Tag Archives: Retina

Rumor Roundup: iPad 5 could weigh less than a pound, new MacBooks coming soon, and a 1.5″ OLED iWatch?

We showed you images of what we expect the fifth generation of the iPad to look like back in January, and today Digitimes reports that the updated hardware could be 25-33% lighter than the current full-sized iPad.

We expect the next 9.7″ iPad to resemble the design of the 7.9″ iPad mini, but dropping a third of its weight is certainly a tall as it would bring it just under a pound.

Current iPads without cellular connectivity weigh in at 1.44 pounds while the iPad mini is much lighter at 0.66 pounds, but the iPad mini doesn’t require as much LED backlighting as the larger, Retina display full-sized iPad, though the report claims the next full-sized iPad will use a single LED backlight rather than two.

While a dramatically lighter full-size iPad would be welcomed and would likely give the iPad mini a run for its money, we are less than confident that such a leap in design could be pulled off considering Apple had to compromise on weight and thickness to bring Retina to the iPad.

According to the report, we should expect to see the next generation iPads ship later this fall, possibly as soon as September.

If that seems to long to wait to spend your money on new Apple hardware, that’s okay. Digitimes, which has a hit-or-miss track record on reporting accurate information, also reports that MacBook orders will increase by 20% in the second quarter. We expect a refresh to Apple’s notebooks could be announced at WWDC in three weeks so this isn’t too hard to believe.

If you are still not excited, Macotakara has collected a couple of reports suggesting Apple is currently testing 1.5 OLED displays for the rumored iWatch that it says could possibly launch in December, but we’re not ready to start holding our breath on that one.

Rumor Roundup: iPad 5 could weigh less than a pound, new MacBooks coming soon, and a 1.5″ OLED iWatch?

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We expect the next 9.7″ iPad to resemble the design of the 7.9″ iPad mini, but dropping a third of its weight is certainly a tall order as it would bring it just under a pound.

According to the report, we should expect to see the next generation iPads ship later this fall, possibly as soon as September.

If that seems too long to wait to spend your money on new Apple hardware, that’s okay. Digitimes, which has a hit-or-miss track record on reporting accurate information, also reports that MacBook orders will increase by 20% in the second quarter. We expect a refresh to Apple’s notebooks could be announced at WWDC in three weeks so this isn’t too hard to believe.

Sharp’s bringing ‘highest pixel density’ IGZO displays yet, could end up in next round of Retina MacBooks

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Sharp, one of Apple’s display suppliers that is rumored to have just begun production on next-gen iPhone displays, this week announced it will soon begin producing notebook displays with the highest pixel density in the biz. With displays ranging from 11.6 inches to 15.6 inches, it’s entirely a possibility that one could end up in a next generation MacBook with Retina display.

IGZO technology enables smaller thin-film transistors and increased light transmittance. As a result, fine text can be rendered crisply and clearly, and images can be displayed with impressive realism. For example, the 14-inch panel boasts a pixel density of 262 ppi, which represents 1.67 times the number of pixels of full high definition*3. Increased light transmittance also means lower rates of energy consumption, with IGZO technology reducing the amount of power required to drive liquid crystals during the display of still images. These factors lead to greater energy efficiency and longer battery life on notebook PCs. IGZO technology is also compatible with stylus-input touchscreen functionality.

Sharp will start producing the displays, which boast a resolution up to 3,200 x 1,800 and pixel density of 262 ppi, in June and already has a 13.3-inch model being mass produced.

We’ve had hands-on time with Sharp’s high resolution IGZO displays at CES this year and had nothing but positive things to say. It was previously rumored that Apple had considered using Sharp’s smaller IGZO panels for iPad and that’s also still a possibility for future generations of the device.

(via TheTechBlock)

Would Jony Ive Really Shrink The iPad Mini Again To Add A Retina Display?

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Mobileaks says the above render comes from a tipster who has seen the iPad mini 2 with Retina display. We’re not so convinced.

According to a “source” speaking to Mobileaks, these will be the specifications of the iPad mini 2:

7.9 inch Retina display
2048 x 1536 pixels
324 ppi
Apple A6X processor
8.0 megapixel camera
2.0 megapixel front camera
16, 32, 64 GB internal memory
7.5 mm thickness

At first blush, all of this looks about right. The 324 ppi looks a little bit off — by all accounts, the Retina iPad mini should have the same PPI as the iPhone at around 326ppi — but this is just a rounding difference because of different screen sizes: in reality, these screens are identical when it comes to pixel density.

For us, the hard thing to buy is Mobileaks’ claim that the bezel for the iPad mini 2 will shrink again around the edges. Not only does it look fairly strange, but we just don’t see Apple changing the form factor of the iPad mini again when they’ve already gotten it right.

Finally, there’s the matter of release: Mobileaks says in the third quarter of the year. We’d love that to be true, but right now, it’s not looking likely for an iPad mini with Retina Display to land before 2014.

