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I was about to buy an iPad when I just saw it... text clarity is poor.

M

MVApple

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 18, 2008
527
1
And I really don't get why the text clarity is poor because at 132dpi it has enough pixels that text should look great. It almost looks as if Safari wasn't retooled to provide better clarity for the screen resolution because the text clarity looks better on my iPod touch.

It's possible that the reason I noticed this was because right before looking at the iPad I was looking at that new 4.3" Evo Android phone and the text on the phone looked super sharp.

Regardless of that, I still feel like Apple never never really ported Safari fully to make use of the screen resolution of the iPad. It almost looks as if the text is being upscaled.

Maybe everyone will read this now and call me crazy, but when the new iPhone comes out I bet a lot of people are going to notice the difference in text clarity and It's going to bother them.
 
Your last statement is very matter of fact and lacks any real proof. You don't know what people are going to think about their iPads come June 24th.
As for the screen being terrible on the iPad, you're likely pretty alone in this thought.
 
jessica. said:
Your last statement is very matter of fact and lacks any real proof. You don't know what people are going to think about their iPads come June 24th.
As for the screen being terrible on the iPad, you're likely pretty alone in this thought.
Click to expand...

There was an earlier thread where the OP complained that small fonts looked bad on the iPad. When I said that they looked fine on mine, I was "accused" of being easily satisfied.

But still...they look fine on mine.
 
I just got my iPad and am reading this thread and posting with it. I can't see any problems with the clarity on it.
 
Congratulations on your 20/10 eyesight.

The iPad's text could use improvement, sure, but just the same it's not exactly ugly or hard to see. I read from it daily. I'd rather own one than not.
 
MVApple said:
And I really don't get why the text clarity is poor because at 132dpi it has enough pixels that text should look great. It almost looks as if Safari wasn't retooled to provide better clarity for the screen resolution because the text clarity looks better on my iPod touch.
Click to expand...

No, it's because Safari renders the web page as if the screen/window is 980 pixels wide -- for maximum web site compatibility -- then shrinks everything, including the text, to fit 768 pixels (in portrait), so that there is no horizontal scrolling.

Note that if you look at the same page in landscape, the text looks better -- but the PPI has not changed. So PPI is not a factor.

Web sites can also declare that they render properly in viewports smaller than 980 so they will not get shrunk.
 
Whatever problem you are having, it's not an iPad problem as almost everything I look at looks crystal clear. Could be a Safari issue.
 
Not buying an iPad because of the text clarity? Um might need your eyes checked. Is there any other device like this that offers such a gorgeous screen? I would need to see a pic of what you are talking about because text looks great to me on the iPad.
 
Must have not been an iPad...

The OP may be correct in what he has seen. But I believe he was actually looking at China's knockoff, the iPed, instead of Apple's iPad ;)

tablet-berbasis-android-dari-china.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q599sQ41_cI

As I am contemplating an iPad purchase, the screen is the last thing that would deter me from purchasing one.
 
nah... turn it to landscape... res is fine

MVApple said:
...Regardless of that, I still feel like Apple never never really ported Safari fully to make use of the screen resolution of the iPad. It almost looks as if the text is being upscaled...
Click to expand...

Actually, I think what you are observing is the text being downscaled. Just as when you view web pages on the Touch, the text falls apart (to a greater degree on the Touch), on the iPad in portrait position when viewed at the default size it loses a bit of its crispness. But... scale the text up a tad and you will note the text is indeed razor sharp. Turn the iPad to landscape and you will see a noticeable sharpness on the text (as the text is also larger). Turn it back to portrait and you will notice the text almost seem to go from a bold to a lighter version (which is less crisp and legible).

That being said the screen is PERFECT. The shrinking is the thing, and it has nothing to do with the screen, it is just how Safari is rendering in the page. It isn't a defect in Safari either...

Assuming your post is legit, I wouldn't hesitate one nano-second about making the purchase. It won't replace a laptop, however I hardly have touched my laptop in a month since my pad came in. Yes there are some trade-offs, but the gains are huge. My iPad is always with me, in the car, at meetings, around the house, even while I am working on my desktop. So, to anyone else worried about the screen... go check it out for yourself. The screen is sharper than my laptops...
cheers.
 
Hi guys.. first post here :D

Actually I think the OP has a point here. The iPad does indeed have lower pixel density (PPI) compared to iPod touch and many other Android-based phones. This makes text looks a bit fuzzy compared (but still very much readable) compared to devices with higher pixel density.

