Hands on with Apple's iPad (with videos and photos) - Page 10

He is correct in every sense. The iPad will not display HD. Deal with it.

Your eyes cannot see lines of resolution. As long as the picture looks good, ultimately no one will care about its HD status.

The Kindle, Nook, and Sony eBooks have gorgeous eInk screens that are as easy on the eyes as paper for long-term reading. That is one very compelling reason to consider them over an iPad if you're a reader.

Incidentally, I've heard no one from the Church of Jobs call out The Great One's hypocrisy. I thought "nobody reads anymore"?

Are you really saying that SD looks just like HD? If not, then what the heck ARE you saying?

I'm not saying it's going to look bad. I'm sure with the quality of screen that the iPad has, that even SD movies will look great. I was merely combating the statement that the iPad displays video in HD

You're going to be looking at 132 (lines) pixels per inch which is very high res. Although the iPad lines of HD 1920x1080p will only be 1024 x 576, they will be so close together that it will still have the appearance of HD - very crisp detail. So while the display is technically not HD, from a practical standpoint because the lines are so close together 16x9 HD source material interpolated down to 1024 x 576 will still look great and not like SD at all.

I dont' think it's anything to worry about. You have to appreciate how much new high tech is making the iPad work and forget about the HD numbers. It's gonna be great. When you look at HD on your iPhone or iPod Touch it looks fantastic even though it's not "HD" res. Same will hold true for what you see on the iPad

There will be 96 pixels or .72 inches of letterbox black above and below when playing 16x9 HD full screen Landscape - 7.75" x 4.36".

The 4x3 iPad screen is 7.75" x 5.8" vs. 3" x 2" on the iPhone & iPod Touch. The iPad's smaller brothers are not the iPad aspect ratio. They are closer to the widescreen ratio so they have smaller letterbox HD video bars than the iPad will have. An iPad is boxier than the vertically slimmer iPhone & iPod Touches.

No argument was intended. I can't read all these posts. Sorry if it read like an argument. I hadn't seen anyone post the exact pixel dimensions of downward interpolated HD video on an iPad. That was my main reason for posting.

Thanks for that correction on the vertical amount. I was calculating 1920 to 1024 instead of 1280 to 1024. Corrections above.
Bottom line is we get 80% of a 720p HD display. 1024 x 576 Not bad at all. In future, a 1280x800 display like what's in the 13" MacBooks will make it a real HD iPad.

why are you arguing with me when i clearly stated i think it will still look great in just 1 post above yours lol

No, I'm saying with vivid color saturation and deep contrast, people will not be able to see the difference between 1280x720 and 1024x410 on a 9.7" screen.

Assuming 1024 horizontal and a 1 ft viewing distance it comes out to:

23.97 pixels per degree for 2.39:1 movies
25.13 pixels per degree for 1.85:1 movies
25.37 pixels per degree for 1.78:1 (16:9) movies.

HD is defined to be 60 PPD with 30 degrees of horizontal viewing angle. This is where the 1080p spec comes from. 30 PPD is where you stop seeing the grid effect (aka screen door effect). 60 PPD is what humans with 20/20 vision can resolve. Obviously some folks can see better than that and some worse.

To get 60 PPD (aka full HD) density you need to sit 2.37 feet away (16:9)
To get the 30 degrees HVA you need to sit no more than 1.31 feet away.

At 1.31 feet you get 33.23 pixels per degree which is "HD enough" to qualify as HD since it meets the 30 PPD number. 720p would be 39.95 PPD which is clearly better but still in that mid range between "good enough" and "optimal".

I would say a foot and a half a good ballpark of where I hold my iPhone watching movies on a flight (resting in my hand on my lap). There's no way to hold the thing at less than a foot comfortably for a whole movie. 2 feet is reasonable if I stick it up on the tray...at that distance, you miss the 30 degrees HVA but the pixel density is there.

Yes, it's worse than 720p because you're short the horizontal resolution of 1280 pixels but for 16:9 it is 1024x576 not 410.

1024x768 isn't great but I prefer it over 1024x600. I assume some future iPad will be 1366 x 768 or better.

Oh...for reference...most folks sit about 8+ feet from a 50" 1080p TV which results in a 14.55 degree HVA. At 2.37 feet the iPad is 16.91 degrees. Which means it's larger than your typical HDTV at normal TV viewing distances but at 60PPD vs 73PPD for the 50". You can't really see that pixel density difference so...pretty much it's the same viewing experience. Not HD but neither is the 50" HDTV at that distance...most folks sit too far away to get the HD effect (called induction and occurs at 30 HVA or higher)

Idiotic response... "He loves it" (the iphone). But will hate the iPad?!? Iphone can't do flash either moron...

