it was uncharted territory. By the time the 4 came around, the issues were more or less resolved.

But the Air presents a new set of challenges. My understanding is they reduced the number of LEDs, or moved them to one side, or something. And squeezed the screen into an impossibly thin housing. This seems to have created a whole new problem, and while many will not care about or notice it, it seems to be as widespread, if not more so, than the iPad 3's problems.

I think the iPad 4's screen was more mature technology and therefore inherently better than the Air's screen.

Hopefully they'll get the kinks worked out. I spent 20 minutes on the phone today with an Apple corporate liaison discussing my observations about the Air's screen, and Apple says they're going so far as to "capture" my returned Airs from the refurb chain to have their engineers evaluate them. I call BS, because as far as I'm concerned, every Air has the same symptoms to some degree. If they truly want to see the issue, all they have to do is look at one, any one.

Interesting....we now have 3 Airs in the house...and I spent a lot of time looking myself while we were purchasing the second and third Airs. Not a single 'quirk' or issue or stuck pixel of yellow/pink/brown/blue tint or light bleed or, or....I could continue. Funny thing is...we've also got 4 iPad 4s (we run a business and one of our primary tools is the iPad). The Airs, the ones I've received are just a bit better in all aspects compared with our 4s.
There is no wide spread issue. There are bound to be 'duds' when mass production happens, regardless of the product. Apple is as good as it gets with post purchase support.

To me---it's completely asinine to 'assume' there's some sort of widespread 'issue' or 'problem' with Apple's display----especially when EVERY review from ANY respected reviewer completely says the 'opposite'. Even Display sites, with objective testing measurements---other than the HDX, the Air sits atop the heap. I love my 4. The displays are excellent. I agree...there may be a couple of units with failures....but it's definitely NOT wide spread...NOR is it in EVERY unit in ANY Apple store...that's just false information, period

J

 

[snerkler]

The bloody screen is not bonded together, stop telling people that it is.

Well I'm only repeating what I was told by several apple genius bar people

 

[cababah]

Well I'm only repeating what I was told by several apple genius bar people

That is why you fail.

 

[snerkler]

That is why you fail.

Eh? Why have I failed? If I've not been happy with my screen I've taken it back, simple. In fact I had to take back 3 iPad 3's until I got one that didn't even have a completely yellow screen or brown screen.

 

[Bengy66]

Who knows. But watching Super Man last night on my IPad Air and I have come to conclusion that it's more enjoyable to watch movies/tv on the tablet than my 50 inch plasma.

 

[zbarvian]

BS---Here's the link
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7460/apple-ipad-air-review/5
....and his opening statement

"In building the iPad Air Apple shrunk all elements of the tablet’s design, including the thickness of the display. We’re still dealing with a 9.7-inch 4:3 2048 x 1536 IPS LCD panel with true RGB stripe rather than some weird subpixel structure. Viewing angles are still great, and overall the display remains the best you can get at this size."

Followed by a picture of the pixel's via a macro shot, then

"The iPad Air continues Apple’s recent history of shipping color calibrated displays. Color accuracy on my iPad Air review sample is better than on any previous iPad I’ve ever tested, in fact it’s more accurate than any other tablet I’ve ever tested. The numbers are easily backed up by images that show a vibrant and, more importantly, accurate display."

The Air is #1 of ALL tablets tested in
White Point average
Saturation
GreTag MacBeth measurements

And #2 only to the iPad 4 by .01 or 1/100th of a point in Gamut average (2.4109 vs 2.4207)

The Air also measures better than the '4' in Gray Scale and White point (Brightness average).
Black level, the '4' has a .09 point average 'better' than the Air, and an insignificant 100 point contrast ratio measurement. So---again, there was actually One test the iPad 4 bettered the Air's display by any decent or measurable/objective test. And most likely the least important with the rest of the measurements taken in to account.



