All iPads Will Apple ever make 16:9 for iPad/Mini?

[sracer]

Indeed, but it has to be accepted that it's probably not possible for Apple to advance iOS to benefit from improvements like that, which Android and Windows tablets can do (two apps side by side to some degree) without a shift in aspect ratio.

Either Apple are never going to move iOS on in this manner (and as CPU's get faster it's going to be more and more restrictive, when you have the power to do it) or you are going to have to alter the screen to allow for this.

There's a greater likelihood of OSX coming to tablets than the wholesale rewrite of iOS that would be required.

As always, I see 16:10 as giving you MORE screen (but some still can't see it this way and feel it's taking screen away from 4:3)

Weight distribution and concepts like leverage and mechanical advantage show that a 16:9 (or 16:10) tablet is more difficult to hold one-handed than a 4:3 tablet.

Computers had overlapping windows before 16:9 was popular. Heck, even 7" netbooks managed just fine. I hope that Apple sticks by their 4:3 AR for iPads if for no other reason to give people a choice. There are no 4:3 tablets currently being produced (at least none that I can find).

 

[Night Spring]

As always, I see 16:10 as giving you MORE screen (but some still can't see it this way and feel it's taking screen away from 4:3)

Screen size is measured by the length of the diagonal. So a 11 inch tablet with a 4:3 aspect ratio has more screen area than a 11 inch tablet with 16:9 or 16:10 ratio. Hence, it's natural for people to feel that they are losing screen real estate when they switch to a narrower aspect ratio.

I'm too lazy to do the calculations, but a 16:9 tablet with the same screen area as a 11 inch 4:3 tablet would be 12 inches diagonal or more.

 

[cynics]

Don't people watch videos and movies more on a iPad then an iPhone?

Why is 16:9 on an iPhone a good idea but not on tablets?

 

[Night Spring]

Don't people watch videos and movies more on a iPad then an iPhone?

Why is 16:9 on an iPhone a good idea but not on tablets?

I would say weight distribution. Even with the iPhone, I find the phones before they went to the longer aspect ratio easier to hold and handle. But since the iPhone is so small, the slight awkwardness of the longer aspect ratio is okay -- not ideal, but an acceptable compromise for getting more screen space. On tablets, I think the awkwardness of the long and narrower form factor would be too much. Plus, I spend more time on my iPad reading books and surfing the web than watching videos on it, so I'm happy with the aspect ratio being more suited to reading.

 

[gnasher729]

Don't people watch videos and movies more on a iPad then an iPhone?

Why is 16:9 on an iPhone a good idea but not on tablets?

They watch videos and movies a lot more on this old fashioned thingy - what's it's name again - TV. It's called a TV. With a screen that is just enormous compared to an iPad. Speakers that fill a whole room with sound.

 

[RickTaylor]

The 7.9 inch screen size with it's 4:3 aspect ratio of the mini was the major reason I didn't seriously consider a non-Apple tablet. I don't use it much for movies, and use it a lot for reading pdfs.

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I hope that Apple sticks by their 4:3 AR for iPads if for no other reason to give people a choice. There are no 4:3 tablets currently being produced (at least none that I can find).

The HP Slate8 Pro is an eight inch tablet with 4:3 aspect ratio. The reviews I've seen haven't been positive however.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/02/14/hp-slate8-pro-review-so-close-yet-so-far/

--Rick Taylor

 

[darngooddesign]

...As always, I see 16:10 as giving you MORE screen (but some still can't see it this way and feel it's taking screen away from 4:3)

I think 16:10 will be useful once iOS supports side-by side apps. It gives you more screen for apps designed for that aspect ratio, but full screen browsers suffer terribly in widescreen.

 

[Piggie]

I think 16:10 will be useful once iOS supports side-by side apps. It gives you more screen for apps designed for that aspect ratio, but full screen browsers suffer terribly in widescreen.

Hopefully yes. I do hope in time, sooner rather than later. Apple do actually make iOS into a tablet OS.

There really is no question about it. iOS was made for, and it great on a small screen, such as a phone.
It's really doing a 10" screen a terrible injustice to basically blowing up a 4" phone UI to fill a 10" screen.

What is funny, and a little sad, is that Apple kept on at App makers not simply to blow up their mobile phone apps to fill the iPad's larger screen size, and yet that's pretty much exactly what Apple themselves did with iOS.

As for web browsers being terrible. I don't see why they HAVE to be terrible.
They could equally be make to be better.

It's only in very recent years (due to bloody Apple and the iPad's 4:3) we've seen some great PROPER PC/MAC websites that used to allow wide content to be used, change their aspect ratio and lock it down, so PC and Mac users now suffer due to the iPad's 4:3 becoming popular and people trying to make web sites work well on that old ratio.

There is no reason we could not go back the the better system we used to have where a PC or Mac owner could see more of a web site with their wider desktop screen.

 

[darngooddesign]

Hopefully yes. I do hope in time, sooner rather than later. Apple do actually make iOS into a tablet OS.

There really is no question about it. iOS was made for, and it great on a small screen, such as a phone.
It's really doing a 10" screen a terrible injustice to basically blowing up a 4" phone UI to fill a 10" screen.