Look, all websites will be utilizing HTML5 soon... FLASH will soon be outdated tech for building websites. Who wants to download FLASH plugins anyway.. annoying.

Multi-tasking will come eventually... I think it's Apple's way of wanting you to BUY 99cent songs instead of using borderline illegal PANDORA apps to listen to popular music for free.

People forget.. You can still multi-task and listen to the IPOD app and surf the web at the same time...

lol the html5 argument is hilarious, its not going to become a standard until "the year 2022 or later"

sure, they'll have some of it working before then, even now some parts work a little bit, but it will likely be many years until we have html5 delivering media-rich content in a way that rivals flash

face it, the lack of flash is by far the #1 reason against owning an ipad, because 95% of its use is going to be browsing. there's no candy coating it. it just comes down to whether the other features, such as the app store, are enough to counter it... which i might ad, comes down to personal preference - surely not something worth fighting about

I was saying it 10 years ago and I'll say it again now... to hell with flash. Oh... and did you know that CSS2 is not a standard yet either?

HTML 5 won't be pervasive for a long time, but I have Flash disabled on my Mac and rarely miss it. The iPad would work fine for most of my browsing.

I'm glad Apple has taken a stand against Flash even if the motivation is to sell 99 cent apps instead of letting people play online Flash games for free.

Why guess? The specs are online (http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/). The 3G version has GPS.

He always does that before he releases a product. And frankly, given the dire straits of the print media companies it's not far from the truth.

eInk and gorgeous is a stretch. The contrast is kinda meh. It's a helluva lot better than my old ebook killed a couple years ago but not "gorgeous". Refresh rate still sucks.

The typography is likely to be superior on the iPad than most eBooks. We'll see. In any case, for indoor reading I prefer the LCD screen. 99% of my reading is done indoors and most likely on an airplane.

Flash will be with us in one form or another for a long time to come. But I can agree that many creative web developers are finding HTML5 the new hotness and Flash old and busted.


It will take some years before HTML5 is fully ratified, but no one is waiting for that. Web developers are using parts of HTML5 as soon as they become available. No it won't take that long for HTML5 to be able to replace Flash. The technology is already available its just not quite yet ready to be widely used, but its almost here.


You act as though everyone is dedicated to using Flash. That is not true at all. As has been show by YouTube everyone will adapt their delivery technology so that it will work on any device. No one is going to stop with Flash.

Why do people keep saying this, Apple does nothing to stop free games. There are many free games in the app store. Apple has to pay for the bandwidth and billing costs of free apps the same as paid apps.

Apple is actively contributing to the development of WebGL and CSS3 Visual Effects. Both of which can be used to make free games. The difference being these games would play right in the browser without the need for a plug in.

I just wanted people to read this again.

C.

Yes the iPad can let you read 'books', but let's face it, it's a horrible e-book reader. e-ink is far superior for what it's intended for.

Sometimes I think Jobs secretly has shares in vision care companies...

So, you've seen the iPad and read books on it and your opinion is based on first hand, hands-on experience?
OR are you simply repeating the ill-informed talking points spewed by Apple-loathing mouthpieces?

I have no idea which is better or not until I can see them side by side viewing the SAME source material.

When I spend 8 hours a day reading LCD, I find this "far-superior" argument to be unconvincing.
Why is a grey on grey front-lit display, which takes up to 2 seconds to turn a page far-superior?

I have an e-reader, and I would describe the e-ink technology as "okay to read, lousy to navigate"

C.

Er, one uses E_ink the other uses what's been described by APPLE related websites as essentially the same screen in the Macbook...

How so? Or are you just regurgitating what you've heard?

As far as I know, E-Ink's only two advantages are that it does not need a back light or continuous power. Which does make it perfect for reproducing text, but I fail to see how that makes an iPad a horrible eBook reader?

I think ergonomics comes more into play when you're talking about long-term reading. Being able to get into a comfortable sitting position and changing your position from time to time, would make more of a difference than the type of screen you're looking at.

There's really nothing wrong with the MacBook screen, people stare into LCD screens for hours on end. The problem here is the fact that for the most part a laptop has to sit in a fixed position at a fixed length. This can not only put strain on your eyes, but also your neck. Yes you can shift its position, but not with the same freedom you can with a device or object that you can hold in your hand.

