Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPad is useless outdoors :(

J

jsnuff1

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 4, 2003
730
340
NY
Overal the iPad for me so far has lived up to the hype, and is poised to become a new type of computing platform in the coming years.

One MAJOR flaw is that it is totally useless in direct sunlight. Anyone that thinks they can use the iPad on a great sunny day while sipping on a iced latte can forget about that.

The iPhone can be used pretty well in sunlight, as it has a special reflective material in the LCD that uses sunlight to "light" it up. It seems like the iPad's screen does not use this, and in sunlight is pretty much unusable :(
 
I agree with it being difficult to use in direct sunlight.

However, you are completely wrong about the iPhone screen.
 
jsnuff1 said:
Overal the iPad for me so far has lived up to the hype, and is poised to become a new type of computing platform in the coming years.

One MAJOR flaw is that it is totally useless in direct sunlight. Anyone that thinks they can use the iPad on a great sunny day while sipping on a iced latte can forget about that.

The iPhone can be used pretty well in sunlight, as it has a special reflective material in the LCD that uses sunlight to "light" it up. It seems like the iPad's screen does not use this, and in sunlight is pretty much unusable :(
Click to expand...

of all the products I own that have screens the one and only device I can see in sunlight is my BB Storm2. all the other screens (I mean LCD--I have some medical devices with monochrome screens that look better in bright light) are washed out to the point of unreadibility. so it wouldn't surprise me that the ipad is hard to use outside on a sunny day.
 
How does it work in outdoor shade? I picture myself sketching under a tree in a park...
 
GoodReader on the iPhone has the feature to invert the colors. On the iPad surely the same. Don't know how much that helps?
 
I agree in Florida... and it's pretty disappointing to me, honestly. I like to sit out and read, etc., and I was hoping the iPad would keep me entertained at the pool or beach. No such luck :mad:
 
If you can use your macbook outdoor, you can use your iPad outdoor as well. I've used my iPad outside my house and I have no problem at all.
 
I'm using this outside on a very sunny day. However, it does help to find a spot of shade and turn the brightness up. I was able to read a little bit in direct sun earlier. Battery life is more than capable of keeping on full brightness.
 
Wow it's worse then the iPhone? I can't even see my phone without covering it from sunlight. I could only imagine how bad the iPad must be.

Between this and my MBP I think Apple owes me a pair of prosthetic eyeballs!:eek:
 
Really? I was able to read Walden Pond by Thoreau yesterday at Starbucks sitting outside and in the car. The only thing is the clean the screen (wipe of a sleeve or napkin) of fingerprints. With a fair amount of fingerprints, the screen is totally useless in sunlight but with a clean screen, it's not totally unusable.
 
I tend to agree with the OP. I have an iPad with Power Support Antiglare film and an iPhone 4 with no film. The iPhone is much easier to see in the outdoors which really surprised me. In my car I use the Iphone as a GPS with no problems even on a sunny day. The iPad with antiglare film I install in the back seat for my kids and on a sunny day the screen washes out and cant be seen very well in the car. This isn't even in direct sunlight since we are in the car.

The iPad is great but outdoors is not one of its strong points.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back