This years special iPad event ‘finally’ put all rumours and speculations at rest as Apple announced second gen iPad mini with Retina Display.

Apple entered into a new product category with a smaller version of the full size tablet. The purpose of iPad mini was to make the device even more portable. It was aimed at those of us who want to hold the device for long hours to read books, browse the web and want something that fits in a small bag without adding any extra weight. In 2012 when all iOS devices were already supporting high resolution display Apple announced iPad mini with the same resolution as iPad 2 with 1024×768 pixels.

Since its introduction many started speculating that the next gen 7.9 inch tablet will certainly feature retina display. However, some reports and bloggers expressed concerns about battery and weight of the device. John Gruber of Daring Fireball also remained sceptical about iPad mini going retina in 2013 and said, “we demand magic — a retina iPad Mini with no decrease in battery life, but no increase in thickness, weight, or price. And they need to produce at least 20 million of them by Christmas. Something has to give.”

Apple has made iPad mini with retina display a reality this year with the same 10 hour long battery performance. The display features 2048×1536 resolution  which is the same as iPad Air at 326 pixels per inch. With the new retina screen the hardware saw an increase of 0.01 inches in thickness and 23 grams (0.06 pounds) in weight. The fact that the device continues to provide battery for a full days worth of use even with retina certainly makes it worth the negligible thickness and weight.

iPad mini with retina display also features the 64-bit A7 chip and M7 coprocessor introduced in the iPhone 5s. This boost the performance of the new tablet upto 4 times in CPU and upto 8 times in GPU performance.

The 5MP rear camera and 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera remain the same even in the new model. Apple has added support for even more LTE bands in this new device and also delivers twice the Wi-Fi performance than before.

If reading and browsing the web are the primary tasks that you use the iPad mini for, then upgrading to the latest model is certainly worth considering. High resolution screen makes the text crisp without any fuzziness and each pixel in the photos deliver fantastic detail.

Apple will continue to sell the original iPad mini with 16GB storage at $299 for the WiFi and $429 for WiFi + Cellular. iPad mini with retina display will be available in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. The WiFi models start at $399 while cellular version starts at $529 and each model gets $100 expensive for more storage.

Will you be buying the new iPad mini this holiday season? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Apple’s next gen iPhone, widely rumoured to be called iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, is expected to be unveiled later this fall. According to a new rumor published on WeiPhone.com, iPhone 5S will carry twice as many pixels as iPhone 5. The hardware will reportedly receive minor makeover with a narrow bezel.

According to sources, iPhone 5S (or iPhone 6) or to have a more narrow screen frame, is now preparing, will ship in September. In addition, the product also has a screen 1.5 million pixels, compared to nearly 730,000 iPhone 5 the number of pixels, if not the screen size continues to increase, the resolution will be greatly improved.

Apple could be looking at increasing the pixel density in the next iPhone which would result in a resolution of 1704 x 960 with 489 pixels per inch (PPI). This could however, pose potential issues for developers who would be forced to change the app design to fit the increased pixel density by 1.5 factor in each dimension.

The design of iPhone has remained same for two generations such as in iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Rumor posted on WeiPhone is contrary to the popular belief that iPhone 5S / 6 will retain the same design as the iPhone 5. Apple invests a huge amount in researching and developing the hardware design and could possibly look at retaining the existing design.

Apple’s next iPhone will compete directly with Samsung’s Galaxy S4 which boasts a large screen of 4.99 inch and 441 pixels per inch with a Super AMOLED screen of 1920 x 1080 resolution. It is highly unlikely for Apple to introduce a new iPhone with a larger screen and it will be interesting to see how exactly does Apple plan to increased the number of pixels if this rumor indeed turns out to be true.

{via MacRumors}

Apple is expected to release its next iPhone 5 later this year, and a number of reports have suggested that the screen is going to be made taller to accommodate up to 4 inches. These rumors were entirely speculative until a recent report from japanese site Macotakara, which posted images and a video showing what appears to a taller iPhone 5 screen, with an overall design that looks very similar to the current iPhone 4S screen. The front panel also had a relocated FaceTime camera, now above the earpiece of the iPhone and centered on the device, similar to the iPod touch.

This is the first time that a part capable of being for the next gen iPhone 5 has surfaced and is likely not only taller, but from the images, wider as well. With iOS 6, Apple will likely expand the existing apps on the App Store, in order to fit the new screen size without compromising the number of pixels per inch. Earlier in the month, reports that Apple was purchasing 4 inch screens from a number of suppliers surfaced. Suppliers included LG Display, Sharp, and Japan Display Inc., which also supply Apple with screens for a number of its other iOS products.

