Resolution

Have I Been a Lazy, Good-For-Nothing, Non-Blogging Sloth or What?

Yes I have.

Does This Blogitem's Title, "Resolution," Signal a Reformation?

Not necessarily.

Well, Then, What Kind of Resolution is it?

This kind:

I am not an Apple "fanboy."  I bought an iPad 1 months after they went on sale after experimenting and finding it a convenient reading platform, which remains its primary function for me.  I ignored the iPad 2.  Front facing camera?  Feh*!  But the iPad 3, rumored to sport a 2048 by 1536 pixel display, was eagerly awaited by this resolution-craving blogger.  When the rumor was confirmed at the Apple announcement, I ordered it online as soon as I was able to get to the form on my browser, a matter of a few hours.

As you can see from the photos above, which don't do it full justice, the new display is much better.  In fact, it's as good as it can be.  It's not clear to me (no pun intended) that increasing the resolution will make it any better, since it appears to be at the resolution limit of human vision already.

Enough has been written about the "new iPad," the third generation unit, that a full RIKL Review is unwarranted.  Instead, I'll offer this brief RIKL FAQ.

RIKL FAQ: Apple iPad 3

Q:  How long have you had your iPad 3?
A:  A couple of weeks.

Q:  I've read in the press that it overheats.  True?  Problem?
A:  It does get noticeably warm when the display is bright.  I smell no burning resistors nor see a curling wisp of smoke, so "overheats" may be something of an exaggeration.  However, its self heating, especially with a full-on display, may make it even more sensitive to bright sunlight, which causes my iPad 1 to shut down.  Something for my aviation friends to think about. 

Q:  White or black? 
A:  I got a white just so I could tell them apart easily, but white does look like the better choice given its higher albedo and presumably lower heat absorption.

Q:  It's obviously possible to make a high resolution display in a smaller form factor.  Why can't you get a desktop display with this kind of resolution in anything smaller than 20 inches? 
A:  Hey! That's MY question.

Q:  Is there anything else you like about the iPad 3 compared to the iPad 1? 
A:  The processor is noticeably faster.  It saves many milliseconds when I "turn" "pages."  Milliseconds add up!

Q:  Is there anything you don't particularly care about? 
A:  It's thinner and a tiny bit lighter than the iPad 1 (and a tiny bit heavier than the iPad 2).  Maybe Apple's obsession with "thin" will eventually go away.

Q:  Now that the display resolution can't realistically be improved, what would make you buy an iPad 4? 
A:  A lot more memory!  256GB would be almost enough.  Of course sockets for memory cards would be "almost free" to install, but this is Apple.

Q:  What are your plans for the feh-inducing, front-facing camera? 
A:  Black tape.