The new iPad: Retina Display Analysis
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 19, 2012 5:49 PM ESTQuantifying Display Performance: Big Gamut Gains
Pixel density may have improved, but what about the rest of the display characteristics? We'll start with the usual suspects - brightness, black levels and contrast ratio:
Despite a tremendous increase in pixel count and density, the new iPad delivers roughly the same brightness and contrast ratio as its predecessor. White point remains unchanged as well at ~6700K.
At the introduction of the new iPad, Apple briefly mentioned a 44% increase in color saturation from the new panel. Although the old display definitely looked good, the new one does actually look better. My eyes aren't normally the best judge of gamut, but we have some tools to help quantify exactly what I was seeing:
Color gamut has definitely improved. While the iPad 2 and TF Prime both were able to represent ~40% of the Adobe RGB color gamut, the new iPad jumps by nearly 50% to representing 65% of the Adobe RGB gamut. More impressive are the gains you see if you look at the color gamut of the new panel compared to the sRGB space:
Here the panel is able to deliver nearly full coverage of the sRGB color gamut. Below is the CIE diagram for the new panel with an sRGB reference plotted on the same chart so you can visualize the data another way (the white triangle is the new iPad, the gray outer triangle is the sRGB reference):
Near perfect coverage. The new iPad's display is a huge step forward in both pixel density and being able to represent a wider color gamut. While it's still no where near the quality of high-end PC displays, this is real progress for tablets. The bar has been raised.
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ssddaydream - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
Any LCD annoys me.Backlight bleed, viewing angles, color saturation being dependent on viewing angles, black level detail, the filter array's graininess, ITS SMALL, low color gamut, etc.
Why don't you do some research and actually go look at a high-quality CRT display or compare SAMOLED+ to LCD?
myhipsi - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
You're comparing the characteristics of a low quality LCD to a high quality CRT:If you buy a high quality IPS LCD display, viewing angles are practically a non-issue (nor is color saturation). Color gamut on the Dell u3011 for example is 117% of AdobeRGB, how's that "small" or "low"? Geometry on an LCD is perfect, can't say the same for CRT. LCD also beats out CRT in sharpness. I will admit, like I did in my OP, that black levels are inherently not as good on LCDs due to the backlight.
I'll submit that the preference for either LCD or CRT is completely subjective, so I can understand you suggesting that you PREFER a CRT over an LCD, but to say that LCD annoys you (IOW looks like crap) is a stretch.
medi01 - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
"best" display eh? Ever compared it to Galaxy I or II with AMOLED?I recall iPad 2 used to have "best screen" too. And now we discover that it's 49% of adobe rgb vs 63% on Galaxy Tab.
doobydoo - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
I don't think anyone ever claimed the iPad 2 had the best screen.Screen taste is largely subjective. A lot of people can't tell the difference in actual use between the Super AMOLED and the IPS LCD in the new iPad. They can definitely tell there is an increase in resolution though.
That being said, I think the screens on the Galaxy are good, but that's about the only thing which is good on them. They are even more expensive than the new iPad too. Insane.
myhipsi - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
I said, "ONE of the best", and yes, I have compared it to the Samsung Galaxy screen, it looks cheap and over saturated in comparison.medi01 - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
Oh yeah, baby. And first iPads run latest OSes soo smothly, right? :))A friend of mine with an iPad is very pissed off about it. After update to 5.x It crashes on him several times a day, is slow AND he cannot downgrade.
A nice way to force your customer to buy moar from you.
doobydoo - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
I know loads of people with original iPads running the latest version with no issues at all.If you want to talk about forcing your customer to buy 'moar' from you - look no further than all the Android tablets, many of which don't even have ICS yet, which was released 5 months ago.
At least Apple users get support for a decent period of time. If they want to roll back to the previous version of iOS, they can too, so no harm done if they don't like it.
medi01 - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
Uhm, how is 4:3 a good thing? Tried to watch videos on it?doobydoo - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
4:3 is better for portrait mode (which is the position used the most).It's worse for videos, so it's a trade off either way. Most people prefer the device to work better for more of the time so 4:3 is good for them.
vol7ron - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
I think the iPad3 would get more hype if it supported Flash :)Not to beat a dead horse (again), but let's face it, the iPad technology improved, but it's more like a iPad 2.5 release, rather than a 3. It kind of seems like the iPhone 4S disappointment, which to me signifies Apple's struggle in delivering something truly remarkable and inspiring. -- if Jobs hadn't passed, this is something I was waiting on... to see how stagnant design would become.
I don't own the iPad and it seems if I wanted one, I'd buy the iPad 2, only I still think $399 is still too much. I'd be a buyer at $299 (new or refurbished). I guess I'll wait to see the new Android offering :)