iPad Pro ProMotion and Screen Blur/Trailing - iPad Pro 2018

[StumpyBloke]

Hi all. I’ve just received my 2018 12.9 inch iPad Pro and I’m loving it so far. However, I’ve got a question about the screen refresh: I’ve noticed when for example on a webpage with a white background and black text, if I scroll in any direction, the text is a little bit blurred and there is like a smear/trail behind for a very short period of time (it happens on all content as well but I guess the high contrast between the black and white highlights the issue more). Is this normal? I guess I assumed that the text (or anything for that matter) when moving would always be absolutely pin sharp with no blurring and no smearing.

If I limit the frame rate through the accessibility option it’s not as noticeable.

Being new to the iPad Pro and ProMotion I don’t know what to expect.

Thanks in advance.

 

[muzzy996]

I’d say compare the two settings and set it to what you prefer. Is blur perceivable? Sure, but some prefer it to the jitteriness that can be perceived on the slower refresh rate. I would think to completely get rid of blur the refresh rate would have to be higher than 120Hz.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I had asked the same question when I started a thread regarding this topic. I had gone to a Best Buy and was comparing the budget iPad to an iPP with promotion. I scrolled up and down and yeah the text on the iPP was a little less blurry but I noticed the text still got a little blurry/smeared when scrolling up and down on the page. Not enough difference to warrant a higher price for the iPP. I ended up purchasing the 2018 budget iPad during the Christmas sale on Amazon for $229 and could not be happier. Again, not enough difference for me to consider spending hundreds more.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I was just trying to find out if it was normal on these models or a fault. It sounds as though it’s completely normal.

 

[TheRealAlex]

Hi all. I’ve just received my 2018 12.9 inch iPad Pro and I’m loving it so far. However, I’ve got a question about the screen refresh: I’ve noticed when for example on a webpage with a white background and black text, if I scroll in any direction, the text is a little bit blurred and there is like a smear/trail behind for a very short period of time (it happens on all content as well but I guess the high contrast between the black and white highlights the issue more). Is this normal? I guess I assumed that the text (or anything for that matter) when moving would always be absolutely pin sharp with no blurring and no smearing.

If I limit the frame rate through the accessibility option it’s not as noticeable.

Being new to the iPad Pro and ProMotion I don’t know what to expect.

Thanks in advance.

This use to happen to me and it’s worked itself out. My work around was to startup C.Anatomy app a very graphically intense human anatomy app that kicks the GPU and the 120hz Display into high gear. Then when using Safari the GPU and 120Hz Display are still active waiting for C.Anatomy and now Text is buttery smooth

 

[tps3443]

I do not have this issue on my 11” iPad Pro. I am sensitive to low FPS, low refresh rates. And I’d say my eyes are trained very well, over years of PC gaming on high refresh rate monitors, requiring high FPS of 60 at a minimum.

I do not see smearing or trailing of text at all.

 

[jaju123]

I do not have this issue on my 11” iPad Pro. I am sensitive to low FPS, low refresh rates. And I’d say my eyes are trained very well, over years of PC gaming on high refresh rate monitors, requiring high FPS of 60 at a minimum.

I do not see smearing or trailing of text at all.

I think your eyes might not be as trained as you think hehe. I can see text trailing at 120hz on both my iPad Pro 10.5 and 11 inch versions. They both clearly have quite low response times.

In this review you can see that 90% of devices have a faster response time than the ipad pro 11 inch:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple...64-GB-Tablet-Review.357931.0.html#toc-display

 

[tps3443]

I think your eyes might not be as trained as you think hehe. I can see text trailing at 120hz on both my iPad Pro 10.5 and 11 inch versions. They both clearly have quite low response times.

In this review you can see that 90% of devices have a faster response time than the ipad pro 11 inch:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple...64-GB-Tablet-Review.357931.0.html#toc-display

No text trailing here. I just am not seeing it. I can see motionblur sure, but I can also see that on my 165Hz monitor too. If I set my monitor to “ULMB” or ( Ultra low motion blur) it alleviated any motion blur in text. But with ULMB on it is capped at a 120Hz refresh rate.

