Why do you think Apple chose NOT to go widescreen?

[surferfromuk]

Silver surfers watch a lot of classic black and white movies and TV shows - they mostly come in 4:3.

I'm not even kidding.

 

[dgree03]

Which ones? The 10in netbooks and tablets I'm familiar with are all 1024x600.




Youtube HD has 3 resolutions:

448x336
480x360
1280x720 ("720p")

Further, 1280x720, being a standard HD resolution (720p/720i), should be able to be down-converted to another standard resolution: 480p (which is 720x480, though technically it's ED (enhanced definion), not HD). The iPad should be able to display 480p in both portrait and landscape. If they had made the iPad with 1024x600, it couldn't display 480p in portrait mode.

So, it can display the first two Youtube HD resolutions natively, and it should be able to down-convert 720p to 480p, and display those as well. All 3 should be displayable in both portrait and landscape orientations.

Plus, it should be able to display the lower 2 Youtube HD resolutions in pixel-quadrupled mode (896x672 and 960x720), but only in landscape orientation.

So, I don't see any reason why his claim that the iPad can show Youtube HD movies isn't valid.

Check out the HP ION for instance....

AND its not HD if its below 1280 x 720... period...

 

[Luke Redpath]

I still can't find a reason for this. Maybe you developer or tech guys can think of one.

Because 16:9 in portrait would look silly.

 

[kzin]

Check out the HP ION for instance....

Great. One out of how many?

Looking at the product list for 10" notebooks/netbooks on umpcportal.com, I see 75+ that are 1024x600 or 1024x576 (including all of the listed 10" HP netbooks). I see fewer than 5 that are in the 1280x* or 1360x* range.

My statement that 1024x600 is the common resolution for 10" devices seems to be much better supported than the notion that it's 1280x* or 1360x*.

AND its not HD if its below 1280 x 720... period...

As I said, "Youtube HD" has resolutions that are lower than that. If the iPad can display those, then it can display "Youtube HD". The iPad can display those lower resolutions natively. Therefore, the claim that the iPad can display "Youtube HD" content seems to be supported, regardless of your insistence that they aren't true HD.

If you want to stick to the claim "true HD doesn't include anything lower than 720p/720i" (not even the commonly accepted 480p), then your beef seems to be with Youtube (in how they define HD content), not SJ.

 

[GermanSuplex]

1280x720 is overkill on a screen this size. 1024x768 will allow you to see most of the HD detail while still allowing for a good aspect ratio in portrait mode.

 

[Cloudane]

* It probably hit a sweet spot in terms of dimensions. To be 16:9 it'd have to be longer (too big) or narrower (THAT would be a waste - just ignore the black bars!) or a combination (both).

* It's not just a movie device, this is just one of its multitude of functions, and it seems to me that most of those functions have a very nice layout in 4:3 including the much touted web surfing. Even on 16:10 I don't tend to keep windows at full width. Uglyyy!

* In landscape mode the keyboard would basically take up all but 1 line on the screen (like it does on the iPhone)

* 16:9 kind of looks... odd. For that type of device. Fatpods aside, Apple does not generally go for "looking odd" these days

 

[iOrlando]

too hard to hold. horrible for web surfing and any other task that doesnt involve movie/tv shows.

 

[johnnyhow]

The iPhone ratio is 3:2.