The iPad 3 display. What some might say is the defining feature of the third generation Apple tablet. It may be one of the main features of this latest edition to Apple’s product line, but is it any good? Can it be classified as revolutionary?
Before I start proving my point, let us just define “revolutionary.”
revolutionary: refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society
Personally, the new display in the iPad 3, isn’t revolutionary. It just isn’t. It isn’t a “major, sudden impact on society.” Before you confuse me for a hater, I do like the new display. Things on it, look great. Especially text rendering, text even when zoomed up to 30x-40x it’s original size, looks great.
This display is a really nice addition to the iPad line, one which was needed after the iPhone 4 received its high resolution display. Apple’s engineers have done a good job of fitting a display that has this high resolution, into a device which is smaller than an A4 piece of paper. All whilst maintaining the 10 hours battery life.
This is all well and good, but this update to the iPad was rumoured and almost expected to come a whole year earlier, with the iPad 2.
It started to get to the point where people may start to accuse Apple of neglecting the iPad, if they didn’t update the display. This is hardly the definition of a revolution. I remember the morning after the iPad 3 announcement, feeling quite under-whelmed by the whole ordeal. This display update was rumoured for several months before the announcement, hence that feeling when nothing else, apart from faster graphics were announced.
On the other hand, when the iPhone 4 was announced, the ‘retina’ display was revolutionary. It lead to Apple’s competition, revamping their phones to include higher resolution, better looking screens. Apple is definitely a big trend setter in this regard, where they have other manufacturers chasing to catch up to them. But I’m sorry, I just don’t find this resolution bump in the iPad, revolutionary.
Note: this can also be found on Tom’s personal blog here.