As for the iPad Pro, your gonna see a little text blur. But, I’ve yet to see any trailing at all.

 

[gnomeisland]

I haven’t noticed anything while browsing but I did see something similar while reading in PDF Viewer. I told the dev and they fixed it. I gathered from their response that there are thresholds for detecting motion amount/direction. I was scrolling *just* slow enough to throw that off. If you’re in Safari it isn’t like to change but it would be interesting to know if you see the same effect regardless of scroll speed.

 

[tps3443]

I’m curious what the refresh rate is at during web surfing. Either way, it makes gaming incredible. 60FPS gaming is very nice. You can actually win, vs having slow and laggy input.

 

[DragonX]

Hi all. I’ve just received my 2018 12.9 inch iPad Pro and I’m loving it so far. However, I’ve got a question about the screen refresh: I’ve noticed when for example on a webpage with a white background and black text, if I scroll in any direction, the text is a little bit blurred and there is like a smear/trail behind for a very short period of time (it happens on all content as well but I guess the high contrast between the black and white highlights the issue more). Is this normal? I guess I assumed that the text (or anything for that matter) when moving would always be absolutely pin sharp with no blurring and no smearing.

If I limit the frame rate through the accessibility option it’s not as noticeable.

Being new to the iPad Pro and ProMotion I don’t know what to expect.

Thanks in advance.

I think you're noticing Pixel Response Time which doesn't have anything to do with the Refresh Rate. I do notice it too but maybe some people don't and that's why Apple doesn't disclose this spec (but probably they just hide it for their "120Hz" hype to look good on paper).

Even when refresh rate is high the lag between real individual pixel change from one color to another on the screen matrix can be large. It gets noticeable as "traces" when you scroll, as pixels below (or above) currently area being scrolled don't have enough time to change and still display previous data.

 

[Geohord]

Can you test if the issue is reproducible using Chrome or Firefox as web browser instead of Safari?

 

[TheRealAlex]

Hi all. I’ve just received my 2018 12.9 inch iPad Pro and I’m loving it so far. However, I’ve got a question about the screen refresh: I’ve noticed when for example on a webpage with a white background and black text, if I scroll in any direction, the text is a little bit blurred and there is like a smear/trail behind for a very short period of time (it happens on all content as well but I guess the high contrast between the black and white highlights the issue more). Is this normal? I guess I assumed that the text (or anything for that matter) when moving would always be absolutely pin sharp with no blurring and no smearing.

If I limit the frame rate through the accessibility option it’s not as noticeable.

Being new to the iPad Pro and ProMotion I don’t know what to expect.

Thanks in advance.

I have Noticed this as well, and it’s not the same silky smoothness as having a 120Hz PC Monitor.
Sometimes if you open a Super GPU heavy App like Complete Anatomy and do a side by side Safari, the CPU and GPU can’t decide, and run Safari at 120Hz and briefly you can see scrolling text Amazingly.

Otherwise try everything and I have Safari runs at 60Hz and you can see Trailing or Ghosting smear sometimes worse if it’s Blue Text on a Grey background.

But it’s a Million Times better than the iPad Pro 9.7”

 

[jonnyb098]

The motion blur that you might be perceiving is NOT due to refresh rate or just a specific app. It's something called pixel response time. It is inherent to all LCD displays to some degree. It its probably even more noticeable due to the high 120hz refresh rate though and also how everyones eyes perceive motion slightly different. Some people cant even tell a difference with ProMotion vs an older iPad.

Temperature also has something to do with it. Cold pixels move slower, causing much more blur temporarily till they warm up.

SCIENCE!

 

[gnomeisland]

The motion blur that you might be perceiving is NOT due to refresh rate or just a specific app. It's something called pixel response time. It is inherent to all LCD displays to some degree. It its probably even more noticeable due to the high 120hz refresh rate though and also how everyones eyes perceive motion slightly different. Some people cant even tell a difference with ProMotion vs an older iPad.