In fact, the newly announced iPhone 4 features what Steve Jobs called 'Retina Display', which is essentially a higher pixel density screen (3 times of iPad) that will display text more sharply.
 
mlblacy said:
Actually, I think what you are observing is the text being downscaled. Just as when you view web pages on the Touch, the text falls apart (to a greater degree on the Touch), on the iPad in portrait position when viewed at the default size it loses a bit of its crispness. But... scale the text up a tad and you will note the text is indeed razor sharp. Turn the iPad to landscape and you will see a noticeable sharpness on the text (as the text is also larger). Turn it back to portrait and you will notice the text almost seem to go from a bold to a lighter version (which is less crisp and legible).

That being said the screen is PERFECT. The shrinking is the thing, and it has nothing to do with the screen, it is just how Safari is rendering in the page. It isn't a defect in Safari either...

Assuming your post is legit, I wouldn't hesitate one nano-second about making the purchase. It won't replace a laptop, however I hardly have touched my laptop in a month since my pad came in. Yes there are some trade-offs, but the gains are huge. My iPad is always with me, in the car, at meetings, around the house, even while I am working on my desktop. So, to anyone else worried about the screen... go check it out for yourself. The screen is sharper than my laptops...
cheers.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I'm talking about. The actual screen itself is amazing, it's a font smoothing issue. It probably didn't help that I had looked at the HTC Evo right before because the text looks super sharp on that. Someone left a photo on an iPad and I did a double take because it looked so nice. I did play around with the landscape and portrait orientations a lot in Safari. And I should have been more clear that zoomed in text looks very sharp, but mlblacy knows what I'm talking about.

Those of you who don't have fanboy goggles on know what I'm talking about.
 
The majority of the OP's posts seem to be about finding "faults" with the iPad and deterring people from buying it.

5 dollars says he created that "first post" user here as a sock puppet. :rolleyes:
 
I think the OP has been suckered by the buzzword "retina display" ........ my god everything is going to look sucky now ! :D
 
ukyo229 said:
The majority of the OP's posts seem to be about finding "faults" with the iPad and deterring people from buying it.

5 dollars says he created that "first post" user here as a sock puppet. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yea , so often I see posts made to stir up myths about flaws which either dont exist or are very subjective, no doubt rival companys employ people to do such sitrring. "omg the wifi is terrible dont buy it, it needs to be fixed.."
post on every forum board and odd's on you are going to get some people who agree with you, then pretty soon people who've never even held the device let alone use it start believing that and mentioning it in conversations

"...the Ipad? oh yea I heard theres wifi problems I wouldnt buy one yet.."

and so on and so on.....
 
I wonder how much a Retina iPad display would actually cost. It would need to be at least 1536x2048 although as the iPad currently has a lower DPI than the iPhone 3GS, the Retina version would need an even larger resolution in order to mimic iPhone 4.
 
Be gentle with us, the troll count has been skyrocketing...

MVApple said:
That's exactly what I'm talking about. The actual screen itself is amazing, it's a font smoothing issue. It probably didn't help that I had looked at the HTC Evo right before because the text looks super sharp on that. Someone left a photo on an iPad and I did a double take because it looked so nice. I did play around with the landscape and portrait orientations a lot in Safari. And I should have been more clear that zoomed in text looks very sharp, but mlblacy knows what I'm talking about.

Those of you who don't have fanboy goggles on know what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

Ever since the iPad was debuted, and then released the trolls have been out in full force. While I love MR, and the forums here, there are really few viable troll controls (IMO). When I posted the reply I was even cautious that the post was real, and not bait. That being said... You do have a valid point, but not one worth delaying a purchase over. Think of the full page portrait default views as akin to the little thumbnailly things the pad uses to hold websites when a new window is opened. The text is not crisp there either, and I would wager even on the new retina displays they would look the same (more akin to small screenshots that actual type). It is as if the type is more hinted at than actually rendered as type.

The reason Apple chose this path makes complete sense. I find also that when I surf to actually read it mostly lies in landscape mode, so much so than when I use an app that forces me to go portrait it feels foreign.

No doubt the next gen will be stellar, but don't be deterred from making a first gen purchase. This device is so well thought out, and so perfectly functional it is hard to believe it is first gen. Compare this to the first gen iPod, which was SO quickly antiquated, and had so many IO issues (yet I bought it, and many successive iterations as well, all without regret). This device that sits "between" existing product segments is indeed a game changer.

Cheer,michael
 
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