Bought an ipad 1 and now I regreat it... for reading anyhow

[kjk]

Interesting article today in light of both Dale and Jack's posts:
http://gizmodo.com/#!5782321/apple-i...play-shoot+out

the display on the iPad 2 delivers almost identical performance to the impressive iPhone 4 Retina Display. Although the iPad has a higher pixel resolution than the iPhone 4, the screen is much larger so the number of Pixels Per Inch is only 132 ppi compared to the iPhone 4 Retina Display value of 326 ppi. Lower ppi makes the pixels more apparent, an effect called pixelation. The very high ppi is a major marketing feature for the iPhone 4, but it's actually something of an overkill (and primarily there for App compatibility) because existing anti-aliasing methods can successfully reduce noticeable pixelation at lower resolutions and ppi.

Anti-aliasing is done in iOS software so Apple could (or rather should) add sub-pixel anti-aliasing to the iPad, especially given the new high-speed processing enhancements that were added to the iPad 2, and it can be done even better on the iPad than with the generic software on the Netbook. It will make a big visual improvement and take some of the unwarranted pressure off the iPad's current ppi.

(Dr. Soneira was one of the first to take Apple to task for the whole "Retina Display" marketing lingo )

If you take a high resolution photo of various LCD and eInk devices, say 10MP or higher, then view the photo at full resolution, which means only a small portion of the photo will fit on your monitor, it gives you a stunning magnification of what your eyes are trying to interpolate. (Here is a clue, look at the subtle yet small checkerboard looking background that surrounds this MR web page.) The greater the size of space around the pixels and the darkness of that space both effect how well our eyes can focus on the page and how distracting or how much eyestrain we have to deal with. I can easily see the space between the pixels on my $200 23" computer monitor as I'm typing this post. It looks similar on my iPad, it is less noticeable on my nookcolor, and I do not notice it at all on my iPod touch's 4G Retina display. Considering how monitors looked back in the 1980s when PCs were first becoming affordable, the technology has been greatly improved. I still remember the green text on black screen dislayed by my Apple II+ monitor, and how letters actually had spaces between the horizontal lines! Get up close to your TV and it looks terrible because it was dsigned to be viewed from across the room where the pixels seem to fade into one another rather than individually standing out. If you move your iPad (or any LCD screen) out to arms link it will look much better than it does a foot from your face.

I attached a photo I took of my iPod touch 2G and iPod touch 4G side by side. This was a 18MP photo, so I cropped out a 400 x 600 px section of the same part of each device's screen and show them here in full size. Since the 18MP photo is many times higher than the resolution of your computer monitor (or iPad or other device) this small section of screens looks magnified. (That is because my camera's sensor has several pixels for each pixel in these iPods.) But this represents what your eyes have to interpolate and why some LCDs are much better at preventing eyestrain than others.

...

After reading the Gizmodo article mentioned above, I've got a couple of observations.

The ppi rating for the screen is very important as it determines the size of the space around the individual pixels. The more space the worse the eyestrain if all other factors are equal. So even though Apple should improve their text rendering software, there is only so much improvement they can do with a 132ppi screen.

The iPad uses a 9.7" diagonal screen with a 4:3 ratio, and it has 132ppi for a resolution of 1024px x 768px which is about 0.8MP. The nookcolor clearly has a better text reading screen and uses 169ppi. The Retina display is extremely nice, but I agree that the 326ppi is overkill. I would say that 200ppi is more than adequate to create a really terrific screen for reading text. So if you do the math, if Apple kept the screen size and ratio as it is now in the iPad, then a 1600px x 1200px screen would have about 206ppi and a total resolution of almost 2MP. That would kill any other tablet's screen. I have no idea if Apple could find a supplier for 1600px x 1200px screens that use a 4:3 ratio and have a 10" diagonal. I suspect not, and if so, that would raise the cost per iPad. But it would be a screen by which to measure all other tablets!

A far as that goes, even if they used 186ppi in the same sized screen that would be 1440px x 1080px with a total resolution of 1.5MP. That would probably be more feasible, would still allow 1080i and perhaps 1080p, and would still beat all other tablet screens.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by jswinden

After reading the Gizmodo article mentioned above, I've got a couple of observations.

The ppi rating for the screen is very important as it determines the size of the space around the individual pixels. The more space the worse the eyestrain if all other factors are equal. So even though Apple should improve their text rendering software, there is only so much improvement they can do with a 132ppi screen.

The iPad uses a 9.7" diagonal screen with a 4:3 ratio, and it has 132ppi for a resolution of 1024px x 768px which is about 0.8MP. The nookcolor clearly has a better text reading screen and uses 169ppi. The Retina display is extremely nice, but I agree that the 326ppi is overkill. I would say that 200ppi is more than adequate to create a really terrific screen for reading text. So if you do the math, if Apple kept the screen size and ratio as it is now in the iPad, then a 1600px x 1200px screen would have about 206ppi and a total resolution of almost 2MP. That would kill any other tablet's screen. I have no idea if Apple could find a supplier for 1600px x 1200px screens that use a 4:3 ratio and have a 10" diagonal. I suspect not, and if so, that would raise the cost per iPad. But it would be a screen by which to measure all other tablets!

