You have absoluetly no idea what you're talking about.
You can keep saying that all you like, but it won't make it true.
Holding something closer to your face changes nothing about screen elements and an OS being shrunk 20% in terms of the pixelation that it causes.
Yes, it does. The reason why the "retina" definition require a
distance component is because the angular size of objects changes based on how far they are away. A 40ppi HDTV is not retina at 16". You seem to understand that much.
The original iPhone was a retina display at 20-21". The new iPhone is a retina display at 10". In other words, if you held an iPhone 3G at 20-21", the pixels would look the same size as they are on the iPhone 4, but the overall image would also be half as big, because it's twice as far away.
When you state that the higher ppi "offsets" the distance used to hold the screen, what you are describing is that relationship. By moving the iPad mini 23% closer to your face, you are making the effective size of each pixel 23% larger. Thus, although the screen is 20% smaller in
physical size compared to the iPad 2, you will perceive it as
the same size (actually, very slightly larger, since 23 > 20, but that's not important) when it is 23% closer.
Because you are then viewing an image of the same effective size with the same number of pixels, you are achieving the same level of "pixelation".
Edit for clarity: A 9.7" iPad held at 18" has an angular size (as perceived by your eye) of 30.16 degrees. A 7.85" iPad held at 14.5" (~20% closer) has an angular size of 30.29 degrees. Virtually identical. With the exact same number of pixels in each dimension, that means that when held at the different distances you are arguing for, the smaller size is exactly canceled by the higher pixel density when held closer. The pixels will be perceived as the same size with the same level of clarity because your eye won't know that they're smaller pixels in a smaller device because your vision is not based on actual size or distance.
Pixel density... It's all relative to the screen in question.
No. Pixel density is an independent measure.
Every single one will pixelate more and more the smaller everything is shrunk. It's a 100% positive correlation.
What you're describing is actually a negative correlation, but that's not important.
If you pinch and zoom out of a text Webpage on the iPad 2 about 20% you can see the pixelation that occurs. This is what the Mini is stuck with out of the box.
Bzzzt! Wrong again. The iPad mini is
smaller and higher density in an exact match. You can't keep ignoring that fact.
It is mathematically and physically impossible for a higher density display to be worse, even if it is physically smaller, unless you are holding it too far away to read the screen, at which point it's not the screen's fault but your own. At the same physical size, letters are
always clearer on a higher-density display. At the same
angular size, letters are
always clearer on a higher-density display. At the same
pixel size, letters are
always clearer on a higher-density display. The
only time it gets worse is when you make the letters
physically smaller below your vision threshold
and hold it
the same distance or further away. In other words, when you put an iPad 2 and and iPad mini on a shelf at native scale and back away until you can only read the iPad 2.
But that is in direct conflict to the scenario you present, in which the user holds the iPad mini closer to his/her face than the iPad 2.