What is funny, and a little sad, is that Apple kept on at App makers not simply to blow up their mobile phone apps to fill the iPad's larger screen size, and yet that's pretty much exactly what Apple themselves did with iOS.

As for web browsers being terrible. I don't see why they HAVE to be terrible.
They could equally be make to be better.

It's only in very recent years (due to bloody Apple and the iPad's 4:3) we've seen some great PROPER PC/MAC websites that used to allow wide content to be used, change their aspect ratio and lock it down, so PC and Mac users now suffer due to the iPad's 4:3 becoming popular and people trying to make web sites work well on that old ratio.

There is no reason we could not go back the the better system we used to have where a PC or Mac owner could see more of a web site with their wider desktop screen.

This is what I'm talking about. 4:3 is just better for browsing unless you are dealing with the rare responsive sites that address that. Most do not as there is usually one desktop layout.

Magazines look better in landscape on a widescreen device, but not portrait.

That being said, Comics being taller than magazines look better in portrait on a taller screen.

 

[zhenya]

It's only in very recent years (due to bloody Apple and the iPad's 4:3) we've seen some great PROPER PC/MAC websites that used to allow wide content to be used, change their aspect ratio and lock it down, so PC and Mac users now suffer due to the iPad's 4:3 becoming popular and people trying to make web sites work well on that old ratio.

There is no reason we could not go back the the better system we used to have where a PC or Mac owner could see more of a web site with their wider desktop screen.

Websites have been moving towards fixed width design for long before the introduction of the ipad. They do it because it gives the designers a lot more control over how the site will look to end users. When the content dynamically resizes, it's much more difficult to keep a consistent look on anything from 600 to 1920 pixels wide.

 

[Night Spring]

Websites have been moving towards fixed width design for long before the introduction of the ipad. They do it because it gives the designers a lot more control over how the site will look to end users. When the content dynamically resizes, it's much more difficult to keep a consistent look on anything from 600 to 1920 pixels wide.

And I DON'T want to read content that is 1920 pixels wide. It takes too much swinging of eyes side to side to read if a line is that wide. When browsing on a large wide screen monitor like the 27 inch iMac, I end up keeping my browser window about two-third the width of the monitor, otherwise, the lines are too long.

 

[Piggie]

And I DON'T want to read content that is 1920 pixels wide. It takes too much swinging of eyes side to side to read if a line is that wide. When browsing on a large wide screen monitor like the 27 inch iMac, I end up keeping my browser window about two-third the width of the monitor, otherwise, the lines are too long.

So sorry to hear about you accident. Was it related to a motoring innocent?
I know a neck brace can be a very restricting thing to wear, making it impossible to turn your head.
Hope you can remove it soon and get the flexibility back into you neck muscles

 

[Night Spring]

So sorry to hear about you accident. Was it related to a motoring innocent?
I know a neck brace can be a very restricting thing to wear, making it impossible to turn your head.
Hope you can remove it soon and get the flexibility back into you neck muscles

Um, don't trivialize the issue. Too much swinging of your eyes sideways slows down your reading speed, and it's just generally unpleasant to read text that is in too long lines. It's why newspapers print in columns, instead of having lines that go the width of the entire paper.

 

[medic27]

The one thing that sets the iPad apart hardware wise is the 4:3 display. It's the best experience for web browsing.

and lengthy PDF usage.

 

[Saturn1217]

Let's put it this way. I am a huge Android fan (not ashamed to admit it).

I have a nexus 5 and 7 which I like a lot but when it came time to try larger tablets one of the reasons i picked the ipad is because of the 4:3 aspect ratio. If movie watching is the ONLY thing you do on a tablet get an android tablet. They watch movies just fine. If you do ANYTHING else 4:3 is better. I personally only watch youtube vids on my ipad occasionally. I browse the web and read pdfs on my ipad a lot so i really value 4:3.

I could make a similar argument about 16:10 vs 16:9 on laptops. I will never understand why people want to take these multipurpose devices and optimize them for watching movies to the detriment of everything else.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Let's put it this way. I am a huge Android fan (not ashamed to admit it).

I have a nexus 5 and 7 which I like a lot but when it came time to try larger tablets one of the reasons i picked the ipad is because of the 4:3 aspect ratio. If movie watching is the ONLY thing you do on a tablet get an android tablet. They watch movies just fine. If you do ANYTHING else 4:3 is better. I personally only watch youtube vids on my ipad occasionally. I browse the web and read pdfs on my ipad a lot so i really value 4:3.

I could make a similar argument about 16:10 vs 16:9 on laptops. I will never understand why people want to take these multipurpose devices and optimize them for watching movies to the detriment of everything else.

I watch a lot of videos on my ipad, although it's not the only thing I do. However I choose the Air over a 10 inch Android tablet. Mostly due to the aspect ratio and lack of tablet optimised apps. However even for videos, in my country (UK) you can get a lot more content on an ipad than on an android tablet. Also some of the stuff I watch was shot in 4:3 anyway. I love Android phones but I think that they are still behind when it comes to Tablets.

 

[GalFriday]

I have a Windows 8 tablet that's 16:9. It's fine in landscape mode but absolutely horrible in portrait, especially reading. Way too narrow. I have a 16:10 Android tablet that's a lot better, but I think the 4:3 is perfect for magazines, PDFs and websites.