Temperature also has something to do with it. Cold pixels move slower, causing much more blur temporarily till they warm up.

SCIENCE!

When iPads switch to OLED or mLED this should be fixed (assuming they keep 120Hz ProMotion) as they have a much faster pixel response time.

 

[jonnyb098]

When iPads switch to OLED or mLED this should be fixed (assuming they keep 120Hz ProMotion) as they have a much faster pixel response time.

No thanks on OLED. They are using PWM which give me and 10 percent of the general population headaches. 120hz OLED would be super expensive. 2020 at the earliest.

 

[Freida]

I do not have this issue on my 11” iPad Pro. I am sensitive to low FPS, low refresh rates. And I’d say my eyes are trained very well, over years of PC gaming on high refresh rate monitors, requiring high FPS of 60 at a minimum.

I do not see smearing or trailing of text at all.

take iphone, set it to slow mo recording and try it. Your eyes are not as trained as you think they are.

 

[tps3443]

take iphone, set it to slow mo recording and try it. Your eyes are not as trained as you think they are.

Look I’m sure I can see whatever you are seeing. It Just doesn’t stand out to me. And yes my eyes are very trained, I’m very use to high FPS, and ultra low input lag.

But honestly,

Text trailing!? Motion blur!? Who cares. It’s fast, and it is smooth! And, it’s a great panel.

Having it all doesn’t exist in a panel you should know that, you want a faster response time? Tell Apple to use a TN panel, I’m sure everyone would love the horrible colors accuracy, and terrible viewing angles lol. But, you’d have a much faster response time at 1MS.

The iPad Pro uses a ips panel so response times are gonna be easily 2-4 times slower then a TN But, still plenty fast.

Super fast response time is TN, but that looks like garbage!

IPS can offer very good colors, with a very fast refresh rate, but slower response time.

AMOLED is a great compromise, but offers no high refresh rate. It is limited to 60hz

VA panels offer better color accuracy then TN, faster response times than ips, but colors are still not good enough for premium iPad use.

A perfect panel doesn’t exist.

 

[Freida]

Look I’m sure I can see whatever you are seeing. It Just doesn’t stand out to me. And yes my eyes are very trained, I’m very use to high FPS, and ultra low input lag.

But honestly,

Text trailing!? Motion blur!? Who cares. It’s fast, and it is smooth! And, it’s a great panel.

Having it all doesn’t exist in a panel you should know that, you want a faster response time? Tell Apple to use a TN panel, I’m sure everyone would love the horrible colors accuracy, and terrible viewing angles lol. But, you’d have a much faster response time at 1MS.

The iPad Pro uses a ips panel so response times are gonna be easily 2-4 times slower then a TN But, still plenty fast.

Super fast response time is TN, but that looks like garbage!

IPS can offer very good colors, with a very fast refresh rate, but slower response time.

AMOLED is a great compromise, but offers no high refresh rate. It is limited to 60hz

VA panels offer better color accuracy then TN, faster response times than ips, but colors are still not good enough for premium iPad use.

A perfect panel doesn’t exist.

I don't understand why you go sideways. You've mentioned that you don't have it and that your eyes are trained.
I've simply pointed out to test it to show you that you are not that train as you think. So all this "perfect panel" argument is not anything I asked for or was needed.

If you don't wanna test it then thats ok but please don't patronise me on something I didn't even ask for. Thank you

 

[tps3443]

I don't understand why you go sideways. You've mentioned that you don't have it and that your eyes are trained.
I've simply pointed out to test it to show you that you are not that train as you think. So all this "perfect panel" argument is not anything I asked for or was needed.

If you don't wanna test it then thats ok but please don't patronise me on something I didn't even ask for. Thank you

Huh? I said like 2 weeks ago that I could see motion blur in a previous post on the same thread.

You quoted a post that was older then that one.