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

Wait for version 4, but...

btownguy said:
I agree completely. My dissatisfaction was solely with text - particularly text on web pages and not necessarily iBooks. But seeing as I was using the iPad for 90% reading, and 90% of that was reading web pages, I decided to wait for generation 2.
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Generation 2 is probably not going to solve the "problem", since the issue is not really due to the screen, but to how Safari is hinting at the text at a reduced size. Either scale the text up closer to actual size, or more easily view to read in landscape mode. Head to your Apple store and see for yourself.
This is a non-issue.
 
Your laptop is always viewed in portrait mode....

phoobo said:
As an Apple fanboy, I can absolutely confirm that there is a problem with text rendering on the iPad. For example, I have an alu unibody Macbook 13 -- whose pixel density is about 30% lower -- that is much clearer and easier on the eyes for reading text.

I suspect this is just a software problem with the rendering strategy, and can be worked out. It's acceptable as a reader, but nowhere near what it could, or should be.

I read about 800-1000 pages a week for my work, and I just can't get through it all on the iPad -- too exhausting. I put most of it on a Sony 505 reader for an efficient and painless reading experience.
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Maybe giving folks the ability to view in any direction was a bad idea, lol...
 
phoobo said:
As an Apple fanboy, I can absolutely confirm that there is a problem with text rendering on the iPad. For example, I have an alu unibody Macbook 13 -- whose pixel density is about 30% lower -- that is much clearer and easier on the eyes for reading text.

I suspect this is just a software problem with the rendering strategy, and can be worked out. It's acceptable as a reader, but nowhere near what it could, or should be.

I read about 800-1000 pages a week for my work, and I just can't get through it all on the iPad -- too exhausting. I put most of it on a Sony 505 reader for an efficient and painless reading experience.
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I just sold my PRS-505 because I found it's grey on grey screen hard work. I much prefer reading on the iPad, black on white, i find more contrast easier on the eyes. I guess we all have our own preferences on reading though.
 
To the OP:

Yes, I also noticed this issue on day one of owning it. I preordered a 3G ipad as soon as I could and was very happy to receive it. I used it for 8 or 9 days but the text in portrait mode was just not good enough for me so I returned it. Apple was really nice and did not charge me a restocking fee. I just explained that I am going to rebuy the iPad once the higher dpi screens make it to iPad which is probably inevitable.

I really really enjoy the iPad but I need a bit better screen. It's the same reason I don't use Safari on the current iPhone: small text ranges from blurry to unreadable. The new iPhone 4 fixes this problem from what I've seen on the Apple website and I can't wait for this to change on the iPad as well :) Here's hoping!
 
OP is a troll, the ipad may not have retina display but it's stll one of the best displays money can buy. Much better than any windows laptop or netbook.;)
 
AppleRules said:
OP is a troll, the ipad may not have retina display but it's stll one of the best displays money can buy. Much better than any windows laptop or netbook.;)
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Yeah I am at an Apple store now and typing this on an iPad....what the heck is he on about?....the text is fine!
 
AppleRules said:
OP is a troll, the ipad may not have retina display but it's stll one of the best displays money can buy. Much better than any windows laptop or netbook.;)
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I will agree in general the screen display is excellent.

However I don't believe anyone who says a higher resolution would not be nicer.

We will get a higher resolution at some point, perhaps we may have to wait till v3 iPad even (I hope not)

The current screen res is just enough, albeit some things it's being asked to do, are pushing the screen beyond it's technical ability to resolve detail.

It's not rocket science, and in time I'm sure we will all be enjoying a finer level of detail on a higher resolution screen.

Just to clarify what I mean above.

The ability to read all the information off the screen "as is" is a vastly more enjoyable and physically much easier experience than having to zoom in a constantly pan around something in order to read the text on screen. I'm not talking about web pages, I'm talking about others things where the screen does not have enough pixels to resolve the detail.
 
Just back from the Apple store with iPad number two. My wife was harping on how I never put it down. In our opinions, the text is fine and we both have no issues at all.
 
Not going to read all the responses but the iPads text is fine. The topic starter is just unhappy or mad because the iPhone has a technology that would be expensive to place in the iPad.

People are never going to be happy they might as well not even own any technology.
 
AppleRules said:
OP is a troll, the ipad may not have retina display but it's stll one of the best displays money can buy. Much better than any windows laptop or netbook.;)
Click to expand...

I feel your second point needs to be commented on.

True, I fully agree that the superb IPS screen on the iPad has a much better viewing angle than your typical laptop/netbook

However, many current laptops (I don't care who makes them) do have more pixels across the screen which is, in anyone's books, better.

No-one wants less pixels. More pixels gives the ability to display more information, and the make any typefaces appear smoother.

I find the resolution "Good enough" but I'd be lying to myself if I said I would not like the screen to be a higher res.

To display a daily newspaper on screen, we really need the current screen resolution to be doubled in both directions. And to be honest, I think that's the easiest path for apple to take with the Mk2 or Mk3 models.

Then all apps written for the iPad now will scale up perfectly without any distortion.

2048 x 1536 would be my best guess on the easiest route for Apple to take in the future.

If we can expect than in Mk2 I don't know, perhaps it's too soon to hope, and we will have to wait till Mk3.

Anything other than an exact doubling in both directions will be a nightmare compatibility wise.