Source: Mobileaks

‘Dead Space’ Art Book Launches On iPad, ‘Halo 4′ Book Coming On Friday

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Whether you love video games or not, there’s no doubt that games like Halo and Dead Space feature some incredible artwork to breathe life into the make-believe worlds populated by crazed gamers looking for thrills.

Usually a game studio will publish a physical book of all the fantastic concept drawings and sketches that helped bring form to a video game, but Titan Books is releasing the latest Dead Space and Halo art books on iPad this week instead.

The Art of Dead Space was just released on iPad for $9.99. The book features the same pages from the print edition, except you get even better features like interactive galleries, video interviews, 3D render videos and gameplay footage for a more immersive experience that paper just can’t offer.

If you have a Retina display iPad you’ll definitely appreciate the high-resolution art work that lets you get into all the nitty gritty details of Dead Space. If you’re into other games, The Art of Halo 4 is also coming to the iPad on Friday.

The two books weigh in at 1.05GB and 925.3MB respectively, which means you’re getting a great deal of content and behind-the-scenes looks at two of the most popular gaming franchises If you’re interested to see how the worlds of Dead Space and Halo were designed then you should definitely pick up a copy.

Source: iTunes

Via: The Verge

Retina iPad Mini On Track For June/July Production, Will Use LG Displays, Not Samsung [Analyst]

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Will you be upgrading?

In yet another projection, DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim told CNET today that the second version of the amazing iPad Mini will indeed have a retina display, and that LG will be the main supplier of the pixel-packed screen, instead of Samsung.

“Samsung is currently not in the iPad Mini and they won’t be in the next generation. LGD is becoming a much bigger supplier than before,” said Shim, continuing that other manufacturers are slated to make the new screens, but they won’t have as prominent role.

While the production timeline Shim is predicting flies directly in the face of earlier predictions, Shim could be accurate, as a summer 2013 production run would make better sense for getting supplies ready for a holiday demand.

Shim told CNET that the almost 8-inch iPad Mini Retina will have a resolution of 2048 X 1536, giving it about the same pixel per inch display of the iPhone 5, one of the highest pixel densities for any tablet out so far. When tablets like the iPad do start to head into the above 300 pixels per inch realm, though, will anyone even notice?

“We’re going to start to see a bunch of tablets with a pixel density over 300. At a certain point it will be hard to discern that improved image quality,” Shim said, making us wonder if he has specialized knowledge of the human eye.

Whether that future will exist as Shim thinks, or folks will notice much higher resolution than the magic 300 PPI number is a moot point, however, as we all will definitely notice a Retina display in the current iPad mini form factor. The iPad mini is a fantastic device, even now. With the number of pixels similar to an iPad 2 stuffed down into its diminutive case, it looks sharper than the iPad 2 itself.

While all the analysts have their opinion, I’m kind of hoping Shim is correct, with a new iPad mini coming down the pike sooner than expected. What do you think?

Source: CNET

Retina iPad Mini Won’t Enter Production Until October, Ruling Out Fall Launch [Analyst]

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KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has issued a note to investors in which he says the second-generation iPad mini with Retina display won’t enter mass production until October due to yield issues with the new high-resolution display. If true, the problem could make a fall launch for the device very unlikely.

Apple is expected to refresh its entire family of iOS devices this fall, according to recent rumors, but it could be that the iPad mini gets left out. Kuo claims that suppliers are having difficult producing its display due to the number of pixels that need to be crammed into a 7.9-inch panel.

If the device doesn’t enter mass production until October, then it may not be available until early 2014. Kuo suggests, however, that we could see a cheaper iPad mini before the end of the year instead, allowing Apple to better compete with Android devices like the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Apple could make the iPad mini cheaper by removing its rear-facing camera, reducing its internal storage to as little as 8GB, and changing the way it produces its A5 processor, Kuo states in his note. The result could be a device priced between $199 and $249.

Finally, Kuo gave his predictions for the fifth-generation iPad, which he believes will get a redesigned form factor just like the iPad mini’s. Even with that new form factor, he believes the iPad won’t make a massive impact on Apple’s sales because it doesn’t offer a different user experience than that of the more popular iPad mini.

We advice you to take all of this information with a pinch of salt until it’s confirmed by Apple, of course. But Kuo has been very reliable with his predictions in the past, so maybe there’s something in this.

Via: iCreate

Twitter Finally Updates Mac App To Include Retina Support And Easier Photo Sharing

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Many of us thought Twitter was content to watch its Mac app die a slow and painful death, as the company hasn’t updated the app in forever, but new life has been breathed into the app at last.

Twitter just announced an update for the Twitter Mac app that brings Retina display support, better photo sharing, and support for 14 more languages. The app icon also received an update, along with the tweet composer, in what is the first update in nearly two years.