A far as that goes, even if they used 186ppi in the same sized screen that would be 1440px x 1080px with a total resolution of 1.5MP. That would probably be more feasible, would still allow 1080i and perhaps 1080p, and would still beat all other tablet screens.

The problem is with scaling-iOS just isn't optimized for resolution independence, which is why the iPhone 4 went with doubling resolution in both directions. Hence, most people betting that the next iPad (people think it will be iPad 3, but I'm wondering if they do an iPad 2 HD) doubling the current resolution as well.

At least until Apple moves to a more resolution independent OS solution-but given how long we've seen that show up in OSX, and never materialize, I'm guessing it's a pretty tough problem to solve elegantly.

Hopefully they will make some improvements in the future. I just hope they keep the 4:3 ratio. Before I got my iPad I thought they were crazy to use 4:3 rather than 16:9, but now that I have one I actually like it better for reading. Probably 90% of the time I'm going to have my iPad (or a reader from another company) in landscape mode as that is how I read and work, and I have to say that the 4:3 ratio is a LOT better for landscape reading than the 16:9 ratio of the nookcolor. The 16:9 is too narrow for landscape reading, which is probably why most eInk readers use 4:3 like the iPad.

[rcuadro]

I tried reading in landscape mode and it is fine while I have the ipad sitting on the desk, but when I am holding it in my hands I find portrait to be more comfortable...

[cavi]

i really still feel more comfortable reading long periods on my Kindle3, it is much less tiering!!

[bZkindle]

Originally Posted by rcuadro

I tried reading in landscape mode and it is fine while I have the ipad sitting on the desk, but when I am holding it in my hands I find portrait to be more comfortable...

I've tried everything I could think of to try to get into reading on the ipad..
nothing works: it's too heavy, too reflective, the layer of glass that causes your eyes to refocus all the time, everything.
I've got every reading app you can think of and have tried white on black, sepia, and every level of brightness.
Perhaps if I had never been exposed to e-ink, I may think it suitable but as it stands I find it horrible and am still mystified why anyone would find it nice to read on.

[Chi Cygni]

The idea of purposefully reading on ipad has not even crossed my mind. I use it for sofa surfing, occasional mahjong game and newspapers but books???? WHY??? I only read books on it while my ereader was broken and I was shopping for its replacement. I don't regret money spent on the ipad at all, but neither do I even think of reading on it. For that I have eink

[BrentKnowles]

I enjoy reading on the iPad but I find the whole connected-to-everything thing distracting... I'm always switching over to check mail and whatnot.

As for the reading experience itself I've had no problems with it... I generally turn the brightness to the lowest setting and it seems easy enough on my eyes.

[Chi Cygni]

On another note I found Stanza to be the best of all apps. I set background to wood pattern which is quite yellow, turn down brightness and it's cool. What I don't like is how heavy it is and difficult to hold for longer time (I love to read in bed before sleeping)

[rcuadro]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

The idea of purposefully reading on ipad has not even crossed my mind. I use it for sofa surfing, occasional mahjong game and newspapers but books???? WHY??? I only read books on it while my ereader was broken and I was shopping for its replacement. I don't regret money spent on the ipad at all, but neither do I even think of reading on it. For that I have eink

I though the same way until I bought the iPad but now I want to see if I can get rid of one of the devices. The ipad is so much better for PDF (for school books and tech manuals) and I am trying to use for reading regular books also. it is looking more and more that the iPad will not be able to replace my recreational reading device. It looks like I am going to stick with an iPad/Kindle 3 combo and sell the DX...

[jparris1]

I'm just the opposite on screens. I like my Kindle because it is small and light, but for general interface I love LCD touchscreen of my iPad. I love the Kindle app on the iPad. So much easier to see your library and archives. I love touching the screen to select things rather than using a directional keys and select buttons. I enjoy being able to easily read in dark restaurants. In fact, the device I covet for ereading is the NookColor, but I'm too tied into Amazon to switch. A 7 inch, light, touchscreen Kindle Color would be snapped up by myself in a heartbeat.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

On another note I found Stanza to be the best of all apps. I set background to wood pattern which is quite yellow, turn down brightness and it's cool. What I don't like is how heavy it is and difficult to hold for longer time (I love to read in bed before sleeping)

I found this interesting:

Do you use your laptop or mobile device before going to bed? Here's an idea of how to minimize its influence on your sleep:

Stop staring at your "Microsoft Blue" computer screen late at night...Blue light appears to suppress the hormone melatonin...which is released by the body to induce sleep.

Change your background color to orange, which subtracts blue light...

[MsAstoria]

Originally Posted by rcuadro

You may be right... I was anti ipad for a while but I broke down and got a cheap one once the iPad 2 was announced. This thing is great! It is amazing for school... and I started putting books on the Kindle app since it only made sense.
I have not played too much with the brightness so maybe it is time to start tweeking to see what works

For the price I paid for the iPad and Kindle DX... I dont see how the DX is still around. It is a good thing the Kindl3 is so inexpensive because if it wasnt I dont see how it would last either.

For iBooks, I use the sepia and turn down the brightness to a comfortable level. No problems reading now!