Interesting....we now have 3 Airs in the house...and I spent a lot of time looking myself while we were purchasing the second and third Airs. Not a single 'quirk' or issue or stuck pixel of yellow/pink/brown/blue tint or light bleed or, or....I could continue. Funny thing is...we've also got 4 iPad 4s (we run a business and one of our primary tools is the iPad). The Airs, the ones I've received are just a bit better in all aspects compared with our 4s.
There is no wide spread issue. There are bound to be 'duds' when mass production happens, regardless of the product. Apple is as good as it gets with post purchase support.

To me---it's completely asinine to 'assume' there's some sort of widespread 'issue' or 'problem' with Apple's display----especially when EVERY review from ANY respected reviewer completely says the 'opposite'. Even Display sites, with objective testing measurements---other than the HDX, the Air sits atop the heap. I love my 4. The displays are excellent. I agree...there may be a couple of units with failures....but it's definitely NOT wide spread...NOR is it in EVERY unit in ANY Apple store...that's just false information, period

J

Okay, thanks for confirming my ability to read graphs. I saw the iPad 4 ahead in two, assumed they were testing important variables because it's Anandtech, and wrote the post. I didn't say the 4 had a better display overall, just that it came out ahead of the Air in a number (being 2) tests. Kinda interesting to me that it wasn't ahead in all.

 

[akdj]

Okay, thanks for confirming my ability to read graphs. I saw the iPad 4 ahead in two, assumed they were testing important variables because it's Anandtech, and wrote the post. I didn't say the 4 had a better display overall, just that it came out ahead of the Air in a number (being 2) tests. Kinda interesting to me that it wasn't ahead in all.

You're very welcome. Go back, re-read your initial post---implying a 'number of tests' showed the '4' having a better display is embellishment at best, BS at worst. There was literally a single test that the '4' beat the Air with any quantitative measurement....and of all the tests performed on the display, it was arguably the 'least' important factor that falls into testing displays.

You ---again---seem to imply at the end of your response to me 'surprise' that the '4' 'wasn't ahead in all' the tests in comparison to the Air. Why? Is it not believable that each generation can actually get better performance? That they've learned in earlier generations how to 'better' the new display? Or is it JUST that you've done too much reading on the 2 or 3 dozen members of Mac Rumors (of 10, 20...50,000 registered users??? Just a guess) that just can't seem to get a decent display, without a scratch on the bezel, with pink/yellow/green/purple tint?

The internet is the internet. A whole lot of anonymous engineers, doctors, chip fabricators and rocket scientists that seem to know a little something about everything. Things have changed on MR since the release of the iPhone, followed by the release of the iPad....iOS devices essentially, bringing Apple's products to the masses. Never in the history of electronics has a product of this caliber, power and usability been thought of, drawn up, built (hardware and software), mass produced...and mass delivered in THIS quantity. The iPad outsold DVD players in the first two years they hit the market....the iPhone very quickly outsold any other specific 'phone' after it's release (either the 3g or the 3gs I think is where that happened). Point being...there ARE objective measurements. There are professional reviewers. Then there are a bunch of spider feeding dorks that live in their mother's basement that have something against Apple. I wouldn't put it past Samsung to actually 'pay' people to register on Apple forums and exclaim to the world that they bent their iPhone 5/5s (where did those threads go?)....that the iPad only has 1GB of RAM compared to their new Note Bloat with 3GB of memory just to slice through TouchWiz---and still does a crappy job.

That said...when you're selling nearly 10 million units on opening weekend, who knows what the chances are you'll get a faulty device. But even if 100,000 were found with flaws, that's 1%. You'd think...as MR is the biggest, most 'live' Apple forum on Al Gore's Internet that those folks...all over the world that received an ill display or unit that constantly crashed would IMMEDIATELY find MacRumor's threads related to the topic on the tip of their Google search. It's not happening. I know the voices are loud....I know some claim they've returned devices a half dozen times to get the 'right' one. But their in the minority. My explanation to you was simply your implication that the '4' tested better in a 'number of tests' vs. the Air on Anandtech was false. And not just vs. the Air---but if you actually DID take the time to read the review---5 or 6 of those 8/9 tests, the Air beats everything! Including the Surface2, Android and Tegra devices, et. al. Not just in the display, but the graphics and computationally with their in house A7 build and A8 instruction set. A LOT goes in to building an off the shelf SoC from the ground up, in house, to optimize with your brand new, re-written OS. Two MAJOR factors...and possibly something to consider...as this really could be written off as a 1st gen product. One that I believe as an iOS owner since 2007 is an absolute Home Run!

