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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tipoo - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
Android gets praise for supporting flash but I never use it. At least on my single core phone (Nexus S), flash is too crappy to play anyways. Adobe themselves aren't going to support it on mobile for long, time to move on.name99 - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
"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."So your complaint is that Apple (who specifically do NOT call this an iPad3) did not deliver what you consider to be an iPad3? Uhh, what?
Your primary complaints seem to be
(a) Apple didn't include more stuff (which would drive up the price) AND
(b) It's too expensive.
Right, glad that's settled.
andersenep - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
I still haven't figured out what all the rage is about with tablets, but I finally broke down and got one of these new iPads (32gb wifi) mostly because I'm addicted to gadgets. The screen really is stunning. It makes my 11 inch MacBook Air's display look like absolute garbage, and I now feel incredibly cramped whe I go to use my iPhone 4.Still, both of the MBA and iPhone are much more useful and utilitarian to me. The iPad is neat and looks pretty, but I am having a really hard time justifying the purchase...It's biggest selling point seems to be as a media consumption device, and I'm just not buying it. Video is limited by cramped storage and, at least in my case, requires transcoding from more popular formats (mkv), not to mention reliance on iTunes (I also use Air Video, but seriously....). For music, it's no better than an iPod/iPhone. It's not very good for any sort of productivity. It's ok, but not great for casual gaming. The cameras are nothing spectacular. It's ok for ebooks, but really not any better than my iPhone other than having a larger screen.
It's basically a $600 web browser/email client with a really nice display. Sure you can use it for other thing, but it's not really good at them. Why is everyone so worked up about iPads and tablets in general? Is there some killer feature I'm missing??
swaggapad - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
tablets aren't for everyone!!!! For me its total media consumption, reading the newspaper or magazine on the train to work, or web/email when on a break or watching Netflix, HBO Go laying in bed or any of the various video content apps that are available. The only time I ripped movies and put on my tab was for watching on a flight for a few hours. But since having it, i have started using it at work since all of our meeting and conferencing are available apps so its goes with me to meetings for note taking as well or joining meetings remotely instead of cracking open my laptop.Bottom line I find ways to plug the tab into my lifestyle and subsequently its like my American Express, I dont leave home without it....lol
serkol - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
You don't have kids, or a wife :-)swaggapad - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
lol---they got tabs too....so thereBragabondio - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
>>Why is everyone so worked up about iPads and tablets in general? Is there some killer feature I'm missing??No :) It is a luxury item that many people who use computers casually like. It is purposefully build like an appliance so Apple can sale you music, apps and TV shows. If you want to do more with a very portable device buy an android (currently very happy with Galaxy note)
doobydoo - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
IMO the Note is ridiculously oversized for a phone (people making calls on it look ridiculous) and way too small for a tablet. Tries to be a jack of all trades but ends up being a master of none.If you don't see the benefit of tablets, just don't get one. Switching to Android wont offer you anything new.
Subzero0000 - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
I think that you will find it a lot more useful if you buy 3G/4G version instead of WIFI only.It's better without the dependency on WIFI access point (even if shared from your phone). Really, it makes a lot of difference.
It IS a media consumption device, but really depends on what you tend to consume.
If you usually read a lot of articles, watch videos online, some light gaming, then it works.
But if you prefer ripped full-length movie, then you have to deal with iTunes.
It's definitely not for productivity, do that on your PC/Laptop.
It's for casual usage when you lying on a bed, sitting in toilet, or standing in a bus.
So yes, there is nothing to work up about.
I still keep my iPad 2. For a media consumption device, it's good enough. No reason to upgrade yet.
uhuznaa - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
Do you have any other interests than computers? Music, photography, reading, astronomy, science? There's an awful lot of things software can offer great tools for while computers are just too cumbersome to bother with at the same time. A tablet with the right apps can be a real revelation here.Tablets are just great for everything where you want to use software and a net connection without having to bother with an outright computer. Just because there are some people who can't have enough "real" computers around them all day long or who don't have any other interests than computers does not mean that tablets are useless for everyone.
(And mind you, I don't have an iPad -- the gap between my computers and my smartphone is just too small to waste another gadget on it. But I can fully understand when this is different for others. I think the iPad is a great device. If I had a different kind of job I would throw my computers out, get an iPad and would be happy. And there are days I dream of doing exactly this, really.)