Here’s Twitter’s list of updates:

Photos: It’s easier than ever to share photos. Simply click the camera icon in the lower-left corner of the Tweet compose box, and choose a photo to share. If you prefer, you can still drag and drop photos from the desktop.
Retina display support: Now Twitter is even more vibrant and detailed on the highest resolution Mac notebooks. With this update, Tweets will be clearer and sharper, creating a more vivid experience.
14 more languages: In addition to English, Twitter for Mac now supports Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, and Turkish.

There are also some new keyboard shortcuts available, and support for multiple accounts and timelines. Twitter’s Tech Lead for Twitter for Mac, Ben Sandofsky, says that more improvements will be made to the app over the upcoming months as he’s taking a break from iOS to work on Twitter for Mac full-time.

The new Twitter update is available now in Mac App Store for free.

Source: Mac App Store

Via: Twitter

Hacker Builds Retina PC Using An iPad Display

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You don’t necessarily have to spend $1,200+ on a new MacBook Pro to get a computer with a Retina display. Providing you’re happy to pull apart your iPad and you know what you’re doing with a soldering iron, you can build your a Retina display for your PC.

That’s what Polish hacker Andrzej did.

Andrzej took advantage of the eDisplayPort interface on his iPad’s Retina display — which was manufactured by LG — and turned it into a traditional DisplayPort using a connector he found online for $14. Soldering everything together was the hardest part, Andrzej describes on his blog, but the effort was well worth it.

Creating the PCB was fairly straightforward, I just had to route all the FPC connector pins out to pads where I would solder DP cable wires. It was possible on a single-sided home-made board.

I tried to make the traces for DP lanes to be of the same length (that’s very important for high speed differential signals), and as it turns out, either my PCB design is pretty good, or DisplayPort is very forgiving. :)

Soldering everything was a little difficult, the FPC connector has tiny pins, but they stick out a little bit, so it’s doable with a regular soldering iron.

After the PCB was done, I cut open a DP cable and soldered all the wires in their places.

Unfortunately there is no standard for wire colors, so I had to open up the DP plug to trace them to the correct pins.

Andrzej was left with a Retina display for his PC that runs at full resolution. The whole thing cost him around $70 in parts, he says, with the display itself purchased from China for just $55. Andrzej says that this is just a prototype, and that he’s working on a “professional PCB with a DP connector so no wire splicing will be required in the future.”

Maybe you’ll soon be able to buy a readymade adapter from Andrzej that’ll do all the hard work for you. But in the meantime, you can try out the hack yourself by following the instructions on Andrzej’s blog.

Source: EmertyHacks

Via: Macgasm

Pupil Switches Retina Resolutions Right From Your Menubar

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Remember when we used to switch resolutions on our computers? No, probably not. That’s because only old people experienced the pain of doing such a thing manually – these days our monitors are built in to our computers, and the pixel-mapping is done by the OS.

Unless you have a new Retina MacBook Pro that is. Now there might actually be a reason to switch resolutions. But who wants to dig around in System Preferences? Instead, you can use Pupil.

Pupil is nothing more than a menubar pull-down which lets you select the res for your Retina MacBook Pro (RMBP) screen. Why would you do this? Because the RMBP doesn’t run at its full resolution. Instead, it takes four screen pixels and molds them into one notional pixel. This is A Good Thing most of the time as it a) makes everything looks smoother thanks to some clever jiggery-pokery at the pixel anti0aliasing level, and b) means that you can actually see the on-screen icons without a magnifying glass.

But sometimes you might want to see all the pixels rendered individually. Some apps, like Adobe’s Lightroom, can do this – they show the UI in the smooth, four-in-one pixel mode and display the actual photo as native pixels.

But that relies on the app. If you want to take control, Pupil will add let you switch up resolutions at the pull of a menu item. You can even name your presets so they’re easier to find.

The app is just $5, and has a generous trial period to check it out first. What are you waiting for? What? An eye test? Ah, yes. Fair enough.

Source: Pupil

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Tag Archives: Retina

Rumor Roundup: iPad 5 could weigh less than a pound, new MacBooks coming soon, and a 1.5″ OLED iWatch?

Rumor Roundup: iPad 5 could weigh less than a pound, new MacBooks coming soon, and a 1.5″ OLED iWatch?

Sharp’s bringing ‘highest pixel density’ IGZO displays yet, could end up in next round of Retina MacBooks

Would Jony Ive Really Shrink The iPad Mini Again To Add A Retina Display?

‘Dead Space’ Art Book Launches On iPad, ‘Halo 4′ Book Coming On Friday

Retina iPad Mini On Track For June/July Production, Will Use LG Displays, Not Samsung [Analyst]

Retina iPad Mini Won’t Enter Production Until October, Ruling Out Fall Launch [Analyst]

Twitter Finally Updates Mac App To Include Retina Support And Easier Photo Sharing

Hacker Builds Retina PC Using An iPad Display

Pupil Switches Retina Resolutions Right From Your Menubar