I'm glad you're NOW able to not just read graphs but interpret them as well

J

 

[zbarvian]

You're very welcome. Go back, re-read your initial post---implying a 'number of tests' showed the '4' having a better display is embellishment at best, BS at worst. There was literally a single test that the '4' beat the Air with any quantitative measurement....and of all the tests performed on the display, it was arguably the 'least' important factor that falls into testing displays.

You ---again---seem to imply at the end of your response to me 'surprise' that the '4' 'wasn't ahead in all' the tests in comparison to the Air. Why? Is it not believable that each generation can actually get better performance? That they've learned in earlier generations how to 'better' the new display? Or is it JUST that you've done too much reading on the 2 or 3 dozen members of Mac Rumors (of 10, 20...50,000 registered users??? Just a guess) that just can't seem to get a decent display, without a scratch on the bezel, with pink/yellow/green/purple tint?

The internet is the internet. A whole lot of anonymous engineers, doctors, chip fabricators and rocket scientists that seem to know a little something about everything. Things have changed on MR since the release of the iPhone, followed by the release of the iPad....iOS devices essentially, bringing Apple's products to the masses. Never in the history of electronics has a product of this caliber, power and usability been thought of, drawn up, built (hardware and software), mass produced...and mass delivered in THIS quantity. The iPad outsold DVD players in the first two years they hit the market....the iPhone very quickly outsold any other specific 'phone' after it's release (either the 3g or the 3gs I think is where that happened). Point being...there ARE objective measurements. There are professional reviewers. Then there are a bunch of spider feeding dorks that live in their mother's basement that have something against Apple. I wouldn't put it past Samsung to actually 'pay' people to register on Apple forums and exclaim to the world that they bent their iPhone 5/5s (where did those threads go?)....that the iPad only has 1GB of RAM compared to their new Note Bloat with 3GB of memory just to slice through TouchWiz---and still does a crappy job.

That said...when you're selling nearly 10 million units on opening weekend, who knows what the chances are you'll get a faulty device. But even if 100,000 were found with flaws, that's 1%. You'd think...as MR is the biggest, most 'live' Apple forum on Al Gore's Internet that those folks...all over the world that received an ill display or unit that constantly crashed would IMMEDIATELY find MacRumor's threads related to the topic on the tip of their Google search. It's not happening. I know the voices are loud....I know some claim they've returned devices a half dozen times to get the 'right' one. But their in the minority. My explanation to you was simply your implication that the '4' tested better in a 'number of tests' vs. the Air on Anandtech was false. And not just vs. the Air---but if you actually DID take the time to read the review---5 or 6 of those 8/9 tests, the Air beats everything! Including the Surface2, Android and Tegra devices, et. al. Not just in the display, but the graphics and computationally with their in house A7 build and A8 instruction set. A LOT goes in to building an off the shelf SoC from the ground up, in house, to optimize with your brand new, re-written OS. Two MAJOR factors...and possibly something to consider...as this really could be written off as a 1st gen product. One that I believe as an iOS owner since 2007 is an absolute Home Run!

I'm glad you're NOW able to not just read graphs but interpret them as well

J

That was singlehandedly the most wordy, most unnecessary, and unprovoked exegesis I've read. You misunderstood my post, I thought it was surprising that the Air was bested by the 4 in one category, because I thought the AIR would've came out ahead in all of them given how well it performed in the other tests. I'm in complete agreement with everything you said, no matter how irrelevant it is to my original point. Next time I won't use pronouns, just to avoid any confusion.