Late to this thread, but chiming in on the youngsters vs. oldsters' visual acuity.
I think there's a difference related to how close people hold the screen to their eyes!
The "youngsters" have their eyeballs glued to the screens and so see all the pixelation; the "elderly" hold theirs at a comfortable lap or arm's length reading distance and the pixelation vanishes!
I was in a store when the iPad with Retina Display launched-- and side by side, people of all ages, couldn't tell the difference between the old and new one. That was reported in tests around the web. If you pinched-zoom up the text to ridiculous size, then yes, everyone could see the difference-- but who reads that way?!
The big difference, though, is in viewing older apps at 2x. There are many classic newspaper apps, e.g., the Washington Post, that are great on the iPhone, pixellated on a regular iPad (or Mini 1), but again decent quality on a retina display in 2x mode.
I would emphasize that all this is also more idiosyncratic-- many older folks hold the devices up to their eyes and prefer the retinas; many younger keep them at a distance and do not find any major difference.
I think there's a difference related to how close people hold the screen to their eyes!
The "youngsters" have their eyeballs glued to the screens and so see all the pixelation; the "elderly" hold theirs at a comfortable lap or arm's length reading distance and the pixelation vanishes!
I was in a store when the iPad with Retina Display launched-- and side by side, people of all ages, couldn't tell the difference between the old and new one. That was reported in tests around the web. If you pinched-zoom up the text to ridiculous size, then yes, everyone could see the difference-- but who reads that way?!
The big difference, though, is in viewing older apps at 2x. There are many classic newspaper apps, e.g., the Washington Post, that are great on the iPhone, pixellated on a regular iPad (or Mini 1), but again decent quality on a retina display in 2x mode.
I would emphasize that all this is also more idiosyncratic-- many older folks hold the devices up to their eyes and prefer the retinas; many younger keep them at a distance and do not find any major difference.