The iPhone’s screen size has remained the same since the introduction of the original iPhone in 2007, only experiencing a major change during the release of the Retina Display. This would be the first time that Apple would change the 3.5 inch display in any way, and it appears in good fashion too, making it much taller than the current display. Apple has not changed the width, and has emphasized in the past that this would cause issues with resolution and users being able to text with one hand.

Apple’s next gen iPhone 5 is expected to be released during the same October timeframe as the iPhone 4S and will likely be released alongside iOS 6 after a developer preview of the new software during Apple’s WWDC conference from June 11-15.

{via AppleInsider — Image Credit: Macotakara}

There has been some debate on the internet about the iPhone 4 Retina Display, and whether or not Steve Jobs has been exaggerating again.

So we thought we’d do our best to clear this up for you.

Steve Jobs had this to say about the iPhone 4’s LCD display resolution during his WWDC keynote :

It turns out there’s a magic number right around 300 pixels per inch, that when you hold something around to 10 to 12 inches away from your eyes, is the limit of the human retina to differentiate the pixels.

In other words, text will look like printed characters in a book on your new iPhone 4’s screen.

Some blogs, spurred on by experts in the field of displays, have taken exception to Steve Jobs’ claim. Raymond Soneira, armed with a theoretical physics Ph.D. from Princeton University has gone away and done some maths based on angular resolution and stuff, and come up with a figure of 477 pixels per inch as being the theoretical density actually required for pixels to merge into each other at 12 inches from the human eye on an LCD panel.

This made me curious. How could Steve Jobs be so far out, and not expect to get called on it. The Retina Display only has 326 pixels per inch after all. That’s over 150 less than Soneira says is required for the capability that Apple claims the Retina Display has.

Now I don’t have a Ph.D., and can’t argue directly with Raymond’s figures, but I was able to find another person’s opinion, who I have reason to respect. He’s one of the scientists who works on the optics of the Hubble Telescope.

It’s certainly worth reading Phil Plait’s full explanation, and I have included a link at the bottom of this article if you want to go ahead and do just that. But for those that just want his final conclusion I will simplify it here.

The iPhone’s pixels at 12 inches from your face are 0.0031 inches across.

With absolutely perfect vision, you should be able to discern things as small as 0.0021 inches across. i.e. You could ace a fighter pilot’s eye-test, not just pass. And your eyesight would rival that of a bird of prey.

Well it doesn’t take a maths expert to see that a fighter pilot may well be able to see the pixels on an iPhone 4’s Retina Display.

But we are overlooking something quite obvious here. The majority of humans do not have absolutely perfect eye sight. In fact a surprisingly high number of them don’t even have 20/20 vision. Even with 20/20 vision (eyesight that does not require you to wear glasses) you actually can’t resolve anything smaller than 0.0035 inches.

Again, it doesn’t take a maths expert to see that people with 20/20 vision and below will not be able to discern individual pixels on an iPhone 4’s LCD.

Phil’s conclusion is as follows :

Aha! This means that to a more average eye, pixels smaller than this are unresolved. Since the iPhone’s pixels are 0.0031 inches on a side, it works! Jobs is actually correct.

In a slightly less scientific test I took a graph I have from when I chose my HDTV for my sitting room.

Now what this graph does is let you know how far away your HDTV can be from your sofa before you won’t be able to tell the difference between 480p, 720p, 1080p, or even 1440p. By extending the graph lines from the area that said I wouldn’t be able to see the difference between any display resolution. i.e. A normal TV picture would look the same to me as a 1440p HDTV, I was able to come up with a rough figure of 320 pixels per inch for an HDTV 12 inches from my nose, and the same size as an iPhone!

I can only assume that HDTV manufacturers want to sell HDTV TVs, and to sell the most expensive model possible, so have more than likely fudged the figures in their favour slightly. So if anything they would be trying to get me to buy a higher resolution HDTV than I really need. Even with their graphs they seem to confirm what Apple have been saying too.

In short, unless you have the eyesight of a bird of prey, rest assured that the Retina Display is going to look awesome.

So, who do you believe? A Hubble Telescope Engineer, Steve Jobs, or a pernickety guy with a Ph.D? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Phil Plait: [Full Explanation] ]]> https://touchreviews.net/iphone-4-retina-display-fact-fiction/feed/ 0