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Why do you want a Retina Display?
- Thread starter TheyCallMeSaint
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Ever since Retina Display, everything else looks average!!!
The Retina Display spoiled all of us...
^^^ All of these.
After using the iPhone 4 and its Retina Display, which makes text and graphics so much clearer and just looks so much nicer, I find going back to old iPhones or using an iPad extremely different and the difference in resolution is definitely noticeable. A retina display (or equivalent) on the iPad would be a great and welcome improvement.
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Open up the Maps app on an iPad and iPhone 4, centre the map on your location and sit them side by side. The difference is jarring.
Looks "horrible", eh?
...then so does your computer's screen, and your TV's screen, and every other display you've ever owned or looked at, ever. It must drive you mad and is totally, utterly unfair! Peace be with you and may God have mercy on your soul.
I myself wouldn't say the screen looks horrible - but text does look very bad. On computers & laptops you can see pixels, but those desktop OSes do a much better job at smoothing text. Just looking at the time or something in the status bar of an iPad and the font/text doesn't look good.
Exactly.
Text clarity for small text. 10 point text (in Evernote) on the 9.7" iPad 1 screen is very difficult to read but it is perfectly readable on the 3.5" iPhone 4 screen. It's all down to ppi.
Why do I want better clarity for small text? I do a lot of spreadsheet viewing on my iPad and if I could read smaller text more clearly then I could zoom out more and see my annual spreadsheets with 12 monthly columns all on the screen at the same time instead of needing to zoom in to get readable text to a point where I need to pan left and right across the months.
For anything involving text then, the more readable the display makes small text, the less one has to zoom in to read the smallest stuff and the more one can get on a single screen without needing to scrolling around to see it all.
Games? Video? Photographs? Personally I don't really care, for me it's all about text apps.
- Julian
Why do I want better clarity for small text? I do a lot of spreadsheet viewing on my iPad and if I could read smaller text more clearly then I could zoom out more and see my annual spreadsheets with 12 monthly columns all on the screen at the same time instead of needing to zoom in to get readable text to a point where I need to pan left and right across the months.
For anything involving text then, the more readable the display makes small text, the less one has to zoom in to read the smallest stuff and the more one can get on a single screen without needing to scrolling around to see it all.
Games? Video? Photographs? Personally I don't really care, for me it's all about text apps.
- Julian
Agreed, it's the small typefaces as you say that just can't be resolved, sometimes you need to squint a bit to make out the character unless you are forced to zoom in. Mind you, even slightly larger fonts as in the iBook app would look much nicer with smoother less jaggy curves.
Then we start getting into the whole anti aliasing issue again, but I think we are screwed as this only would work in landscape mode anyway.
I notice it quite a bit in slow moving games also, jaggy angles, which would be nice and smooth with some 2x or 4x anti aliasing.
Of course, double the screen res would do the job also
Maybe it's just the different ways people use an iPad. I've seen people here estimate iPad viewing distance as 18"-24", but in the position I find most comfortable I actually measured the viewing distance as 16". And I'd frequently use it closer to my eyes, too.
For text clarity and to get rid of the screen door effect, higher pixel density does wonders.
How can you be so sure? I certainly want to see 200+ dpi on all my computer screens.
Hmmmm? My two cents worth
I have an IP4, and iPad and a 2010 13" Air and I have to say that I'm most comfortable using the Air and iPad screens. I zip from one to the other.
I actually find the IP4 display a bit uncomfortable as the screen is too small so I tend to use the iPad (when the rest of family haven't monopolised it) or Air for most general purpose stuff at home and only use the iP4 when out and about. I find I get a lot less eyestrain on the iPad and Air because of the larger screens.
I have to say that most apps look stunning on each platform, for example the new Redshift looks amazing on both iP4 and iPad though the bigger iPad display has more of a wow factor! And certain apps like iDraw are iPad only so there's no choice!
Maybe I've just got used accepting looking at SD stuff on a big TV screen that I don't get bothered by or even notice it too much?!
I have an IP4, and iPad and a 2010 13" Air and I have to say that I'm most comfortable using the Air and iPad screens. I zip from one to the other.