Original iPhone apps can x4 in size
Current iPad apps can x2 in size.
New (in a few years) apps can use the full rez.

Seems the only simple, logical path to take.

Anyone disagree?
 
ChrisGonzales90 said:
Not going to read all the responses but the iPads text is fine. The topic starter is just unhappy or mad because the iPhone has a technology that would be expensive to place in the iPad.

People are never going to be happy they might as well not even own any technology.
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That's just idiotic. This thread was created before the new iPhone was even announced. If you don't see that the iPad has an obviously low dpi, good for you. For some of us, we demand more from our displays. I love my iPad, but would love much more resolution.
 
Guys, I don't think it's the resolution of the iPad that's the problem. I honestly think the iOS doesn't have the font smoothing set correctly.

Just on OS X, by default I don't like the way it looks, I always had to set the font smoothing to "strong" to get the right text clarity right. (In SL, had to be done via command line)

I don't know how we can enable that on the iPad, but I can assure you, it'll probably look better with stronger font smoothing.

Think about Cleartype on those XP based netbooks, if you turn them off, you'll notice a huge difference between it on and off.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
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.
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I have 20/10 eyesight, and I love my iPad. I'm not sure what the OP is talking about :confused:
 
This is more about that age-old debate on who's text rendering style is better, Apple's or the MS way. All this will be mute when we get the 300 ppi displays.
 
peterja said:
... the lack of sub-pixel anti-aliasing might be another reason why text doesn’t look as smooth as expected.

I can't confirm that it doesn't have subpixel anti-alising, but it appears so. If so adding it seems like a good way to improve font rendering.
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I don't believe the iPad supports sub-pixel rendering. Sub pixel rendering is rotation dependant; specifically, for text, the RGB elements need to be aligned horizontally.
Even if the iPad does support sub-pixel rendering, it could only do so in the landscape orientation.
 
ChrisGonzales90 said:
Not going to read all the responses
Click to expand...

If you did, you would discover the fairly simple but apparently not-quite-obvious-enough explanation for the OP's actual complaint. (Which the OP also misrepresents as a more general problem.)

But you're probably not going to read this either, so....
 
Piggie said:
2048 x 1536 would be my best guess on the easiest route for Apple to take in the future.
.
.
.
Anyone disagree?
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Going 1920 x 1280 would be 2x iPhone 4 and would still be in the "retina" range for an 18-inch viewing distance (238ppi).
Also, it could display 1080 HDTV with no scaling.
 
MacAgnostic said:
Going 1920 x 1280 would be 2x iPhone 4 and would still be in the "retina" range for an 18-inch viewing distance (238ppi).
Also, it could display 1080 HDTV with no scaling.
Click to expand...

I'd be fine with that, and 2x iPhone4 sounds a good move forwards (compatibility wise)

My biggest worry with that is, how would you ever scale current iPad apps onto that new screen res?

1024x768 would map horribly onto a 1920x1280 screen.

As we are talking about LCD screens here.

Each current iPad pixel would use up 1.875 new pixels in one direction and 1.66 pixels in the other direction.

Not good.
 
Super-resolution is not necessary to solve this

The problem is simply with the font rendering in the iPad, not with its resolution. At present, it does not match the clarity of OS X (which we normally view on machines with much lower ppi).

I think software can solve this problem -- but admittedly there is a problem.
 
The problem may be as simple as it only works one way (pixel layout) and the fact you can use the iPad in both Landscape or Portrait is the problem.

Nice article with screen-shots here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpixel_rendering

Perhaps you would have to change the way the sub pixel rendering works when you rotate the display and would make the screen mess up?

Or perhaps simply the iPad would be slowed down a bit with it's smooth scrolling if it was doing this sub rendering also.

Like many things "Apple" it would be nice if they just explained WHY, and they we could all be happy and understand.
 
Piggie said:
The problem may be as simple as it only works one way (pixel layout) and the fact you can use the iPad in both Landscape or Portrait is the problem.

Nice article with screen-shots here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpixel_rendering

Perhaps you would have to change the way the sub pixel rendering works when you rotate the display and would make the screen mess up?

Or perhaps simply the iPad would be slowed down a bit with it's smooth scrolling if it was doing this sub rendering also.

Like many things "Apple" it would be nice if they just explained WHY, and they we could all be happy and understand.
Click to expand...


Much better reference on the subpixel rendering, http://www.grc.com/ctwhat.htm
 
MikhailT said:
Much better reference on the subpixel rendering, http://www.grc.com/ctwhat.htm
Click to expand...

Jeeze exactly, I can't believe it took 3 pages of uninformed blabber-mouths to finally surface the issue.

The iPad can't use sub-pixel rendering because sub-pixel rendering only works in one orientation. The iPad uses anti-aliasing which is far blurrier. Not to mention the fact that on top of that, most of Apple's font rendering technology is still inferior to ClearType.

I own and develop magazine apps for the iPad -- believe me, its a problem.
 
People come up with stupidest reasons not to buying a product. The problem is with posts is others researching into the product might get the wrong impression, not every iPad owner lives near a store that carries the apple product. The iPad is very sharp and post people I know that own an iPad have dramatically reduced the amount of time the spend on their computers, including myself.
It's very difficult for companies to do business these days. Half of the post here are complaining about something, people reading in will get the impression that the iPad is a terrible product when it couldn't be further from the truth


<sent from my iPad>
lol
 
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