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Apple's iPad 3, Part 1: The Complete Retina Display And A5X Review

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There's no such thing as physically "elevated pixels", they're marketing talk by Apple to explain the SHA "Super High Aperture" technology in layman terms.

The pixes are designed in such a way that their transparent pixel electrodes are raised over signal lines using thin organic film, to reduce noise. Details here.

http://www.displaysearchblog.com/2012/03/how-apple-squeezes-four-times-the-number-of-pixels-into-its-new-ipad-retina-display/
 
I spent the entire weekend playing with my "new" iPad and comparing it with both the original and iPad 2 (each acquired at release). I use them primarily for reading (lots tech dosc in pdf) and email. Although i will keep the new one, and sell my original, there is NOTHING here for anyone with an iPad 2. The display is nice, but only marginally noticable in regular use, and even then primarily when i used reading glasses. If the screen had a larger color gamut, color correction, and the ability to integrate with my Nikon RAW workflow it would be great for photography, but right now my notebook and desktop smoke it.

The iPad remains a cool, fun, and interesting toy, but still isn't close to replacing my notebook or desktop.
 
(Sorry if this double-posts)

I do agree that generally more is better when it comes to pixels if the OS is able to handle an increased pixel density gracefully (there's a reason I think that 1080p is overkill on a 15.6" Windows laptop, and I really hope Windows 8 manages to be more resolution-independent than its predecessors). However, for the most part, the increase in resolution on the iPad is probably not going to be as big of a deal as some people think it is. It's not going to really fit more usable information on the screen (ten inches is ten inches); it's just going to make that information look "nicer."

The real improvement here is the color gamut. When people look at this screen and ooh and ah, I think it's going to be mostly due to increased saturation. iPhone and iPad displays have been pretty bad in this area up to now, but it looks like they're finally bucking that trend with this latest model.
 
The increased resolution won't mean much until you can get streaming content at that high of a resolution. Seems to me the only benefit would be for still photos.
 
Well, for one thing, the old iPad couldn't play even 720p without shrinking the image, so there's arguably some advantage. To be frank, I don't feel like the increased resolution will give much benefit unless there's a real operating system behind it.

Before anyone downvotes me for bashing Apple, I'm talking about allowing the device to be fully functional without the use of a host computer. Full file system access, the ability to develop programs on the device directly, or even the option to download and install any program internally...you know, full ownership of the device.

It's a really nice screen, though...
 
[citation][nom]old_fogie_late_bloomer[/nom]Before anyone downvotes me for bashing Apple, I'm talking about allowing the device to be fully functional without the use of a host computer. [/citation]

Voted down for bashing Apple here on Toms? You must be new here.. If you want to get voted up all you need to do is to refer to any Apple fan as an "iSheep" or say something like, "Steve Jobs is the devil!" or "CRapple sux0rs!!!111eleventy1!!!".
 
[citation][nom]amk-aka-Phantom[/nom]After playing around with most hi-end Android devices AND iPhone 4S/iPad 2, I happen to believe this "nonsense". Everything looks so much more hi-res... but that's only Android's fault. When are they going to fix the menu animation lag and make everything more hi-res? ICS kind of did a good job on it, though, and now it actually looks NOTHING like iOS and is beautiful.Of course, the menu animation lag and low-res icons can't make me shift to Apple, especially now that I run ICS on my netbook (try that, Apple... oh wait, your toy MacOS IS already like a tablet OS, lol) - same way that MacOS's ability to take screenshots of a selected area of the screen can't make me shift from Windows/Ubuntu. It's just not nearly enough to compensate for the important features I'll lose. Sure enough, there're tons of people to whom all of them don't matter and they'll just go with the most hyped thing out there, but I prefer to know what I'm paying for. It's a habit that pays off on the long run.[/citation]

Just so we know, could you tell us what features you are missing in OSX. What I have seen allot of times is that the features are their, just in a place that the new user does not know where to look.
 
[citation][nom]old_fogie_late_bloomer[/nom]Well, for one thing, the old iPad couldn't play even 720p without shrinking the image, so there's arguably some advantage. To be frank, I don't feel like the increased resolution will give much benefit unless there's a real operating system behind it.Before anyone downvotes me for bashing Apple, I'm talking about allowing the device to be fully functional without the use of a host computer. Full file system access, the ability to develop programs on the device directly, or even the option to download and install any program internally...you know, full ownership of the device.It's a really nice screen, though...[/citation]

Buy a computer for that. You don't get that with any tablet device right now. Not even Android and I think it is the right approach to do for types of devices. How would an organization support their product and the software if you are allowing low level modifications that could potentially cause instability, over usage of resources, or possibly introduce issues where the application or OS would break when updates come out. Remember, these devices don't just sit around plugged into walls. Android is not nearly as "open" as people let it on to be. There are a number of articles that speak to this. Here is one of them.