That is exactly what the Newton did so well. It replaced all those notes and scraps of paper that you build up every day. It eliminated the need to carry a notepad. It had a word prosessor and spreadheet application. It was an open platform that anyone could develop for and there was / is a very dedicated community of developers supporting continued use of the Newton long after Apple abandoned it. The Newton was a device aimed at a user who creates, a user who writes, a business user who prints and faxes. The closed operating systems Apple has been developing portend a grimmer future if they are the future of computing. The locked down, corporate friendly iPad seems aimed at users who consume: iBooks, so users can buy more books through Apple (will Apple disallow other eBook readers like Stanza?). iBooks, a new way to read books? I was downloading and reading books on my Newton in 1999. iTunes, now a music and video store, so users can use their credit cards to buy music files and videos that can be watched for free on Flash sites like Hulu. Limited communication abilities (print? fax?) make this look more like a toy with a toy OS.

"Locked down"? Well if that's what you want to call it, sign me up.

The success of the iPhone and the 140000 apps written for it suggest that users and developers both prefer the model you're calling "locked down". Apple's version of the "locked down" model is the best thing to happen to the computing industry in a long time. Sure, it isn't perfect. But look at what we get in return.

In other news, I'm also not afraid of the silent black helicopters coming to take me away.

An interesting concept. I'd be interested in seeing studies on what types of strain the form factors produce in real-world usage.

It seems logical that shifting around constantly prevents problems that result from being too sedentary. However, this is offset by the fact that the device requires being held.

My experience is that prolonged hand-held computer usage is far more problematic than prolonged laptop or desktop usage. After 20 minutes of holding my iPhone in the normal use position, the acute angle of my elbow begins to take a toll. Blood flow and nerves are restricted when the elbow joint is held in an acute position for too long. Muscles become tired from the fixed position and slight tension that is required to hold an iPhone during normal usage.

In my experience at least, iPhone usage results in moving my arms less than when I am seated at a keyboard. Perhaps I just need to train myself to use handheld devices in a more ergonomic manner. And perhaps the tablet, with its larger screen, will be held farther away during typical usage. This would result in a less acute elbow angle.

The end result of the tradeoff still seems like an unknown for the tablet form factor. While tablets have been around for a while, a larger userbase will advance tablet ergonomics knowledge in a dramatic fashion. We'll likely have real answers within a few years of the iPad's release.

Yes, locked down in that the company that made the device always determines how you use it. Locked down in that if you want to install an application that isn't among the 140k of shitty, marketing, pointers to other websites, an application that Apple disapproves and doesn't make availabe via the App™ Store™, then you have to "jailbreak" the device. Do you have to jailbreak a MacBook or a iMac or a Mac Pro or PC? Locked down is good for the computer industry? How so? Is it good that one company can decide for me what I can and can't install on the device that I buy and own? How is that good? What's the purpose of a computer, and the iPad [is] a computer, with an OS that is so closed it resembles a marketing scam? OS X is not locked down. Apple has no say so over what you can and can't install on your Mac, nor how you use it. How is this bad for the industry. Which is better for the user?

Apple used to claim to support open standards, open architectures. They used to be the company whose computers were aimed at those who "Think Different". Now we can change that to "Think Alike, and Just Like We Tell You To".

I'd also like to add that the Newton could be used as a stand alone device and wasn't required to sync to a computer.

What you're missing is that the majority of people have a better experience under the model you're describing as locked down. Not a theoretically better experience, but a better experience in the here and now, today, and for the foreseeable future.

I'll grant that dictators can be bad. But right now we've got a benevolent dictator, the result of which is positive in the here and now. The alternative in the real world was something equivalent to dangerous anarchy.

Police are also a bad thing. But they're better than the alternative most of the time. Most people prefer to live in safety under the rule of law rather than being subject to malicious and greedy predators in a lawless land. Overseeing organizations can abuse their power, but the alternative is even less appealing.

You'd rather have a "benevolent dictator" over democracy? The personal computer revolution and the internet have been heralded as democratic breakthroughs, yet you would rather see them locked down? I don't trust dictators nor gatekeepers no matter how benevolent they may seem. China believes it is in the best interest of the Chinese people that they lock down the internet. If the great leaders say so, they must be right, yes? And what happens when the Apple dictatorship, as you have so readily called it, becomes less benevolent?

How do you know that the "majority of people have a better experience under the [locked down] model"? How many iPhone owners have jailbroken their iPhones? None? Because Apple thinks it's in their best interest that they can only use AT&T? Or if you move to another country, Apple expects you buy a new iPhone to use over there? Or that if an application hasn't been "approved" by Apple but that users want, Apple says, no, no Google Voice, we know you better than you do and we know you don't want it. Want Flash? Sorry, let Apple decide for you and at the same time prevent you from playing those stupid free games and watching those stupid free videos so you can buy stupid games from the App Store™ and buy stupid videos from iTunes, something that started as an application but has morphed, on the iPhone OS, into a store.

