March 12th 2012
Apple has announced the New iPad and with it the new Retina Display. For publishers of Digital Magazines, Multimedia Apps and other Event Apps the retina display means clearer, crisper type, stunning images and gorgeous video.
The iPad’s screen resolution jumps from 1024 x 768 pixels to 2048 x 1536 pixels, exceeding any current tablet or laptop. With a product that is 90% display, the New iPad is set to deliver content that will push the boundaries of what can be delivered on our tablet devices.
So, aside from the jaw dropping beauty of the screen, why does Oomph love the New iPad?
- A 44% increased colour saturation will provide richer, deeper and more vivid images.
- Playing video at full 1080p HD resolution will deliver an incomparable viewing experience.
- The faster processor will allow for faster page rendering, smoother animations and better playback of video and slide shows.
- Last and best of all, existing Oomph publications already published to the iTunes App Store will need no additional modification to take advantage of these new innovative features. Meaning our clients can rest easy knowing that their iPad magazines and apps are going to look fantastic on the New iPad.
Oomph’s digital publishing system is based on resolution independent formats like PDF and HTML, which form a large part of a project published using Oomph. These resolution independent assets are combined with rendered assets such as images and video to create fully interactive pages.
When viewed on the New iPad, the resolution independent assets will automatically be re-rendered to match the larger resolution available on its screen. As these assets tend to contain mainly text and other vector objects, the effect will be much higher quality than currently seen on the iPad 1 & 2.
This means that text will be clearer, sharper and easier to read. Images and video currently created at resolutions appropriate for the iPad 1 & 2 will look the same. The overall effect on legacy publications will be one of increased clarity, colour and speed.
Moving forward, publishers can take further advantage of the New iPad by increasing the resolution of the rendered assets to match the new retina pixel density simply by modifying existing export settings.
Oomph loves the New iPad, and we have no doubt that the future is looking very bright for publishers transitioning to digital. Got a question – contact us today.
Tony Redhead – Oomph Creative Technologist.