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/08/study-android-is-least-open-of-open-source-mobile-platforms.ars

I know it sounds nice and all but not very practical for this type of device. Remember, tablets are not new, Samsung built a tablet called the Q1 (which I owned) and it ran Windows XP. There where 2 or 3 of devices out there similar to the Q1. This was within the last 10 years. They where terrible. This form factor is just not meant for general computing. Just does not work very well. It works better with a more purpose built OS like Android or IOS.
 
[citation][nom]blackened144[/nom]Voted down for bashing Apple here on Toms? You must be new here.. If you want to get voted up all you need to do is to refer to any Apple fan as an "iSheep" or say something like, "Steve Jobs is the devil!" or "CRapple sux0rs!!!111eleventy1!!!".[/citation]


See they voted you down for that.
 
[citation][nom]bernardv[/nom]2048x1536 on a 10" screen? This is a joke, 0 value to 99.9% of end users. A fanboy excuse for throwing money away.The author comments it is suitable for watching movies. Which movie is even available in such a resolution??? For watching movies in your lap on 10", 720p is more than enough.[/citation]

I shouldn't have to put up with junk displays just because you could care less. Some of us can see the difference - and I suggest more would be able to if they weren't conditioned into believing mediocre displays were good.


 
"It's startlingly easy to see the difference. The small red way-point and individual roads are incredibly pixelated on the iPad 2 when you zoom in close."

You know you're a fanboi when...
you have to get out a microscope to justify a new "feature".
 
[citation][nom]acku[/nom]This would rule out the galaxy tab 10.1, as it also uses adapters.[/citation]aye, thats why I mentioned ANY tablet. I REALLY FAIL to see why they couldnt use usb or memory card reader(at least for sd card). Its not like these connector or reader slot have 5cm thickness.

I aint buying any tablet until they fix this prob.
 
Good review on the new screen, love the inclusion of color gamut and contrast ratio numbers which you just don't see in most the other reviews.

Really interested to see some delay time numbers though. Not sure how easy it is to test but I'm sure others would be interested as well in seeing how much of a lag there is in the screen seeing as most are interested in it for watching movies and gaming where that is pretty crucial.
 
Everyone dumping on the screen andcpu/gpu performance would be slobbering over an Android device if it was able to do it.

How many of you would never shutup about the screen and cpu/gpu on the Samsung GS2? Yeah...exactly.
 
[citation][nom]ap3x[/nom]Just so we know, could you tell us what features you are missing in OSX. What I have seen allot of times is that the features are their, just in a place that the new user does not know where to look.[/citation]

How about SLI support, as well as support for any custom hardware and not just the limited set that Mac OS is made for? :) How about having a goddamn taskbar by default? How about gaming? How about NOT showing off and screwing up EVERY SINGLE SHORTCUT so that it's not like anything on Windows/Linux, making any advanced user of the latter two OSs look like a fool when he tries to use that POS? How about not positioning your OS as superior while it's not in any way and looks like a shackled Linux distro to me?

😀
 
[citation][nom]kartu[/nom]Was it too much to show Galaxy Tab also on chart, guys? Did apple marketing dept explicitly asked you to only show it vs Prime?[/citation]
Maybe it was Samsungs marketing dept...
 
5.LoL.jpg
I smell something fishy, Don't use the "scores" though, they're Apple biased. Tell us the actual numbers, they seemed to be fair.
6.LoL.jpg

 
So 2048x1536 is possible on a $500 dollar iPad, but noone will sell me a monitor with better than 1080p for less than $700 bucks.

Man that's aggravating.
 
[citation][nom]phate[/nom]So 2048x1536 is possible on a $500 dollar iPad, but noone will sell me a monitor with better than 1080p for less than $700 bucks. Man that's aggravating.[/citation]

Size is what makes them expensive.
 
This just in: the laws of physics are Apple Biased. Since the tests show that Apple beats out the other tablets (even the Samsung Galaxy if you click the link) in color performance, clearly the laws of physics were written by Apple fanboiz. Also, since 2046*1536 > 1200*800, math can no longer be trusted to be unbiased either.

Geez people, Apple made a tablet with a nice display. If you can't stand and never want to use a tablet, why bother reading and REALLY why bother posting? You already have an opinion, right? Or do you need to check with THG so they can tell it to you? Do you read movie reviews after you watch a movie to see if you liked it? The 'iPad 3' display measures better in nearly every way that matters to the competition. So what? Now better displays don't matter? They do to some people.

SD without an adaptor IS a feature (sort of). Check out those eyefi cards. If you just need to move pictures/video to your iPad from a camera, they are quite handy.
 
[citation][nom]gpog[/nom]Maybe it was Samsungs marketing dept...[/citation]
Look at the (table) data by Tom:

Ipad 2 - 49.9%
Ipad 3 - 66%
Galaxy - 62.8%
Prime - 40.2%

Why on earth would Samsung's marketing dept like to hide the fact that Gaalxy has top notch screen?
 
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