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Using iPad in direct sunlight

S

spazer

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 27, 2006
83
6
Northern California
How viewable is the iPad screen in direct sunlight? The iPhone is very usable in direct sunlight, but laptops like the MBP are nearly unusable. For the iPad to serve well as an ebook reader, it's screen needs to be as readable in direct sunlight as the Kindle or iPhone...

Does anyone know yet?
 
spazer said:
How viewable is the iPad screen in direct sunlight? The iPhone is very usable in direct sunlight, but laptops like the MBP are nearly unusable. For the iPad to serve well as an ebook reader, it's screen needs to be as readable in direct sunlight as the Kindle or iPhone...

Does anyone know yet?
Click to expand...
Call back after April 3rd.
 
Go to your desktop, lift up your IPS-screen, and set it in direct sunlight. Is it readable? Then the ipad is readable in direct sunlight.
 
Apple should offer a anti-glare screen option!

I don't like plastic overlays.

Sun glare on my iPhone can be a problem.

pl_12_detail_1.png
 
Alchematron said:
Apple should offer a anti-glare screen option!

I don't like plastic overlays.

Sun glare on my iPhone can be a problem.

pl_12_detail_1.png
Click to expand...

Nice. Now show us what the screen looks like while its on. How much is color accuracy affected? What about brightness? No way you make the screen matte like that and not have some effect somewhere. It's very much possible that the effect is negligible but I'll be skeptical till then.
 
Tried to use my iPad while watching a softball game on Sunday. The bad news: I had to move to shade to see the screen. Direct sunlight = not a good experience. :(
 
gkarris said:
Anybody?

Want to use one flying in a Cessna for charts/maps.

ty...
Click to expand...

I used mine sorta this past weekend. I just left the GPS app running while i was being playing Mission Scanner in the back of a 172. I think it would work ok. It was cloudy though so i can't speak much on the screen since i wasn't in the direct sun.

I won't get another chance until July to try it out again, but i'm thinking it will work pretty good for my needs.

I need some sort of a strap case for it though so i can perch it on my leg!
 
JohnSFO said:
Tried to use my iPad while watching a softball game on Sunday. The bad news: I had to move to shade to see the screen. Direct sunlight = not a good experience. :(
Click to expand...

This is pretty much going to be the case for anything that relies on it's own light source for visibility.

You pretty much need something that uses the suns light, rather than tries to overpower it with it's own, if you want good sunlight visibility.

Something like a Pixel Qi display. But there is a massive trade-off. Everything I have seen of the Pixel Qi display so far it looks quite horrendous indoors with the back-light on, faded colors, poor viewing angles, washout from room lights.
 
I took my iPad to the pool today.

I had the brightness jacked all the way up and still was unable to play any games. The Kindle app was not bad and I was able to read my book, but it wasn't as crisp as my girlfriend's Kindle that she was using.

However, after reading a few pages, my iPad went to a black screen telling me that it needed to cool down. It was only about 75 out today and I didn't have it laying around in the direct sunlight. That's the first time I saw that message.

My guess is that given the aluminum back and black display, it probably absorbs the rays.
 
Useless in the sun. I couldn't see a thing. The kindle app has different fonts for reading in sunlight nut the rest is useless.
 
If you use it in direct sunlight for a prolonged period of time it will have a tendancy to heat up which will in turn cause it to shut down.
 
In my experience it's not usable in direct sunlight. Even with the brightness up all the way.
 
pl_12_detail_1.png


I still vote for a non-glare screen option from Apple

I use my iPad mainly on the go and I constantly have to adjust the screen angle due to glare
 
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