Skype for iPad got a Retina update this morning, meaning its icons and menus will not show pixelated fonts that will harm your new iPad Retina sensibilities. Unfortunately, the new iPad’s front-facing camera is still VGA, and we are pretty sure Skype is not pulling 2048-by-1500 pixel video feeds though your LTE connection just yet.
Still, it is exciting to see Skype updating for anything within months of release.
Since the launch of the third-generation iPad, Dr. Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation, has put the device through its paces testing just about every aspect of its “resolutionary” new Retina display. The lengthy report provided a detailed comparison of the new iPad’s display versus the iPad 2 and iPhone 4.
In a running time time of the new iPad’s battery, Dr. Soneira found its “batteries do not actually reach full charge when 100% is shown,” and noted up to an extra hour of charging is required before reaching full capacity. We already discovered that the third-generation iPad’s new 42.5-watt-hour battery takes considerably longer to charge than the iPad 2—up to several hours. One explanation suggested is that Apple is trying to shorten the amount of time people think it takes to charge to line up with iPad 2 expectations. Soneira found the new iPad running no applications at maximum brightness lasted for 5.8 hours in comparison to the iPad 2 at 7.2 hours.
He did not go into detail about his findings in the report, but Soneira provided an explanation of the charging issue below:
(Screenshot of The Lorax from Trailers App – Click to enlarge to full size)
Apple updated its Movie Trailers.app today to Retina graphics, which you will immediately notice bring videos to a higher 1080P quality.
iTunes Move Trailers 1.1 is now designed for the spectacular Retina display on the all-new iPad.
This would have been a good app to showcase when launching the Retina display. Either way, the video quality is impressive to the point that it makes the app addictive.
We have seen iPhone mockups from ADR Studio’s Antonio De Rosa in the past, such as the recent iPhone SJ. Going with the naming scheme introduced with the new iPad, Rosa just published mock-ups of his latest creation: “the new iPhone.” This makes it a little easier to imagine the extremely unlikely 4.6-inch iPhone with a Retina display rumored last night. You will notice the mockup also includes a LED indicator around the entire edge of the device; a home button integrated into the iOS UI, and an aluminum unibody design. Not going to happen but interesting nonetheless.
Developer Avatron announced its “Air Display”app, which allows iPhones, iPads and Macs to act as a second or third monitor, would be implementing support for the 2048-by-1536 resolution of the new iPad’s 264-DPI Retina display. That means you will soon be able to use your third-generation iPad as a 2048-by-1536 computer monitor.
The update will also benefit the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S with “dramatically better frame rates.” In addition, the upcoming update will allow you to enable HiDPI mode in Lion or Mountain Lion, a “feature in Mac OS X that renders with double-resolution on a double-resolution screen.” The results of turning on HiDPI mode in OS X is viewable in the image to the right. Avatronexplained on its blog:
With the launch of the new iPad just hours away, there will be a flood of new iPad owners looking for apps that boast the device’s 2048-by-1536-pixel resolution Retina display. To make it easier, Apple posted a new section on iTunes that lists Retina-ready apps recently updated to take advantage of the new display. The section currently consists of about 24 apps, some of which include “Tweetbot,” “Skitch,” “Infinity Blade II,” and “Sky Gamblers.” However, there are surely countless devs submitting updates to their apps right now. Go past the break for the full list of apps.
The Twitter iOS app was just updated to version 4.1.2 with the only new feature being high-resolution graphics for the new iPad’s Retina display. The update is available in the App Store now (iTunes link).
Aatma Studio just posted this iPad 3 concept. However, by the looks of it, we might have to wait for the iPad 5 for most of these features. The same studio has done other Apple product concepts in the past like this iPhone 5 concept. This, of course, follows Apple’s announcement earlier today confirming the next-generation iPad will unveil March 7 in San Francisco. We will bring you live coverage of the event next week as it goes down.
