The iPad 2 Display Ranks Best In A Face-Off With Android Tablets
June 23, 2011
PC World reports that the Apple iPad 2 display ranks as the best in a face-off with Android tablets. Most iPad 2 users already knew this fact, without ever picking up an Android device. It is reassuring though to know a publication like PCWorld actually put forth the effort to prove our theory correct.
PCWorld Labs lined up eight tablets for their study and the testing is still ongoing. This is a snapshot of some of their early findings. The tablets used in their test included: Acer Iconia Tab A500, Apple iPad 2, Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101, HTC Flyer, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi (7-inch), and T-Mobile G-Slate.
PC World Labs put together a jury that reviewed four identical images on these eight different tablets. The brightness setting was set at the maximum on all of them. Of these tablets, the iPad 2 was best in color balance and accuracy, and the best in distribution of colors on the test grayscale and color-bar images.
Second place was given to the Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi and the HTC Flyer. Both these tablets were running Android 2.2 and 2.3 respectively. At the bottom of the list was the Acer Iconia Tab A500. On this tablet, you are able to see the touch-panel grid, which can be annoying at any viewing angle. The Xoom also had issues with this, but they were not nearly as bad as the Acer. Along with the touch-panel grid, the colors had a slightly bluish tint to the images and it struggled to reproduce skin tones and browns. Many of these issues can be tweaked in software upgrades, not just in the hardware.
This initial test does not let the iPad 2 off the hook when it comes to improvements. The test showed the iPad 2 did stumble a little with some of the skin tones. All tablets had issues with viewing angles and an air gap between the glass and the LCD. This is what causes the mirror effect when viewing in bright light.
I believe Apple will keep up with their software updates and not let the competition pull ahead.
PCWorld will be releasing more tests in July, so stay tuned!
Click on the picture below to see a larger image of the preliminary display results from PCWorld.
