AppleInsider › Forums › Mobile › iPad › FaceTime Display Question
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

FaceTime Display Question

post #1 of 7
3/14/12 at 5:59am
Thread Starter 
Are there any improvements in FaceTime display quality in the "New iPad"? I've seen numerous stories about improvements in the rear facing camera, but very little if any in the front facing camera which shows the other party during facetime calls. IMHO, the quality at present on my iPad2 is sub-standard, will doubling the pixels on the New iPad improve facetime picture quality or will it remain the same.

Tony
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 7
3/14/12 at 7:55am
The front camera, as stated on Apple's website, is VGA quality. Meaning exactly 2048x1536; the same size as the screen.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #3 of 7
3/14/12 at 11:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

The front camera, as stated on Apple's website, is VGA quality. Meaning exactly 2048x1536; the same size as the screen.

VGA doesn't mean the same size as the screen. VGA is 640 x 480 (0.3 MegaPixels). There is a list of identifiers with resolutions on this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SXGA#SX...0.C3.971024.29

The new iPad FaceTime camera is the same as the old one as it's intended to be used for video chat and it's the same resolution as the iMac's isight, might even be the same camera.

Maybe someone will develop a clip-on mirror system to be able to show what's in front of the iPad using the back camera or even better, a flexible optical fibre that you can position wherever you want.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 7
3/14/12 at 1:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin View Post

VGA doesn't mean the same size as the screen. VGA is 640 x 480 (0.3 MegaPixels).

VGA means resolutions topping out at 2048x1536
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #5 of 7
3/15/12 at 11:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

VGA means resolutions topping out at 2048x1536

Just wondering is there any technology in the World today that could improve the VGA display in FaceTime? Can Apple use something other than VGA?

The display for FaceTime that exits in iPad2 or in the iPad that we'll have on March 16th is pretty-crappy; you'd think that Apple could do better than that.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 7
3/15/12 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyPie View Post

Just wondering is there any technology in the World today that could improve the VGA display in FaceTime? Can Apple use something other than VGA?

VGA is a resolution. To get a higher-resolution image, you'd use a better sensor, and probably better optics to go along with it.

But there's no point to that since the front camera will only be used for front-stuff. And it's probably not physically possible yet.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #7 of 7
3/15/12 at 1:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

VGA means resolutions topping out at 2048x1536…

A VGA connector can support up to 2048 x 1536 but that resolution is called QXGA. The VGA resolution is 640 x 480, which is the sensor resolution of the iPad's front-facing camera.

front-facing = 640 x 480 = 307,200 pixels = 0.3MPixel = VGA
back-facing = 2,592 x 1,936 = 5,018,112 pixels = 5MPixel = >HD

The iPad front camera is called a VGA camera because of its sensor resolution, there is no relation to the VGA connector's supported resolution. It's just coincidence that the new iPad display is QXGA resolution.

Nonetheless, the following conclusion is right:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

VGA is a resolution. To get a higher-resolution image, you'd use a better sensor, and probably better optics to go along with it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyPie

Can Apple use something other than VGA?

They can use the same camera that's on the back but it adds to the cost of the device having two. What they probably could have done is have an internal optics switch that changes the direction of the feed to the camera sensor. This way, they don't even need a front-facing camera.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: iPad
AppleInsider › Forums › Mobile › iPad › FaceTime Display Question