I actually find the IP4 display a bit uncomfortable as the screen is too small so I tend to use the iPad (when the rest of family haven't monopolised it) or Air for most general purpose stuff at home and only use the iP4 when out and about. I find I get a lot less eyestrain on the iPad and Air because of the larger screens.
I have to say that most apps look stunning on each platform, for example the new Redshift looks amazing on both iP4 and iPad though the bigger iPad display has more of a wow factor! And certain apps like iDraw are iPad only so there's no choice!
Maybe I've just got used accepting looking at SD stuff on a big TV screen that I don't get bothered by or even notice it too much?!
That's me!
No other display, whether on a desktop, my MBP, iPads, or old iPhones, can even come close.
Once you live with a retina display for awhile all other text looks horrid.
An iPad version would be pixel-doubled from the existing one, so would be 264 ppi. That's good enough at an iPad distance.
And, yes, I want a retina MBP too. I would buy one tomorrow if it came out -- no matter the size or (within reason) the price -- even though my current MBP is only a year old and works great.
More pixels=more information
The higher res, the more you can do in parallel. I've always been a pixel junky. I had 1600x1200 external monitors in 1999, and I jumped on the 30" cinema display as soon as it came out (2560x1600). And I always use the notebook display (currently an Air 1440x900) as an extended display, to get the extra real estate (not mirrored, which seems crazy to me). i work with many windows open next to each other, and like to fit as much stuff on as possible. i like to be able to read a whole page, not to scroll.
If you still work like we did with MS-DOS, with only one thing up front maximised, then fine. 640x480 will do for you. But for me, higher res is always better. the iPhone 4 has TRANSFORMED mobile web browsing. No more endless pinching and scrolling, you can just read the pages as they come up. No point in getting the current iPad as it is barely better than the iPhone 4. But double the resolution, and I'd be all over it.
Duncan
The higher res, the more you can do in parallel. I've always been a pixel junky. I had 1600x1200 external monitors in 1999, and I jumped on the 30" cinema display as soon as it came out (2560x1600). And I always use the notebook display (currently an Air 1440x900) as an extended display, to get the extra real estate (not mirrored, which seems crazy to me). i work with many windows open next to each other, and like to fit as much stuff on as possible. i like to be able to read a whole page, not to scroll.
If you still work like we did with MS-DOS, with only one thing up front maximised, then fine. 640x480 will do for you. But for me, higher res is always better. the iPhone 4 has TRANSFORMED mobile web browsing. No more endless pinching and scrolling, you can just read the pages as they come up. No point in getting the current iPad as it is barely better than the iPhone 4. But double the resolution, and I'd be all over it.
Duncan
Umm no, my wife has a IP4 and a iPad and neither one of us thought that the ipad's display was horrible in comparison to the IP4
I'm pretty sure this preference is related to eyesight. I can't make out small fonts, no matter how many dpi's you throw at it. So the retina display on iPhone 4 doesn't do anything for me in terms of making smaller fonts more legible. I'm also guessing that I'm not seeing the jagged edges in graphic images, either. Images on iPhone 4 do look clearer, but the difference from the iPad is not so jarring that I "hate" looking at the iPad. Right now I'm kind of glad my eyesight isn't good enough to tell the difference, as I'd hate to hate my iPad.
I also think that for many people its psychosomatic. They've convinced themselves that only the RD will do therefore anything else is unbearable.
I really just have one reason - I'd like to be able to zoom out a full-page PDF of a moderately-large book and be able to read the entire thing without worrying about the pixelization of tiny text. That doesn't even require Retina, just a resolution moderately higher than the existing one (where it's just slightly uncomfortable to do this).
Retina would be rather spectacular for using the device as a photography portfolio, though.
It's a chicken-and-egg situation. I've been using Windows XP on a 130 ppi screen (and the matching dpi settings) for a while and it worked quite well though there were a few issues (which would have been a lot worse at 200+ ppi). But few developers are willing to deal with the remaining issues until they actually affect a significant number of users.
Bottom line is because we want it.....we don't need iPads...we want them.
