Retina Updates: What's Taking So Long?

[mr.wiggles]

The notion that a new iPad with a retina display was immanent back in March was no huge mystery. I just wonder what's taking so long for app developers to update their apps to include retina graphics. Is it a huge, huge undertaking? I have no programming background so I don't know.

I'm specifically talking about the Springpad app, which looks so atrocious on this new iPad that I don't even open it anymore and am trying my hand at Evernote.

Maybe a thread that lists those great apps that people use that appear to have have missed the fact that this new iPad exists would be in order?

 

[spiderman0616]

Um......patience?

 

[Ashwood11]

App developers will do it when they are good and ready. There is no one answer that would be accurate for everyone.

 

[mr.wiggles]

Um......patience?

Huh? It was just a question... Your response does remind me of something else, however...

I hate eBay sometimes. Sellers lie all the time.

A guy I work with and I both ordered 3rd gen iPad back snap on cases early from a guy on ebay so that we could have them before getting our new iPads on launch day. He marked both orders shipped but never shipped them. Then we both e mailed him and he said he didn't even have them at all. A week later we both got our cases and they didn't even come close to fitting on the new model. He did refund our money and gave us the cases for free, but in the end it was a big hassle.

Um......patience?

 

[davedvdy]

I feel your pain. What's more is Im wondering which apps and games arent going to get the updates ever.

Orbital HD please update for retina! Lol

 

[Comeagain?]

Some apps are as simple as adding x2 artwork, which shouldn't be *too* hard, but others might require a complete re-write of the app itself.

 

[palpatine]

why don't you write to the developers? many of my favorites, including a springpad competitor, were updated within days.

 

[erawsd]

The notion that a new iPad with a retina display was immanent back in March was no huge mystery. I just wonder what's taking so long for app developers to update their apps to include retina graphics. Is it a huge, huge undertaking? I have no programming background so I don't know.

I'm specifically talking about the Springpad app, which looks so atrocious on this new iPad that I don't even open it anymore and am trying my hand at Evernote.

Maybe a thread that lists those great apps that people use that appear to have have missed the fact that this new iPad exists would be in order?

Its entirely dependent on the app. For some apps, its a simple update of art assets but others are more thoughtful. Toss in the fact that many apps are developed by 1 or 2 people doing it in their offtime and its not surprising that not everything has been updated yet. The iPad isn't even a month old yet, it was 2-3 months before some iPhone apps were updated and there were some that were never updated.

You may try contacting the devs of the app, you're likely to get a response.

 

[Mak47]

I'm with you on this one. I can understand that for some apps it isn't a big deal. Some things are automatically pixel-doubled, like text, so text heavy apps may not prioritize this. Some games also may not realistically be able to update without major overhauls as well, thus making it too much of an undertaking.

But the ones that are really bugging me are the photo editing apps that haven't been updated. If I'm a developer and I release a photo editing application I'd want that app to take advantage of the highest quality screen on the market. How is it not a top priority? Yet, many apps haven't been updated for it.

With the new graphics processing capabilities they could also be updated to stop downscaling my photos when they export them too. That's my other headache with photo apps, but that's a bit off topic I suppose.

I imagine what we're seeing here are who the really good developers are. Sure, some apps may take time, but like you said, it's not like this was a surprise.

 

[Sylon]

While it would be nice, perhaps the devs are not in a hurry because the current state of their games work just fine now. Or perhaps some of the already large file-size apps would be cutting close to being just too large.

Or perhaps its actually more work than we think to change a complex app to be retina-level.