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Apple's iPad 2 Review: Tom's Goes Down The Tablet Rabbit Hole

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Display Quality: White And Black Uniformity

I found it easier to measure luminance uniformity in the portrait mode (home button on the left side). That's something to keep in mind if you're concerned with different viewing angles.

Apple iPad
White Luminance cd/m^2
321.8539333.5493318.1339
342.3393367.8701335.3562
350.5158333.3676323.7054
Black Luminance cd/m^2
0.54940.53540.5822
0.56170.61160.5861
0.67210.66000.5623

White and black luminance tend to be better towards the center. For some odd reason, though, only white luminance looks worse toward the edges. Meanwhile, black looks too bright near the center and center-bottom.

Apple iPad 2
White Luminance cd/m^2
330.0356332.3039358.7569
369.7601363.3693390.1944
385.2036380.3892380.3814
Black Luminance cd/m^2
0.44700.50040.4247
0.50820.39990.4216
0.49210.43050.4184

The iPad 2 achieves better brightness, but uniformity looks skewed. White luminance, in particular, appears very different if you're viewing from the top and bottom. Thankfully, black luminance appears more uniform.

63 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Yuka 16 June 2011 11:46
    What about adding other tablets in the mix?

    The XOOM could be a good choice, or the Asus Transformer.

    Cheers!
    Reply
  • acku 16 June 2011 11:49
    We'll get to the others soon enough, but it's difficult to talk about other tablets without talking about Apple products.

    Cheers,
    Andrew Ku
    TomsHardware.com
    Reply
  • Nintendork 16 June 2011 12:15
    Samsung Galaxy 10.1 anyday.
    Reply
  • gidgiddonihah 16 June 2011 12:24
    Here is the article where all the Apple fanboys start to tear this article up :).
    Reply
  • gidgiddonihah 16 June 2011 12:27
    Oops, sorry for the poor grammer :). Posted without rereading...

    Here is an article that Apple fanboys would be glad to rip up.
    Reply
  • Tijok 16 June 2011 12:37
    gidgiddonihahHere is the article where all the Apple fanboys start to tear up .
    Fixed it for you. ;)
    Reply
  • Benihana 16 June 2011 12:55
    Still no HDD expandability? No thanks. I'm not rich.
    Reply
  • 16 June 2011 13:36
    Disagree.
    Like most computer guys like myself, adding an ipad won't make us to pack our PC/Mac to our closet. But again, mistakes like Microsoft or Linux, the "most computer guys on earth" are actually just a small group in total.
    For example:
    i've been teaching my 80 years old grandma to use pc to download, install and play simple games for years, no success. then she learned how to find/download/install/play many games after few days playing with my ipad.
    my 5 years nephew reads/plays/watch cartoons all on ipad now, she didn't turn on her pc for weeks.
    For myself, i uninstalled all my online video, movie client applications from my laptop, as I found watching these on ipad is much comfortable.

    Yes I still do my works on my pc, mostly in my office. At home, now the only thing force me to turn on my pc is to play world of warcraft
    I mean, who says ipad can't replace anything?
    Reply
  • acku 16 June 2011 14:33
    joeyluDisagree.Like most computer guys like myself, adding an ipad won't make us to pack our PC/Mac to our closet. But again, mistakes like Microsoft or Linux, the "most computer guys on earth" are actually just a small group in total.For example:i've been teaching my 80 years old grandma to use pc to download, install and play simple games for years, no success. then she learned how to find/download/install/play many games after few days playing with my ipad.my 5 years nephew reads/plays/watch cartoons all on ipad now, she didn't turn on her pc for weeks.For myself, i uninstalled all my online video, movie client applications from my laptop, as I found watching these on ipad is much comfortable. Yes I still do my works on my pc, mostly in my office. At home, now the only thing force me to turn on my pc is to play world of warcraftI mean, who says ipad can't replace anything?
    I'd actually argue that in your case you're not replacing a PC, you're augmenting it. Granted, there will be others like your nephew and grandmother who can use an iPad as their primary device.
    Reply
  • damianrobertjones 16 June 2011 14:45
    May I simply say, "thank you" to Toms for writing a well thought out objective, honest and practical review of thr iPad2. Instead of getting carried away you've hit the nail on the head.

    P.s. I use an Acer W500 and I still struggle to justify why i have it.
    Reply