We want to be wowed....period.
Apple typically presents things that are one generation ahead of the competition. This year at CES we watched as a few formidable tablet counterparts were introduced....all trying to become the equal of the iPad.
Retina display is a one upper, takes it to a whole new level. This is one reason why many folks love Apple products and this is what I'm hoping comes in the iPad.
We want to be wowed....period.
Apple typically presents things that are one generation ahead of the competition. This year at CES we watched as a few formidable tablet counterparts were introduced....all trying to become the equal of the iPad.
Retina display is a one upper, takes it to a whole new level. This is one reason why many folks love Apple products and this is what I'm hoping comes in the iPad.
Completely agree.. I can understand how some people don't seem to care about 'real estate' on the screen, but I definitely do.
I want a higher res iPad because I'm spoiled by my HDTV...
I just did an experiment watching a 720P iTunes HD program simultaneously on my iPad and on my nice 52" Samsung LCD TV (via my ATV1). The viewing distances for both were very natural and resulted in similar image sizes. I was surprised at how much sharper the image was on my TV. I did verify that the HD version of the program was loaded on my iPad.
I think that, at a minimum, Apple should do a credible job supporting their 1280x720p HD content by bumping the iPad's resolution up to 1280x960 (assuming they stay with a 4x3 aspect ratio, which they will).
I just did an experiment watching a 720P iTunes HD program simultaneously on my iPad and on my nice 52" Samsung LCD TV (via my ATV1). The viewing distances for both were very natural and resulted in similar image sizes. I was surprised at how much sharper the image was on my TV. I did verify that the HD version of the program was loaded on my iPad.
I think that, at a minimum, Apple should do a credible job supporting their 1280x720p HD content by bumping the iPad's resolution up to 1280x960 (assuming they stay with a 4x3 aspect ratio, which they will).
Apple kind of shot themselves in the foot. By announcing the amazing Retina Display, consumers want to have that feature in all of Apple products, at least the iOS devices. There really is quite the contrast and to not include it in the iPad regardless of battery life and cost shows consumers that it isn't as high tech any more. Especially when other tablets will have better displays
Not for me. I've been clamoring for higher-res displays on ALL computers for years. The IP4 was the first device that actually had an acceptably sharp display. I still bought an iPad, but every time I use it, I sigh because it is so fuzzy. Perhaps if your eyesight isn't so good, it doesn't matter, but for me, at normal 'on my lap' reading distances, the iPad could just be so much better.
I have to disagree that the ip4 has transformed browsing. It's just about good enough on the run, as was the 3GS and 3G, but the screen is just too physically small. Too long and my eyes get sore.
The iPad is much better for browsing in that sense because I'm not having to focus on such a tiny area, and the extra physical 'real estate' makes Apps like Weather Pro, BBC News, flixter and imdb so much nicer to use.
But my hardware of choice is always the Air (or if bothered to sit at a desk iMac or PC) because it has a physically bigger screen and is much faster at rendering web pages (plus I get a choice of running Safari without flash installed or chrome with depending on what I'm doing, but don't start me on why I think flash sucks).
Having said that I'll still drop onto older ipods or phones in the house for short periods, if they're at hand, without thinking 'uhh it must have a RD else I can't use it'.
The entire iOS experience is centered on a single application maximized. You can't fit more than one window on screen at a time, so this reason for wanting higher res is irrelevant. In a sense iOS forces you to operate, as you said, like we did with MS-DOS. So again using your words, since 640x480 will suffice you should be ecstatic with 1024x768. How do you plan on using the iPad with more than one window open at a time?
Using the iPhone 4 as an example, you will not have to zoom quite as much with the higher res screen due to smaller type being more legible. Since the screen size hasn't changed you won't see more of a website so the amount of scrolling you do will remain the same; however, since you won't have to zoom on small type I guess there will be less scrolling.
But its not greater real estate. I see the same amount of a website on an iPhone 4 as on my 3GS. Interface elements will take up the same % of a RD as they do on a regular screen so higher res doesn't mean fitting more on the screen in iOS.
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