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marc55

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 14, 2011
872
283
I imagine the higher resolution on the ipad3 will be a great improvement for watching TV and playing games, but what about reading books; will there be a noticeable improvement there?

Thank you
 
iPad 1 and iPad 2 are both great for reading.

P.S. how do you read on a computer display then? Many are of a lower pixel density than iPad.
 
iPad 1 and iPad 2 are both great for reading.

P.S. how do you read on a computer display then? Many are of a lower pixel density than iPad.

I never understood thet either. Most people (certainly me) spend the better part of their day reading off worse displays (I have 3 in front of me at this moment) so I don't get the "this thing is awful for reading" complaints.

I have 2 Kindles at home that have not seen any use in more than a year (aside from a couple of visits to a pool this summer).

If people think a backlit display is "awful" for reading then increasing the resolution won't make it any less backlit.
 
I don't see a noticeable improvement for videos, since they generally won't be better than the resolution of the current iPads anyway.

But I can see that newspaper and magazine apps will be clearer for smaller display sizes. If the iPad 3 is the higher resolution like rumored, I'll replace my iPad 1 (3G).
 
It certainly helped on the iPhone / iPod so I think it would help, but to a lesser extent, on the iPad.
 
It might allow for larger webpages to be displayed on the screen more comfortably without the user having to enlarge it and scroll all over the place.

I sure won't mind the ability to read my DnD pdfs 2 pages at a time. :D
 
For books, like on the Kindle app and iBooks, text will likely be noticeably smoother. But, to be honest, I'm fine with the current screen for this purpose.

I think the biggest improvement will be in portrait mode surfing websites. Text is still sort of fuzzy and pixelated on the current iPads in portrait mode before zooming in.
 
Actually, if you compare an iPhone 3GS with an iPhone 4, the increased pixel density makes it's biggest impact with text. You notice the increased resolution a lot more in iBooks than when viewing photos or video. The sharpness of the text makes a big difference in how easy it is to read.

I actually find reading on the iPad to take more effort than reading on my smaller iPhone screen because of the pixel density.
 
Actually, if you compare an iPhone 3GS with an iPhone 4, the increased pixel density makes it's biggest impact with text. You notice the increased resolution a lot more in iBooks than when viewing photos or video. The sharpness of the text makes a big difference in how easy it is to read.

Agree 100%. This screen will especially make magazines optimized for it amazing.
 
It will improve reading on the iPad. Yet it remains to be determined if it can possibly be as good as the purpose built e-reader display that Kindles are equipped with.

I have both the latest Kindle & iPad2. I prefer the Kindle for reading e-books by a huge margin. It's not only the resolution, but it involves the way the display is illuminated and the type of contrast that makes Kindles so good.

For the web and everything else, the iPad is the finest.

Personally I find them so different, I will never limit myself to just one. My device collection will always include Kindles & iPads. I do so much reading I would suffer if all I had was an iPad.
 
I doubt that there will be any difference. At all.

The iPad2 is just fine as it is now and it works just great to read from.
 
While I read tons from my iPad, iPhone, and MBP, I must say that for reading longer books the e-ink Kindle is a treat. First and foremost it's less of a distraction, and the light weight, size, and display that looks like a freaking piece of paper is really great. Honestly I see the iPad and Kindle as two completely different products. I don't own one myself, but spent some time over the holidays with my mother's Kindle, and it was neat. Software is terrible though. It took nearly two hours to setup the wireless. I had to manually configure it, and ended up having to change to a Google DNS before things connected. WEIRD!

But to answer your question, there will be a little less eye-strain. Books are printed at 300dpi. iPad 3 should be close to that. But the backlight will still cause some fatigue.
 
I own several iPhone 4 and several Pad 2, i do not see much of a difference, since it is comparing a small screen vs a large screen, I think it would become a placebo effect if iPad 3 has retina display, it will just be our mind making some tricks on us... Not to mention, there has been studies report that show the retina display on iPhone 4 isn't really "retina display" it was more a marketing hype.
 
I own several iPhone 4 and several Pad 2, i do not see much of a difference, since it is comparing a small screen vs a large screen, I think it would become a placebo effect if iPad 3 has retina display, it will just be our mind making some tricks on us... Not to mention, there has been studies report that show the retina display on iPhone 4 isn't really "retina display" it was more a marketing hype.

To be fair these reports were quickly debunked
 
Things that can cause eye strain include weird contrast levels, displays that are too bright, high levels of reflectivity, and viewing something that lacks acutance for an extended period of time. A higher resolution screen basically affects one of these things. When your eyes lack something sharp to focus on, it can tire them out over time.
 
Things that can cause eye strain include weird contrast levels, displays that are too bright, high levels of reflectivity, and viewing something that lacks acutance for an extended period of time. A higher resolution screen basically affects one of these things. When your eyes lack something sharp to focus on, it can tire them out over time.

good reply, thanks!
 
Think retina display may be a little over rated . I would like crisper colors but for reading , no big difference
 
For books, like on the Kindle app and iBooks, text will likely be noticeably smoother. But, to be honest, I'm fine with the current screen for this purpose.

I think the biggest improvement will be in portrait mode surfing websites. Text is still sort of fuzzy and pixelated on the current iPads in portrait mode before zooming in.

I couldn't agree more! You've hit the nail on the head...it's the ingle reason iCab is my iPad 2 (and formerly iPad original) browser of choice...the multi finger gestures are nicely customizable to enlarge text on browser...I set it to zoom text with a three finger poker:). Once zoomed in...the text is sharp as hell! Again, as an owner of both iPads and all iPhones since the beginning, I'm very familiar with the impact of the retina screen addition with iPhone 4..and my new 4s (which I could SWEAR looks even a tad sharper than my wife's original iPhone 4)...however, this is a 3.5" diagnol screen we are talking about! The increase of pixel density made a massive difference is such a tiny screen for web page and other text based software and applications. I think, even if we do see a doubling of resolution in iPad 3, it'll be a much more subtle difference between the perceived text "sharpness"... With the exception being your first view of a web page without zooming....as it is a bit of a struggle now, it'll be razor sharp with the additional Rez bump. However, with my older eyes, I will still have to zoom in to at least the equivalent of 12 or 14pt text in order to see:). Hence, the reason I'll see a more "subtle" improvement.

I own several iPhone 4 and several Pad 2, i do not see much of a difference, since it is comparing a small screen vs a large screen, I think it would become a placebo effect if iPad 3 has retina display, it will just be our mind making some tricks on us... Not to mention, there has been studies report that show the retina display on iPhone 4 isn't really "retina display" it was more a marketing hype.

I disagree. First, those reports were ascertained as false, misleading and all out BS! If ever there was such a thing as a "retina" display...the original iPhone 4 was it...a MASSIVE improvement in sharpness and readability! Definitely not placebo. Not imagined. And not BS....an easily measurable performance boost when it came to display tech...now, Samsung...HTC, and the others are implementing the same high Rez displays on their phones...to a slew of happy reviewers! Not Placebo!

All above, MVHO!

Jeremy
 
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