Microsoft has been sued for aspects of Windows OS versions that are viewed as closed. In the EU they have been forced by the courts to stop bundling IE with the Windows OS. Because they are the dominant computer OS their bundling of IE is viewed as anti-competitve. Now, Apple's iPhone OS is poised to be the dominant smartphone OS and handheld OS, and it's the most anticompetitive OS I've yet seen. Want to sync it to a computer? You must use iTunes™. Want to search for and install applications? You must use the App Store™ No other methods are tolerated. Try to open the OS (jailbreak it)? Apple might release an update that will "brick" your device, or destroy it.


If you buy a car, should the car maker have the right to tell you how to drive it, what accessories you can and can't install on it, tell you that you can only use the original stereo and if you install another one, illegally, you not only void the warranty but also the EULA? Because it's for your own good? How'd you like it if you brought your car into the dealer for a checkup and seeing that you installed an unapproved accessory that you didn't buy from them they burned your car? For your own good, of course.

Suggestion to the iPad team at Apple:

Please make the on-screen keyboard rescalable so it will work with small and big hands alike. As a user customizable preference it would be ideal.

Thanks.

No. I'd rather have a benevolent dictator over Mad Max Beyond Thunderdrome brought to you by Tina Turner.

The "benevolent dictator" term was thrown in for comic effect. Really, the situation is more analogous to a democracy which has enacted laws that you don't like. It is clear that you would prefer anarchy and its accompanying freedom. Which is a quite valid philosophy, just not one that I think the majority of people prefer. Looks like you'll have to choose another nationality to enjoy the type of society you prefer.

Apple's model has spawned a gold rush for developers. The end result has been better applications and more applications than on any other platform. iPhone app development is more competitive than perhaps any computing platform in human history.

The average person's iPhone is more customized than anything that preceded it. You'll just have to live with the fact that this was achieved without enabling rsync for us geeks. (And this is coming from someone who has a few thousand lines of shell scripted rsync commands backing up his linux servers on an hourly/daily/monthly basis.)

If the iPhone pisses you off, you'll likely hate the world for the rest of your life. Appliance-like computers (in various form factors) are the future of the computing industry. My router is "closed". My DVR is "closed" My game system is "closed". My NAS is "closed". My network based TV tuner is "closed". My TV is "closed". My GPS is "closed".... and yes, my phone is "closed"

(Edit: added last paragraph, and a couple sentences. Removed personal attack/joke hopefully before anyone saw it.)

Arguably you're still at the mercy of the borderline autistic to create those apps for you anyway. I meant geeks. Joke form another thread.


I dunno...because the iPhone has a better user experience than any unlocked phone before it and arguably since? Eh.


Jeez, that's overstating the case. Dominant? Not likely. They'll have huge share but not the same as the iPod.

6 ways to sync without iTunes:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-...ithout-itunes/

Jailbreaking is at your own risk but thus far Apple hasn't deliberately bricked anyone. Pretty much, if you want to jailbreak just wait until the new releases are broken and tested a while before you update.

Wow! Dude a little perspective can go a long way towards easing your issues here. IT IS A MOBILE COMPUTER... THERE ARE OTHERS TO CHOOSE FROM... THIS WILL NOT HINDER YOUR ABILITY TO MAKE LIFE ALTERING DECISIONS. Apple makes a product. You take the product for what it is or you don't. That's the beauty of a free market. As long as they have to cover the product under warranty, they're going to make sure you use it under their terms. You don't like it, DONT BUY IT or change it up all you want, just don't expect them to honor the warranty afterwards.

And I hate to tell you this, but pretty much every consumer product has warranties that are voided if the consumer modifies the product in any manner specified under the warranty. there is such a thing as product abuse; using it in a way not meant by the manufacturer.

yah, it's not like there wasn't a gazillion slates at CES this year. Plus a boatload of netbooks in the same price range.

Wouldn't be any worse or better than how people currently deal with reading books or magazines. If it gets too heavy after a while, set it down. Yes the iPad will be heavier than the average magazine or paperback book, but will weigh about the same as an average hard cover book.

No, I wouldn't, but I'd rather have a "benevolent dictator" than anarchy, any day. Where's the "democracy" option? There's no way the average app store buyer can discern whether an app is potentially malicious or not, so Democracy on an individual basis is not an option in this case.

Personally, the only things I have against the app store as it is is censorship of apps based on sexual content, and the ridiculous "duplicates core functions of the device" restriction (we absolutely should be able to choose an alternative browser or phone app if we want). But I don't want any kind of access to apps without some sort of approval process.